This is my first review, of anything really. Be nice. Please.
When the staff at Bungie sat down to discuss what to do with ODST I think they preformed an industry first. They listened. Much of the fanbase halo created over it's 6 years is diehard yet nearly all have a complaint. I myself was bored of the Story, each time I loaded a halo game I thought to myself 'which Forerunner thingy am I blowing up today?' Others thought John 117 was a one-liner-dispenser and wished he would make the ultimate sacrifice already or that Halo combat evolved was the pinnacle of the series and where's my goddamned health pack! Oh, and one or two people mentioned something about a pistol? peashooter? spud gun being progressively shit. The Bungie staff I wholeheartedly believe had pictures of our tear stricken faces, audio clips of our whimpering and death threats from our email accounts with them when they sat to create ODST.
Visually, this is what you can expect from a halo game. Breathtaking backgrounds and just generally a very pretty environment to look around are a very welcome part of any game. Most importantly to me though is that its not trying to be another realistic styled shooter, as I think many companies have forgotten that something can still be beautiful if not as real life as possible. It is in fact pretty enough that my only annoyance is that while most characters look quite good, I can't help but feel Tricia Helfer isn't hot enough (or at all). I'm a nerd yes, I love battlestar yes and yes if given a kitten it would be named Caprica.
The Story isn't going to win an award, it's not something to weep over or that last vital piece of the jigsaw puzzle to make life make sense again. I would argue no game has that yet. It does however give the best story line in the halo series, and generally one of the best stories of the year. The semi detective nature of the story adds more atmosphere to the already very atmospheric city thanks to another great music score by Marty O'Donnel. But more than anything the introduction of human characters has allowed the story to become more identifiable. While Halo has always given us good characters, as a player I find it hard to identify with a superhuman, an AI, a lightbulb and a weird big plant flood thingy. Adding humans who are wonderfully voiced by the cast of Firefly and Six lets us actually feel something more for the characters than I believe was ever really possible before. That being said it's short, with my friends on heroic it only took 4 hours, I suppose with myself it would be longer but that first play through is always the one experience everything the best. You could say it's an expansion, but when I've looked at prices over here in England it's a whopping £5 cheaper, and I can see why people feel cheated.
Each sound within this game is something over game developers should note, from the wonderful sound the pistol makes when you shoot a grunts head, the voice actors to the great jazz score when searching New Mombasa each part flows into one another to a great affect. Having said that, I don't think I'll be the first person to complain about the audiofiles. Fun while it might be to track them down, actually trying to listen to them all should be a test for joining the SAS. To my amusement I found 343 studios did them and so I can continue on my merry way thinking that Bungie can do no wrong.
Apart from the whole multiplayer map thing. Firefight is fantastic, and possibly I think better than horde or nazi zombies (I refuse to pay out for the new nazi zombie maps mind so I might end up having an opinion change). If your friend has this game, at the very least you should go to his house and try firefight, it's a blast and guaranteed fun. The second disk however is quite unfair in my humble opinion. Ever since I paid for the Heroic halo DLC and it became free I on principle decided not to buy anymore. So for me ODST was great, I get a fun game and lots of new maps. For my friends and countless others however, they got three maps. Two of which I think suck balls. It's quite a slap in the face for people who supported Bungie to then buy them again. I know it's a gaming norm now to sell your fans down the river and Bungie isn't just to blame, but still that doesn't make it right to do the same wrong everyone else is. My urge to make a reference to WW2 and Germans is kicking in so I'll sum up.
Halo has always had a special place in my heart, over the years I've always been able to enjoy it with my friends, or by myself and I feel that if Reach wasn't in development this would have made for a great swansong for the series. Undoubtedly it has it's flaws, and the price is debatable but I feel that now I have it I dont regret my purchase, I don't regret the time I've spent on it and I don't regret getting all giggly when Caprica six and Mal... Tricia Helfer and Nathan Fillion bantered. I do however feel sorrow for those who brought the map packs, theirs a sad trend where those who jump at a chance to support their game and play new content end up being screwed over.
When the staff at Bungie sat down to discuss what to do with ODST I think they preformed an industry first. They listened. Much of the fanbase halo created over it's 6 years is diehard yet nearly all have a complaint. I myself was bored of the Story, each time I loaded a halo game I thought to myself 'which Forerunner thingy am I blowing up today?' Others thought John 117 was a one-liner-dispenser and wished he would make the ultimate sacrifice already or that Halo combat evolved was the pinnacle of the series and where's my goddamned health pack! Oh, and one or two people mentioned something about a pistol? peashooter? spud gun being progressively shit. The Bungie staff I wholeheartedly believe had pictures of our tear stricken faces, audio clips of our whimpering and death threats from our email accounts with them when they sat to create ODST.
Visually, this is what you can expect from a halo game. Breathtaking backgrounds and just generally a very pretty environment to look around are a very welcome part of any game. Most importantly to me though is that its not trying to be another realistic styled shooter, as I think many companies have forgotten that something can still be beautiful if not as real life as possible. It is in fact pretty enough that my only annoyance is that while most characters look quite good, I can't help but feel Tricia Helfer isn't hot enough (or at all). I'm a nerd yes, I love battlestar yes and yes if given a kitten it would be named Caprica.
The Story isn't going to win an award, it's not something to weep over or that last vital piece of the jigsaw puzzle to make life make sense again. I would argue no game has that yet. It does however give the best story line in the halo series, and generally one of the best stories of the year. The semi detective nature of the story adds more atmosphere to the already very atmospheric city thanks to another great music score by Marty O'Donnel. But more than anything the introduction of human characters has allowed the story to become more identifiable. While Halo has always given us good characters, as a player I find it hard to identify with a superhuman, an AI, a lightbulb and a weird big plant flood thingy. Adding humans who are wonderfully voiced by the cast of Firefly and Six lets us actually feel something more for the characters than I believe was ever really possible before. That being said it's short, with my friends on heroic it only took 4 hours, I suppose with myself it would be longer but that first play through is always the one experience everything the best. You could say it's an expansion, but when I've looked at prices over here in England it's a whopping £5 cheaper, and I can see why people feel cheated.
Each sound within this game is something over game developers should note, from the wonderful sound the pistol makes when you shoot a grunts head, the voice actors to the great jazz score when searching New Mombasa each part flows into one another to a great affect. Having said that, I don't think I'll be the first person to complain about the audiofiles. Fun while it might be to track them down, actually trying to listen to them all should be a test for joining the SAS. To my amusement I found 343 studios did them and so I can continue on my merry way thinking that Bungie can do no wrong.
Apart from the whole multiplayer map thing. Firefight is fantastic, and possibly I think better than horde or nazi zombies (I refuse to pay out for the new nazi zombie maps mind so I might end up having an opinion change). If your friend has this game, at the very least you should go to his house and try firefight, it's a blast and guaranteed fun. The second disk however is quite unfair in my humble opinion. Ever since I paid for the Heroic halo DLC and it became free I on principle decided not to buy anymore. So for me ODST was great, I get a fun game and lots of new maps. For my friends and countless others however, they got three maps. Two of which I think suck balls. It's quite a slap in the face for people who supported Bungie to then buy them again. I know it's a gaming norm now to sell your fans down the river and Bungie isn't just to blame, but still that doesn't make it right to do the same wrong everyone else is. My urge to make a reference to WW2 and Germans is kicking in so I'll sum up.
Halo has always had a special place in my heart, over the years I've always been able to enjoy it with my friends, or by myself and I feel that if Reach wasn't in development this would have made for a great swansong for the series. Undoubtedly it has it's flaws, and the price is debatable but I feel that now I have it I dont regret my purchase, I don't regret the time I've spent on it and I don't regret getting all giggly when Caprica six and Mal... Tricia Helfer and Nathan Fillion bantered. I do however feel sorrow for those who brought the map packs, theirs a sad trend where those who jump at a chance to support their game and play new content end up being screwed over.
