ODST Review: Rush Hour on the Coastal Highway

"Stupid humans"

It's 12:30am on Tuesday, September 22 and once again that feeling of anticipation builds as a lightning-storm themed Bungie logo fades into view. Armleg, Rossco and I have all endured midnight launch lines and a sneak peak is mandatory before heading to bed. After a few rounds of the Horde-inspired Firefight, we're all in agreement: ODST is definitely a Halo game.

The differences between ODSTs and Spartans are noticeable (smaller jumps, no duel-weilding, no equipment, new visor mode) but the gameplay is very familiar. The biggest change is the return of health packs for the more vulnerable ODST soldiers. Weapons are pretty much the same except for the beefed up pistol which is actually very effective now against grunts and jackals, especially from distance.

The three of us played Firefight on Heroic and it was very challenging. We only made it through one full round (5 waves) before heading off to bed. I played it later by myself on Easy and found that to be really fun.

The next day Armleg and I teamed up for a co-op run through the campaign on Legendary difficulty. Playing through the story with a friend is really enjoyable, especially the first time through. The story has a film noir vibe and the Rookie is like a private dick -- a detective that is. Exchanging theories about the story as it unfolds is what makes co-op so much fun.

Gripes about the campaign being short are exaggerated. It took us about 6-7 hours to get to the last level, and then things got nuts. The name of the last level is Coastal Highway and the highway portion kicked our asses -- in Armleg's case, literally. Similar to Halo 3 the last level involves a warthog run but this time the emphasis is on shooting instead of driving. Ghosts, Banshees, Phantoms and Towers all conspire to keep you from reaching the end of the road and in our case they succeeded. We spent an hour and a half trying to get past the highway only to stop because Armleg became physically ill from a combination of frantic gunfire on the Gauss Cannon and too much coffee in his system. Coastal Highway on Legendary with just two players is definitely a challenge. Give it a try.


Dead again on the Coastal Highway.

Beyond the gameplay we really enjoyed the voice acting from the cast of Firefly and the cylon lady from Battlestar Galactica. Your character, the rookie, never says a word. It was cool walking the streets of New Mombasa but the city felt kind of sterile to me. Most of the buildings were nondescript and very similar in architecture. There were very few signs for businesses, shops, services, etc. and zero citizens to be found. The entire city was deserted except for Covenant and UNSC troops. It made me appreciate the vibrancy of the city in Grand Theft Auto 4 that much more. One other note: there's no versus multiplayer in ODST, only Firefight. The game does come with three new maps for H3 multiplayer but we didn't fire those up.

Should you get it? Of course. If you love Halo you'll love this one too. Hope to play some Firefight with the rest of you soon.