For the more learned here are the breaks, no dual wielding, recharging shields or battle rifle but a scoped and silenced pistol/ SMG and a low light visor, VISR. These changes dictate the change in feel in ODST from one of all out attack to one all the more strategic and stealthy.

 

As the ODSTs you are slower, weaker, your guns recoil more severely, you can’t jump as far and getting shot hurts…a lot. The premise of ODST sets you as a new recruit to a team of hotshot Orbital Drop Shock Troopers…after the Spartans these guys are the biggest and the baddest humans. You drop into New Mombassa just as the Prophet of Truth (head honcho alien) opens up a slipspace rupture (wormhole) over the city during his flight from Earth.

 

The rupture destroys much of New Mombasa and scatters your team. You awake in the middle of the night, having been unconscious for many hours and are tasked with exploring a massive hub world, new to Halo, finding clues to the whereabouts of your comrades. Each clue prompts a flashback of what happened to each of the other 4 ODSTs and a new level. You play out the story as they search for each other and the secret held in New Mombassa.

 

During your night-time exploits as the rookie your new VISR comes into play, with much of the night setting too dark to negotiate at all without its features. Encounters with the covenant feel far more threatening as a run of the mill human, avoiding battles is sometimes smarter than facing packs of Brutes, hiding can be vital and melees no longer kill with one hit, the Halo dynamic has changed somewhat. The day-time flashbacks will be more like the Halo you know, linear progression with good old fashion running and shooting. But you will be fighting like Ali (moving back on the defensive) for much of it.

 

The campaign is about 6hrs long, somewhat shorter than other Halos, but the raison d’aitre of ODST is Firefight…a new cooperative multiplayer mode for 1-4 players which pits you in a base fighting off wave after wave of Covenant forces. As you progress the introduction of skulls (difficulty modifiers) ups the ante, but herein lies the beauty of ODST. With shared ammo and lives teamwork is the key and with Firefight games lasting up to 2 hours the games become a truly epic struggle that brings the players together like never seen before in Halo…together you stand, divided you fall. My only gripe is there is no matchmaking in Firefight, so you will only ever be able to play with your friends on Xbox live, which will limit a lot of people.

 

ODST takes the tried and tested Halo formula and gives you a different spin on it. Those expecting a wildly different beast will be disappointed but I imagine that they are in the minority. With a second disc of Halo 3’s multiplayer & extra maps, the inclusion of Firefight and a new campaign, ODST is well worth your time and will keep all fanboys happy until Halo: Reach ships next autumn, where perhaps they will be reunited with M.C.P.O John.