No Elites for Halo 3: ODST

By Robert Purchese Published 26 January, 2009

Bungie favours Brute force.

Bungie has revealed that there are no Elites in Halo 3: ODST because the new villain doesn't like them.

That's according to the Bungie weekly update, which explains why only packs of Brutes were seen during the Halo 3: ODST teaser trailer.

Elites - think Arbiter from Halo 3 - are viewed by new baddie the Prophet of Truth as being "too splintered by heresy and derision". And he knows his faith will be returned ten-fold by the eager Brutes, making them the perfect pawns to carry out a dastardly plan.

There's a more detailed background on the Bungie site, but those yet to play or finish Halo 2 should beware: spoilers be here.

Halo 3: ODST acts as a prequel to Halo 3, and should offer "hours of new campaign" gameplay that represents "a lot of value", according to Bungie. Also, the prequel will be a standalone product, meaning there's no need to own Halo 3.

Halo 3: ODST will launch exclusively for Xbox 360 this autumn.

Head over to our Halo 3: ODST gamepage for more information.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • Dizzy #1 3 years ago

    Wort wort wort?

  • Moonprince #2 3 years ago

    That sucks, Elites were the better enemy to fight :/

  • Rash' #3 3 years ago

    variety is the spice of life...

  • mechamonkey #4 3 years ago

    Boo. Brutes are absolutely rubbish compared to Elites :(

  • Xerx3s #5 3 years ago

    Wooooort! wort wort!

    They where so much more awesome when they didn't speak english. :D

  • daz_john_smith #6 3 years ago

    Moonprince wrote:
    "That sucks, Elites were the better enemy to fight :/"

    +1

    I grow less and less interested in this the more I hear about it :(

    Halo is probably my favourite ever game, but, and I never thought I'd say this, perhaps Halo has had it's day

    P.S. Why still no quoting tags in the comments section?
    Edited by 2 at 26/01/09 @ 09:59

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #7 3 years ago

    I dunno. I like it when Brutes go apeshit (sorry) when you shoot their armour off.

    I agree, tho, that fighting the unintelligable Elites in Halo 1 is still the best experience of man-on-man combat.

  • thenastypasty #8 3 years ago

    i think this has got something to do with the halo bible, the time line does not allow the elites to be part of this part of the story ,its not a big issue just to be fighting brutes with the new game features in place.

  • DFawkes #9 3 years ago

    I hate Elites. I like them as characters (so loved Halo 2), but as enemies I thought they were a bit rubbish.

  • miiiguel #10 3 years ago

    This has something to do with the time line. Bungie are such a nerds... I like it that way.

  • Lutz #11 3 years ago

    Epic missed oppertunity.

  • Lutz #12 3 years ago

    miiguel: It's got nothing to do with the timeline. ODST (or Recon. Christ Recon was better than bloody ODST too) takes place just hours after Regret jumps from New Mombassa. At this point in the timeline the Elites are still loyal to the Prophets/Covenant, and the civil war hasn't happened, and the brutes haven't taken over as the honour guard.

    There should have been Elites in this... massivly missed chance there. I'd say at least 90% of Halo fans prefer fighting the (non-English) speaking Elites than the Brutes.

  • miiiguel #13 3 years ago

    Ok, I'll take that. Haven't read much about ODST. I just find it odd, coming from Bungie. They will definetly throw some other explanation then. Not so strong one, I'm affraid.

  • Razorus #14 3 years ago

    It's not gonna suck just because there are no Elites. I'm sure they have a good reason. This would take place as Lutz said, after the events of Halo 2. Maybe Truth ordered the Elites to leave or something? We'll see.

  • coolbritannia #15 3 years ago

    If you actually read Bungie's weekly update you'd see that the Prophet used the Elites for the initial attack on Earth, then took them all back with him, leaving the more loyal Brutes behind as he was about to fuck the Elites over big time.

    If you were on a religious crusade to recover the most holy artefact in the universe, you wouldn't leave it in the hands of the guys you were about to majorly piss off.

    The Halo 3 ad campaign that takes place in the same timeline as ODST reflects this, Brutes only in the live action Blomkamp shorts.

    Yes, i am a Halo nerd.
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/09 @ 12:58

  • Eraysor #16 3 years ago

    Shame really, the elites are a lot more interesting.

  • godslim #17 3 years ago

    Boy r they milking this money making series! Most over hyped over rated game ever!

  • miiiguel #18 3 years ago


    "godslim
    21-Jan-09 21:42:18 so many of u are such 360 and wii fan boys its not even funny!
    i was on the k2 beta and i have to say the game is bloody brilliant much better than killzone1 was!
    so stfu u nah sayers your judging a game even though u havent played it! "


    Funny...
    Edited by 1 at 26/01/09 @ 13:55

  • ViralNinja #19 3 years ago

    What a load of bollucks

    Elites - think Arbiter from Halo 3 (You know, for that one dude who HASN'T played a Halo game before) - are viewed by new baddie the Prophet of Truth (I'd hardly say that having the SAME baddie as in HALO 3 is "new";) as being "too splintered by heresy and derision" (or to put it another way, The Elites are on the good guys side, seriously, am I the only one who played HALO 2?). And he knows his faith will be returned ten-fold by the eager Brutes, making them the perfect pawns to carry out a dastardly plan (The plan to dig up some old relic thing and warp off into who knows where to the big halo machine that will destroy the frikkin universe as seen in HALO 3).

  • metalangel #20 3 years ago

    The ONLY good thing about the Brutes was when I shot one, and another nearby charged at me in a rage, screaming "He was my lover!"

  • autogunner #21 3 years ago

    snore...

  • VampiricEye #22 3 years ago

    Has a price been announced?