Against the odds, I managed to be able to drop into New Mombasa last night and begin my quest to solve a mystery while fending off hordes of Covenant troops. And I must say, I was blown away.
I, like so many others, watched the first cutscene video when it released a few weeks back, but I didn’t experience the true impact of that scene until I watched it in Hi-Def and heard it in Hi-Def audio through my Astro gaming headset. It was an amazing way of getting my feet wet with a new character.
Of course, from there it was all new territory. I met my first patrol within moments and quickly realized just how much I was going to have to rethink the way I play Halo. We were warned that we wouldn’t be able to just rush into a fight, guns a-blazing, and expect to be able to weather it well. But it’s one thing to hear it, and quite another to discover it first-hand and learn just how different an ODST is from a Spartan.
I quickly found that I enjoyed the experience of sneaking around the semi-deserted streets a great deal, picking fights from a distance by sniping Grunts with my auto-mag, and then turning their own needlers back on them and on their Brutish overlords. The mechanics of fighting as an ODST are a lot of fun, and you quickly learn that the best way to survive a fight is by looting Covenant weapons as necessary and doing as much of your killing as possible from a distance. At one point in the second mission, I was able to take down a Jackal sniper and use its weapon to take out a few Brutes. (Unfortunately, I failed to notice the other Jackal sniper perched a couple of blocks away.)
The soundtrack for Halo 3: ODST is another amazing work done by Marty. I listened to the whole thing yesterday before dropping into the game, but it was fabulous to hear the music in its native context. The music really adds to the experience, and the driving beat in one of the tracks makes a great backdrop for fighting through hordes of Covenant.
One other thing I really loved as a new HUD addition is the display of your progress toward earning various achievements. I was pleasantly surprised when the first popped into view and let me know how many kills I had left until I earned the appropriate achievement.
I spent two hours combing the streets of New Mombasa last night (an hour longer than I probably should have), and got about halfway into the second mission before deciding to call it quits. I’m already looking forward to getting boots on the ground again and digging around in the rubble—and taking out some of those Covenant bastards in the process. I did manage, however, to locate the final three skulls on the Mythic maps for those achievements and the Brainpan achievement. Now, I’m just three achievements away from owning Recon armor. It should be an interesting ride.
By the way, Heretic is a gorgeous remake of Midship, and I can’t wait to play some games in there again.
You want to do the Firefight Vidmaster together? I'll be receiving my copy in about a week or so (internation shipping sucks), maybe we could meet up?
I'd be up for that, add me to your friends list and let me know when you want to give it a go
I'd be down for that, provided we can make the times work out. You being as far ahead of me in time zones could make that somewhat troublesome.
Hmm, there is that. Your evenings are pretty much my mornings, right? I think I could be available Sunday morning, your Saturday evening? Depends on the gap. UTC is basically my time zone, so convert from HBO, I guess.
I'm down with that, send me a request, I'm snowxing on xbl too.
Yeah, I think our time zone difference is only five hours. I might be able to swing something that's a Saturday afternoon at some point.
Have fun on the last mission. Beat the story in five hours. However, Super Sleuth didn't unlock, so I'm a little ticked.
Didn't take much time to explore, then?
You need to complete it in one save, or so I remember. No splitting off and redoing missions in between.
Yup, that's exactly it.
I got the game about five mins after my local blockbuster opened. You are right when you have to re-think the way you approach combat. I kept dying during Buck's flashback scene till I realized, OK I'm not a spartan anymore, I need to approach this from a different angle. I grew to love the auto mag and SMG, I didn't pick up many covie weapons through the game though, I usually went pure human when I could. Gotta love those supply caches!
I tend to make use of whatever's handy and appropriate to the task at hand.
Pure human is good, but nothin beats a Plasma Rifle – Carbine combo in this game.
My favorite combo of weapons to carry is the Magnum-Sniper (Covvy or human). Though, I was also rather fond of Plasma Pistol-Magnum for quick Brute kill.
Oddly enough, I like the plasma weapons more. I always did, they just have a really sleek look to them when I hold them. It's not the same booring pistol and sniper we see in every videogame. Halo and Half-Life and TF2 Excell in this. Gears of war, call of duty, dont.
Add Bogibear to friends. i also never saw a single supply cache throughout the game, so it was almost like playing with the drought skull on. Still havent found Longshore skull, but kudos to bungie for the really unique spot for the one on Citadel. Buck has some really unique voice clips in battle, like on the highway level, he pipes out a quick car-horn melody when driving the LAAG Warthog. Also great advice on some of the review vids, using the plasma pistol is awesome at mid/melee range. Have fun in firefight, Helljumpers.
were you collecting the audio clips? the caches unlock after you collect so many of the them.
I've picked up three of the audio files so far.
i have picked up like 4 or 5, and i just cant find any caches
EDIT: NVM found some
I picked up 21 audiophiles on my first walkthrough (which I completed last night). This game is definitely worth another playthrough, though, and not just for the audiophiles. Next time through will be on Legendary. Heroic seemed easier than I expected.
Completed the story in…2 days (only after school though obvs, so about 12 hours)
I took a lot of time to explore the city and get used to combat and everything. I assume a supply cache is where the big door opens up and there are human weapons in there? The only one i found had two mongooses in it, two SMGs and two Auto-Mags xD
Awesome game, I love it.
I'll be honest, it came in the mail yesterday and I still haven't played it.
You so should it's such an awesome game. Ive got to say, I think I prefer it to Halo 3.
Everyone, gamertags?
I'm: Captain EVA
(obvs lol)
SnowXing
Dur
I think I'll pop it in today after work.
Great game, the campaign blew mw away. But it was a little easy, right? I think that Bungie boosted some of the weapons power a bit, to make up for the fact that you aren't a Spartan, especially around the Shotgun and the Carbine, which is now a weapon of mass destruction no matter who your using it on, even on Legendary.
The Carbine was pretty awesome. It was just as effect for sniping as was the Magnum or the Sniper Rifle.
Weapons can be used against you too. Careful.
I has recon
and i finally went up to commander grade 2 form major grade 3!!! whoooooot
i loved the campain, was so much better then halo 3's
I completed the campaign in under three hours with my brother…. on Legendary…. I was a bit sad though because it was really short. Hey just wondering, at the time of this posting, you said you didn't have Recon. If that's the case, how did you get the first wallpaper for Reclaimer comic? The guy flying the Hornet has Recon? Did you have someone act for you? Still, I really do enjoy ODST, my only issue with it is trying to find someone to play firefight with…
I completed the campaign in under three hours with my brother…. on Legendary…. I was a bit sad though because it was really short. Hey just wondering, at the time of this posting, you said you didn't have Recon. If that's the case, how did you get the first wallpaper for Reclaimer comic? The guy flying the Hornet has Recon? Did you have someone act for you? Still, I really do enjoy ODST, my only issue with it is trying to find someone to play firefight with…
And I was really happy, we got Recon in under a week from release 
Nope, still don't have Recon. I probably would have had it last Friday, but we weren't able to get a fourth for Firefight. And yes, I've friends who have had Recon for quite a while who have lent their services to Reclaimer from time to time.
LOL, I'm still a N00B, I haven't played it on Heroic yet, just normal. I'm going through campaign now trying to get the various achievements