Halo 3: ODST -- A Rather Late Initial Impression.

A delayed delivery, a day of playing, a day without electricity, and another day of playing and I'm finally delivering a late initial impression. Halo 3: ODST was developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios. ODST, which stands for Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, is a game that takes place during the end of Halo 2 into the events of Halo 3. ODST uses the Halo 3 engine, but it's not your typical Halo game. They've made some major changes. Gone are the regenerative shields and the dual wielding of weapons. You can only heal from med packs. Gone is the sense of invincibility that playing as Master Chief affords. The story of ODST changes things up as well. The linear level progression of the Halo series is gone from ODST. The narrative comes in the form of playable flashbacks that are found throughout a hub world. The solo campaign represents roughly a quarter of the overall package. There is an online cooperative campaign. There is another online mode that goes by the name of Firefight. This mode borrows heavily from Gears of War 2's Horde mode and Call of Duty's online modes. Up to four players online face wave after wave of enemies, only with the added Halo touch. Halo's skulls randomize the conditions of each round. Five waves make up a round. Three rounds make a set. After a set you'll have experience a bonus round where you'll have a greater chance of earning extra lives to enable you to keep the game going. And the final quarter of the ODST package is the entire Halo 3 versus online multiplayer, including all of the extra downloadable maps. There is a lot of bang for the buck with this one. Which is interesting to me as there is a rather vocal group claiming ODST is not worth the asking price. I'm roughly half way through the solo campaign. We've yet to play the campaign online. I've dabbled in the Halo 3 multiplayer. We've just recently seriously started playing the Firefight mode. I've played enough to say that ODST is a full game. Well justified in its full price entry fee. Does it live up to the Halo legacy or have Bungie finally taken a misstep? That question is more up in the air than I was expecting it to be at this point. But as always, time will tell.