Now Playing: Halo 3: ODST

This is the first time I’ve played ODST and I had quite a shock when I started the game and realised that it’s played in first person. ODST originally released in 2009 on the 360 and, for a reason that now eludes me, I always believed it was a third person game.

I don’t know how ODST was sold and marketed on release but playing it today, it feels like an expansion pack to Halo 3. It’s very short, and the missions almost feel like content that was cut from Halo 3 and repackaged into this game.

ODST is set during the events of Halo 2 and the Covenant invasion of New Mombasa. I always wanted to see more of that setting in Halo 2 so I was glad to return to it here. You play as the ‘Rookie’ a new member of a squad of orbital shock troopers on a secret mission to extract a high value target from the city.

The game is structured in a way that’s kind of unnecessary and annoying. Your drop into New Mombasa doesn’t exactly go as planned and you find yourself on the streets of the city at night, separated from your squad. As you’d expect, your objective is to link up with your missing squad mates – Buck, Dutch, Romeo, Mickey and Dare.

As you move through the city and engage small groups of Covenant forces (but not any elites which I found a little odd, because weren’t the elites still fighting for the Covenant when ODST is set?) you’ll find ‘clues’ that trigger a flashback mission for each member of the squad showing what happened to them after the drop.

These missions are all fun and varied with a mixture of on foot and vehicle action. But they’re also all very short – you can blast through the missions in under 2 hours quite easily. But, when viewed as an expansion, and given the low price of entry for this PC version – only 3.99 – I’d say that’s still pretty good value given the replay value if, like me, you’ll be playing solo and in co-op on the various difficulty levels. 

My real problem with ODST is the ‘Mombasa Streets’ level you play between the proper missions. Once you complete one flashback, you’re back on those same streets with a new waypoint leading you to the next clue and the next mission. It’s an open map with various routes but it can be a real slog as you’re forced to plod your way from one end of the map to the other.

It’s easier not to bother fighting enemies on the way because it will just slow you down. I really didn’t enjoy playing the Streets level between missions. It just felt like pointless padding to drag out what is a pretty content shallow experience. All you’re doing is running from one waypoint to the next in order to unlock the next mission. I was so bored doing this and as much as I might enjoy replaying the actual missions in ODST, I don’t ever want to have to trudge my way through the Mombasa Streets level ever again.

The story is short and we don’t really get enough time to get to know our squad, but it does enough to keep you engaged and curious to see where it’s going. If you like Halo 3 then I’d certainly recommend picking ODST up, but don’t set your expectations very high.

6/10