ODST reactions

[Frybird]

Played a bit with a copy my friend bought.

The changed gameplay leaves me a bit on the fence...on one hand, being more vunerable adds a nice challenge to the game, on the other hand, it can be a bit annoying since ODST is still pretty much run and gun and running out of ammo in such a game just feels wrong.
Other than that, i liked the story so far and the slightly different visual style (the "hints" that are given to you through the superintendent are pretty cool), but it's not THAT different from Halo, for better AND worse.

However, i think the Firefight Mode is the real highlight of the game. It may be really really unfair (IMO), but it's really fun and makes the best out of Bungies Gameplay concept.

In the end, i am not really compelled to buy it, but its still a nice game, even if it is not really "special"

 

[michael_ab]

Is ... is this the internet? Complete sentences ... no insinuations about my homosexuality ... where am I?

...And welcome to the Escapist. Watch the for the falling hammers and avoid Halo, religion, versus, communism/socialist, and American politics threads.

ha, funny how halo is the only game that people should avoid making threads of, whats worse is i cant think of any other game to fall under that clasification

 

[Rhatar Khurin]

Nice trailers and stuff, but again it's just Halo so it's 100% MEH!

 

[Kermi]

The "romance" between Dare and Buck was so incredibly trite as to be borderline offensive.

If I have to agree with one thing in your review, it's this. It was the one thing about ODST I truly did not like. Dare could have been a reasonably badass character. Instead they turn her into some lame princess needing to be rescued by leaping into Buck's arms as soon as he turns up after dicking around all day.

I liked the story, the characters served their purpose. I wasn't expecting a huge deviation from the Halo story style and gameplay we've become accustomed to. ODST doesn't need matchmaking, it has Halo 3 matchmaking - because it it's core, i.e.: the game engine, it's still Halo 3. You have the Halo 3 disc right there to go and find friends to co-op/firefight with, so complaining about no matchmaking is just nitpicking.

In a post-GTAIV world, it takes a lot to make a city feel lived in and real, and Bungie failed pretty spectacularly here.

New Mombasa was deserted when the Covenant landed, something you should have known or at least picked up in the "mundane" audio logs you referred to. It wasn't supposed to feel lived in, it's a ghost town. The New Mombasa from ODST was no worse than the New Mombasa from Halo 2.

You should have looked harder, this is the third ODST post this since Saturday today, and this month alone has yielded at least five per day.

Fixed.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

It was the first Halo game I really enjoyed actually.

The quiet atmosphere and slow nature of the game made me take the time to experiment and play around with various weapons and tactics.

It was then I realised that the weapon set is incredibly well balanced, the enemy AI is very clever and the big sandbox levels suit the flanking and shooting really well.

It made me go back and play Halo 3 again, which I'm glad for because I enjoyed it much more second time around.

Say what you will about the franchise, but it's one of the most functional, balanced, technically perfect shooters out there.

Oh and ODST gets extra points because it had NO FLOOD.

 

[L3m0n_L1m3]

Oh and ODST gets extra points because it had NO FLOOD.

Yeah, I definitely loved that about ODST. Finally a Halo game without the flood.

And I'm not sure if Halo Wars had it or not, either way I'm not counting it.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

I only own Halo 3 and Halo 3 ODST. I think ODST is better than Halo 3. BUT, only worth the money if you didnt already have the maps (which i didnt)

Alll in all, I like the game

 

[Nightmare963]

It's. Just. Halo.

 

[Iskenator67]

I'm sick of hearing about it. I can't go to any website, walk into any store, or go to any public assembly of any kind without hearing about it. People are acting like it's the second coming of Christ. It hasn't been this bad since the release of Halo 2. if you like a game you give a good recommendation. You don't elevate it to this level of worship. I have literally, I shit you not, saw a person pray that Halo 3 ODST appear in there mailbox soon. It's just a game. I love RE4 but you don't see me going everywhere raving about it. I was going to rent it but it's so over hyped I'm avoiding it now.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I have literally, I shit you not, saw a person pray that Halo 3 ODST appear in there mailbox soon. It's just a game. I love RE4 but you don't see me going everywhere raving about it. I was going to rent it but it's so over hyped I'm avoiding it now.

I saw people doing the same over the rerelease of Street Fighter IV, and others are doing it right now with COD:MW2. It's the people, not the game.

I quite enjoyed ODST, and I think I'm going to get my money's worth out of it. I've already spent a lot of time in the campaign looking for audio logs and replaying the "flashback" missions, and I'll play through at least once more to finish it on "Legendary". Firefight's a hoot, I just wish I had more time to play it. And I got the Special Edition because the controller that came with my console is starting to get elderly, and the SE was less expensive than ODST on its own plus a replacement wireless controller on its own.

Simply, I like the game and find it fun and don't flinch at the price because I've already spent more time and enjoyed it more than I would have been able to stretch %60 worth of movie tickets.

-- Steve

 

[irishstormtrooper]

From someone who has only played ODST and Firefight, I kinda liked it, but I'm a Halo n00b, so what do I know?

 

[Smituta]

Honestly though, your review read fairly badly. Your creative in your choise of wording, but gave no evidence or basis for your opinions. If you swapped out "Halo 3: ODST" for any other game, no-one would notice.

This is a rather strange comment. If you look back at my original post, it is most definitely specific about what I found the failings of the game to be. Just because its not in a bulleted list doesn't mean it's not specific.

New Mombasa was deserted when the Covenant landed, something you should have known or at least picked up in the "mundane" audio logs you referred to. It wasn't supposed to feel lived in, it's a ghost town. The New Mombasa from ODST was no worse than the New Mombasa from Halo 2.

Trust me, I *know* the city was deserted, hastily at that. I was being TOLD through all of Halo 2, 3, and ODST that it was deserted. But it never FELT that way. I never saw signs of life in the city. I never got that sense that anyone ever lived there. It never felt like life existed, or was abandoned. Even the random cars and bunt-out warthogs didn't make me feel like a war has just occured. It all felt like a set, a very dull, repetitive set, that Bungie would just drop little props into. It's 2552 during ODST, and I'm sure a city of New Mombossa's size was (in Halo lore) a mega city for at least one hundred years. Why does everything look so damn new, then? It takes a lot for a city to feel abandoned and not just empty, and in ODST it just felt empty.

Also, I know it looked the same in Halo 2. That was last-gen! They can't spare the polygons and make it feel real? The fact that it did look so much like Halo 2's NM is really disappointing, IMO.

And I'll say it again. No matchmaking in Firefight is a pretty huge flaw. I don't WANT to have to go play Halo 3 to get people on my friend's list so I can swap discs and play Firefight. Can you tell me the mode would not be instantly better if you could get into a full four-player game any time you want? Methinks Bungie wants to keep the Halo 3 pastures green for future map packs.

 

[JaredXE]

My first reaction: "HA! My friend paid $60 for nothing more than a DLC? What an idiot."

My second reaction: "Oooh, Mal from Firefly, that's cool. The 'campaign' is still shit though, my first opinion still stands."

 

[scotth266]

Not worth $60. Whatever Bungie says, it's still a fucking expansion.

It's not just Bungie saying that it isn't an expansion. I bought it for $60, and found it well worth the purchase.

Did you actually play ODST? Your second statement leads me to think otherwise. I would ask that you at least play through the campaign before making judgments about how much the game is worth.

 

[DrunkWithPower]

Is ... is this the internet? Complete sentences ... no insinuations about my homosexuality ... where am I?

We aren't 4chan.

Just make sure you familiarize yourself with the different boards and don't start a flame war or troll. As long as you are half decent, we will not screw around with you.

Also, familiarize yourself with the Quote button.

And welcome to the Escapist. Watch the for the falling hammers and avoid Halo, religion, versus, communism/socialist, and American politics threads.

You forgot cake and zombie threads . Anywho, from what I've played, firefight is a win and everything else is meh.

 

[bcponpcp27]

Despite not being a fanboy, I really liked it quite a bit. The combat was fun, as was the new health system. Having the fall damage be more realistic is a nice addition as well. I kind missed duel wielding, but I suppose that makes perfect sense. Also, I noticed that weapons I had previously ignored (plasma pistol) were very useful now, they made brute killing so much easier. The story was my favorite of the series (I didn't like the whole "the world is ending and YOU have to save it" too generic for my tastes). This little side track is a nice addition.

Multiplayer wise, I didn't have any of the map packs, increasing the value significantly for me. One disappointment though was that firefight is only playable with friends at home or over XBL.

 

[Serithil Menelith]

Taking one look at this game I thought "Oh by the Aesir... Change, errrr.... This could be bad" seeing as when any game company gets out of their "comfort zone" they tend to fall face first into some rather "tasty" fecal matter. Anyways, after playing the game for a while I'd discovered I liked this new interesting twist they had done with the Halo franchise.. seeing as the only new innovative thing out of it was Halo Wars, which was Okay in of itself. Now while bungie didn't really take any huge leaps of faith with this.. shall we say "Expansion" it was quite good in the sense it made things fresh enough without drawing us away from what we're familiar too, now that doesn't contain balls or anything quite a safe move on Bungie's part.

The new VISR mode really did make the game a little bit more handy, while I myself didn't use it all that often unless I had to find one of those Audio Logs or get the Achievement to kill five whatevers while VISR mode was turned on in the dark but meh.. People who can't see in the dark will love it I suppose.

However Firefight is where the most entertaining part laid, simply because when you get four friends togeather who are used to squad based movements to kick some serious ass (Left 4 Dead for example) and are all rather spontaneous, fun and crazy you've got a good hour worth of all hell breaking loose. While I myself have learned to kill Brute Chieftains with a flick of my wrist which makes me a valuable part of the team. Firefight offers some fun survival and some pretty damn easy Achievements to snatch for those Anchovy(Achievement) Whore's out there.

While the story mode lacked in much well... um story to say, I have played games with less story but I guess I'm just used to Biowares games now and expect a higher level of bad-asstardness in the story elements department. I just found that you could only get a real good story in the game if you actually took the time to find all of the Audio logs that are in the game, without those the story loses some of it's flavor and people miss out on some meaningful plot points.

Well I've really got not much else to say so I'll leave it as this, Good-day my fellow Blokes

 

[Poomanchu745]

Can't wait for the ZP review.

There won't be a ZP review. The game is the same as every other Halo game and if I assume correctly from past Halo reviews Yahtzee doesn't like the franchise and feels its bleh overall. There's your review!