DAY 107 / GAME 107
Halo 3: ODST
It seems to me a lot of people weren't very happy with Halo 3: ODST, but for a lot of reasons it was my favorite of the series. (Not including Halo 4, I haven't tried that yet and I hear it's awesome.) As much as I've always enjoyed Halo in the past, especially for multiplayer, I've always found the single player campaign to be a little bit short and repetitive. I think I remember the end gauntlet in Halo 2 being almost the exact same as the end in Halo 1. There were a number of levels which were recycled from earlier levels within the same game and although I did enjoy it, there wasn't too much depth to the shooter mechanics. It relied on being solid and very playable.
ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) however was a fresh new take on the Halo series. Designed as a small side game to fill the development gap between Halo 3 and Halo: Reach, ODST's budget grew and ended up as a full sized AAA release. Rather than focusing on the Master Chief storyline, ODST returns to the events of Halo 2 where the Covenant launched an attack on Earth to follow a different group of soldiers.
Halo 3: ODST had a somewhat different pace. Instead of a straightforward gunfight from start to finish, ODST finds you following a team of elite soldiers who get divided during a drop. You search for clues as you make your way through the abandoned city of New Mombasa in Africa discovering what happened during the invasion, where your teammates ended up and what your secretive mission really entails. To add to all this, half of the voice actors that make up your team come from the cast of Firefly (Jayne, Wash and Mal.) and Nathan Fillion's likeness is used for ODST team leader Buck.
So, as a shock trooper and not the Master Chief, things handle a little differently. You take fall damage, your shields don't recharge and you have to find recharge stations and you can't dual wield big heavy weapons. On the upside you have the added VISR system. An overlay system that outlines structures and enemies pointing out weaknesses, helping navigate the darkness and showing locations of useful items along the way. There's also a nice little side story that you can discover as you access data ports in the city. It follows a young girl named Sadie who escapes the city with the help of it's AI system during the Covenant attack.
I really enjoyed the Halo 3: ODST single player campaign quite a bit. But one of the other reasons I really loved this game is simply because Denise got it for me. It's a rare thing when Denise buys me a game, even during Christmas and Birthdays and even then it's usually a game that I suggested on a list. But in the case of ODST Denise did some digging and found a game that was new, I wouldn't have bought yet and I was likely to enjoy. And so, I liked it that little extra more than if I had bought it for myself.
Halo 3: ODST
It seems to me a lot of people weren't very happy with Halo 3: ODST, but for a lot of reasons it was my favorite of the series. (Not including Halo 4, I haven't tried that yet and I hear it's awesome.) As much as I've always enjoyed Halo in the past, especially for multiplayer, I've always found the single player campaign to be a little bit short and repetitive. I think I remember the end gauntlet in Halo 2 being almost the exact same as the end in Halo 1. There were a number of levels which were recycled from earlier levels within the same game and although I did enjoy it, there wasn't too much depth to the shooter mechanics. It relied on being solid and very playable.ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) however was a fresh new take on the Halo series. Designed as a small side game to fill the development gap between Halo 3 and Halo: Reach, ODST's budget grew and ended up as a full sized AAA release. Rather than focusing on the Master Chief storyline, ODST returns to the events of Halo 2 where the Covenant launched an attack on Earth to follow a different group of soldiers.
Halo 3: ODST had a somewhat different pace. Instead of a straightforward gunfight from start to finish, ODST finds you following a team of elite soldiers who get divided during a drop. You search for clues as you make your way through the abandoned city of New Mombasa in Africa discovering what happened during the invasion, where your teammates ended up and what your secretive mission really entails. To add to all this, half of the voice actors that make up your team come from the cast of Firefly (Jayne, Wash and Mal.) and Nathan Fillion's likeness is used for ODST team leader Buck.
So, as a shock trooper and not the Master Chief, things handle a little differently. You take fall damage, your shields don't recharge and you have to find recharge stations and you can't dual wield big heavy weapons. On the upside you have the added VISR system. An overlay system that outlines structures and enemies pointing out weaknesses, helping navigate the darkness and showing locations of useful items along the way. There's also a nice little side story that you can discover as you access data ports in the city. It follows a young girl named Sadie who escapes the city with the help of it's AI system during the Covenant attack.
I really enjoyed the Halo 3: ODST single player campaign quite a bit. But one of the other reasons I really loved this game is simply because Denise got it for me. It's a rare thing when Denise buys me a game, even during Christmas and Birthdays and even then it's usually a game that I suggested on a list. But in the case of ODST Denise did some digging and found a game that was new, I wouldn't have bought yet and I was likely to enjoy. And so, I liked it that little extra more than if I had bought it for myself.
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