* denotes a replay
January (20 Games Beaten)
February (1 Games Beaten)
March (0 Games Beaten)
April (3 Games Beaten)
May (3 Games Beaten)
June (11 Games Beaten)
July (5 Games Beaten)
43. Halo 3: ODST - Xbox 360 - July 10*
When I first played ODST, I remember being extremely disappointed. I wrote it off as a generic space marine game. "It's not Halo if there's not Master Chief," I said. For well over a decade, I always disparaged the game whenever it came up in conversation. When starting my replay of the Halo series, though, I decided that I'd go into my replay of ODST with an open mind. I've changed a lot as a gamer in the past ten years, I definitely had some anti-Xbox fanboy bias during my first go around. I'm glad I did, too, because lo and behold, I had a great time with the game this time.
Despite having "Halo 3" in the title, ODST takes place during the events of Halo 2. When Master Chief follows the Prophet of Truth into a slipstream jump, there's a battle with the Covenant still being waged on Earth in the African city of Mombasa. That's the setting here; you play as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST) deployed to Mombasa to combat the Covenant invaders. You play primarily as a rookie ODST piecing together what happened to your team after your drop goes wrong and you all get scattered, but as you find clues during your investigation, you play through as the other members of your team, revealing details into what the rest of your team did during the six hours the rookie was unconscious.
As far as core gameplay goes, ODST is pretty similar to the rest of the Halo series. Controls are pretty much the same, and the visuals look about on par with Halo 3. There are some key differences, though. Since you're not a Spartan, you can't quite take the beating that the Master Chief can. You're still pretty tanky, but it definitely takes less to kill you in this game than when you're actually playing as Master Chief. The biggest gameplay difference is that you've got a lot more freedom to explore than in most Halo games. You have a map of Mombasa, and you've got an objective marker, but you've got a decent bit of leeway to explore on your way and take a few different routes. It's still pretty funneled, but if nothing else, it feels freer.
Halo 3: ODST is not the disappointment that I had made it out to be in my youth. Honestly, it's right up there with Reach and Halo 3 in my book. The story is great, and it's awesome that we finally get a view of non-Spartan humans and their struggle against the Covenant. Also, Nathan Fillion plays your team captain, and that alone is a reason to play. It may not be as amazing as Halo 2 or Combat Evolved, but ODST is absolutely an experience that earns the Halo name.