E3: Halo 3: ODST

By Christian Donlan Published 3 June, 2009

Drop-shocking feats.

If you're after four letters that tell you what a big deal the Halo franchise is, how about these: ODST. Try them out - only a series that's really put some big numbers on the board could follow them up with such a resolutely unsexy initialism. ODST sounds like a mid-western dairy farmers union, perhaps, or the name of a qualification you might need in order to operate a forklift truck. Both Bungie and Microsoft must be feeling pretty confident to let their favourite daughter go out on a Friday night dressed like that, then.

For those of you who don't spend your spare time forging personal-use Spartan armour out of old cereal boxes, or sketching complex political maps of Planet Harvest, ODST stands for Orbital Drop Shock Troops. They're futuristic super-commando types who plummet out of the sky in over-designed coffins prior to sending the Covenant to their graves, and after so long lurking in the fan fiction zone, they've finally stepped out of the Extended Universe and right into the starring role of the latest Halo game.

And while the exact status of that game remains in question - it comes on its own disk and is positively shiny with developer effort, but with that "3" in the title, it's always going to be judged as an expansion - it certainly kicks off with the practised grandeur of a company that's been doing this Halo stuff for quite a while now and knows how all the pieces work.

After a brief opening cut-scene that introduces your predictably gruff team-mates - you're the Rookie and you have to put up with the kind of friendly joshing from your squad which would have most people arranging an industrial tribunal - ODST injects you straight down through a gigantic battle raging in Earth's stratosphere, before crash-landing you into the city of New Mombassa, just after Master Chief left so explosively in the middle of Halo 2. Attack ships on fire indeed.

You wake up five hours later, with the city looking thoroughly stepped on, and from that point forwards, ODST splits in two: unfolding both as the Rookie explores the largely deserted midnight city, searching for the team-mates he's been separated from, as well as branching out into elaborate playable flashbacks from the perspectives of the rest of his squad whenever he finds a sign of their presence.

'E3: Halo 3: ODST' Screenshot 2

Four-player co-op is available in the campaign, and ODST supports save-films.

The flashback sections will be the most familiar to veterans of the series. The one we're shown may not have the most dazzling agenda - leaping into the role of ginger-haired hard-man Dutch, you start off by setting charges to blow up a bridge, which means that for the first few minutes, you're given the delightful task of following some way-pointers around - but it's Halo more or less as you know it: under a hazy afternoon sun, you've got team-mates fighting alongside you, and there's lots of chatter and wisecracking as you use the Spartan laser against the swarm of covenant troops trying to shell you from faraway Wraiths.

Rookie's mission, however, is something entirely different. Lost deep in the shattered city, the game unfolds in a beautifully-lit mess of buckled roads and malfunctioning street signs, while skyscrapers burn in the distance. It's a deserted and effortlessly mysterious environment, and with the action coming in the form of isolated encounters with small Covenant patrols, most of Rookie's mission is about puzzling things out - picking through the city, finding clues, and knitting together the pieces of a story which could very well turn out to be an inquest.

Bungie is describing ODST as a mystery, which sounds promising, and there are clear overtones of film noir, but you won't be walking the mean streets of New Mombassa entirely alone, as the enigmatic Superintendent is there beside you. An automating city-management computer, he's been watching your moves and wants to help, giving you a handy 3D map of the area with specific locations marked for you to investigate, and offering guidance whenever possible via New Mombassa's own video-screens.

In the early stages of the game such screens simply show you the way to your next objective and offer fairly comic pep talk, but it's exciting to imagine what a company like Bungie could do with such an unexpected companion, hopefully busting him out of the role of mere plot device and making him a crucial part of the story itself.

Whatever happens, it's probably a good thing that he's there, as a big part of the latest Halo is about reminding you that you aren't Master Chief anymore, and showing you what it's like to feel vulnerable. Not only is Rookie alone, but ODST can't jump as high or run as fast as the Spartans, and they don't have movement sensors, so you'll have to pick and choose your encounters rather than wading into every fight confident that you're a world-beater.

Bungie's even tweaked its famous health system once again to drive the point home, bringing back medipaks in the form of the city's health stations, and returning to something akin to the original Halo game's approach, with a small amount of rechargeable 'stamina' on top of a longer health bar which has to be replenished manually. On the plus side, however, new VISR display allows you a kind of night vision, while also differentiating enemy units from friends, and there are two ODST-specific weapons to screw around with: a silenced pistol, which can take off a grunt's head in one shot, even if it sounds like you're firing staples, and a silenced SMG.

'E3: Halo 3: ODST' Screenshot 3

The famous Halo purple has been joined by deep reds and oranges as the city burns.

The campaign is only half of any Halo, of course, and Bungie's also revealed a multiplayer mode called Firefight. Akin to Gears 2's Horde, it's a wave-based survival co-op game, supporting up to four players online or using System Link. Enemies attack in randomised rounds which build in intensity, and complication comes from the skulls system - different combinations of skulls becoming active as the game continues, inflicting a number of punishing conditions on you: maybe boosting the Covenant's health or improving their weapons, say, until, if you can last long enough, all of the skulls are in effect at once and the game becomes an exercise in high-score sadism.

With Bungie as control freakish as ever, the sequence the skulls fire in is fixed each time you play, but the developers are confident they've nailed the perfect arrangement, and given their commitment to playtesting, it's probably safe to let them have the benefit of the doubt. Playing Firefight on the show floor certainly reveals a meaty and highly challenging co-op game, in which teamwork - and often sticking fairly close together - is utterly essential for survival.

Taken as a whole, ODST is a fascinating prospect: sections of it suggest that it's business as normal, but other parts of it, where you're cut off from everybody and trading ballistic adventures for a purer form of urban exploration, hint at an entirely new side to such a well-travelled series. Lithe and mysterious where some found previous Halos to be a little bit windy, you've gone from galactic superhero to new boy, but that's unlikely to be the cause of too much disappointment.

Halo 3: ODST is due out for Xbox 360 on 22nd September.

Picture of Christian.

About Christian Donlan

Chris Donlan writes about games for Eurogamer and some magazines. His heroes include Eugene Jarvis, Errol Morris, and Linus Van Pelt.

Read more articles from Christian by visiting the Christian Donlan archive page.

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Comments (58) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • coolbritannia #1 3 years ago

    Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

  • Gearskin #2 3 years ago

    I think this'll be really really cool.

  • rotmm #3 3 years ago

    As I don't really play much MP, I can't really get excited about this too much.

  • Pro_Gamer #4 3 years ago

    This WILL be game of the year. No other shooter has EVER come close to the depth of HALO 3. I can't wait to pwn some n00bs, theres always a fresh load of them whenever some new maps come out. And at the same time, what does nintendo get? MORE MARIO?! LOL! :D

  • Yossarian #5 3 years ago

    Thanks for that incisive commentary on Halo: ODST, 'Pro_Gamer'.

  • Wastelander #6 3 years ago

    Jebus, those screens need some anti aliasing.

  • miiiguel #7 3 years ago

    The King is dead, long live the King!

  • bodypopper #8 3 years ago

    One day all shooters will have a Horde-type mode it seems. I'm looking at you, Doom IV...
    Edited by 1 at 03/06/09 @ 09:49

  • Dizzy #9 3 years ago

    Saw some Firefight games... looked great. On par with Horde and L4D co-op fun.

  • rotmm #10 3 years ago

    @Wastelander,

    On the plus side, at least they're not the usual bullshots we are so used to seeing these days.

  • miiiguel #11 3 years ago

    "One day all shooters will have a Horde-type mode it seems."
    All shooters? Try "all games". Even Halo Wars has a horde mode now.

    And, I think it was quite clever from MG Studios to give some protagonism to the "Drop-Shocking Freaks" in HW, I love them weirdos!

  • AphoticCosmos #12 3 years ago

    Glad I've got my pre-order, now ^_^

  • Wastelander #13 3 years ago

    All but the first screen are bullshots, we already know it'll look just like that first shot.
    The Halo3 engine is really starting to creak nowadays. The up-scaling is really apparent.

  • ObiChrisKenobi #14 3 years ago

    I'll buy it and wait till form my opinions until then. There's no doubt that Bungie are one of the most community driven developers out there (along with Valve), but there's no denying that the Halo Franchise has got a bit lazy and self repeating.

  • anomagnus #15 3 years ago

    i'll buy it

    i'll enjoy it

    but for fucks sake, give me the Master Chief

  • GamerG #16 3 years ago

    Number one (non Wii Fit) selling exclusive game of the year

    Called it

  • AphoticCosmos #17 3 years ago

    "i'll buy it

    i'll enjoy it

    but for fucks sake, give me the Master Chief"

    Really?

    I was getting a bit sick of the Chief TBH. It seems like the ODSTs will offer a different experience to the last 3.

  • Wastelander #18 3 years ago

    ODSTs are cooler than the chief.

    Black armour!

  • Chupakun #19 3 years ago

    Does anyone get a Star Wars: Republic Commando vibe from this game?
    Edited by 1 at 03/06/09 @ 10:42

  • Wastelander #20 3 years ago

    I see what you mean, good thing too, SW:RC is fantastic.

  • Darren #21 3 years ago

    I wasn't impressed with the brief footage shown during the E3 conference, it looks like the same old old to me even though you're not playing as Master Chief this time round. I noticed from the screenshots that the game still seems to be sub-720p and completely lacking in AA. Looks kind of dated and ugly to me, not what I'd expect from an exclusive Xbox 360 game at this point in its life.

    Meh, don't care for Halo much these days anyway. The series lost most if not all of its charm when it arrived on the 360, mostly because the gameplay has not evolved at all since Halo 2 and because graphically it was so underwhelming. Halo was all kinds of awesome on the Xbox, Halo 2 was also pretty good, alas glitchy and inferior, but I thought Halo 3 was only OK and sometimes dull, something I never thought I'd say about the series. It's the first Halo game I just couldn't be bothered to finish even though I got a good way through it. Never did care for the multiplayer either, which is what most people rate this game for anyway.

    Unless this game *does* turns out to be utterly exceptional and completely different to Halo 3 then I can't see myself buying it. There are much better, more exciting FPSs out there these days, Crysis for example, even Call of Duty.

  • schnide #22 3 years ago

    *set Pro_Gamer to ignore list*

    Halo could be so good if it took out the cartoonish elements of the enemies, beefed up the storyline (ie had a decent one) and stopped relying so much on past glories. I absolutely loved the first one, bar the flood, and they've got successively more dull relying on the multiplayer longevity instead.

  • b00n #23 3 years ago

    Chupakun, that would be great! Although don't think this will be very much the case if they play up the 'mysterious' side of it, and being a lonely trooper. Really looking forward to play this, but graphically the trailer that's available on the 360 kinda disappointed, especially the environments.

  • matrim83 #24 3 years ago

    Does anyone get a Star Wars: Republic Commando vibe from this game?

    Quite hanging around and get some Bacta soldier.

    SWRC needs a sequel. Never gonna happen though. :(

    Anyway this should be tons of fun. Sold.

  • miiiguel #25 3 years ago

    "Halo could be so good if it took out the cartoonish elements of the enemies"
    That's exaclty one of the reasons I like Halo, it doesn't try to be hyper-realistic, it has some "comic book" feeling that I love.

    And ffs, Halo 3 is much better than Halo 2.

    Darren and Crisys, lol! Dude, you say Crisys every time you post. You do love that game don't you (or you dig look at it? I didn't quite figure that part yet).
    Edited by 1 at 03/06/09 @ 10:57

  • AphoticCosmos #26 3 years ago

    @ Matrim83

    Totally. SWRC is an amazing game. It may be short but fuck me it's packed full of awesome stuff.

    LucasArts is announcing two new games today at 00:00 GMT [IIRC on GameSpot. One is rumoured to be BF3, and the other is NOT Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, any of the Lego projects or their other stuff in development, so I can but hope that it's SW:Imperial Commando.

    EDIT: Crysis is a great game, but that can't stop me loving Halo 3. I can run Crysis in 1080p at very high pretty damn well, and yes it does look pretty and has some awesome action, but that doesn't detract from the quality of Halo 3 IMHO. I played through Halo 3 co-op with a mate first time round and it was a highlight of my life a gamer. It was a very well put-together game, if short.
    Edited by 1 at 03/06/09 @ 11:07

  • muscleblade #27 3 years ago

    Darren always seem to rate games by the graphics. Gameplay is more important and Halo 3 has some of the best gameplay in any game to date. Games like COD4, Killzone 2 and Crysis isnt even close imo.

    Edit: Farticus beat me to it.
    Edited by 1 at 03/06/09 @ 11:12

  • mcmonkeyplc #28 3 years ago

    Halo is shit.

  • doragor #29 3 years ago

    Nice to see SW: RC getting the love here. When my 360 went RROD, I went straight back to this on the XBox. Love it... I've completed it 3 or 4 times I think. Typical Lucasian logic not making a sequel to one of the best Star Wars games ever made though.

    Oh and ODST looks really good.
    Edited by 1 at 03/06/09 @ 11:25

  • Wastelander #30 3 years ago

    I prefer Halo 3 to Crysis even if Halo 3 does look about 6 years old.

  • doragor #31 3 years ago

    can't help but notice a correlation between the presence of the word 'monkey' in a username and that user's chimp like mentality.

    *caresses ignore button*

  • darm #32 3 years ago

    Wow. There are lots of people here that seem to actually like Halo games. Still I'm sure it's all a great hoax. None of the people I know IRL can expain what's so great about Halo. It's just a generic quality shooter, no more, no less. Shooter fans like it, but why does it get sales figures as if everyone owning an Xbox buys it is a mystery. Why would it outperform Dooms, Half-Lifes, Quakes, Unreals and Gears of War? Any real reason?

  • muscleblade #33 3 years ago

    "Why would it outperform Dooms, Half-Lifes, Quakes, Unreals and Gears of War? Any real reason? "

    Because its better in almost every way.

  • Gearskin #34 3 years ago

    Halo 3's gameplay was amazing. No other shooter comes close to it. The variety. The random, emergeant events that play out. It's proper sand boxy, despite being linear at its core. You can play that campaign over and over and have a new experience.

  • miiiguel #35 3 years ago

    "Any real reason?"
    What the f*** is a real reason ? Can it be "because I have great fun playing it by myself and with my friends?", is that a "real reason"? Because I can get into a MP game and be part of the experiece even if I stop playing it from months and months? Because I can replay the campaign over and over in co-op with diferent ppl and get diferent kicks? I mean, idk... maybe there's no "real reason", but then again, I don't need one. Those "unreal" ones are the ones I'm looking for, in a game.

    Now, for the "real stuff" I'm going to analize these "real logs" and figure out why the firewalls stopped working at 5AM and I'm so tired...

  • Dizzy #36 3 years ago

    "Why would it outperform Dooms, Half-Lifes, Quakes, Unreals and Gears of War? Any real reason? "

    Because it is fun, balanced in multi and just a super well polished package. A few million play every day so there is plenty of action. It is, in many ways, the new CS.

  • AphoticCosmos #37 3 years ago

    As someone who loves Crysis, HL2 and lots of other of the very best shooters around, I really have to say that Halo 3 is right up there. It is loved not because it looks great but because it plays better than anything else out there. It's so simple, intuitive and perfectly designed in terms of FPS gameplay.

    Bungie don't have the best tech for a FPS out there, but they do have one hell of a game design team. They know how to make a coherent, balanced and ultimately fun shooter that ticks so many boxes that you don't care about graphical niggles here and there. Only a few other devs can do that for FPSes. Valve, CryTek, id and maybe a handful more, but you could count them on both hands.

    At no point during Halo 3's campaign were me or my mate bored - we were constantly occupied by what was on screen. Even HL2 and Crysis have their dull moments. It is just a masterpiece of how to create a thoroughly engaging game.

  • Gazza_UK #38 3 years ago

    Defensive much..

  • Sunyavadin #39 3 years ago

    Mmmmmmmm

  • MasterNameless #40 3 years ago

    farticusmaximus: "Darren you need to get some new material man, you've pretty much posted that same text over and over and over and over and over for the last few months. "

    IRONY OVERLOAD! Except it's been years in your case. :/

  • YourMessageHere #41 3 years ago

    I wonder what it says about me that I want to play this, but from the POV of the Superintendent?

    While everyone's opinion is equally valid, I don't think it's really sensible to say that Halo is better than *.* because it's more fun, or it's some sort of pinnacle of gameplay. That's purely in the eye of the beholder. It had its moments, but overall I was very bored by Halo, and I feel most of iD, Valve or Monolith's output beats it easily.

  • Gecks #42 3 years ago

    i think the single most impressive thing about the halo series is the way the physics engine integrates into the game. everything seems so solid and consistent, and even to this day people are finding weird little things, like how sticky grenades can stick to spike grenades in midair, or rockets getting diverted by explosions. it really is a master-class in engine design.

  • lambtron #43 3 years ago

    "Why would it outperform Dooms, Half-Lifes, Quakes, Unreals and Gears of War?"

    Doom III was poor.
    Quake - how long ago was the last Quake!!
    Unreal - only good one was the original UT, the rest are bobbins.

    By all means have a go at Halo but don't accuse it of being generic and then reel of a list of other generic shooters (I admit HalfLife was good ;)).

  • muscleblade #44 3 years ago

    "Saw some Firefight games... looked great. On par with Horde and L4D co-op fun. "

    Could it be better. I guess not. Horde and L4D with friends is the best there is.

  • Widge #45 3 years ago

    Halo is one of about 3 FPS's I've enjoyed on a console. That, Bioshock and Killzone 2. Everything else just hasn't had the impact.

  • Widge #46 3 years ago

    I can't count L4D as I play on PC!

  • RedSparrows #47 3 years ago

    do want.

    I am an unashamed Halo whore.

  • daz_john_smith #48 3 years ago

    I wonder how much it'll cost considering it is sort of an expansion.

    Ouch! Amazon currently have it down as £37.95
    Edited by 1 at 03/06/09 @ 14:09

  • AphoticCosmos #49 3 years ago

    Yeah I was quite surprised at the cost - I mean sure the campaign will be good, but it will be short. I would've put an RRP at £33 or less. I've got a pre-order anyway, and hope that the price might slide a bit.

    Still they're throwing in a new map pack with it.

  • muscleblade #50 3 years ago

    Pretty sure it will be full price here in Norway, wich means 60£. The retailers usually dont follow the recommended budget prices. The Megadrive collection cost 60£ over here. Do i care. Not really.

  • The_Bloody_Kettle #51 3 years ago

    It'll be full price, as it's a full game. It's not some sort of tacky add-on.
    I think the '3' is there to show it's not halo-4.

    And this is the game I am most excited about :).

  • muscleblade #52 3 years ago

    @The_Bloody_Kettle

    This will offer more than most other full retail releases imo. High quality 4 player coop campaign, awesome multiplayer and Firefight coop mode.

  • Gearskin #53 3 years ago

    People didn't balk at the lack of content when L4D was released at full price.

  • Widge #54 3 years ago

    I did.
    Full price for L4D = no, £13 from Steam = yes

  • Moonprince #55 3 years ago

    Also do want, more of the same but no bad thing.

    Funny to see people out this as best FPS though... I think Halo is great for what it is but the MW2 demo made it look dated.

  • muscleblade #56 3 years ago

    I dont think you get it. COD4 had a very scripted campiagn. It will play out the same each time you play it. Games like Halo 3 and L4D may look dated compared to COD4 for example but offer a lot more variety in the gameplay. The best looking games dont offer this. You have to choose and i prefer gameplay over a very good looking tightly scripted campaign.

  • Sycopat #57 3 years ago

    Woot for Blade Runner reference!

    I'm not the biggest of Halo fans tbh, it's alright and it plays well enough but I find it to be a bit generic and nonsensical (Despite being a sci-fi fan). I certainly wouldn't rate it as good as COD 4 or HL2, but it's still up at the top end of the FPS spectrum. That said I'll probably still pick this up once its made it's money and the price drops a bit, it looks pretty nifty.

  • RedSparrows #58 3 years ago

    How the fuck someone can say Halo is generic (sci fi: yes, gameplay: not so much) and then praise CoD4 is beyond me.

    Ah wellz.