Available For: Xbox 360
Rating: 3.5/5.0

“Halo” series creator/developer Bungie has said repeatedly that “Halo 3” would be the final “Halo” title they would make.

Yet they are not only working on a prequel entitled “Halo: Reach,” but they have also recently released “Halo 3: ODST,” a game that started out as an expansion pack, but somehow turned into a full-fledged $60 game.

The question is, “Does ‘Halo 3: ODST’ justify its hefty price tag?” The answer is no.
“ODST” makes a few changes by removing weapon dual-wielding, bringing back the visible health bar, and introducing the need for health packs.

These elements help accentuate the fact that players are controlling normal soldiers rather than the invincible Spartan super-soldier “Master Chief.” While being an interesting spin on the series, it has its problems.

Whenever a soldier is injured, the screen goes red and becomes too blurry to clearly see what’s going on, forcing players to hide until the screen goes back to normal. While possibly an intentional decision, this feature could have been implemented in a better way.

The game also breaks the boring linear storytelling style of past “Halo” games by putting players in a noir-style mystery.

Playing as a rookie ODST that must find out what happened to the city of New Mombasa, players will spend their time going through an overworld-type setting that functions as nothing more than a time-wasting clue hunt.

These sometimes frustrating-to-find clues trigger flashback levels that switch to another ODST team member. While somewhat interesting, “ODST’s” overworld and a couple of levels are simply too big and can be long and boring to walk through when vehicles are unavailable.

While being somewhat of a new venture into the world of “Halo,” it still fails to feel like more than an expansion-pack. The story mode can be easily finished within four hours, with an extra hour spent searching for story-expanding audio transcripts; and the only other new addition, “Firefight mode,” which pits players against waves of enemies, is only entertaining for so long.

The game also comes with a second disc that contains all of “Halo 3’s” multiplayer maps, including DLC maps — maps that most “Halo” fans will most likely have already bought, making the disc rather useless aside from the addition of three new maps.

While “Halo 3: ODST” may introduce a new gameplay mode and campaign, the campaign is very short and the provided content isn’t nearly worth the $60 Bungie is asking for, as the second half of its content has been available for over two years.

I recommend either waiting for a price drop on “ODST” or renting it rather than purchasing it at full price.

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