Excuse for Tardiness: Halo 3: ODST

I have a feeling I may be doing more of these posts then I would prefer this fall. Way too many good games are coming out. The wave of new games has begun (for me) with this title. Some of you may hate halo, some of you may not even know what I am talking about and some of you LOVE halo. I am number three, but I like to keep it low key (to prevent additional people from hating it). Maybe I have played all the games (with no sleep release night) and I might have read all of the books. Does that make me completely and utterly bias towards the series? YES!

Anyway this game focuses on the more human good guys in the fiction. They are called ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers). They are basically navy seals, but with space instead of water. So they are still bad ass, but not genetically enhanced super humans like the Spartan ("Master Chief") that you've played in the past. They are basically Master Chief's minus-minus (--). Take the shield and replace it with "stamina" and slap on a health bar and you've got yourself an ODST. They also move slower, but you hardly notice. They have been suited up with "silenced" weapons. I put that in quotes because they are not silent, but they are deadly :-S.


So what do you get in the box? A 3-4 hour campaign with Nathan Fillion, all of the DLC maps for Halo 3 (plus three more) and a pretty sweet multi-player mode called fire fight. The campaign is really short, but if you're as hardcore as me you will end up playing it once through alone on legendary (about 8 hours) and once through with your friends on legendary (about 4 hours). So the value goes up a bit. Then there are a bunch of unique achievements that you can spend even more time...achieving. I am usually not an achievement whore, but when the gameplay along the way is fun I don't mind at all.


Now the Fire Fight mode. I have heard people compare it to the Horde mode on Gears of War 2. I am sorry but this trumps that mode. People have also complained about not being able to play the mode through matchmaking. Okay that kinda sucks, but I honestly don't play with random people so I am not affected by this. The fact that during this post I am craving a game of Fire Fight a week after its release means they did a good job. Will I still play it after Modern Warfare 2 comes out? Probably not, but it will hold me over untill at least Brutal Legend.

Oh yeah I also played (and beat) Braid when my friends were not on to play Halo. Wow was I impressed with that game. ODST is cool and all, but this is the kind of game you bring home to mom :-). If you haven't played it yet, you need to check it out. I still need to beat the 45 minute time trial.


Stay tuned folks, next week will be a Rage so watch out!