Friday
Sep252009
Review - Halo 3: ODST
September 25, 2009
...
Over the last two days, I got the wonderful opportunity to sit down with friends and family and plug in the newest addition to the Halo franchise.
Halo 3 ODST has a little bit of a deceiving title, as the game itself is built and rooted in Halo 3 and it's physics, but story is based (from what I understand) during the events of Halo 2. That story, is what I'd like to focus on here in the review. Though the gameplay is does have a very pivotal part in any game, for this review, I'm going to attempt to approach it like one of my many film reviews.
And so, like my film reviews, I'm not going to give any plot points or spoilers out. If you don't know what the game is about, what console it's for, or what the hell I'm talking about, try bungie.net or xbox.com.
Something I'm having trouble with in reviewing this game is NOT comparing it to it's cousins in the rest Halo series. I say Cousins, because ODST is a different beast then Halo, Halo 2 or Halo 3, especially narratively. For the first time in the series we not only take the point of view of an unsuper human, but we also play from more then 2 character's perspectives. Bungie has played with multiple character perspective's before in Halo 2, as you could play as the alien Arbiter as well as The Master Chief, with mixed results and mixed player response. I found this wonderfully refreshing veiw of the Halo universe though, as I was interested to hear what each character brough to the table.
That's a big review point too, the character's in this game are wonderful. I could be a little biased as Nathan Fillion is a born and bread Edmontonian, but he was easily my favorite character in the game. His character model looked really good, his voice acting, while a little stiff at the beginning of the game, is great by time you start getting into it. His off the cuff lines in the multiplayer mode Firefight are absolutely hilarious as well, spouting great lines like "Bam said the lady." Firefly alumni Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin also lend the voices and lead to some wonderful back and forth banter. I found Baldwin's character great for some comic relief in his part of the story. The character of Romeo unfortunately was my least favorite character as he was kind of a jerk (I'd love to find out who played him), but maybe my dislike is just a testament to his voice acting. Last but not least is Tricia Helfer, best know for her Battlestar Galactica role, her voice work was great but, again unfortunately, her character model threw me off a bit. It kind of looked like her, but just fell flat for me. All-in-all the character's felt like the best that Halo gaming series have seen, and I really hope we get to see more from Buck, Mickey, Dutch, Romeo and Dare soon.
The character's are a real testament to the story of the game as well. Never has Halo felt so dark, gritty and real. I watched a great roundtable with guys over at Bungie during their visit to PAX, and in it they repeated over and over again that they were going for the Noir look and feel. I think they nailed it. This story feels like the most grounded, truly mystery ridden episode of the Halo games. Though there seems to be a little too many cinematics for my taste, they were very well done. And the way they've crafted the gameplay to lineup in sync with the story telling is truly well done, and I hope the bring more of this style to the next installments.
In short (though not as short as others) this game is a nice spin on an old classic. It's got a wonderful feeling of the original Halo game, with some polished story telling that is highlighted by some fun voice acting. If you've got a spare day one of these weekends, I highly recommend it.
5/5
...
Just as a sidenote: My buddy Mobius, my wife and myself polished the game off in less the 5 hours playing on one of the easier difficulties. The game only allows two players per Xbox, which is too bad, but we played pass the controllers between the three of us and it worked out not bad. In some respects the length felt too short, just because I liked the story and atomsphere. But in other repsects the length was just right, as we could all sit down and get it finished in one (albeit a little long) sitting.
Over the last two days, I got the wonderful opportunity to sit down with friends and family and plug in the newest addition to the Halo franchise.
Halo 3 ODST has a little bit of a deceiving title, as the game itself is built and rooted in Halo 3 and it's physics, but story is based (from what I understand) during the events of Halo 2. That story, is what I'd like to focus on here in the review. Though the gameplay is does have a very pivotal part in any game, for this review, I'm going to attempt to approach it like one of my many film reviews.
And so, like my film reviews, I'm not going to give any plot points or spoilers out. If you don't know what the game is about, what console it's for, or what the hell I'm talking about, try bungie.net or xbox.com.
Something I'm having trouble with in reviewing this game is NOT comparing it to it's cousins in the rest Halo series. I say Cousins, because ODST is a different beast then Halo, Halo 2 or Halo 3, especially narratively. For the first time in the series we not only take the point of view of an unsuper human, but we also play from more then 2 character's perspectives. Bungie has played with multiple character perspective's before in Halo 2, as you could play as the alien Arbiter as well as The Master Chief, with mixed results and mixed player response. I found this wonderfully refreshing veiw of the Halo universe though, as I was interested to hear what each character brough to the table.
That's a big review point too, the character's in this game are wonderful. I could be a little biased as Nathan Fillion is a born and bread Edmontonian, but he was easily my favorite character in the game. His character model looked really good, his voice acting, while a little stiff at the beginning of the game, is great by time you start getting into it. His off the cuff lines in the multiplayer mode Firefight are absolutely hilarious as well, spouting great lines like "Bam said the lady." Firefly alumni Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin also lend the voices and lead to some wonderful back and forth banter. I found Baldwin's character great for some comic relief in his part of the story. The character of Romeo unfortunately was my least favorite character as he was kind of a jerk (I'd love to find out who played him), but maybe my dislike is just a testament to his voice acting. Last but not least is Tricia Helfer, best know for her Battlestar Galactica role, her voice work was great but, again unfortunately, her character model threw me off a bit. It kind of looked like her, but just fell flat for me. All-in-all the character's felt like the best that Halo gaming series have seen, and I really hope we get to see more from Buck, Mickey, Dutch, Romeo and Dare soon.
The character's are a real testament to the story of the game as well. Never has Halo felt so dark, gritty and real. I watched a great roundtable with guys over at Bungie during their visit to PAX, and in it they repeated over and over again that they were going for the Noir look and feel. I think they nailed it. This story feels like the most grounded, truly mystery ridden episode of the Halo games. Though there seems to be a little too many cinematics for my taste, they were very well done. And the way they've crafted the gameplay to lineup in sync with the story telling is truly well done, and I hope the bring more of this style to the next installments.
In short (though not as short as others) this game is a nice spin on an old classic. It's got a wonderful feeling of the original Halo game, with some polished story telling that is highlighted by some fun voice acting. If you've got a spare day one of these weekends, I highly recommend it.
5/5
...
Just as a sidenote: My buddy Mobius, my wife and myself polished the game off in less the 5 hours playing on one of the easier difficulties. The game only allows two players per Xbox, which is too bad, but we played pass the controllers between the three of us and it worked out not bad. In some respects the length felt too short, just because I liked the story and atomsphere. But in other repsects the length was just right, as we could all sit down and get it finished in one (albeit a little long) sitting.
Reader Comments (2)
Great review!
You nailed all the things that set this game apart from the other Halo games. They were FUN games, ODST is the first of them that was really an IMMERSIVE game.
Totally agree with your review. I would say that the Campaign, both gameplay and story wise, is the best of the series. Playing co-op on the easier difficulties is probably not the ideal way to play, although it didn't take much longer to complete playing solo on Heroic. Did you know that Helfer is also an Albertan?