ODST Impressions.

[TheMuffinKing]

ODST aka, Halo 3 Milking the cashcow edition, is out. I found it entertaining and am glad I rented it, but after Halo 2 I really lost interest in the series. What are your impressions of it so far?

[Stark]

Los likes it, but he liked Halo3.

[Darksider]

Honestly, I like it better than regular Halo 3. I think the story presentation is a lot better (not like that would be hard), but i'm not that far into it. It's entirely possible that I just haven't seen the convoluted, bullshit plot holes yet.

[Stark]

You should already have seen the ugliness, though.

[TheMuffinKing]

Honestly, I like it better than regular Halo 3. I think the story presentation is a lot better (not like that would be hard), but i'm not that far into it. It's entirely possible that I just haven't seen the convoluted, bullshit plot holes yet.

The plot is free of hole as far as I can tell. It seems a little weird at first, depending on which objectives you get to first.

[Darksider]

You should already have seen the ugliness, though.

Erm, what?

If you're talking about the graphics, sure they aren't the best, but i'm not picky.

Also, the silenced pistol is great for killing grunts and jackals, but both it and the silenced SMG are fucking useless for killing brutes. Originally I was afraid that having a character that was so much weaker than the MC face off against brutes would be Bungie's way of adding fake difficulty to the game, but it isn't that much harder than Halo 3.

[Stark]

That's really common in reports, actually, and adds to it's dated, mission-pack reception. I was going to buy it until I heard what people thought of it.

[Darksider]

That's really common in reports, actually, and adds to it's dated, mission-pack reception. I was going to buy it until I heard what people thought of it.

it could have been a lot more fun if they'd kept the squad together, and forced you to use tactics against tougher enemies like brutes. Maybe add in a co-op campaign and it could be like trying to take down tougher Locust in Gears.

Of course, that would require bungie and Micro$oft to devote more than a minimum amount of time to the game.

It really does feel like an expansion pack, and nowhere near it's price in USD, so given the borderline extortion racket prices you poor bastards have to pay, it honestly isn't worth it.

My advice, wait a while 'till the local gamestop gets a used copy, then take advantage of their liberal return policy.

[Chardok]

sorry, I'd put it on my rent list, but I already played Halo 3 - Pass.

[Mr Bean]

It's Halo 3 but done just as well and with a fun little side story mission thing.
As noted at best it can be called Halo 3 the ODST expansion(Now with Plot!) it does nothing to really improve on Halo 3, it's Halo 3 over again.

Bottom line it's a 25.99$ game, maybe even a 29.99$ game. Something fun to waste a weekend on. 59.99$ it's sure as hell not for five hours of content.

[Losonti Tokash]

I bought this game for Firefight. I was not disappointed.

[General Zod]

I bought this game for Firefight. I was not disappointed.

Firefight = horde mode.

[Stark]

With bunnyhopping.

[Losonti Tokash]

I bought this game for Firefight. I was not disappointed.

Firefight = horde mode.

What's your point? They're the same concept but they don't really play the same, because, amazingly enough, Gears and Halo are different.

[Agent Fisher]

Well, bought it, played it, beat it.

Campaign took me about five hours on the first play through. Since I beat it, I've been replaying it, searching the city for all the audio files. Sadie's Story is a fun little thing to listen too.

Now, I understand this was Microsoft and Bungie making a quick buck, but I really do wish they would have expanded the campaign a bit, add more story to it, more bad guys and more friendlies. Maybe just some little scripted events every so often: Say you're the Rookie, sneaking around and you see a covie patrol and all of a sudden there's a small marine ambush. Something like that, show some sort of life to this city. I mean, it was only six hours after the Carrier jumped out of the city, so there should still be thousands of marines scattered throughout the place.

Weapons: I love the silenced pistol, easily one of the best tools of the game. I can put down grunts and jackals perfectly. Silenced SMG, fun, lacking in power, useless against anything bigger than a jackal. Assault Rifle? Bah, worthless as well. I would have much preferred a semi-automatic Battle Rifle, maybe with a silencer. Covie weapons are the best choice, the brute plasma rifle always seems to quickly replace my SMG.

Firefight: Haven't really played it since none of my friends haven't been on with the game to play with. Same deal with Co-Op campaign. And screw you bungie, you should have taken the time to make a fucking matchmaking setup for both those. It's very frustrating to not be able to enjoy half of what the game disc is for.


As for the second disc, and all the maps, meh, I had all but the newest three, so it wasn't really a big deal for me.

[DPDarkPrimus]

The campaign was a bit on the short side for me, but it played differently enough for me to enjoy the change. The overworld with the Rookie was the most interesting game-play wise, and I wish the flashback objects had been further apart so that you spent more time playing as him. I think it's a bit high-priced for most people at $60 but it's no doubt going to be on sale closer to the holidays.

Re: Firefight and no matchmaking - a player leaving Firefight ends the mission. You want the "end mission" button handed to three random Live players? Good luck getting through the first set.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Just got done with a long Firefight session with three Live friends, and it is some good times. A definite change from the player-versus-player Halo 3 multiplayer.

[Losonti Tokash]

As always, 4-player legendary coop is fantastic, although I probably shouldn't drive anymore:





By the way, the last level, when you get to the highway, walk past the warthog and into the offramp. There you'll find rocket launchers with 1,000 rounds. Definitely makes getting the Deja Vu achievement easier.

[Aaron]

A five hour campaign? Fuck, thats worse then Ghostbusters! I was thinking of picking this up but I'll just rent it and save my money for Dragon Age.

[Zac Naloen]

A five hour campaign? Fuck, thats worse then Ghostbusters! I was thinking of picking this up but I'll just rent it and save my money for Dragon Age.

It's an addon that Microsoft decided to stick a ridiculous price tag on nothing more, I got it for the price it's worth from Amazon UK because when they started preorders they didn't expect it to cost £40 and they have a price promise.


So far I absolutely suck at the campaign and keep dying trying to get through the Buck portion

[Vehrec]

A five hour campaign? Fuck, thats worse then Ghostbusters! I was thinking of picking this up but I'll just rent it and save my money for Dragon Age.

It's more accurately described as having a Campaign 70-80% the length of Halo 3 however long that took you to do. It will obviously be short on Easy or Normal, and that figure probably represents a normal difficulty playthrough. Hard and Legendary, as per the usual pattern for the games thus far extend the campaign by making you spend more time between cut scenes.

Really, Halo's become an albatross around Bungie's neck, because they can't change it significantly thanks to their suddenly acquired 'fanbase' of fratboys and such who loved the original and want more just like it. Altering the playstyle too much from that established so far would be likely to cause those 'fans' to abandon ship, so of course it plays like Master Chief lite (but not too lite). The sooner they move on to greener pastures and fresher ideas, the happier they and a lot of us will be.

[Sarevok]

With modding tools you can play some parts of halo1 as a marine. You have no shields, your speed is slower and you cant punch aliens to death. Just surviving grunts is a challenge, an elite is like a demon and hunters are death sentence. ODST could have recaptured that. It would be the easiest thing in the world to do. Just take vanilla halo 3 and give the player a vanilla marine to control. You dont need ten months of programming to do that. The experience of surviving with no motion tracker, shields etc would be very thrilling yet also hard. This is probably why they did not do it. They really wanted a halo lite with a reskinned master chief who also kills aliens left and right instead of a totally different way of playing the game as a hapless mook.

[TheMuffinKing]

With modding tools you can play some parts of halo1 as a marine. You have no shields, your speed is slower and you cant punch aliens to death. Just surviving grunts is a challenge, an elite is like a demon and hunters are death sentence. ODST could have recaptured that. It would be the easiest thing in the world to do. Just take vanilla halo 3 and give the player a vanilla marine to control. You dont need ten months of programming to do that. The experience of surviving with no motion tracker, shields etc would be very thrilling yet also hard. This is probably why they did not do it. They really wanted a halo lite with a reskinned master chief who also kills aliens left and right instead of a totally different way of playing the game as a hapless mook.

This was the experience I was hoping for and expecting. I was really looking forward to playing as a "normal" human soldier and having to utilize stealth and alternate routes throughout the city.

Speaking of alternate routes, they really dropped the ball in that instance. Fighting through such a huge city should have provided players with way more variation in the routes available, I'm thinking of more elevated walkways and actual indoor fighting through ruined and intact skyscrapers and stuff. Instead we have a slightly more open dungeon crawl with the player as mister chief.

I would purchase this game if it were an appropriately priced expansion (which it is), but 60$ is unjustifiable to me. I'm glad I rented it and in light of my complaints I did have a lot of fun. I just would have had more fun with ideas mentioned by Sarevok.

[Stark]

Yeah, I think everyone was expecting Rainbox Six Halo or something, instead of 'you're not Master Chief, but are instead this normal guy who is actually better'. The lol of the combat being exactly the same MC some normal guy kills 50+ Covenant in a single fight' stuff highlights Bungie's total creative bankruptcy (or their inability to change formula, as Sarevok said).

I even saw negative reviews saying 'but at least the Golden Triangle is intact'. First, the golden triangle is stupid. Second, it MAKES NO SENSE IF YOU'RE NOT MC. Oh well; I guess they forgot CoD4 was more successful than Halo3.

[TheMuffinKing]

Yeah, I think everyone was expecting Rainbox Six Halo or something, instead of 'you're not Master Chief, but are instead this normal guy who is actually better'. The lol of the combat being exactly the same MC some normal guy kills 50+ Covenant in a single fight' stuff highlights Bungie's total creative bankruptcy (or their inability to change formula, as Sarevok said).

I even saw negative reviews saying 'but at least the Golden Triangle is intact'. First, the golden triangle is stupid. Second, it MAKES NO SENSE IF YOU'RE NOT MC. Oh well; I guess they forgot CoD4 was more successful than Halo3.

Rainbow Six or even GRAW's style of gameplay would have been awesome, especially if you fought as a part of a squad. Hell, I'd dare say GRAW style gameplay would be my personal favorite and would prompt me to actually buy the game. Either playing style would be a refreshing change from the LOLBUNNYHOPCIRCLESTRAFE [offensive slur removed - Lagmonster] that is the hallmark of way to many games.