Halo 3: ODST Review


GAME INFO publisher: Microsoft developer: Bungie genre: Shooters MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS n/a	ESRB rating: M homepage: www.halo3.com release date: Sep 22, 09 (released)	Tweet

» All About Halo 3: ODST on ActionTrip

SCREENSHOTS

COMMENTS

New multiplayer maps are included in this release, befitting the spirit of earlier Halo games. Firefight is the highlight of this product's multiplayer and even though we haven't seen it for the first time, it still feels engaging and extremely fun at times, thanks to the effort put into its design. The mode accents teamwork more than anything else and makes you want to continue playing with friends for hours.

The VISR in action.

You had the map, where the fuck are we?

The problem with this expansion pack is that the main campaign is over quickly, but we believe that to be true about almost any FPS game out there (especially previous Halo games). We decided to give this one a slightly higher mark for Bungie's honest effort to create a proper and very rewarding single-player experience, in addition to incorporating a highly addictive multiplayer mode.

We stress that although this is an expansion pack Microsoft beefed up the retail price to $60, which, as you know, is the standard value of most full releases. Thankfully, the add-on makes up for that by offering a commendable amount of new content to enjoy both in single-player and multiplayer. Granted, completing the solo game shouldn't take you longer than 6-7 hours (maybe, less depending, of course, on your style of play). The best part is that the main campaign can be experience cooperatively, which comes highly recommended.

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USER SCORE
7.1
YOUR SCORE

RATE IT

0.0

ACTIONTRIP SCORE
8.6 Very Good

HIGHS
Great moody ambiance, shifts the Halo formula with free-roam gameplay, gratifying solo campaign, story presentation is another welcomed departure from earlier releases, offers sufficient content for an expansion pack, the VISR is a cool new element, incredibly addictive multiplayer;

LOWS
Guess it's still over a bit too soon, some people may still complain about the price.

RATINGS GUIDE

15 post(s)

Reader Comments

	HolyLiaison	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 09:46 am EDT
	Reply They can suck my dick for $60.

	NiteX	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 09:55 am EDT
	Reply I'm shocked! A Halo game that got a high rating from this site! What is the world coming to I ask you!?
	Alchi: Just because a game has some really annoying fanboys, really...

	Vader	[STAFF] [mail] Sep 20 2009, 09:56 am EDT
	Reply Maybe you haven't followed our site that closely NiteX. We always gave Halo games the rating they deserved - no more, no less. This is a good game. Have nothing more to say on the subject.

	Vader	[STAFF] [mail] Sep 20 2009, 09:58 am EDT
	Reply Okay, I'll add this observation - I enjoyed playing a proper expansion pack after such a long period of annoying DLC releases.

	gekido	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 10:05 am EDT
	Reply so it is an expansion pack (ie requires a halo game to be installed?) or is it a full game?
	Vader: Like I said in the review, it's a standalone expansion pack,...

	greenberet	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 10:24 am EDT
	Reply $60 for this? I don't own a console, but this is a rip off for those who do.

	Khaos	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 10:39 am EDT
	Reply Does this come with the DLC map packs for Halo 3 aswell or just for ODST?
	Fatty: It comes with a seperate multiplayer disc - which has the Ha...

	Vodoo	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 10:47 am EDT
	Reply VISR.....or in other words, that thing Republic Commando did 4 years ago. this probably goes as far in quality as Gears of War 2, nothing special just good old fashion mindless action. the price, guess if you have money to buy a yacht then there's no problem spending hundreds on games, thousands on drugs and more on a wife. it all depends on how well you're doing.

	CJ_Parker	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 11:44 am EDT
	Reply "Is it worth this worth the full retail price of $60?" Are you st.. st... stuttering, Vadah?!? :p
	Vader: Seems so.

	SpaceMonkey	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 12:31 pm EDT
	Reply Can you elaborate on the "Free-roam gameplay" a bit? I'm confused because when I see the word "free-roam" I immediately think about GTA.
	Zoe: It’s free roam. Like free roaming chickens that lay free roa... Vader: You have more freedom than in other Halo games and, no, it's... SpaceMonkey: Is it more like the original Operation Flashpoint then? so..... Killer Klown: Are you sure it's not Free Rome, as in Roman Empire - where ... optimus slime: I would sleep with Caesar. Fatty: He was sexy.

	Cheddar	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 07:25 pm EDT
	Reply 8.6? No, I don't buy it. With respect, Vader is a well-documented Halo fanboy. He also gave Halo 3 a 9.0+ score (don't recall exactly) despite it's criminally short single-player campaign (seriously, the game was about as fucking long as Half-Life: Episode 2), and I fell for it, and finally decided to give Halo a whirl for the first time since Halo 1. I truly, genuinely expected the game to finally show me why the franchise is so stupidly popular. What followed was an incredibly generic, squarely AVERAGE first-person-shooter, with virtually every aspect of its experience fantastically overrated by the Microsoft hype-machine manipulated gaming press and fanbase. It was also the ugliest 360 game I've ever seen, in terms of visuals -- looked like a hi-def version of something that belonged on the original Xbox. Shit didn't even have anti-aliasing for chrissake (which really shows up when you're playing it on an LCD monitor). So with Vader, you can probably take a full point or more off the score, and that's the real score. 7.6, I could believe.
	Tastysanchez: Fuck halo! Alchi: It is an average shooter, yes. But it is a simple shooter. N... Fatty: I completely disagree that Halo 3 was just average. I playe...

	Cheddar	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 07:26 pm EDT
	Reply Btw, 60 bucks for this is hilarious. Bungie must have fuck-all for integrity these days. Vader should've immediately given the game a score in the 7 point range just for that atrocity alone.
	Vader: yeah, vader you really should've!

	gekido	[mail] Sep 20 2009, 11:41 pm EDT
	Reply yeah it's kind of comical - how fanboys of one kind will buy any old shit that gets shoveled down the pipe, and fanboys of another stripe (like, oh say left for dead protestors) will get their panties in a bunch over having to buy something that has even more content than the original game did. high-larious

	fenixfire	[mail] Sep 21 2009, 09:28 am EDT
	Reply 60 bucks is pretty lame, but microsoft knows full well that this game will sell several million copies even if it were 100 bucks so they probly see it as doing everyone a favor by not charging more than 60. heh

	albundyhere	[mail] Sep 21 2009, 04:07 pm EDT
	Reply "We normally don't post any news on Sundays (it's a holy day and all...well, okay, that has nothing to do with it)" yeah it does...halo + holy = religion