Halo 3: ODST Impressions So Far

By now you've read at least a review on this game if you plan on purchasing it and are perhaps concerned with the said so "Lack of Content" and "Letdown" some people see ODST as. I'm writing to explain why you should buy it and no, I'm not getting paid by Microsoft to say anything either.

ODST in all means a good game. I find the gameplay somewhat slightly different from Halo 3, but without going too far away from the formula. Fights are harder, you will find your self going into cover, looking for medkits and generally having to tactically advance using your guns and wits. I know what you're thinking "Halo?" "Wits?"

Now now i know everything you've probably heard isn't about the gameplay it's about that 6 hour campaign time. I sat down tonight and got my teeth into it and spent 2 hours on it only getting through the first mission and  half of the second (Playing on heroic) so it's been boggling my mind where these people are getting these low, low, LOW playthroughs. Then i remember this is Halo people who bought the last game said it was short. I'll tell you why this and the other game were short. Rushing. When you were Master chief you could plow through levels on any difficulty and it was very linear. Here we have the opposite with semi-open campaigns with flanking routes, but true Halo players just rushed and didn't bother with using tactics or collecting audio logs or hell even bothering to spend more than 5 min in any area.

In my opinion that's where the fast times are coming from. You're playing it wrong. Anyway let me just say Halo 3: ODST is a quality game that if you're a halo fan it's a must buy for a new look at the series and gameplay formula. I know 60$ is hard to justiy for such a small amount of content, but trust me it's worth it's weight in gold.

One big last issue for this game that has people steamed is the no matchmaking for firefight. Let me just tell you for those who missed it. Bungie openly said that they did it on purpose. It wasn't a cut feature for time or that they didn't want it in there. They left it out because they built firefight on the same coding as ODST's campaign which is the co-op networking model. They would have had to spend hours upon hours re-writing code and felt like time could be spent making a level nicer or making things work better in-game. They also said Firefight was a mode for your friends not 3 strangers and no mics. They wanted to give it that classic Halo 1 LAN party feel, but it seems to have backfired.

It also comes with a multiplayer Halo 3 disc with three new maps and just buying the game gets you into the beta for Halo: Reach. So you're getting your money's worth eitherway online wise.

Just go with me on this. Purchase this game. You will not regret it.