**Official** Halo 3: ODST Thread

Reviews | Gamerankings | Metacritic



Until those aggregators catch up, here's a round up.



Updates



09-19 | IGN has a pretty amusing recap of the Halo story to date. Also, added OST preview and review to the OST section.

09-18 | New vids ahoy! IGN headshot montage, gametrailers has a ton of new videos here, and Gamespot has a play though of the first hour of the game here.

09-17 | Gamestop has published the list of stores holding a midnight sale for ODST. Swing by here and see if yours is on the list. Here's the Best Buy midnight sale list.

09-17 | Details on the launch party are up on b.net.

09-16 | The bungie.net site redesign is now live. I've added the Achievements to the General Information section.

09-15 | Added a Soundtrack section with links to previews and the Amazon page. Also, the details on the official ODST launch party are up here.

09-15 | Big Update: A few additional Firefight screens revealed and added to the Firefight section, a bunch of new art and image assets up over at HBO inunwatermarked goodness (added to media section), and the ODST Vidoc, "Terra Incognita", has been added to the video section.

09-11 | A behind the scenes look at the live-action ad is up .

09-10 | G4 Firefight preview (no spoilers, just a couple new maps). Full, 16-minute interview with Lars is here about Firefight, also spoiler-free.

09-10 | G4 has an extensive interview with Brian Jarrard, Bungie's community manager. ODST, Reach and what comes next all come up.





Spoiler Tags: Use'em for any story-related discussion of content not yet released by Bungie. If you're not sure, tag it. Like this: like, OMG.









An overview of key information and features



Release Dates | North America, Europe, Australia September 22nd | Japan September 24th



Co-op Play | Four players over Live or system link, two player split-screen, for both Firefight and Campaign.



HDD Installation | The ODST Campaign/Firefight disc is optimized for HDD installation. The Halo 3 Mythic disc is not - it is Halo 3, which was optimized for disc streaming - and installing it will result in slower loading times.





Game Content and Features

• Campaign | Story-driven game mode set in a destroyed New Mombassa in the wake of the slipspace jump first seen in Halo 2.
• Firefight | New cooperative Horde-like survival mode for up to four players.
• Theater | Similar to Halo 3, games are saved for later viewing, and to take screenshots, here.
• Extras | The Halo: Reach Beta (see next item) will appear here, in addition to as yet unannounced other content.
• Halo: Reach Beta Access | Public Beta for Halo: Reach begins in the spring. Access to the Reach Beta will be granted via the ODST disc, through the "Extras" menu. Think Crackdown and the Halo 3 Beta.
• Halo 3 - Mythic Disc | Complete Halo 3 Multiplayer suite, including all maps, modes and features.

Official Sites

• Bungie Social Media Sites | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube
• Bungie.net ODST Project Page | A hub collecting official screens, trailers and other content.
• ODST Field Guide | A collection of official information on the new features and characters in ODST.
• xbox.com site | A collection of marketing materials and other information on the game

Official Sound Track - Two-Disc Set | Amazon Link | Bungie.net OST Preview | Making the OST, from 1up | Preview the Full OST | OST Review









Pre-Order Bonus | Token to download Sgt. Johnson for play in the Firefight mode. List of participating major retailers here.







Special Edition | Gamestop exclusive - game plus Halo 3-themed controller for $100.









Media - Images and Videos

Note: Firefight gameplay videos are available in the Firefight section.

• Direct-feed Gameplay | IGN headshot montage | Gametrailers | Gamespot plays the first hour of the game here
• Concept Art and Pics | A gaggle of high-res images and art here | Bungie's Art and Image Gallery
• Trailers | Firefight trailer, "Bip. Bap. Bam." | Campaign Trailer, "Desperate Measures" | E3 Gameplay Trailer (Select from list) | Announcement Trailer (CG)
  
• Ads | 2 1/2 minute Live Action Ad | | Sgt. Johnson/Gamestop Pre-Order Ad | Red vs. Blue Firefight Preview | Second Red vs. Blue ad, "Aliens, Aliens, Aliens" | Red vs. Blue ad #3, "The Man, The Myth, The Legend"
  
• Vidoc | "Terra Incognita" is a lengthy behind the scenes look at the making of ODST, from Bungie. Marketplace link.

Bungie.net Features | New Features Walkthrough | New features and design are live



All Halo 3 features are compatible with ODST, including file share and Bungie Pro. The ODST support on b.net makes Halo 3's look downright anemic.

• Friends List Leaderboards
• Career stats
• Detailed stats for each Firefight game, for every kill, medal, betrayal, death, etc.
• Heatmaps
• Road to Recon! Complete the Vidmaster achievements in both Halo 3 and ODST, and track progress to unlock Recon armor in MP on bungie.net
• Drill-down stats for each Game, Wave, Round, and Set of Firefight.
• Charts. Graphs. Oh my.

Achievements









Gameplay



ODST's gameplay is tweaked in several small but significant ways from Halo 3. In general, ODSTs will have to be much more careful in combat relative to Spartans.

• Reduced Capabilities | ODST's cannot use equipment or dual wield, do not have a motion tracker, move slightly slower, have a shorter jump and take fall damage.
• Health System | Similar to Halo 1's health system, ODST's have a small amount of Stamina, which recharges, and a larger amount of health beneath that, which does not. Accessing health packs and OPTICAN stations will recharge health.
• New Capabilities | ODST's are equipped with a night vision "VISR" mode, which in addition to amplifying visibility highlights enemies and allies. They carry three of each grenade type rather than two, and have access to an overhead map of New Mombasa, with the ability to place way points and track objectives, and a data recorder log.

VISR Night Vision









The VISR Map









New Weapons

M7 SUBMACHINE GUN







Now silenced and scoped, this variant has a much longer range than it's Halo 2 and Halo 3 versions.





M6C/SOCOM







A cross between the Halo 1 and Halo 3 pistols. Your go-to headshot machine.

Controls | Default control setup













The Setup

The year is 2552. Covenant forces control the city of New Mombasa. They are searching for something beneath its darkened streets. You are an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. Your orders: Stay alive, meet up with your scattered squad, and escape the embattled city.



Halo 3: ODST allows players to explore dangerous new ground, search the dark, abandoned streets of New Mombasa for clues, and fight back against the Covenant invasion from multiple perspectives. Dropping in as "the rookie," a new member of an elite squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers sent into New Mombasa on a classified recon mission, you'll be armed with specialized weaponry and upgraded technology, including silenced weapons and a VISR enhanced vision mode.



Separated from your squad, you'll have to scour the city for clues in order to learn what happened to Buck, Dare, Dutch, Mickey, and Romeo. As you collect new clues, you***47968;l experience the story from their perspectives, fighting through the occupied city hours earlier.

The Squad







From left to right: Adam Baldwin as Dutch | The Rookie | Nolan North as Romeo | Alan Tudyk as Mickey | Tricia Helfer as Dare | Nathan Fillion as Buck



Character bios are located here, and in the Field Guide ("Personel" section).





Campaign Structure

• Hub World | New Mombasa at night is an open-ended hub to explore as The Rookie, looking for clues to the fate of your squad mates.
  
• Flashback Missions | Upon finding a clue item, the game switches to a flashback mission, where the perspective changes to each member of the ODST squad, living through what happened to them. These are more traditional Halo levels in structure. You can find the clues - and play through these missions - in any order.
  
• Sadie's Story | Audio logs scattered throughout the hub world, telling a side story called "Sadie's Story". You can read about it here. An article about the guys that produced Sadie's Story - the team that made I Love Bees - is here. I won't cover details at this time for those who want to be surprised.

Campaign Options

• Choose Difficulty (Easy, Normal, Heroic, Legendary)
• Choose Primary (Gold) and Secondary (Silver) Skulls. These are the same Skulls as in Halo 3, and are available from the outset in ODST. For more information on the Skulls, see the Firefight section.
• Campaign can be played co-op via two-player split screen, and up to four players online or in system link. (The same feature set as in Halo 3. This also means drop-in, drop-out is not an option, nor is matchmaking.)

GAF Firefight Gametags | Add this GT as a friend, and use the Friend of a Friend feature to find GAFers online to play Firefight with.

• GAF Firefight2
• GAF Firefight (All 100 slots filled!)

Firefight Overview | Intro to Firefight

• The Lowdown | Firefight is a four-player cooperative Horde-like survival mode. Players fend off waves of Covenant in closed arenas, carved out from campaign. A few maps are available at the outset, with others unlocked over the course of Campaign.
• Customization | Choose Difficulty (Easy, Normal, Heroic, Legendary), Player Character, tag and emblem, and activate Secondary (Silver) Skulls.
• Game Structure | Firefight plays out in a series of Waves, Rounds and Sets. Five Waves make up a Round, and three Rounds make up a Set.
• Lives | A pool of seven lives is shared between all players. Additional lives are added between Sets, and lives can be awarded during the Bonus Round.
• Bonus Round | Taking place between Sets, the Bonus round is about racking up extra lives. All skulls turn on - so once everyone dies once, the Bonus Round ends - and it literally rains Grunts. Homicidal, suicidal, grenade-hurling Grunts. The higher the score, the more lives awarded.
• Skulls | These modifiers will cycle on and between each round of Firefight. Gradually more and more stay on, with all seven eventually on for good. The skulls are:
  
  
  
  | Enemies are much more adept at dodging grenades, vehicles and other projectiles. Enabled out the gates in Firefight.
  
  
  
  | Health for all enemies is doubled. Considered the next difficulty after Legendary.
  
  
  
  | Shielded enemies are impervious to bullets, and must have their shields stripped with plasma or explosive weaponry.
  
  
  
  | Enemies throw more grenades. Lots and lots and lots of grenades.
  
  
  
  | Stamina no longer auto-recharges. The only way to get it back is to melee attack an enemy.
  
  
  
  | The ammo left behind in dropped weapons is half the normal level.
  
  
  
  | Extra lives are useless - die once, and it's off to the spectator camera, either until the end of the game or until the start of the next Round.

Firefight HUD









Firefight Gameplay Videos

• GameVideos: Alpha Site | Big Score | Bonus Round | Security Zone | Crater Night | Engineer Revealed.
• IGN: Video Preview | Engineer
• GameTrailers: Videos Page | Apha Site | Security Zone | Crater Night
• GameSpot: Videos Page | (Check their top videos for the new ones)

Firefight Maps | Annonced Firefight maps shown below. There are 10 maps in total, including two nighttime variants.

• Rally Point
  
  
  
  
  
• ONI Alpha Site
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Crater
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Crater (Night)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Security Zone
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Lost Platoon
  
  
  
  

Disc 2 is titled Halo 3: Mythic, and is the complete collection of Halo 3's MP content. It includes all original shipping maps, all DLC and three additional maps.



Halo 3: Mythic is literally Halo 3 MP. The Matchmaking, Custom Games, Theater and Forge features are identical to Halo 3, and is fully compatible with Halo 3 players. People playing Halo 3 and this disc will not be able to tell one another apart. XBox Live detects this disc as Halo 3.



ODST-Exclusive Maps | May arrive in Marketplace as a map pack eventually, but for now these maps are only available in ODST.

• Heretic | Very faithful Midship remake
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Longshore | Asymmetric BTB map
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Citadel | Small, symmetrical arena map
  
  
  
  

Mythic Map Pack | Project Page | Trailer

• Sandbox | Almost entirely editable slate for Force maps, small and large.
• Assembly | Medium symmetrical arena map
• Orbital | Sort of symmetric, generally confusing and best considered a freebie

Legendary Map Pack | Trailer | Developer Walkthrough

• Avalanche | Sidewinder-inspired BTB map
• Blackout | Lockout remake
• Ghost Town | Asymmetric medium sided map

Heroic Map Pack | Developer Interviews | Trailer

• Rat's Nest | Indoors symmetric BTB map
• Standoff | Medium-large symmetric map for 8-16
• Foundry | For user-Forged maps, made mostly redundant by Sandbox

Cold Storage | Developer Walkthrough | A remake of the Halo 1 map Chill Out, released for free on Bungie Day'07

ripped from neogaf

who's in?

OT record for longest post ever? I sure hope no asshat quotes that. As for the game... looks pretty sweet. I bought an Xbox back in the day just to play Halo, will this game persuade me to finally get a 360?

Cant wait, i wish they did a separate online, but w/e id be down to play new maps on halo 3. Also there is like horde mode, which sounds sick

Originally Posted by Sponger

OT record for longest post ever? I sure hope no asshat quotes that. As for the game... looks pretty sweet. I bought an Xbox back in the day just to play Halo, will this game persuade me to finally get a 360?

Maybe not, but COD: Modern Warfare 2 sure will!

Wish I was in college still...

should have seperated it.. but heres more..

Community sites and resources

• HBO | The biggest and best Halo fan site on the web. Daily news and content of literally all things Halo and Bungie.
• Bungie Podcast | So Bungie has a podcast...
• Rampancy.net | One of the oldest Halo fan sites on the web, Narcogen writes (and podcasts) fascinating analysis of the Halo games and universe.
• Major League Gaming | The official website of Major League Gaming (MLG), in which Halo plays a major part.
• High Impact Halo | A community devoted to Easter eggs, tricks and stunts in the Halo games.
• Forgehub | A community devoted to creating, organizing, discussing and playing Forge creations.

Updates



09-10 | Updated GhaleonEB's Sandstorm to version 2.7

09-07 | Added Nokyard's Sentinel Factory



Map maker | Map(s)

• Alisdair Bnet - Aspirite v2
• Bladed Expert Bnet ?Mage 3.1
• Butane123 Bnet - Neosho, Chimera
• Dax01 Bnet ?Outskirts, Geminie
• DeputyMoonman Bnet - Goldmine v1.5
• DualX Bnet - Train Station?, Infection gametype and maps
• EazyB: Ber Ber Creek T | Brouhaha v1.2ho | Rise v3.1
• Exfixate Bnet - Gangplank Galley
• Fin Bnet - Refuge v1
• FourDoor Bnet - Air Stream 0.2
• GhaleonEB: Entrenched 1.4 | Elevation 2.1 | Slingshot 1.2 | Centrifugal 1.5 | Sandstorm 2.7
• GM Bullfrog Bnet ?Kulkukan
• Grimm Fandango: Seperatude v1.1 | Turf II v3
• Havok Bnet - Agartha, Phaeton
• Insaniac Bnet - Sky Perch
• Metroidvania Bnet - Mountain 1.04
• Merguson: Firmament v1.2 | Ghaleon's Entrenched But Fixed
• Nokyard Bnet - Grifball High, Sentinal Factory
• Oozer: Remnant a1.0 | Drydock (Beta 2)
• Silly.Mikey Bnet - So High
• Spirit Bnet?Pitfall V2, Worship
• Spudbud Bnet - gave up on life
• Squidhands Bnet - Avarice
• Striker Bnet - Access
• Vhfive Bnet - gaffer's delight, Platform, Sanctum 2.2, Flying Dutchman
• Vociferous Bnet - Abaddon
• ZayneH: Barracks | Barracks Open

Tools

• Fourdoor - All default objects moved to crypt
• Nokyard - Girfball High can be modified to take advantage of it's existing flat flooring in the sky bubble.
• Vociferous - All objects on the ground moved aside so that they aren't in the way.
• Vociferous - All default objects moved to the skybubble

MM Sandbox Variants

• Ghaleon - Entrenched 1.4 - BTB (Multiflag and Neutral Assault)
• Butane123 - Neosho - DLC (Multiflag BRs)
• Borderline - TS (ARs), DLC (Slayer ARs)
• Reminiscent - TS (ARs), DLC (Slayer ARs)
• Pantheon - TS (BRs), DLC (Slayer BRs)
• Cryptic Fate - DLC (Multi Flag) - no idea where this came from and can't find link
• Workplace Bravo - SB (Slayer BRs), BTB (Slayer BRs)
• Eighty Grit - SB (1-Flag), BTB (1-Flag)
• Utah Mambo - Social Team DLC (one flag, one bomb)
• Punishment v2 - Social Team DLC (Multi-flag BRs)
• Vessel - Team Doubles
• Cubed - Team Doubles, Rumble Pit
• Plurality - Team Doubles
• Tundra - Team Doubles
• Tundra Swat - Team SWAT
• Vindictive - Social Big Team
• Wastelands - Social Big Team?

Remakes:

• Tombstone
• Ivory Tower
• Damnation
• Geminie
• Boarding Action
• Ascension
• Prisoner

__________________

"I dont like you, but I love you. Seems like Im always~ thinking of you..Oh, oh oh you treat me badly..I love you madly.
You really got a hold on me."

Originally Posted by ghorn

Maybe not, but COD: Modern Warfare 2 sure will!

My PS3 will handle that game just fine.

Originally Posted by Sponger

My PS3 will handle that game just fine.

Ah, cool, cool. Wasn't sure if you had either sys.

Man the games coming out have just sucked. I haven't played XBOX in like a month and a half because there really is nothing to play. Maybe this will tide me over till MW2.

The Monday before a huge game release is always the worst. Let us know how it is Mach... your recommendation for Fallout 3 led me to buy it, and that's one of the top 5 games I have ever played. I take your word on everything video games over any big name reviewer.

that gAme is due out november 10th...and by that time ill prob still be playing ODST depending on how good it is tomorrow...
plus that game is for PC 360 and ps3.. halo is not



damn one day left...

lookit all the pictures!

got mine reserved

I wish my 360 wasn't out of commission. I'm listening to the OST right now and it's great (I've always loved the Halo music).

I do think that it's pretty funny, though, that when Halo 3 was released, COD4 was released a couple months later so everybody switched. Now, MW2 is being released just a couple months after ODST.

i wish one of my roommates had a 360 so i could buy this, the game looks sick, but im not going to buy a 360 just for it.

Definitely will pick this up. So, for athe guy who hasn't kept up with all the above and doesn't want to try and comprehend it, is this more or less just like the previous Halo games where it's standard first person shooter with lots of online capabilities? I remember seeing a halo game that looked like the typical build your warriors and attack surrounding village games.

Cant wait for firefight. It'll be more fun the nazi zombies hopefully.

Originally Posted by 2000_328CI

Definitely will pick this up. So, for athe guy who hasn't kept up with all the above and doesn't want to try and comprehend it, is this more or less just like the previous Halo games where it's standard first person shooter with lots of online capabilities? I remember seeing a halo game that looked like the typical build your warriors and attack surrounding village games.

That's Halo Wars.

Originally Posted by blownE30M3

That's Halo Wars.

Yeah Halo wars was in my opinion a big mistake that they made in the franchise. It just wasn't that fun. Didn't have alot of replay value to it. Did have a good story to help with the background of Halo but thats about it.

Originally Posted by originalgoast

Yeah Halo wars was in my opinion a big mistake that they made in the franchise. It just wasn't that fun. Didn't have alot of replay value to it. Did have a good story to help with the background of Halo but thats about it.

Agreed. I beat it and immediately sold it. Had no replay value whatsoever.