There’s only five days left until Halo fans flood to their local store to pick up the latest title in Microsoft’s flagship franchise. There’s been much controversy as to what Halo 3: ODST (formerly known as Halo 3: Recon) will add to the Halo universe, and today we’re going to take a quick look at everything Bungie’s latest shooter has to offer.

The Overview

Halo 3: ODST is the latest game in the Halo franchise. Rather than being a sequel, however, ODST serves as an extension to Halo 2. Halo 3: ODST will be the first time in which players won’t get the chance to play as the Master Chief in a Halo FPS, and players will instead be taking on the role of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, an elite unit of the United Nations Space Command.  Originally a small expansion designed to fill in the gap between the production of Halo 3 and the recently announced Halo: Reach, ODST steadily evolved into a full-fledged video game title with a campaign, competitive multiplayer and an additional game mode entitled “Firefight”.

The Story

After the Covenant’s attack on New Mombasa, Kenya in 2552, the city was left in ruin as the Covenant Prophet of Regret fled the planet, followed by the human ship In Amber Clad, on board of which were the SPARTAN soldier Master Chief, his artificial intelligence unit Cortana, Sergeant Johnson and Miranda Keyes. But behind SPARTAN John 117, a whole different set of events took place. Scheduled to crash the party on a Covenant capital ship, a squad of ODSTs missed their target and instead landed in a raging New Mombasa. Waking up several hours later, the Rookie finds himself in a hostile environment against patrolling Covenant squads, and eventually scours the city to search for his fallen squad-mates. Helped by New Mombasa’s still-active AI, the Superintendent, players will find the fallen ODSTs, engage with a clue around the scene of their demise and then engage in a playable flashback mission detailing the ODST’s experiences.  

The Characters

Let’s first clear up what an “ODST” is. Orbital Drop Shock Troopers are a highly advanced breed of infantry unit in the UNSC. The role is strictly voluntary, and only bravest of the bravest apply. The origin of their name is simple: ODSTs enter battle fields from orbiting UNSC ships through special pods known as HEVs (Human Entry Vehicles). Also nicknamed “Helljumpers” (due to the sweltering heat of entering a planet’s atmosphere via a pod), ODSTs have the highest casualty rates in the UNSC. Their motto: “Jump feet first into hell”.

The player character is, like the Master Chief was until Eric Nylund’s novel Halo: The Fall of Reach came out, unnamed. He’ll only be known as “The Rookie” and won’t be showing his face any time soon - Although it is known that his initials are “J.D.” (More like John Dorian am I right?). Going on from the possibility of The Rookie being the main character of Scrubs, little is known of The Rookie, and the word is that unlike the Chief, The Rookie will be a completely silent protagonist.

The Rookie will be searching New Mombasa for his four lost squad-mates: Buck, a hot-headed UNSC veteran and original leader of the squad, Dare, an Office of Naval Intelligence operative who took over command of Buck’s squad, Dutch, the heavy weapons specialist and driver, Dutch’s good, albeit aggressive friend Romeo, and the lowest ranked, most daredevilish member of the group: Mickey.

The Rookie won’t be doing his job alone: there will be a peculiar helper present in ODST, and the hardcore Halo fans that followed the pre-announcement hype of ODST will know plenty about the Superintendent. A second-generation “dumb” artificial intelligence unit, the Superintendent is New Mombasa’s AI designed to maintain the infrastructure of the city.

The New

Weapons: ODSTs have their own special gear used for rather more stealthy missions than those that we’ve so far undergone with the Master Chief. Making its first appearance in a Halo game is the Suppressed Sub-machine Gun, a silenced SMG for ODSTs. Also making its debut is the M6C/SOCOM, the special-ops variant of Halo: CEs sometimes beloved, sometimes criticized handheld pistol. The new M6C will boast a silencer and a laser sight.

Enemies: Halo 3: ODST will feature an additional Covenant unit, known as the Huragok, or more often the Engineer. The Huragok were first featured in the Halo novels, and then shown in visual form in Halo Wars, and are a generally harmless foe, although will aid Covenant forces in the Firefight mode.

Visuals: The latest Halo instalment will feature distinctly higher portions of shadowy, dimly lit environments. This is a key factor in ODST’s being a much more stealth-oriented game than its predecessors, and although flashback sequences will be much more action packed, there will be a significant amount of tactical gunplay. ODSTs are also given an additional visor mode which we didn’t see in the visor of the Master Chief. This mode is labelled “VISR”, and will illuminate the environment a la night-vision, and will also outline objects of interests: these include enemies, friendlies and dropped weapons. Many have likened VISR to Batman: Arkham Asylum’s “Detective Mode”.

The Old

Weapons:  ODST will feature just about all the old classics of the Halo series, except for possibly the SPARTAN Laser, although it is likely this will be available in multiplayer and Firefight. We’ll also be seeing the return of the Brute Plasma Rifle, which made its debut in Halo 2 but didn’t make the cut for Halo 3. The Brute Plasma Rifle is a red, more vicious edition of the Plasma Rifle. It also appears that we won’t be seeing the return of “Equipment”, as the special equipment button (“X”) has been used for the VISR function.

Multiplayer: Halo 3: ODST will contain every map released to date for Halo 3. This includes the Heroic, Legendary and Mythic map packs, as well as three additional, brand new maps titled “Citadel”, “Heretic” and “Longshore”. Competitive play will be the same Halo 3 multiplayer experience, and will not include ODSTs as playable units. The multiplayer maps will all be packed into one disc in the ODST package and can be played straight off the hard-drive without need of booting up Halo 3.

Music: Martin O’Donnell will compose a unique soundtrack for Halo 3: ODST, one which will be much more mellow and mysterious than Halo 3’s. O’Donnell has so far done fantastic things in previous Halo games, and this is definitely something to look forward to.

The Game Mode

"Built on top of Halo 3: ODST's campaign, Firefight is a cooperative game mode that lets you and up to three of your friends put your skills to the ultimate test. It allows you to jump straight into the heart of Halo and experience traditional Halo sandbox encounters with a new, high octane twist. Though you’ve squared off against most of the enemies you’ll face in Firefight before, you’re not going to be able to rely on your past experiences alone to guide you through all of the action. In Firefight, even the most "harmless" enemy can become a dangerous threat when you’re low on ammo, low on lives, and have your back against the wall. Throw gameplay modifying skulls into the mix and you'll find that the combat can become even more interesting and intense."

—Bungie.net: Drop Into Firefight

It pretty much goes like this: remember “Horde” in Gears of War 2? “Survival” in Left 4 Dead? “Nazi Zombies” in Call of Duty: World at War? It’s pretty much a Halo version of that. A wave-by-wave co-operative game mode, Firefight can be played by up to four players to hold off a never ending onslaught of Covenant foes. The structure of the game will consist of Sets, Rounds and Waves. Each Set consists of three Rounds, while there are five Waves in each Round. Each particular Covenant unit killed will earn a defender a pre-determined amount of points, and Firefight will allow the use of Bungie’s famed “Skulls”, tools to make gameplay either more challenging or more amusing. There have been a variety of maps created specifically for the Firefight game mode.

Unfortunately, players will be restricted to invite-only Firefight matches, as creating a matchmaking system for the format would apparently have taken an additional six months.  

The Deal

There will be a special “Collector’s Pack” of Halo 3: ODST. This includes a copy of the standard game, as well as a UNSC style Xbox 360 wireless controller. This will ship for US $99. Also, pre-ordering customers at select retailers will be able to attain a key to play as Sgt. Avery Johnson in the Firefight game mode. Last and foremost, all purchasers of ODST will gain a key to participate in the online beta of Bungie’s upcoming shooter, Halo: Reach.

So, what’s next? Well, looking at the information above, you decide. If you want to read up on Halo 3: ODST in further depth, don’t hesitate to check out Halopedia, the site for anything and everything Halo. Whatever you want to do, Halo 3: ODST ships out in the US, Australia and Europe on the 22^nd of September.

Wondering what else you’re going to buy this winter? Check out “The Road Ahead”, an article that takes a look at the biggest titles of the holiday season.