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[KageMaru]

It had the crew from Firefly to provide voice acting, told a story in an interesting way, atmosphere was great, and gave us more of that Halo gameplay we know and love.

It wasn't the greatest game in the series but I thought the campaign was at least better than the one in Halo 2.

 

[jelly]

ODST was quite refreshing, yeah walking around the city might not be for everyone but the rest was excellent except that data hive level, quite boring.

I think people seriously need to play Reach again, the multiplayer wasn't great but the campaign was a great collection of levels. Shitting on Reach is totally unwarranted.

 

[fritolay]

I've been pondering this games existence since I beat it about a year ago. I still don't get the point of this game. Everything about it seems inconsequential in the grand scheme of the Halo universe. Your team of weak ass regular douche bags slogs their way through the streets of some city where everywhere you go looks the same and back again. In the end, your team rescues an Alien that seems like it's going to have some decisive importance in the overarching Halo universe. Only to never be mentioned again.

I hated every second of this game. The only reason I finished it was because my friend was achievement hunting all the games in the Halo franchise and I wanted to be a pal. He can never say I don't do anything for him.

I never understood that game either. I heard maybe it was a testing ground for what became Destiny by Bungie. Either way ODST sucks.

 

[BigTnaples]

You should feel bad.

 

[Windam]

I honestly forgot that I had beaten the game since I had no idea what the story was about. Still don't. Oh well, it came with the full H3 multiplayer experience, so that was great.

 

[ChawlieTheFair]

I agree with you OP, was playing all the halo's in time for halo 4 and ODST was absolute garbage compared to the rest of them. Horrible writing and acting, some of that shit looked like it was taken out of toy story the way they were animated. Never played firefight, but in terms of single player it was way below average.

Edit: Reach had great locals but I thought the characters were forgettable. Acting wasn't bad but it wasn't good.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

ODST's biggest fault was not having its own multiplayer with its handling of health and guns.

Taking on Halo 3's multiplayer was so painful to me after playing the campaign. ODST multiplayer could have felt a lot like halo 1

 

[metareferential]

ODST is a magnificent game.

The OST, the eerie atmosphere...and firefight.

But I understand why someone might dislike it, since it's kind of a big departure from mainline Halo.

Still, firefight remains the greatest horde-like mode of last gen.

 

[abadguy]

If ODST is the second best campaign of the Halo series, it says that there was really one one good campaign in the Halo series.

ODST was terrible, from start to finish. I'd rank 2 and 3 higher. Reach about even. 4 is, naturally, the worst of all of them. The one great campaign continues to be Combat Evolved.

ODST's campaign shits all over Halo 2's. H2 was easily the worst campaign of the series. ODST was one if the best.

 

[metareferential]

ODST's campaign shits all over Halo 2's. H2 was easily the worst campaign of the series. ODST was one if the best.

It really depends on what people consider "great campaign".

I like big encounters, open-ended gameplay, great enemy placement and AI. That's why I prefer Halo 3, ODST and part of CE over the rest.

Some prefer more linear campaigns, with the focus on narrative and "memorable events", like Halo 2 and 4 (and to some extent Reach).

To me, Halo means big battles with lots of clever enemies and vehicles. And coop.

 

[MYeager]

It opened up and explored the extended universe that they'd created through the viewpoint of the regular troopers who weren't bad ass super soldiers and had one of the more interesting narratives in the entire series. Plus it added firefight.

 

[abadguy]

It really depends on what people consider "great campaign".

I like big encounters, open-ended gameplay, great enemy placement and AI. That's why I prefer Halo 3, ODST and part of CE over the rest.

Some prefer more linear campaigns, with the focus on narrative and "memorable events", like Halo 2 and 4 (and to some extent Reach).

To me, Halo means big battles with lots of clever enemies and vehicles. And coop.

Compaired to all the other campaigns H2's had the least "memorable encounters". Stuff like Delta Halo, the heratic mission, High Charity, were good but nowhere near the level of The Silent Cartographer and Assualt on the Control room. Campaign wise H2 had many of the exact same problems as people blast 4 for.
Bullet sponge enemies that aren't very fun to fight, as in the Brutes before they were improved in Halo 3. Super linear corridoor levels in comparison to the prequel. The only reason H2 gets a pass is for the MP.

 

[ChawlieTheFair]

Compaired to all the other campaigns H2's had the least "memorable encounters". Stuff like Delta Halo, the heratic mission, High Charity, were good but nowhere near the level of The Silent Cartographer and Assualt on the Control room. Campaign wise H2 had many of the exact same problems as people blast 4 for.
Bullet sponge enemies that aren't very fun to fight, as in the Brutes before they were improved in Halo 3. Super linear corridoor levels in comparison to the prequel. The only reason H2 gets a pass is for the MP.

Heh 4for.

But anyway, I don't why other people blast 4's campaign, I personally didn't like it much at all compared to the others because
1) The promethans just weren't as fun or as interesting as the Covenant or the Flood. Visually they were boring, however in terms of gameplay mechanics they weren't bad.

2) The main villain acted like he knew chief and I had no idea who the hell he was, where he came from, why he hated everything etc. My major halo friend told me he was explained in the books or some shit, which of course I didn't read cause I assumed it was just some side story stuff that wouldn't be core to the video games.

IDK, I played all the halo games 2 weeks before 4 came out, in all honestly I thought 1 and 2 were the best by far from a story perspective.

 

[Slixshot]

ODST was an expansion on the universe. They said "let's take away your superhuman abilities and put you in the shoes of a regular soldier." Yes, ODSTs are elite soldiers but they're no Spartans.

Amazing halo gameplay, addition of firefight (could've used matchmaking but w.e), story was fascinating, graphical art direction (neon and shit) was awesome, and the music... God damn.

ODST was dope as hell.

 

[metareferential]

Compaired to all the other campaigns H2's had the least "memorable encounters". Stuff like Delta Halo, the heratic mission, High Charity, were good but nowhere near the level of The Silent Cartographer and Assualt on the Control room. Campaign wise H2 had many of the exact same problems as people blast 4 for.
Bullet sponge enemies that aren't very fun to fight, as in the Brutes before they were improved in Halo 3. Super linear corridoor levels in comparison to the prequel. The only reason H2 gets a pass is for the MP.

Yes, Halo 2 is a corridor shooter. A great one, but still a disappointment coming from the better leves of Halo CE.

Halo 3 and ODST (since it's an expansion pack, after all) are the best Halo package. Halo 4 falls short because it didn't improve or even replicate the great things Halo 3 did.

Reach only needed some levels with scarabs and more vehicles. It could have been the sweet point between great atmosphere and great gameplay. Still, I loved it to death.

 

[HiredN00bs]

ODST was and still is an outstanding product.

It gave direct gameplay nods to CE with its wider FOV, smaller jump, and versatile pistol.

It had incredible atmosphere in its aesthetics and soundtrack, and a pretty extensive hub world to explore (which itself was a glimpse of Destiny).

It provided an exceptionally well-crafted endless wave co-op mode. It made great use of its voice talent. It had a fucking radio drama collectible that actually tied into the story in an interesting way, and introduced a literally iconic Bungie character, The Superintendent.

ODST had, by far, the most enjoyable narrative of any game made by Bungie or 343 Industries in the past 15 years. OP fucked up.

 

[WickedCobra03]

$60 was a terrible price, but that is one of those games that comes around once a gen where I would have payed easily $100 for it. I cared not too much about firefight, it was that SP and that atmosphere! Gorgeous! The soundtrack is probably top of my list for the series. And the story was a little different too which was cool! But really $29.99 for the SP and multi would have been way more fair.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

It's the best Halo.

It is the worst Halo!

Worst campaign, worst story, worst pacing, worst level design, worst enemy encounters etc...
Just DEAD last in every category. Just absolutely terrible.

 

[gollumsluvslave]

ODST Kicks Ass!

My 2nd favourite campaign behind CE

 

[veloxStrix]

It is the worst Halo!

Worst campaign, worst story, worst pacing, worst level design, worst enemy encounters etc...
Just DEAD last in every category. Just absolutely terrible.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means

 

[danwarb]

It's the 3rd best Halo.

Most wistful hues.

 

[See You Next Wednesday]

I can't believe people liked the campaign.

The city was just complete empty segmented husk that resembled less a city & more a bunch of sewn together corridors with generic tall buildings enveloping them.
I felt like I was running around in a convoluted maze than something that I would call exploring a city.

The game actively encouraged you to AVOID fighting enemies & the patrols!

The flashback gameplay parts were like Halo-lite. They felt like quick short levels that were left on the cutting room floor from any of the main Halo games. Nothing even remotely special or memorable from any of them.

Story? WHAT STORY? You had to scourge ever inch for those datalogs to hear the damn story. That's just as bad as having to go to Bungie's website to get filled in on the story in Destiny.


The OP is right on this game.

 

[Percy]

Making it a $60 release (After specifically promising it wouldn't be that back when it was DLC for H3) was a monumental dick move on Microsoft's part imo. The campaign wasn't nearly strong enough to carry a full price release by itself and the multiplayer literally just being the Halo 3 multiplayer tacked onto it was worthless to those of us who had already bought Halo 3 and all the DLC previously... which I have to imagine would have accounted for a huge number of people who bought ODST when it was full price.

It would have been so good if they'd just done it as DLC, but what the final product really was not worth the price tag.

 

[Admiral Snackbar]

My favorite Halo, just edging out H:CE. Did I play CE more, co-op more and see every corner of it? Sure.

But ODST was lone wolf stalking and bringing the fear back to fights. Everything was smaller scale and that's not a bad thing.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

ODST was and still is an outstanding product.

It gave direct gameplay nods to CE with its wider FOV, smaller jump, and versatile pistol.

It had incredible atmosphere in its aesthetics and soundtrack, and a pretty extensive hub world to explore (which itself was a glimpse of Destiny).

It provided an exceptionally well-crafted endless wave co-op mode. It made great use of its voice talent. It had a fucking radio drama collectible that actually tied into the story in an interesting way, and introduced a literally iconic Bungie character, The Superintendent.

ODST had, by far, the most enjoyable narrative of any game made by Bungie or 343 Industries in the past 15 years. OP fucked up.

So iconic that I can't remember 'thefuck The Superintendent is.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

Different people, different opinions.

Who would have thought?

It's objectively the second worse Halo title. I can understand different opinions, but how anyone could choose it over the glorious Halo 3 is mind boggling.

It literally does nothing right. It's such a huge departure from what made Halo the revered series it once was and set it on the path to Halo 4 and near ruin.

Reach and ODST are the two best Halo games. There.

I agree on ODST, but Reach?

GAH...

 

[IDKAboutThat]

I love ODST. Weakest Halo game besides reach, though. Hey, why the actual fuck is dual wielding gone?

 

[Haunted]

A spin-off title while the main team was working on the next mainline entry.

Ugly IQ aside, I enjoyed it more than some of the main Halo campaigns.

It's halo, halo 4, halo odst and then 3 and reach and 2 for me.

 

[Blues1990]

I felt that Halo 3: ODST had the best FireFight mode & a more focused Campaign. If anything, it's one of my favourite entries in the series, second only to Halo 4's Campaign.

 

[AuthenticM]

The game underwent significant changes while in development. Back when it was called Halo 3: Recon, Bungie was saying how your player-character was so much weaker than Master Chief and he couldn't be the killing machine that Chief is. Bungie even said that Elites would serve as boss fights, as they would be uber powerful. In the end, they could not achieve their vision and made another Halo game, and I guess the changes diluted the overall game experience.

 

[Fantastical]

Really disliked this game. Couldn't continue it after about 4 hours.

 

[GamerJM]

Absolutely my favorite campaign of the series. It had such a great atmosphere and the small scale really made it stand out. It was short but it felt well paced and full of great moments.

Even better it included all of the Halo 3 MP + DLC, making it have the best multiplayer component of the series as well.

 

[Duxxy3]

It's a must play for firefly fans.

 

[rokkerkory]

Its kinda cool as an add on game. Props for trying it out. Odsts are cool.

 

[PsihoPerihelion]

Remember when Kotaku posted a rumor about a supposed 2D platforming game from Bungie called The Superintendent and it ended up being this? Those were the days...

About ODST, the game its superb but it wasn't the right price for many (I paid $60 and I regret nothing) Great atmosphere, amazing score from Marty, encounters felt on par with Halo CE and the small-scale battles were pretty satisfying on their own way.

 

[PAULINK]

Halo ODST was just a way to get recon, that's the only reason for the game's existence.