4/5 ★ – RawMetal's review of Halo 3: ODST.

System: Xbox 360 Started: September 22, 2009 Ended: September 14, 2010 Flashback Review Bungie was a dedicated game company for their Halo franchise at the time. Most people would think that right after Halo 3, they can work on other IPs. However, Bungie decided to keep using their latest game engine that was used for Halo 3 for their next game. The late 2000’s was the beginning of the Downloadable Content trend in Video Game Marketing until it became the norm later on well into the following decade. Bungie was right on board to make an Expanded Halo game that was originally supposed to be a Downloadable Expansion, but in the end, it became a standalone game and that was Halo 3: ODST. I was sold on the game already mostly thanks to its live-action ODST trailer and the marketing for this game was big, but not as big as Halo 3’s Marketing. ODST was best known for its atmosphere and tone in both its Gameplay and art direction. Marty O’Donnell score in this one is still a heavy hitter and its different from the previous games instead of an orchestrated and exotic New Age style sound, in ODST, add the Piano and Jazz music. And it fits perfectly for this game that has you isolated in an abandoned city at night during the events from Halo 2. Its Level Design is completely different from the Halo Trilogy. Instead of a Linear Design, you are placed in a Hub World as the level and the game won’t proceed until you find clues for locating the Rookie’s Squad and you play as the other ODST squad. The story in this game is not bad at all, The Rookie is supposed to represent the player as this character is a mute and the Rookie’s squad mates are well-casted, mostly for Buck’s Character. The Bungie writers did a great job developing characters knowing that you don’t have to shoehorn the Master Chief for every Halo game. As well as its main focus is to go more in-depth to a unique branch in the Halo Universe known as the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. My friend and I have played the Story mode only a few times, I played it a lot in solo play to get the achievements. We were satisfied with the campaign mode, but once after we finish, we rarely go back to this game for replay value compared to the other Halo games. Firefight was a new feature in the Halo franchise and it’s supposed to be Horde Mode. Which is long overdue after the success of Call of Duty Zombies and Left 4 Dead. Unfortunately, I only played that mode a few times in ODST. As for Halo Reach, it’s a different story, since I played Firefight mode in that game more than ODST. Firefight is best played with your offline friends more than Online. Especially if you want to do those challenges of defeating a number of specified enemies if you don’t want another player hogging up the kills. Now since this game is an expansion, I still remember the controversy that this game was charged at full price, even though this is supposed to be an expanded DLC and the game is pretty short since you can finish this in less than 6 hours. More hours if you want to collect those audio recordings and achievements. People have said it’s still worth the full price but I disagree. ODST does look different since Bungie used the same Engine for Halo 3 but added a different Graphics Shader Plugin, HUD interface and new weapons and graphic art assets. Bungie could easily get away with it if they exclude the ‘3 ‘in the title or just put on the price of 40 bucks instead of 60 dollar value. At least Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon did it best since that was an expanded game to Far Cry 3 and it looks standalone. Halo 3: ODST Is still a great entry outside of the Halo Trilogy and its by far in my Top 5 Halo games. Not worth the full price at the time of release, but at least this game is old now, so its ripe enough to buy this game. Especially if you want more good Halo games. The Master Chief Collection just included this game in their catalog and it's a great idea to get this for PC if you are into Online play.