Halo 3: ODST

[rated pg]

I've seen a few people complaining about the length of the single played in Halo 3: ODST, so I figured I'd address that quickly.

Firstly, yes the game is $70...minus the 20-25$ or so for the map packs included for Halo 3. Now, if you already have those map packs...stop kidding yourself, you were buying this game either way. If you claim to not want those packs...boy did you pick the wrong time to start being a Halo fan. Moving on then.

So the game is really closer to $40 for the ODST disc itself. I beat the single player on Legendary in about 8 hours ballpark, which is a bit short for a Halo game but long enough for what always has been labeled an expansion pack. And certainly it was enjoyable and with 4 player local and online coop, there is plenty of reason to go back. But the single player isn't the only part of the ODST disc. It's also got the new Firefight mode, and the new maps for that as well. So the only way to really feel ripped off is if you were only buying this for the single player, and honestly that lesson should have been learned with Halo 3's relatively short campaign.

Are there problems with it? Of course. No matchmaking for Firefight but, as a few reviewers already pointed out, you wouldn't want to group with strangers for this although they could have just included it as an option but chances are they won't since Halo 3's campaign didn't have it either. And for a stealth game, the doors to different sectors make a lot of noise when opened, and yet Covenant never seem to notice (just something I thought was odd). Those are the first 2 problems that come to mind.

Other than that, the new weapons are awesome, the single player should go down as one of the best in the series (approaching the original's greatness, and probably better than 2 or 3's), and it may actually appeal to a bit more diverse of an audience because of the more "look before you leap" style of gameplay.

So to clarify, YES it is worth your $60 (or $70 in my case...etc etc).

 

[James Cassidy]

Halo 3: ODST is probably the best expansion pack I have ever played. Again to those people who say the game is short. It is an expansion pack, not a whole new game.

It did everything right, offered new thing to the Halo franchise and yet still stayed within a ball park of expectation. It actually did live up to the hype around it.

I managed to get a few people who HATE halo to play ODST and even they agree that it was pretty good and Bungie did a great job.

 

[Sassafrass]

I managed to get a few people who HATE halo to play ODST and even they agree that it was pretty good and Bungie did a great job.

You should help the Halo trolls who come here to voice their hate on the game.

OT: Seen a ViDoc of it (not sure what one it was) and I am definitely considering picking up when it drops in price over here. The gameplay looks good, the graphics look good and the fact it also comes with all the Halo 3 DLC map packs as well make it worth the £40-50 it costs over here.

 

[James Cassidy]

You should help the Halo trolls who come here to voice their hate on the game.

I would, but I am not good at making miracles happen.

Some people are just plain stupid, no matter what logic you try to put into them.

 

[Slash Dementia]

I think the game looks alright, but in the videos I've seen, the animation looks as if it were done without motion capture... Of course that's not the only reason why I haven't bought it. I have all the maps except the three new ones and Firefight does not interest me at all.

I will pick it up when the price goes down. Maybe when it's $40 (USD) or under.

 

[irishstormtrooper]

I would get it, but alas, I only own a PS3. From all the previews I've seen of it, it looks really good.

 

[Armored Prayer]

I love it, I think its great. Though I have two complaints.

1) Grenade throws seems to be off. When you throw a grenade you throw it higher and farther than you want it to. So many times I try to stick a brute but the grenade fly's over his head.

2) No elites. I was a little disappointed that elites were not in this game. (At least put them in firefight) At least the finally added the engineer.

 

[Souplex]

One of my biggest problems with it is the lack of available melee weapons in the campaign. Energy swords are completely absent and grabbidy hammuhs are very rare.
This is a shame because I like melee weapons, they are more personal.

 

[Kermi]

One of my biggest problems with it is the lack of available melee weapons in the campaign. Energy swords are completely absent and grabbidy hammuhs are very rare.
This is a shame because I like melee weapons, they are more personal.

It makes sense though, the swords are Elite weapons and the gravity hammers are the symbol of power for the brute chieftains. They're not just going to be lying around everywhere.

 

[rated pg]

I managed to get a few people who HATE halo to play ODST and even they agree that it was pretty good and Bungie did a great job.

You should help the Halo trolls who come here to voice their hate on the game.

OT: Seen a ViDoc of it (not sure what one it was) and I am definitely considering picking up when it drops in price over here. The gameplay looks good, the graphics look good and the fact it also comes with all the Halo 3 DLC map packs as well make it worth the £40-50 it costs over here.

Just keep in mind a price drop is a ways off, this is a Halo game.

I love it, I think its great. Though I have two complaints.

1) Grenade throws seems to be off. When you throw a grenade you throw it higher and farther than you want it to. So many times I try to stick a brute but the grenade fly's over his head.

2) No elites. I was a little disappointed that elites were not in this game. (At least put them in firefight) At least the finally added the engineer.

Actually now that you mention it, I thought it was because I was rusty from not having played Halo 3 recently but yeah there was a slight adjustment. And no elites sucks but made sense I guess.

 

[Cpu46]

2) No elites. I was a little disappointed that elites were not in this game. (At least put them in firefight) At least the finally added the engineer.

I found some dead elites during one of the rookie missions, random but im glad bungie put them in, it made the experience seem more authentic.

 

[TPiddy]

I've never been a fan of Halo multiplayer, or rather, the Halo multiplayer community, but for an 8 hour campaign I am just going to rent this game. It looks good, but I can't justify $60 here for a game I will only get maybe 16 hours on if I play through it twice.

 

[Jerich0]

I love it, I think its great. Though I have two complaints.

1) Grenade throws seems to be off. When you throw a grenade you throw it higher and farther than you want it to. So many times I try to stick a brute but the grenade fly's over his head.

2) No elites. I was a little disappointed that elites were not in this game. (At least put them in firefight) At least the finally added the engineer.

that's because an ODST has to lob the grenades, like in real life. you don't pitch a grenade like a baseball player, you lob it for greater accuracy. you're used to playing as the chief, who is able to pitch a grenade, really far, with extreme accuracy.

OT: i frikkin love this game. i've read a bunch of lukewarm reviews, about how it's more of the same, but if you play on legendary it really isn't it's a totally different game where you really do feel vulnerable and not like a super powered bullshit machine like the master chief. it's alot more tactical, i guess; i like it a lot more that any of its predecessors.

also, when you factor in that it has the halo multiplayer (the best part of halo 3), you're acutally getting a deal almost as good as, say, The Orange Box!

 

[LaBambaMan]

But the single player isn't the only part of the ODST disc. It's also got the new Firefight mode, and the new maps for that as well. So the only way to really feel ripped off is if you were only buying this for the single player, and honestly that lesson should have been learned with Halo 3's relatively short campaign.

This is a problem, though. Expansion pack or not, if I buy a game with a single player mode I expect it to be fulfilling and be worth the $70 price tag(even without the maps it would have been close to $70, as is the average price of a video game these days). If I want to buy a game for it's multiplayer functions, i'm going to buy a MMORPG of some sort(not that I would, I have a little more pride than that).

It's fine and dandy that Halo has a popular multiplayer, but you should sacrifice the single player campaign of a game to pander to the multiplayer "must be teh bestest evar!" idiots who don't dare venture outside for fear of that glowing death ball in the sky. As Yahtzee said, why would you want to pay for a game that only seems half finished?

 

[Aunel]

I think this should be in user reviews...

but I haven't got it, am not planning to either.

 

[Britisheagle]

Oh come on guys. This game is just proof that fanboys will always buy a game as long as it has the word "Halo" on it no matter how rubbish it may be. By any means I'm not saying this is a bad game, I'm just saying if any other game had recycled as much as this one did, people would have been up in arms about it (think L4D for a second). Why should this be treated any differently, apart from the fact that the fan base is rather huge for some unknown reason. The graphics are out dated and despite multiplayer being a blast, it is very quickly being filled with those annoying 12 year old biys from the previous games. I'm quite disappointed. Finally, OP you can break it down whatever way you want, but who are you trying to convince that you haven't been ripped-off... Us or you?

Sorry for missions of a post, I'm just pretty peeved and its people who love (as in won't play anything else) this game that give 360 owners a bad name. Rant over.

 

[VanityGirl]

I love it, I think its great. Though I have two complaints.

1) Grenade throws seems to be off. When you throw a grenade you throw it higher and farther than you want it to. So many times I try to stick a brute but the grenade fly's over his head.

2) No elites. I was a little disappointed that elites were not in this game. (At least put them in firefight) At least the finally added the engineer.

There were some dead elites on the ground at one point in the game.. lol not trying to be an ass, just saying they were there, they just didn't play an active role at all.
But I agree with you.

OT: I've said it before and I'll say it again. I like Halo 3: ODST, the characters don't feel like they're walking on the moon like in Halo 3, which is something I really enjoyed. I liked the actual challenge of not being able to regenerate health and needed health pack on occasion.
It's also very fun to coop campaign.

 

[El Poncho]

I know friends of mine who love Halo and they were dissapointed with ODST. I can't give my opinion since i've not played it though.

 

[rated pg]

But the single player isn't the only part of the ODST disc. It's also got the new Firefight mode, and the new maps for that as well. So the only way to really feel ripped off is if you were only buying this for the single player, and honestly that lesson should have been learned with Halo 3's relatively short campaign.

This is a problem, though. Expansion pack or not, if I buy a game with a single player mode I expect it to be fulfilling and be worth the $70 price tag(even without the maps it would have been close to $70, as is the average price of a video game these days). If I want to buy a game for it's multiplayer functions, i'm going to buy a MMORPG of some sort(not that I would, I have a little more pride than that).

It's fine and dandy that Halo has a popular multiplayer, but you should sacrifice the single player campaign of a game to pander to the multiplayer "must be teh bestest evar!" idiots who don't dare venture outside for fear of that glowing death ball in the sky. As Yahtzee said, why would you want to pay for a game that only seems half finished?

Ok but I'm sure you wouldn't say your opinion is the majority; that multiplayer is only important to MMO players. Certainly COD4, Halo 3, Killzone 2, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2 and a great many other games (mostly shooters) have demonstrated that (and especially L4D and TF2 have terrible/no singleplayer). I don't think the single player was sacrificed; just simply that they had it in their minds the story they wanted to tell and that this was an expansion pack so the focus on this game would be the multiplayer.

 

[Kiutu]

Well, you can beat Halo 3 on Legendary in about 4 hours if you have a good friend or two. My friend and I did (and later my brother).
We were not even speed-running it.