Halo 3: ODST -- Final Opinion.

I'm not entirely done with ODST yet, as I have to help some people earn some achievements. I have however earned the full one-thousand and pretty much have done everything there is to do with Halo 3: ODST. The offline campaign is great for the most part. The flashbacks and the current missions are great. They're classic Halo experiences all around. Each one seems to focus on a different Halo aspect which really showcases why Halo is so fun. The hub world that holds them together though left me a little flat. It's a slightly confusing mess of a city with little to do but fight random Covenant patrols and scour around for the collectable audio logs that make up the second half of the game's story. Graphically the game looks great, aging Halo 3 engine or not. The sound design lives up to Bungie's standard of excellence. The controls are Halo perfect. And the new stamina system changes up the gameplay just enough to make it its own thing while remaining Halo. The Firefight mode proved itself to be great fun and offered up its own challenges. Firefight mode is a commitment every time out though, assuming you're going for the achievement tied to the level. Each level will take you an hour and a half to two hours to complete and there are eight of them. We also went through the co-op campaign on Legendary which provided a few more hours of play. And surprisingly, we spent a lot of time playing the Halo 3 multiplayer disc trying for achievements there that were connected to ODST. As I've stated in my previous entry on ODST, there was a certain segment of gamers bitching about ODST being a mere expansion and not worth the full retail price. Those people are just as asinine as the Left 4 Dead group, as ODST provides hours and hours of entertainment. It's definitely worthy of its full price status. I more than got my money's worth and I'm giving Halo 3: ODST an 8.5.