The shame of Bungie’s expensive expansion
When I first heard about Halo 3: ODST, I was at least partially onboard with Bungie. “Sure,” I thought, “why not expand a successful and entertaining game with a tangential story line and some new content? Twenty bucks not utterly wasted, I guess.” I was slightly less onboard after seeing the $60 price tag. And I was well sick of Bungie by the time I realized I was playing Halo 3 cleverly disguised as original content.
A good first-person shooter like Call of Duty 4 for example can easily balance the need for inventive game play with the desire to create an interesting story and characters. However, ODST abandons both goals in favor of bland, virtually undeveloped characters and game play so eerily similar to Halo 3 you could swear it was running on the same engine with the same enemies and weapons. Granted, players get a scoped, suppressed SMG and an upgraded pistol that magically headshots an enemy when aimed in their general direction, but both are essentially minor tweaks of existing weapons.
For $60, I think I deserve something more than Halo 3 with new box art and minor tweaks. One would think Bungie could take time from fleecing its loyal fans and make a new melee weapon or over-the-top explosive. For that matter, they could also have tried improving the graphics on a new iteration of the series; the armor and environments, particularly in cutscenes, are done in an olive drab-and-brown “next-gen” filter and things that should be light and airy, such as hair, are flat, poorly textured blobs.
The story, though emotionally unmoving, is told like a novel. You, the nameless, faceless “Rookie” with no personality or voice, act as a detective, unraveling the fates of your squad by finding clues strewn about the battlefield while occasionally winding up in small skirmishes. These scenes were, by far, my favorite parts of the game, as the pitch black city, haunting background music and ability to sneak past resting enemies create a very unnerving and surprisingly engrossing environment. Each clue found by the Rookie brings you to a flashback, in which you play through the adventures of your scattered squad mates. Sadly, these missions are dismally boring, as your squad mates do little more than interact with each other with all the emotions of unpaid extras in a b-grade horror movie, all while killing aliens on missions of no discernable importance. Upon reaching the end of the campaign, I had the distinct feeling I had made no impact on anyone’s life and my four or five hours of blasting aliens in cookie-cutter corridors had not affected the fate of the universe in the least. So much for the “epic” feel of the Halo series.
To be fair, ODST does have at least two interesting gameplay innovations worth mentioning. The first only appears during campaign and Firefight mode: the VISR. Whereas the “X” button was used to deploy special items, it now turns on a light-amplification and target-identification HUD. This feature is useful for navigating the numerous night maps and dimly lit corridors in the campaign.
Another new feature, Firefight mode, allows one to four players to cooperatively defend a position against wave after wave of alien death. Exciting as it sounds, the whole experience lacks any sense of urgency. Areas are wide-open, allowing ample time to snipe all the smaller enemies with your pistol before they can even react. Even when left to their own devices, enemies are not prone to rushing your position, but will sit patiently and shoot at your well-defended position, except the hammer-wielding aliens who will destroy you with ease as they absorb clip after clip of SMG ammo. Firefight is fun enough, especially with more players, but it could have benefited from the inclusion of more powerful weapons and enemies, or just by the addition of some vehicles to the maps to liven the experience up.
Despite this ODST’s abundant flaws, overpriced content and short campaign mode, there is still something entertaining about it, no matter how badly anyone wants to hate it. I found myself thrilled by murdering an alien twice my size with a rifle butt to the face. As slow-paced as Firefight can be, I felt compelled to work for a new high score and see how many headshots I could get with the pistol. The multiplayer, which is on a separate disc from the campaign and Firefight, is Halo 3’s map packs along with three brand-new maps and it’s every bit as solid as before. It’s definitely the reason to own any Halo game. However, I could get the same amount of entertainment and repetitive game play for half the price with an old copy of Halo 3.
Rating: C-
Platform: Xbox 360
Price: $59.99
ESRB: M
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Bungie
Players: 1-4 (firefight, campaign), 2-16 (multiplayer)
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