E3 2009: Halo 3: ODST, a Rookie's Perspective

by Matt Melikov - IGN.com | 04 June 2009 12:00
 
Our honorary Editor for a Day plays and spills his guts on Bungie's latest.
 
IGN held a sweepstakes to award one lucky winner a free-ride trip to E3 2009 for a chance to be an IGN editor for a day. Our honorary rookie Matt got some play time with Bungie's latest, Halo 3: ODST, and pours his heart out in this gripping dissertation detailing the experience.

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One of the biggest tenets of the Halo series has been a solid multiplayer experience. It would appear that some fans even prefer the multiplayer to the solo campaign, purchasing the game based on the praise of it alone, and Halo remains one of the most popular multiplayer games on Xbox Live. With the brand new Halo 3: ODST exploring the world outside of Master Chief's experience, a brand new multiplayer affair is added. This is the world of Firefight.
 

Behold, the ODST.

Firefight finds you and four other players in a no-holds-barred fighting experience similar to the design of Left 4 Dead's Survival mode and Gears of War 2's Horde. The objectives of the new multiplayer mode center on team play more than solo survival, and it is imperative to be in constant communication with other players. The ODST character has different survival capabilities than the Spartan, and one of the things the developer emphasized is how different this soldier is from what we're used to. Each match runs for an unlimited time, and since the ODST's suits are different than the Spartans as far as recharging goes, you are given seven lives for you and your three teammates to use in case one of you dies. When all seven lives are spent, the game is over, but you are able to earn more lives depending on how far you make it in the match. All of the things that previous Halo multiplayer games sported are present as well, such as direct score uploading to Bungie.net.
 
The demo level on show at E3 opens up with you and one other player in a tiny room. As the door opens, you load up your ODST vision and rush outside to a small but open level. Standing atop a balcony with stairs leading down on either side, you look around to a bilateral circular environment where the action takes place. You start off with a rifle and the pistol--freshly returned from Halo: Combat Evolved--and can pick up the Covenant weapons as you go. After being outside for about ten seconds, a Covenant drop ship flies down and releases a massive horde of enemies at first comprised only of Grunts. They rush in from all sides, but are easily mowed down. I found myself crossing the main room and stepping directly into enemy territory where a second drop ship was releasing Brutes and Drones. No new enemies come until you clear out the area, but there's still a decent number of enemies to fight at any given time, most of which use the environment to hide from you.
 

Myriad weapons to choose from.

As far as weapons go, all of the standard weapons we're used to are here. We start with a rifle and a pistol, and as the fight goes on you can pick up any weapon that the Covenants drop. The plasma rifle, needler, and hammer are all available for use, as well as a rapid-fire cannon placed conveniently by an entrance. The ammo is rather sparse and you and your partners will use it up quickly, so it's best to acquire Covenant weapons to use in the fight. The hammer is especially good because you'll often find yourself in close quarters combat due to the tightness of the environment.
 
The team play is much better in this than it has been in previous Halo multiplayer modes, let alone other team-based multiplayer games. The seven lives system makes the gameplay much more team focused and user friendly. Since everyone shares the lives, communication is emphasized and you'll find yourself sticking near your cohorts more than running off and fending for yourself. You never have to worry about the guy on your team who thinks team killing is fun since it hurts him just as much. The gameplay also somewhat adjusts to how well you do as a group, as the Covenant will get increasingly better, cloaking and throwing grenades back at you to make it more difficult. The Covenant is excessively aggressive in killing you, and Firefight truly is a multiplayer experience that excels at its teamwork motif. Kudos to Bungie.
 

I spy with my little...helmet visor?

One thing about ODST that is really impressive is that, although it uses the same graphical engine as the previous games, this one is visually much sharper. Without your visor on, the world is incredibly dark and gritty, and it can often be hard to spot your enemies. For the most part, they actually look invisible to the naked eye. As soon as you use the ODST's special vision, each unit is outlined along with weapons so that not only can you tell the difference between your team and the enemy but you can also find things at a quicker glance. It's important to keep the visor on when playing in order to see everything in the environment and it certainly makes the gameplay much easier to comprehend.
 
Overall, Firefight seems much more impressive than I had originally assumed. I was very much looking forward to a new multiplayer experience and Firefight is exactly what I was looking for. It combines elements that work in other multiplayer games while putting the classic Halo spin on it. In a franchise that has been fueled by the multiplayer experience, one would obviously have high expectations for a new gameplay mode, and Firefight does not disappoint. If you were timid about adding Halo 3: ODST into your collection, quell your fears because Bungie has once again done an incredible job with their multiplayer gameplay. I can already tell that upon purchasing ODST I will spend myriad hours engaged in Firefight.
 
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