Halo 3: ODST (Xbox One) Review

Alone in the night.

 Halo 3: ODST was the anticipated follow-up to Halo 3, released for the Xbox 360 back in September 22, 2009-- exactly 10 years ago. A side-story taking place during Halo 2 (and later on setting the stage for Halo 3), we follow a lone trooper who must survive a Covenant-ravaged city and regroup with his missing unit. Conceived as a side project to fill the gap between Halo 3 and the then-upcoming Halo: Reach, Halo 3: ODST was an interesting game that introduced some cool ideas and features to the Halo series. I remember generally liking ODST when it came out, though not on the same level as Halo 3 and later on Reach. Still, I was pretty excited to replay the game since I've only ever played once ages ago. So now that I've recently finished it, it's time to find out if Halo 3: ODST still holds up well a decade later.


 Taking place during the events of Halo 2, we follow a small group of UNSC soldiers known as the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers or "ODSTs" for short as they survive the war-torn city of New Mombasa. You take control of a lone trooper known as "The Rookie", as he crash lands in New Mombasa and is left unconscious for six hours. Alone in the city's dimly-lit streets, you must fight off against Covenant forces, search for clues on your missing teammates, and find out their fates. Just like Halo Wars, the story was pretty interesting as it offers a fresh new take on the Halo world without having Master Chief as the center price. The aura of mystery around the story and the audio-files you collect as you play offer further insight into the events of the game from a civilian's point of view, which was a neat perspective. Unlike Halo Wars, I actually grew to like all of the characters as they grew on me and throughout their humours encounters, made me care a bit about them. The witty squad leader, Buck, ended up being a personal favorite of mine.

It's gonna be one long night.

 Halo 3: ODST plays exactly like the previous Halo games, only with some slight changes. You control the Rookie from first-person view as he must navigate the streets of New Mombasa. Your mission is to regroup with your teammates by following their tracks, which are highlighted in your HUD (heads up display) in the form of beacons. You start off with some new weapons such as the suppressed assault rifle and pistol, though you can still use grenades and wield Covenant weapons. Since the Rookie's not as powerful as the Master Chief, he's limited in terms of abilities. He can't jump to higher areas and doesn't have energy shields, yet he can flip a Warthog like its nothing! Also, you need to search for health packs if you're wounded as health doesn't regenerate over time. I personally didn't mind all the disadvantages as it makes you more vulnerable and even more on edge since your just a lone trooper walking through an alien invested city at night. Though one thing sure sucks, you can't dual wield!

The Rookie is not as powerful as Master Chief, but

he sure packs a punch.

 Upon reaching a point of interest, you must search the area for clues left by your teammates and upon inspecting them, you'll get a flashback mission where you control one of your teammates, hours before your arrival. The missions-- mostly taking place during the day-- has you playing as the other members of the ODST squad and give you a glimpse of their personalities and what happened to their fates next. The levels were good and still have that urban feel to them from Halo 2 since you'll be fighting off enemies in the city, though I wish there was a lot more enemy variety than having to fight the same brutes and grunts yet again. None of the levels really stuck out to me and some of the good ones like "Kizingo Boulevard" and "NMPD HQ" were over just when things were starting to get interesting.

Facing off against the same enemies can get boring,

but hey, at least there's no flood!

 Halo 3: ODST introduced a cool multiplayer feature back in the day called Firefight. It's a survival mode where you battle against waves of increasingly difficult Covenant alone or with friends either online or in the form of two-player split-screen. The mode is timed and you have limited lives before it's game over, which tends to be pretty soon if you're not sharp enough. Interestingly, as you complete levels from the main game, you can unlock more maps and characters such as Buck and Johnson to play as, which is sweet. I had lots of great memories with Firefight back when I played ODST on the 360, though I remember mostly being bad at it.

Get ready for some hell.

Using the Halo 3 engine, ODST is pretty much identical to its predecessor though artistically, it's way more interesting. I liked the film noir direction Bungie went for as walking through the dark at night, alone, against an army of Covenant gave the game a pretty ominous atmosphere, and one that I enjoyed. The character models, backgrounds, and lighting still hold up well though some character animations in cutscenes look goofy by today's standards. The Xbox One remaster polishes the visuals up by boosting the game's frame-rate to 60fps and increasing the resolution to 1080p, if you own the Xbox One X, then the game will also render at 4K too. The voicework features a lot of commendable performances with notable standouts such as Nathan Fillion, Tricia Helfer, and Nolan North as Buck, Dare, and Romeo, respectively. As expected from a Halo game, the soundtrack is just plain phenomenal. I loved the new direction composers Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori went for the soundtrack, as the piano and jazz-infused tracks were just ear-pleasing. Some highlights include "Rain", "Asphalt and Ablution", "Neon Night", and "Special Delivery" which perfectly encapsulate the sorrowful mood of the game.

ODST has aged surprisingly well, given that it just

turned 10 years old.

 After recently beating it for the second time years later, I think it's safe to say that Halo 3: ODST is one of my favorite games in the Halo series and is a fun time... while it lasted. The campaign is dreadfully short, even by Halo standards, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy every moment of it. The story was well-written and the characters were likable (even The Rookie). While I wished there was more in terms of enemy verity and level design, I enjoyed the slow-paced, mystery direction the game was going for. The presentation also worth noting, especially that amazing soundtrack. The Xbox One remaster is the way to go if you're planning on experiencing the game and for non-Halo fans, ODST is still a fun time and one that doesn't require too much knowledge of the Halo lore.