Halo 3: ODST is a side game of the Halo series, taking place during the events of Halo 2.
Due to its nature as a side game, its campaign doesn't take as long as the other games, being even shorter than Halo 3's. I personally didn't mind it, because it really is supposed to be a small little game that expands a bit more on Halo's lore.

For the first time ever in the series, you don't play as Master Chief, but rather you are constantly switching control between members of ODST (that's "Orbital Drop Shock Troopers" for short). They don't feel as nimble as Master Chief was, which makes sense considering they're weaker. Although not having the ability to dual-wield made me a little sad.

The main plot of the game pretty much revolves around the Rookie searching for the others members of ODST in the streets of Mombasa. While searching for them, you'll progress in a sandbox area which... admittedly was the worst part of the game. It wasn't that interesting to travel and really only served for me to get to another one of the areas I needed to inspect to continue the plot.
But after you inspect certain areas, you got to a level similar to the ones in Halo 3, and they're pretty good! There was some good variety throughout the levels, and things felt just like previous games.

It's in those levels that you'll learn more about the other members of ODST and I found their interactions to be pretty solid. Nothing that really stuck out in my head though, but I appreciate the attempt at bringing other protagonists to the Halo universe.

The soundtrack was one that I really enjoyed. Not every song was super memorable to me, but the piano theme that played after you inspected one of the areas, and some of the more atmospheric pieces that appeared in certain missions were definitely really well made!

While the graphics and overall presentation isn't that different from Halo 3, I do like that they emphasized facial expressions this time around. They're not too incredible, especially by today's standards, but I do like they did them.

Overall, Halo 3: ODST is a nice little side game to the Halo series that while it doesn't really do anything spectacular, is still a nice adventure to go through.

Butch:
- ℝ𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕚𝕖, 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕗𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕒 𝕨𝕠𝕞𝕒𝕟, 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕤 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕓𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕤."
Rookie:
- (っ °_°)っ

OSTs are marvelous, other than that it's a standard halo experience (even though it's downgraded version of halo 3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmGQpuvSCvM&ab_channel=MichaelSalvatori-Topic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsG8qffiDk8&ab_channel=MichaelSalvatori-Topic

it was a solid halo campaign, on the higher end for sure. a bit more grounded, they sell the aspect of being alone and not a crazy big cool spartan really well here. the missions are fun and cool. the hub world is okay, i like it in concept and thematically it's pretty great but it's a bit big. it was the most i felt halo not having a sprint, which usually i didn't mind but in the hub world here it was a bit rough.

the other games star ratings are a bit boosted by the multiplayer and such which this doesn't have, but it's more great shooter campaign i'm just not a massive shooter guy to begin with.

Man, I feel so dumb for progressing one third of the game and only then realising that there was a night vision option in the game and I had to turn it on to see things clearly instead of roaming around like a blind bat for 33% of the game. There were some really dark rooms where I had to navigate and was clueless for the majority of the time. I like the atmosphere of the game, it's kind of different from the other halo games but sometimes it looks unpolished and the cutscenes were pretty bad in comparison to the rest of the franchise, the face models looked like they were made in early 2000s , one of the main characters almost looks like Claude from gta 3, it was that block shaped and the animations in the cutscenes didn't help much either. I guess this was made on a lower budget compared to the other halo titles. I wasn't that invested in the story too and the humor that they went for felt like a misfire imo. They tried to replicate the kind of humor Battlefield Bad Company 2 had (I know BF released later) but then the latter did it far better than ODST. The gameplay and level design was fun albeit short but there were a few repetitive segments in the pseudo open world where you have to keep finding clues to something, that really felt boring honestly. Overall I don't mind this game that much it was decent, I appreciate that it was shorter on length and distinguishes itself in certain aspects from the rest of Halo. And before I finish ranting I literally was not able to find a single health pack in this game, so playing it on heroic that low health indicator sound was ringing in my ears like a siren throughout the game.

at a glance i was so excited for this one because it looked to have the most personally appealing atmosphere, music, and such of the series. that was partially true but it came with a set of its own issues too.

the hub level of the city streets does have wonderful atmosphere but it feels very surface level. i love some dark rainy ambience as much as anyone but there's not much going on here other than collectibles and enemies scattered around. i spent most of my time in these areas hauling ass to the next objective to shift to one of the traditional levels (all of which feature a more conventional Halo atmosphere which was a huge bummer).

to follow up on the level based sections, ODST unfortunately had my least favorite to date Halo combat. i understand what they were going for with non-spartan based player characters and wanting to feel disempowered but it didn't make for a great experience. navigating on the city streets while trying to just survive? sure. having some whole ass combat encounters that wouldn't be out of place in the other games, just with tankier enemies? no thanks.

that just leaves me with the story/characters. i wasn't huge on the story across 1/2/3 in most cases and didn't find high levels of investment but they were much better than the cardboard cutouts we had here.

i had a lot of complaints in this log but as with every other Halo game so far, this was playable and i enjoyed it on some level. it just wasn't the far and away series fave that i was hoping for.

Flames crackle in the pale moonlight. They're scattered throughout the city's remains. Patrols of grunts and elites pollute the once bustling streets like a plague.
The whirring of overhead phantoms fill in the brief gaps of silence left by the deafening whisper of the wind.

Hissing, then a click. Your drop pod opens, and you're tossed into the ruins of New Mombasa. You're small. Not the hulking 9 foot master chief, but a humble footsoldier. And you're deep in enemy territory. The only sources of light the dim cerulean glow of the covenant's energy weapons. These aliens tower you in stature. They vastly outclass you in firepower, and their numbers are in the thousands. You're just a rookie with a submachine gun and a dream.

If humanity already lost this fight, what hope do you have?

The next ten hours are then spent conducting a one sided massacre on hundreds of giant aliens.

Foi necessário um spinoff, mas finalmente temos de novo um Halo com world design expansivo e uma módica não-linearidade. Só isso já faria de ODST o melhor Halo desde o original, mas ele não para por aí, trazendo uma série de novidades: a ambientação fantástica, a trilha sonora de jazz que se encaixa surpreendentemente bem com o tom do jogo, a narrativa focada em soldados comuns, a divisão da história em flashbacks que podem ser vistos em diferentes ordens... Se Halo 3 me deixou com um gosto amargo na boca, pensando que a série estagnou no 2, ODST é seu antídoto perfeito.

Ah, e esse é o primeiro Halo que jogo sem Flood, graças a Deus.

ODST has some cool ideas with the variety of its flashback missions, its open-ish hub area and the detective style revealing of what the hell is going on with its story. However, the hit and miss level design, forgettable characters and lack of significant new gameplay ideas left me unimpressed. For me this is a lacklustre follow up to the phenomenal Halo 3 which plays it far too safe when it could’ve really pushed the boundaries of this universe, not having the restrictions of being a mainline game.

2009 Ranked

Hoisting one of the most impeccable atmospheres ever seen in gaming, ODST dives into Halo 2 (yeah, weird) with a noir-influenced story more penetrative than ever. The music strongly fortifies the game's atmosphere, with the score prioritizing more somber instrumentation and composition, being led by saxophones and softer pianos. Each level is it's own unique trip, with none much similar to the rest. The game also birthed Halo's now-famous horde mode Firefight, which none of the games down the line could come close to, in terms of improving this one. The only serious complaint I have is the game's length, and even then, I'd rather a fantastic short game than a long boring one, and we definitely recieved the former.

I like to think of ODST like the Rogue One of Halo. It shines the light away from the main cast onto a set of side characters during the main conflict who need to accomplish something at hand, which contributes to the accomplishments of the main cast's mission.

ODST takes place in the city of new Mombasa, one of the best Halo levels from Halo 2 in my opinion, but expands the lore of this once populated city. Through environmental storytelling, you're given more of a showcase of human life in the year 2550, something the previous Halo games kept mysterious. I appreciate it though, as it no longer makes the world of Halo feel like just one gigantic battlezone, and reminds you what the fight is for.

The characters included in this story are given a lot of personality and motivation, but I still couldn't find myself caring too much about them.

The gameplay is kind of interesting compared to everything else in the franchise. You play as a regular ODST solider, you are weaker and more fragile. Because of this, half the game kind of plays like a survival game where you are alone, limited on resources and need to get from point A to B. Between each of these points, you play a flashback that plays more like a regular Halo mission. These missions can be described as some of the better Halo missions. I really enjoyed the variety in both gameplay and setting these flashback missions provided. I can't say the same about the experimental survival sections. I know to others these parts were the highlight, but to me I really did not enjoy these sections.

ODST can be seen as an expansion to Halo 3 as it is pretty short, and literally has Halo 3 in the title. What I liked about this title the most was that it provided more lore and context to the Halo universe and I appreciate it for that. It still is a very good expansion, but it's not a highlight of the Halo franchise.

This is the best Halo game. It's got layers and layers of atmosphere in a dark, rainy, ruined city (honestly it's a much better noir game than L.A. Noire in setting at the very least, even if the actual mystery clue finding part of it isn't really there), along with a soundtrack that mixes classic Halo fanfare and drums with very dark, low-key piano pieces, punctuated by a brooding saxophone. Beyond the atmosphere, its got Halo 3's gameplay (the best Halo gameplay besides maybe 5, fight me) and a pretty compelling story. It feels great, looks great, plays great and sounds great. And honestly, what else do you need?

Esperava mais do jogo, ele tem ideias interessantes como mudar o sistema de vida dos ODST e você sente essa mudança com você sendo um pouco mais fraco, uma campanha as vezes isolada as vezes em guerra na cidade, você jogar com vários personagens, porém senti que durante a campanha faltou muito um objetivo pra história que so ficou claro na última missão e andar pela cidade com rookie so pra ver um pedaço do que aconteceu, jogar um trecho e depois repetir varias vezes pelo mapa sem fazer nada relevante com rookie é bem tedioso.

Eu quero um enginer 10/10 melhor alien