I thoroughly hate Halo, yet I'm interested in ODST?

[Lovelocke]

Question mark at the end reinforces my confusion. See, I've been told by a couple of people that "ODST" is "better" than Halo 3, but in my mind I can't imagine how that could be... my understanding of it is that it's basically an over-glorified expansion pack, but they claim enough of the core mechanics of ODST has been changed that make it more of an "actual" FPS than Halo 3 was.

My main gripe about the Halo franchise, aside from the screamingly generic protagonist was that the game looked like a "lol we can do nightclub lighting EVERYWHERE" sci-fi shooter with unimaginative enemies and level design that you would often have to double and triple-back through to complete: Objectives were vague, multiplayer was floaty and dominated by children screaming into microphones because you can't rocket jump and throw 10 sticky bombs that kill 30 enemies, and everything... EVERYTHING... felt like a carbon copy of failed elements in other FPSes that, when combined, came out "in time" to satiate starving Xbox owners during the original console's underfed run.

But, that's what makes Halo a bad game *for me*... you might love it more than traditional FPSes like Doom or Quake, but that may be because Halo was the first FPS you played as a child (which, no offense, is just the difference in our age groups).

People have told me that ODST is about as different from Halo as Fallout 3 was from Oblivion: And where I loved Fallout but couldn't get into Oblivion, people believe I'll get the same type of enjoyment from ODST.

Thoughts? If its worth a shot, I'll go and buy it *tonight*. If its not, then... well, I guess I'll install the Zeno Clash thing I bought during the Steam sale this week.

 

[Chunko]

Question mark at the end reinforces my confusion. See, I've been told by a couple of people that "ODST" is "better" than Halo 3, but in my mind I can't imagine how that could be... my understanding of it is that it's basically an over-glorified expansion pack, but they claim enough of the core mechanics of ODST has been changed that make it more of an "actual" FPS than Halo 3 was.

My main gripe about the Halo franchise, aside from the screamingly generic protagonist was that the game looked like a "lol we can do nightclub lighting EVERYWHERE" sci-fi shooter with unimaginative enemies and level design that you would often have to double and triple-back through to complete: Objectives were vague, multiplayer was floaty and dominated by children screaming into microphones because you can't rocket jump and throw 10 sticky bombs that kill 30 enemies, and everything... EVERYTHING... felt like a carbon copy of failed elements in other FPSes that, when combined, came out "in time" to satiate starving Xbox owners during the original console's underfed run.

But, that's what makes Halo a bad game *for me*... you might love it more than traditional FPSes like Doom or Quake, but that may be because Halo was the first FPS you played as a child (which, no offense, is just the difference in our age groups).

People have told me that ODST is about as different from Halo as Fallout 3 was from Oblivion: And where I loved Fallout but couldn't get into Oblivion, people believe I'll get the same type of enjoyment from ODST.

Thoughts? If its worth a shot, I'll go and buy it *tonight*. If its not, then... well, I guess I'll install the Zeno Clash thing I bought during the Steam sale this week.

You should probably rent it. It's one of the best shooters I've ever played, but it's far too short to buy. It's nothing like Halo 3. Give it a shot.

Another thing worth mentioning is that it has non-linear sections, as well as dark levels. The gameplay is very varied, and the game as a whole has a great framing device.

 

[Citrus]

Hated Halo 3, hated Halo ODST.

The changes didn't do anything for me. I was like you, though; it looked interesting and I figured I might like it despite hating Halo 3. But that was not the case. If you want to play it and find out for yourself, feel free, but I wouldn't buy it if I were you. I just played it at a friend's house, personally.

 

[Sassafrass]

In my eyes, it's completely different from Halo 3.
You're no longer super-powered, can't take obscene amounts of bullets and it forces you to think tactically where as in Halo 3, the most tactical I ever got was "CHARGE!!!" In ODST, I found myself flanking more and having to think "How will I get to my objective with out getting cut to pieces?" which adds a new dimension onto the game play.
Also, the music is brilliant and the storyline is well done and adds a fresh shot of energy into the story telling, but that's just the slight fan boy in me speaking.

The best bet for you is to rent it and then if you like, try and find it cheap or second-hand.

 

[PsiMatrix]

Okay;

Co-op multiplayer aka "Firefight". 1 to 4 players battling post-seperatist Covenant forces in a fixed location. A skirmish/survival mode where the enemies gradually get more difficult to take down as more skulls are activated. As more and more skulls activate it gets a lot more fast and furious and the bonus levels to gain extra lives get truly manic.

Campaign. A bit more narrative that was missing from Halo 3 as well as the star power of half the Firefly cast in Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin and Nathan Fillion as well as Tricia Helfler, Six from Battlestar Galactica. Shields are replaced with Stamina which sounds kinda stupid at first but actually makes you think more about tactics than just mindlessly flailing into battle (especially on Normal and above).


The game is far more galvanised than Halo 3. I thoroughly enoyed it as did a close friend who said he preferred it over Halo 3.

 

[SantoUno]

Question mark at the end reinforces my confusion. See, I've been told by a couple of people that "ODST" is "better" than Halo 3, but in my mind I can't imagine how that could be... my understanding of it is that it's basically an over-glorified expansion pack, but they claim enough of the core mechanics of ODST has been changed that make it more of an "actual" FPS than Halo 3 was.

My main gripe about the Halo franchise, aside from the screamingly generic protagonist was that the game looked like a "lol we can do nightclub lighting EVERYWHERE" sci-fi shooter with unimaginative enemies and level design that you would often have to double and triple-back through to complete: Objectives were vague, multiplayer was floaty and dominated by children screaming into microphones because you can't rocket jump and throw 10 sticky bombs that kill 30 enemies, and everything... EVERYTHING... felt like a carbon copy of failed elements in other FPSes that, when combined, came out "in time" to satiate starving Xbox owners during the original console's underfed run.

But, that's what makes Halo a bad game *for me*... you might love it more than traditional FPSes like Doom or Quake, but that may be because Halo was the first FPS you played as a child (which, no offense, is just the difference in our age groups).

People have told me that ODST is about as different from Halo as Fallout 3 was from Oblivion: And where I loved Fallout but couldn't get into Oblivion, people believe I'll get the same type of enjoyment from ODST.

Thoughts? If its worth a shot, I'll go and buy it *tonight*. If its not, then... well, I guess I'll install the Zeno Clash thing I bought during the Steam sale this week.

Definitely rent it just to try it out and not waste money if you do not like it.

 

[Brad Shepard]

Question mark at the end reinforces my confusion. See, I've been told by a couple of people that "ODST" is "better" than Halo 3, but in my mind I can't imagine how that could be... my understanding of it is that it's basically an over-glorified expansion pack, but they claim enough of the core mechanics of ODST has been changed that make it more of an "actual" FPS than Halo 3 was.

My main gripe about the Halo franchise, aside from the screamingly generic protagonist was that the game looked like a "lol we can do nightclub lighting EVERYWHERE" sci-fi shooter with unimaginative enemies and level design that you would often have to double and triple-back through to complete: Objectives were vague, multiplayer was floaty and dominated by children screaming into microphones because you can't rocket jump and throw 10 sticky bombs that kill 30 enemies, and everything... EVERYTHING... felt like a carbon copy of failed elements in other FPSes that, when combined, came out "in time" to satiate starving Xbox owners during the original console's underfed run.

But, that's what makes Halo a bad game *for me*... you might love it more than traditional FPSes like Doom or Quake, but that may be because Halo was the first FPS you played as a child (which, no offense, is just the difference in our age groups).

People have told me that ODST is about as different from Halo as Fallout 3 was from Oblivion: And where I loved Fallout but couldn't get into Oblivion, people believe I'll get the same type of enjoyment from ODST.

Thoughts? If its worth a shot, I'll go and buy it *tonight*. If its not, then... well, I guess I'll install the Zeno Clash thing I bought during the Steam sale this week.

ODST is really good, not like 3 at all, it feels like a compleatley different game to me.

 

[Lovelocke]

Guess its time to do the Gamefly trial, huh? I refuse to pay the $10 for 3 day rental we have at Blockbuster in town... no wonder they're closing down so many stores.

Also, I should mention that I *do* have Gears of War 2, and I do like playing it's survival mode (think its called Horde?)... I also hear a similar mode in ODST is "just as good", but again, would you say it warrants a whole separate purchase or should I just stick to GoW2?

...and who would like play? Heh... add me sometime, sexy guys.

 

[Pimppeter2]

It really is just more Halo.

Doesn't mean that you won't enjoy it, but realize that its not a complete restructuring of the series

 

[sneakypenguin]

Game is worth it just for the music while walking through new mombosa. I love the jazzy feel to it, not to mention the graphics engine has improved since 3. Facial animations still suck.It plays the exact same as halo 3 though, there is no tactics needed other than evade+cover+grenades+fire+ melee last guy. Heck you died in 2-3 hits in halo 3 you die in 2-3 hits in ODST (legendary).

 

[The Bandit]

Why do I get the feeling that you made this post just to bash Halo?

On topic: ODST was the best of the series. And I like Halo. Our opinion isn't going to help you though, so I'm not sure why you're asking us. Go rent it.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

ODST isn't bad. It's more like Halo: CE than 2 or 3, except a little more balanced, and has a decent storyline.

Worst part is that even though the game is very very very pretty, facial animations really show the engine's age.

 

[WolfThomas]

I'm interested simply because of Malcolm Reynolds, Jayne Cobbs and Hoban Washburne's (they have NO other names) involvement in it.

 

[Lovelocke]

Why do I get the feeling that you made this post just to bash Halo?

I really didn't, though I wouldn't be too shy to do that. I have literally two friends that pester me to buy the game, but they also pestered me to buy GTA4 (which I was already interested in) and stopped playing about two weeks in... good thing it had a great solo component and was still worth it in the end.

I know it's crazy to assume ODST would have similar depth/value as GTA4 did, but I mean... I don't like buying FPSes on consoles in general if it's not fun to play via Multiplayer (offline or online). Loved Timesplitters due to level building + offline versus (they haven't make one for the 360, have they?), loved Perfect Dark (N64) due to just plain amazing multiplayer... really pushed the N64 hardware to its limits. If I wouldn't get the same "fun" out of it, I really don't want it

 

[Jekken6]

Halo 3: ODST is a decent game. Either rent it, borrow off a friend or wait until it drops to expansion pack price.

 

[Mungular]

halo is pretty overrated and not good at all you dont even havta shoot the guys you can just run past most of them. fail. half life 2 ftw

 

[Vrex360]

Well I personally think Halo is a good game and I would disagree with a lot of your points about the franchise, quite strongly, but hey I can respect your opinion even if I don't agree with it and I can perfectly understand Halo not being your cup of tea. Even though just for the record, not wishing to sound too fanboy here but maybe be a little more level headed when you explain why you don't like something instead of get aggressive because that can lead to a negative response to your opinions which I'm sure isn't the intended response.

As for the topic: Well Halo 3: ODST I liked as a slower more tactical approach to gameplay, it isn't a major advancement of the Halo experiance but of course loyal fans would appreciate that. However if the original Halo experiance didn't really appeal to you I'm not sure how you'd react to a very similar experiance but I'm guessing you wouldn't like it that much. But hey in my own opinion one must always keep an open mind and not have preconcieved notions about what a game might be, don't take my word for it... give it a rent and if you like it you like it if you don't you don't.

p.s: I would still classify Halo 3 as an actual FPS given that you shoot things and it is viewed from first person.

 

[Dark Knifer]

Well I personally think Halo is a good game and I would disagree with a lot of your points about the franchise, quite strongly, but hey I can respect your opinion even if I don't agree with it and I can perfectly understand Halo not being your cup of tea. Even though just for the record, not wishing to sound too fanboy here but maybe be a little more level headed when you explain why you don't like something instead of get aggressive because that can lead to a negative response to your opinions which I'm sure isn't the intended response.

As for the topic: Well Halo 3: ODST I liked as a slower more tactical approach to gameplay, it isn't a major advancement of the Halo experiance but of course loyal fans would appreciate that. However if the original Halo experiance didn't really appeal to you I'm not sure how you'd react to a very similar experiance but I'm guessing you wouldn't like it that much. But hey in my own opinion one must always keep an open mind and not have preconcieved notions about what a game might be, don't take my word for it... give it a rent and if you like it you like it if you don't you don't.

p.s: I would still classify Halo 3 as an actual FPS given that you shoot things and it is viewed from first person.

Yeah, this pretty much sums up my opinion, since I can't be bothered rewriting it.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

While I respect your opinion, I can tell already that Halo 3 was your first experience with the series, and I think that was a bit of a mistake. To really appreciate it for what it is, I think it's better if you go and play the first game. Halo: Combat Evolved had a much better balance of plot, pacing, gameplay, and atmosphere that trumps the sequels.

I think you should try ODST because that's a balance of the Halo 1 elements (health meter, no dual wielding, night vision, etc.) with a much better storyline and characters. Oh and the graphics have improved slightly. I.E. It doesn't have the same "Night-Club Visuals" you described earlier. Just try and find the first game on the Xbox, or the PC if you can't find that version, and play that. If you like it, give ODST a shot.

 

[SomethingUnrelated]

Give it a shot; you never know what'll happen.