 Find your way back. The Covenant have invaded Earth. You, an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, have been sent to try and gather valuable intelligence. Unfortunately, you have been cut off from your squad. You must find them and bring the information necessary to save Earth.
1. Gameplay
 He may not be Master Chief, but he's still deadly. The Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) are essentially the Navy SEALs of the Halo universe. While they aren’t the genetically-modified super soldiers like Master Chief, the ODST have been specifically trained to be one tick below. The ODST are the best humanity has to offer and are masters at multiple styles of combat. The player is dropped into the middle of New Mombasa, a major Earth metropolitan center and ground zero for the Covenant invasion. The Covenant, an alien race hell-bent on the total annihilation of humanity, have temporarily taken over the city and the player must make his way out of the region with some vital intelligence that will help the war effort. The story is a bit like Saving Private Ryan, but in this scenario Ryan saves himself.  Oh and there's no epic Normandy invasion scene. Stealth plays a rather large role in ODST. The player will have silenced weapons to use while infiltrating the city. Since the player is always outnumbered by the Covenant, avoiding patrols is usually faster and easier than trying to take them all out. Fortunately, this game can be played cooperatively with a friend, which makes things much easier in the long-run.  A good friend always has your back. The cooperative elements in this game are awesome. Halo has always done a great job including 2 to 4 player cooperative gameplay, but ODST is even better with a friend. Partners can add a huge element of strategy and broadens the player’s different angles of approach to a given problem. Overall I enjoyed this game as much as I enjoyed the previous installments. The storyline and characters were different, which was a nice change of pace. The game gives access to all of the Halo 3 multiplayer maps, which gives any fans of Halo 3 access to a lot of extra content to greatly increase the longevity of the game. While I would recommend that anyone who is still new to the Halo series should start with one of the other titles, fans of Halo will not want to pass up this game.
2. Parental Notices
 Surprise! If the player is damaged to the point where his shields are lowered, he can also take damage and bleed.  You might want to get that checked out. The player is able to throw different types of grenades, each with its own unique properties. Two types of grenades are able to stick to a target if thrown properly, which will result in a large explosion and the death of the target.  You only live long enough to realize you're dead. There is a setting that the player can turn on called "Grunt Birthday Party". If this is on, when the player gets a headshot on a grunt (the small, ape-like Covenant), the grunt's head will pop into confetti and small children will shout "Yaaaaay!". It's not as much violent as it is amusing, and the setting has been carried over from Halo 3.  Yaaaaaay! Some weapons and one type of grenades light the enemies on fire. The enemy will run around while on fire until the fire goes out on its own.
3. Other Factors
Most of the “mature content” is just a bland map with a misleading name. Things like “SEXXX CLUB” include zero sexual content and might, at most, be designed to look like a strip club (minus the women, alcohol, or anything else that would indicate its intended purpose). However, there are a few “talented” artists that have managed to create pictures using placed items in the map.  A picture I found that someone created in Halo 3's Forge. I’m not really sure what compels someone to take the time to create something that is barely recognizable to begin with, but if it can be done someone has. That being said, examples like this are few and far between and should not change your view of the overall game experience.
 This is a sign that he shouldn't drive cars off cliffs anymore.
 Enemies will cower in fear. The online gamers can be extremely difficult though. There are plenty of gamers who spend hours upon hours improving their skill at the multiplayer. There is a reason that Halo is one of the more popular games for professional gamers and gaming tournaments. Those gamers who are new at first-person shooters or the Halo franchise would do well to play through the campaign first. If you can beat the game on Hardcore difficulty with relative ease, you should be okay in the multiplayer. Other than the skill level of the community, the multiplayer is actually fairly enjoyable. There is even a new game mode called “firefight” where the player can fight cooperatively with other real players against progressively more difficult waves of computer enemies. This was a lot of fun, especially with the right group of gamers.
 Rolling the wrong way. There is one exception. In one level, the player can drive a Warthog (a sort of armored pick-up truck with a turret mounted in the bed) around the level. The player is able to jump off of small heights and run into enemies and objects with little damage. At the end of the level, the player drives the warthog off of a huge cliff into the city below. He bails out uninjured before the Warthog crashes into a wall and explodes.  Evel Knievel, eat your heart out.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Like what we do? Want to see more? Donate to the site using the button below!
Not sure what a term means? Read the definitions!
Not sure what a review section is about? Find out more information!
|
RSS Feed