Simply, this game blew my mind away. Gripping story, awesome cinematics, the new "VISR," and the new added Firefight mode made the game even "awesomer."
It was last September, when Bungie first announced this game. At first, I never understood what the add-on would really encompass, and through the eyes of the ODST's? Nonetheless, I've waited and waited being a loyal Halo fan and all, but as the ad's started getting out, I started getting more intrigued. One Vidoc after another, the game was getting more and more interesting. Exploration? Engineers? NVG? Silenced weapons? I just had to find out what's going on with this one.
One trailer I will always remember that just lured me in would be the live-action awesomeness. After watching, I just started drooling. It was then I understood why Bungie decided to give the Halo experience a human aspect to it, rather than invincible-cyborg-pwn gaming. The Covenant never really had a chance in the past three Halo games. But for ODST? I honestly had a chill going down my back once I heard you were a human soldier with no Spartan-II outfit. Brutes are now actually Brutes!
The new features for this game, such as the return of health, and the map replacing the motion tracker makes the Halo experience even more unique. Rather than being literally invincible in the past three Halo games, you actually start dying after getting hit. Such as this screenshot example.
The Optican's play a vital role, and can be found almost anywhere, but anyone who plays this game, my advice is to use the Optican's wisely. Only once per use.
VISR mode
You can literally see everything, outlined and all, and with a NVG glow of the environment. The enemies are outlined red, which helps out a lot. Friendlies, green. Weapons, blue and all the good stuff. But if you turn off the VISR, it is dark! It may look bright and visible in the screenshot, but you cannot see those trees and walls if it weren't for the VISR.
Graphics are enhanced in ODST
The characters and colors shine even brighter, and frame-rate is a little smoother.
As for the added Firefight mode, lets just say its 2x harder than Horde mode on Gears of War. Skull after skull getting activated after each set, you better have friends with you if you want to get places!
And yes, that is all I'm going to spoil for you readers. :)
Overall, I simply LOVED playing this game, and continue to play it until the next Halo game releases i.e. Halo: Reach.
Thanks for reading
