The name, along with the press release stating that the game would "require players to employ more elements of stealth and cunning than ever before" quickly led to confusion and misinformation. The name was Halo 3: Recon and it would be a full, retail disc expansion to Halo 3. In early October 2008, Bungie and Microsoft finally offered some concrete facts on its next first-person Halo game. The juicy details wouldn't be revealed until the formal announcement a short while later. Dubbed "Keep it Clean," this brief video let us know the game would be related to Halo 3 and little else. After another countdown on Bungie's webpage in late September - this time allowed to reach its conclusion - the first teaser trailer was released. That time turned out to be the Tokyo Game Show. Before the timer could reach zero, though, the countdown was aborted and Bungie shortly thereafter posted an apology with the promise to unveil the new project at the "right time." In the lower corner sat a countdown clock. Bungie's official website began displaying a teaser that asked visitors to remain calm. The first public teasing of its existence came during the Electronic Entertainment Expo in July of 2008. What's In a Name? It's no exaggeration to say that Halo 3: ODST stumbled out of the gates. Additionally, it will offer all previously released Halo 3 maps as well as several new ones. This first-person shooter offers all of the same social features as Halo 3, including saved films, four-player on and offline co-op play, and adversarial multiplayer modes. From the original Halo creators, Bungie, this disc will offer all-new campaign levels played from the perspective of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. If Halo: ODST's fresh approach delivers on its potential, as far as I'm concerned, he can stay there.Halo 3: ODST is a stand-alone expansion of Halo 3 releasing in Fall 2009 for Xbox 360. Although the ODSTs' faces are disarmingly striking, I'm not convinced they're going to have an intellect or be anymore human than Marcus Fenix and his brothers-from-other-mothers.Īt the end of Halo 3, Master Chief put himself into cryogenic freezing. Sure, it's Halo at heart, and conversely "it's not a Splinter Cell game", as Bungie developer Lars Bakken put it, but the open, atmospheric world and mysterious story are quite sufficient for me to be very excited by ODST. Whereas, Halo 2 and 3 were safe, incremental sequels adhering to a winning formula, the sense of déjà vu this time round is far less noticeable. Whether the Rookie's more old-school health system will supersede Master Chief's regenerative shield as the health mechanic of choice will take many bouts of deathmatch to determine. This is easily the most significant tweak, and should make for a refreshing change, but otherwise multiplayer feels like business as usual. Despite your instincts telling you otherwise, ducking behind a wall to recuperate won't work anymore. Soon you take a beating and you realise how reliant on Master Chief's regenerative shield you've become. Firefight is simple: it's about four of you repelling waves of them, much like Gears of War's Horde mode. Sure, the Rookie's slower and can't jump as high, but they're subtle changes that you quickly forget about. Up everyone jumps eager to get a go on ODST, not just the new mode. That's the single player then, but what of multiplayer? The man from Bungie invites the rabble of journalists who've been staring at him for the past 20 minutes to a game of Firefight – the new co-op multiplayer mode. Halo 3 ODST Photograph: Copyright, Bungie Studios, 2006./PR After the grandiose, space-trekking plots of the previous titles, ODST is far more personal, focused on the lives of a few individuals rather than the struggles of entire races. The single player in ODST promises something quite different: a free-roaming, tenser game, sporadically mixed with bursts of classic Halo gunplay all wrapped up in a mysterious story as the Rookie tries to locate his fellow human beings. Halo 1, 2 and 3 were mixtures of intense corridor shooting and burning Warthogs through sunny, grassy tundras, all in a very linear fashion. Likewise, Tapping X brings up Rookie's night-vision VISR – crucial for spotting Covenant in the dark before they clock you.Īll this amounts to a dramatic change of atmosphere and pace. Packs of Covenant will show up on the map too, adding to your sense of vulnerability: go in guns blazing if you want, or use the map to avoid danger entirely. Bringing up the new map – an enhanced, almost 3D version the one in Fallout 3 – shows the entire city, a nightmarish playground for you to trek across in whatever order you see fit. Halo: ODST's biggest party trick is that New Mombasa is an open world. The HUD, the controls, the enemies – all are very Halo, but there are apocalyptic shades of Fallout here too.
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