[Ranger_Joe]

Today is launch day for Halo 3: ODST. As it happens, I have a few days off this week (the universe / Battle Cat works in mysterious ways). I've played the single player campaign for about an hour and am loving it. I have yet to dip into the multiplayer. When that time comes, maybe I'll see a few of you online?

My gamertag is: RangerJoe79

[the Battle Cat]

Ranger_Joe, on September 22nd 2009, 08:25 AM, said:

As it happens, I have a few days off this week (the universe / Battle Cat works in mysterious ways).

And behold, the Battle Cat spoketh, saying unto those who lacketh necks, "Let there be carnage." And it was so.

[Frost]

And after this great conflagration, Gelus Magnus looked out among the piled dead who stretched for miles, and rejoiced, and said it was good.

[Rev-O]

Ranger_Joe, on September 22nd 2009, 09:25 AM, said:

Today is launch day for Halo 3: ODST. As it happens, I have a few days off this week (the universe / Battle Cat works in mysterious ways). I've played the single player campaign for about an hour and am loving it. I have yet to dip into the multiplayer. When that time comes, maybe I'll see a few of you online?

My gamertag is: RangerJoe79

Ohgodiwanttobuyitsobad.
Please post no further about it's wonderfulness. I am weak.

[Frost]

Yeah, I want this game too... from the looks of it, it might go back to the kind of gameplay that made me really enjoy the first Halo (versus not caring much for the sequels). If that's the case, bring it on! I didn't think I'd buy another Xbox game after Gears 2, but this looks like something I will definitely have to pick up.

[teflon]

The first review I've seen (can't remember where it was though) said its a bit underwhelming. The action is essentially Halo 3 tweaked pointlessly, its really really short (4 hours), and a big part of the game is wandering around the city, after the fact, to the next story point at which point you flip back in time to when the events were happening.

I've explained that really badly.

Anyway, the gist of it is that its way too much money for way too little content, and that its little more than an expansion pack to Halo 3. If you liked Halo 3, you'll like this, just probably not the price tag.

[Frost]

Well, I planned to buy it on eBay after the price came down anyway. Maybe that means it'll just go lower, faster.

[The Liberator]

I have also read/watched a few reviews, saying the SP ain't too bad for what it is. A goo atmosphere when you a wandering by yourself in night of New Mombassa. They did then say that FireFight is really where it is at. The best thing to do with friends^*. Maybe even better than Cod 5 Zombies.

Liberator.

*It seems like it would be easy to have three friends over to play FireFight.

[Rev-O]

The Liberator, on September 23rd 2009, 05:42 AM, said:

I have also read/watched a few reviews, saying the SP ain't too bad for what it is. A goo atmosphere when you a wandering by yourself in night of New Mombassa. They did then say that FireFight is really where it is at. The best thing to do with friends^*. Maybe even better than Cod 5 Zombies.

Liberator.

*It seems like it would be easy to have three friends over to play FireFight.

Huh. Great to play with three friends over. Bet it goes great with a plethora of savory malted beverages.
Yah, I want it.

[The Liberator]

Rev-O, on September 24th 2009, 09:33 AM, said:

Huh. Great to play with three friends over. Bet it goes great with a plethora of savory malted beverages.
Yah, I want it.

Salty beverages, ha ha ha. I am not sure how well you will be playing after a few of them. Supposedly it becomes really hard, moving past Legendary difficulty to Mythic.

Liberator.

[Endymion]

teflon, on September 22nd 2009, 07:50 PM, said:

The first review I've seen (can't remember where it was though) said its a bit underwhelming. The action is essentially Halo 3 tweaked pointlessly, its really really short (4 hours), and a big part of the game is wandering around the city, after the fact, to the next story point at which point you flip back in time to when the events were happening.

I've explained that really badly.

Anyway, the gist of it is that its way too much money for way too little content, and that its little more than an expansion pack to Halo 3. If you liked Halo 3, you'll like this, just probably not the price tag.

The game is not as short as the "way too short" reviews make it out to be. A few of them that I know of precisely played through the game in cooperative mode. There is a logistical problem here as in ODST you are supposed to be a lone soldier. If you play the game cooperatively, you're still a lone soldier but, there is/are more than one of you... somehow, in other words the story never addresses multiple players in the way that Halo 3 did. It is more like Halo, where there is only one Master Chief, but in cooperative mode there are two of you running around.

Here though, it really alters the difficulty a lot. If you have any competency with first person shooters at all I feel you should play this game on Heroic mode, just as with Halo 3, "this is how the game is meant to be played." If you feel you are an accomplished FPS gamer then I absolutely recommend the Legendary mode. Your character really is human, with all human weaknesses, but with the firepower and mobility made available to you, your enemies are never completely invincible. You are forced to ponder your fronts, be mindful of your environment and your six in order to manage an effective offense. ODST on Normal is way too easy for a single player, and for cooperative mode the whole thing will be over before you know it if you just punch your way in, but with Legendary mode you will be dead before you can duck if you attempt to Rambo it. Which is exactly the way a human should fare against a full compliment of Covenant squad.

This game is as close to an FPS masterpiece as we've seen this generation, seriously. Play it solo the first time, and definitely up the difficulty, and another notch if gaming with a friend.

[Ichigo27]

Curious, how much different is the level design compared to halo 3?

[Silver Samurai]

Ichigo27, on September 25th 2009, 05:17 PM, said:

Curious, how much different is the level design compared to halo 3?

I'd say totally different.
You're outside in urban landscapes. Theirs nothing "alien" about the levels and you really can't run in guns-a-blazing.
Firefight mode is neat, but I presume it's not supposed to be something to play single player though.

[The Liberator]

No, from what i have read and watched, FireFight is a friends type mode. Kind of like doing CoD 5 Zombies on level 10 by yourself. Remember, that is my view of it, and I cannot accurately say as I have not played it.

Liberator.

[Sneaky Snake]

This video about ODST gave me some laughs

[the Battle Cat]

Sneaky Snake, on October 3rd 2009, 05:50 PM, said:

This video about ODST gave me some laughs

Wow, that was really pretty cool. Very lucid. Is that an official trailer from Bungie?

[teflon]

all but the voice over, yeah.
I thought the trailer was ace, even if it didn't really reflect the action presented in the games. It had a decent mid-budget sci-fi film feel to it, and if that's what the action in the eventual Halo movie looks like, I'll be quite impressed.

[Sneaky Snake]

teflon, on October 4th 2009, 12:57 PM, said:

all but the voice over, yeah.
I thought the trailer was ace, even if it didn't really reflect the action presented in the games. It had a decent mid-budget sci-fi film feel to it, and if that's what the action in the eventual Halo movie looks like, I'll be quite impressed.

Yea this trailer, as well has the Halo 3 live action ones were done real well. Makes you want to go out and buy the game immediately. Here's the link to the extended trailer (real version) if anyone's interested

[the Battle Cat]

teflon, on October 4th 2009, 09:57 AM, said:

all but the voice over, yeah.

Oh well hell, that was the cool lucid part!

[Frost]

Holy cow, I actually really like this game. After all these years, we FINALLY get to play Halo 2 (the Halo 2 that was advertised, versus the one that shipped). Granted the weapons are all boned and weird like all the post-Halo 1 games, but the atmosphere feels like Halo 1 again and I'm FINALLY able to get into a Halo again.

The downside is I've barely been playing and I've been really taking my time, and even so it looks like I'm probably already halfway through.

Figures they finally make a Halo I like again, and then make it stupidly short.