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'Sir? Permission to leave the station.'
'For what purpose, Master Chief?'
'To give the Covenant back their bomb.'
'For what purpose, Master Chief?'
'To give the Covenant back their bomb.'
The streets of Mombasa are littered with the aftermath of a Covenant war machine rampaging through. Bodies strewn, Covenant and Human alike. Cars alight, buses overturned. In the midst of all this, you, a lone ODST, wander through the dead city in search of your fellow ODSTs.
The thing I love so much about ODST is its feeling of vulnerability. It grips you the moment you jump out of your crashed pod. You're thrown into the middle of the street, not knowing what lurks behind every dark corner. Your team is scattered, and you don't even know if they survived the crash. There you are, alone in every sense of the word. Maybe if you were a Spartan then it would be fine. Regenerative shields, superhuman strength and dexterity, you wouldn't be fazed at all. It would just feel like any other Halo game to date. Yet here you are, an ODST, unaugmented, shieldless, just you and your trusty silenced submachine gun (the coolest yet worst gun in Halo). Having no shields means that every encounter becomes deadlier to you. Your screen turns a jarring red with each hit you take; your health doesn't regenerate; healing stations are few and far between. Every encounter feels fragile, every encounter triggers a fight or flight response. Every aspect of the game will tell you exactly how killable you are.
ODST's storytelling helps to further amplify this feeling of vulnerability. Right from the start of the game, you're dropped into an empty street. Empty buses and cars are left haphazardly along the roadside. Stray bodies can be found at every corner of the map. The city is silent, less for the incessant grunting of the prowling brutes and the robotic beeping of the Superintendent, Mombasa's resident city AI. Perhaps one of the most underappreciated parts of ODST is Sadie's Story, pieced together from various audio logs found in data terminals scattered throughout New Mombasa. Without getting into the details of the story, it depicts really well the chaos and panic that ensued when the invasion started It showed a very real visceral image of war from the civilian standpoint, one that we rarely got to see in Halo. What I like about ODST so much is that we get to see a more fragile state of the UNSC. The UNSC without the Spartans. One of my most memorable moments in ODST's campaign is during Uplift Reserve, listening in on an injured marine's dialogue with another marine.
The marine's dialogue is as follows:
Injured Marine: "No, no, no! You're not listening! It's a zoo, okay?"
Marine: "Well, technically it's a corporate-funded wildlife reserve."
Injured Marine: "Semantics! This whole place is one...big...cage!"
Marine: "Listen, Marine. You're wounded; you need to try and relax."
Injured Marine: "Except we, we're the zebras. All fenced in... and ready for the slaughter!"
Marine: "And the Covenant?"
Injured Marine: "They're the lions... RAAWR!"
Marine: "Careful. I think you just strained a metaphor."
Injured Marine: "Oh, oh God, oh God! Is that...serious?"
Marine: "Only if you keep it up."
While clearly meant to be a funny easter egg (which it was I laughed when I found it), it showed the humanity in the UNSC. The one with marines and ODSTs that fought against aliens taller, stronger and with much more lethal weapons than they had. Playing ODST had me feeling part of the UNSC. Not as a powerhouse on the battlefield like in other Halos, where I played as a Spartan going against inhuman odds, but rather as part of the war effort, another piece on the ground, inconsequential in the grander scheme of the war. Yet in every small battle, winning just that small an edge that the UNSC might prevail over the Covenant.
Despite all these things going for ODST, it would not be the game it is today without its music. ODST is carried by its soundtrack. The gravity of the Covenant invasion on Earth would be lost to me if it were not for 'Overture' during the introduction cutscene. Wandering the streets of Mombasa would not be as eerie without 'The Rookie' playing in the background. Or as tentative without 'Asphalt and Ablution'. Or as peaceful without 'Deference for Darkness'. I could go on forever, but it goes without saying that one of the most important elements in a game is its soundtrack, and Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori did an amazing job with ODST.
For a game that took just over a year to develop, ODST was and always will be a game that I adore.
The thing I love so much about ODST is its feeling of vulnerability. It grips you the moment you jump out of your crashed pod. You're thrown into the middle of the street, not knowing what lurks behind every dark corner. Your team is scattered, and you don't even know if they survived the crash. There you are, alone in every sense of the word. Maybe if you were a Spartan then it would be fine. Regenerative shields, superhuman strength and dexterity, you wouldn't be fazed at all. It would just feel like any other Halo game to date. Yet here you are, an ODST, unaugmented, shieldless, just you and your trusty silenced submachine gun (the coolest yet worst gun in Halo). Having no shields means that every encounter becomes deadlier to you. Your screen turns a jarring red with each hit you take; your health doesn't regenerate; healing stations are few and far between. Every encounter feels fragile, every encounter triggers a fight or flight response. Every aspect of the game will tell you exactly how killable you are.
ODST's storytelling helps to further amplify this feeling of vulnerability. Right from the start of the game, you're dropped into an empty street. Empty buses and cars are left haphazardly along the roadside. Stray bodies can be found at every corner of the map. The city is silent, less for the incessant grunting of the prowling brutes and the robotic beeping of the Superintendent, Mombasa's resident city AI. Perhaps one of the most underappreciated parts of ODST is Sadie's Story, pieced together from various audio logs found in data terminals scattered throughout New Mombasa. Without getting into the details of the story, it depicts really well the chaos and panic that ensued when the invasion started It showed a very real visceral image of war from the civilian standpoint, one that we rarely got to see in Halo. What I like about ODST so much is that we get to see a more fragile state of the UNSC. The UNSC without the Spartans. One of my most memorable moments in ODST's campaign is during Uplift Reserve, listening in on an injured marine's dialogue with another marine.
The marine's dialogue is as follows:
Injured Marine: "No, no, no! You're not listening! It's a zoo, okay?"
Marine: "Well, technically it's a corporate-funded wildlife reserve."
Injured Marine: "Semantics! This whole place is one...big...cage!"
Marine: "Listen, Marine. You're wounded; you need to try and relax."
Injured Marine: "Except we, we're the zebras. All fenced in... and ready for the slaughter!"
Marine: "And the Covenant?"
Injured Marine: "They're the lions... RAAWR!"
Marine: "Careful. I think you just strained a metaphor."
Injured Marine: "Oh, oh God, oh God! Is that...serious?"
Marine: "Only if you keep it up."
While clearly meant to be a funny easter egg (which it was I laughed when I found it), it showed the humanity in the UNSC. The one with marines and ODSTs that fought against aliens taller, stronger and with much more lethal weapons than they had. Playing ODST had me feeling part of the UNSC. Not as a powerhouse on the battlefield like in other Halos, where I played as a Spartan going against inhuman odds, but rather as part of the war effort, another piece on the ground, inconsequential in the grander scheme of the war. Yet in every small battle, winning just that small an edge that the UNSC might prevail over the Covenant.
Despite all these things going for ODST, it would not be the game it is today without its music. ODST is carried by its soundtrack. The gravity of the Covenant invasion on Earth would be lost to me if it were not for 'Overture' during the introduction cutscene. Wandering the streets of Mombasa would not be as eerie without 'The Rookie' playing in the background. Or as tentative without 'Asphalt and Ablution'. Or as peaceful without 'Deference for Darkness'. I could go on forever, but it goes without saying that one of the most important elements in a game is its soundtrack, and Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori did an amazing job with ODST.
For a game that took just over a year to develop, ODST was and always will be a game that I adore.
This review contains spoilers
Halo Reach has one of the most engaging and heart wrenching storyline experiences. this was my first fps game and most memorable solely because of the storyline.
You spent a majority of the game fighting the covenant, seemingly winning battles, feeling like you actually stand a chance against them and that you just might be able to save Reach. All throughout this you rank up, kit yourself out in new gear and you feel like you're unstoppable.
The mission tip of the spear was really when it all started to go downhill. Seeing the UNSC Grafton successfully take out the spire at the end of a tense, high tempo mission felt rewarding and I remember cheering out loud, only to watch it get beamed out of existence by the Long Night of Solace. It was that moment which really showed the futility of the UNSC's efforts in Reach.
What felt like a natural progression of humans vs aliens, 'good' vs 'evil' didn't really feel natural anymore. We weren't going to win. Not when Jorge sacrificed himself to nuke a Covenant Supercarrier, only for multiple more Supercarriers to slipspace into existence. Definitely not when we helped evacuate hundreds of civilians in Exodus only to see the burnt remains of New Alexandria in the next mission.
This theme of hopelessness continued in New Alexandria, as we scrambled around conducting like an errand boy doing small-scale missions, anything we could do to gain some edge or stay afloat amidst the Covenant invasion. And after all that, at the end of the mission as Noble Team evacuates from their base of operations, Kat just gets fucking domed in the head by a Zealot and just dies. Just like that. After Jorge's self-sacrifice, I expected Noble Team to maybe at least die in a similar 'guns blazing' or 'heroic' way. But Kat dying like that underscored how even Spartans are at the mercy of the vulnerability of war.
At this point it almost seemed like there was no point to Noble Team being on Reach anymore. But the last mission of transporting the Package (Cortana) to the Pillar of Autumn breathed new life into the game. It felt like one last push to get back at the Covenant.
I vividly recall the Pillar of Autumn mission, racing towards the Pillar of Autumn on a mongoose, scarabs falling out of the sky around me. The frantic drive and soundtrack to get the package to the Autumn made you feel like you were rushing against time to finish the mission. As you cut down scores of Covenant in your mad dash to the Autumn it almost felt like you were back to the invulnerability of being a Spartan super soldier. Until a scarab shows up, pointed at you, ready to dissolve you. That is until Carter shows up in a pelican and fucking dies by ramming it into the scarab to let you continue on your way.
After finally delivering the package to Keyes, you choose to stay behind to cover their escape with Emile, who dies seconds later in honestly the most badass way compared to the others. And then it was just you, alone, with a MAC Cannon facing down the entire Covenant fleet. And when the Autumn finally flies away, and you're left on Reach stranded, your whole team is fucking dead, and there's a whole bunch of angry Covenant that some guy just wiped out half their army, the mission progression naturally leads to the Lone Wolf.
In Lone Wolf, your only objective is to survive. It literally just says survive. Against waves and waves of Covenant. It almost seems hopeless, except it doesn't feel the same way as when you saw the Supercarries slipspace into orbit, or when you saw New Alexandria on fire. This time you accept that you're the next one about to die, and there's acceptance in that fact. The reason why Lone Wolf has always felt so different for me was because you know you won't win. Reach is on the verge of being glassed, everyone you know is dead, no one is coming to save you. And there's solace in knowing that even as you fight to your last bullet and as the cracks form in your visor. Which is why I find Lone Wolf to be the best conclusion to Halo Reach.
Definitely the game of all time.
You spent a majority of the game fighting the covenant, seemingly winning battles, feeling like you actually stand a chance against them and that you just might be able to save Reach. All throughout this you rank up, kit yourself out in new gear and you feel like you're unstoppable.
The mission tip of the spear was really when it all started to go downhill. Seeing the UNSC Grafton successfully take out the spire at the end of a tense, high tempo mission felt rewarding and I remember cheering out loud, only to watch it get beamed out of existence by the Long Night of Solace. It was that moment which really showed the futility of the UNSC's efforts in Reach.
What felt like a natural progression of humans vs aliens, 'good' vs 'evil' didn't really feel natural anymore. We weren't going to win. Not when Jorge sacrificed himself to nuke a Covenant Supercarrier, only for multiple more Supercarriers to slipspace into existence. Definitely not when we helped evacuate hundreds of civilians in Exodus only to see the burnt remains of New Alexandria in the next mission.
This theme of hopelessness continued in New Alexandria, as we scrambled around conducting like an errand boy doing small-scale missions, anything we could do to gain some edge or stay afloat amidst the Covenant invasion. And after all that, at the end of the mission as Noble Team evacuates from their base of operations, Kat just gets fucking domed in the head by a Zealot and just dies. Just like that. After Jorge's self-sacrifice, I expected Noble Team to maybe at least die in a similar 'guns blazing' or 'heroic' way. But Kat dying like that underscored how even Spartans are at the mercy of the vulnerability of war.
At this point it almost seemed like there was no point to Noble Team being on Reach anymore. But the last mission of transporting the Package (Cortana) to the Pillar of Autumn breathed new life into the game. It felt like one last push to get back at the Covenant.
I vividly recall the Pillar of Autumn mission, racing towards the Pillar of Autumn on a mongoose, scarabs falling out of the sky around me. The frantic drive and soundtrack to get the package to the Autumn made you feel like you were rushing against time to finish the mission. As you cut down scores of Covenant in your mad dash to the Autumn it almost felt like you were back to the invulnerability of being a Spartan super soldier. Until a scarab shows up, pointed at you, ready to dissolve you. That is until Carter shows up in a pelican and fucking dies by ramming it into the scarab to let you continue on your way.
After finally delivering the package to Keyes, you choose to stay behind to cover their escape with Emile, who dies seconds later in honestly the most badass way compared to the others. And then it was just you, alone, with a MAC Cannon facing down the entire Covenant fleet. And when the Autumn finally flies away, and you're left on Reach stranded, your whole team is fucking dead, and there's a whole bunch of angry Covenant that some guy just wiped out half their army, the mission progression naturally leads to the Lone Wolf.
In Lone Wolf, your only objective is to survive. It literally just says survive. Against waves and waves of Covenant. It almost seems hopeless, except it doesn't feel the same way as when you saw the Supercarries slipspace into orbit, or when you saw New Alexandria on fire. This time you accept that you're the next one about to die, and there's acceptance in that fact. The reason why Lone Wolf has always felt so different for me was because you know you won't win. Reach is on the verge of being glassed, everyone you know is dead, no one is coming to save you. And there's solace in knowing that even as you fight to your last bullet and as the cracks form in your visor. Which is why I find Lone Wolf to be the best conclusion to Halo Reach.
Definitely the game of all time.