Halo 3: ODST

Read about the Storyline

Gameplay

ODST has the main protagonist, The Rookie, searching for beacons across the city of New Mombasa. It is up to the player how they get to the specific location, and in what order, giving a very open-world feeling to the game; something for which the main trilogy has been criticized for, due to its linear gameplay style. The "beacons" are various objects, each linked to a particular squad mate in some way. Finding one of these objects sends the player back in the game to find out what happened to one of his five squadmates (Buck, Dare, Dutch, Romeo, and Mickey). Once you go back in time for a short period, you will take control of the player for around thirty minutes, and play the situations that the particular character went through. Unlike the overall game, these flashback scenes go along the path of the linear gameplay that has been common throughout the original trilogy of Halo.

Due to the fact that the player is playing as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, the player will not be using the shielding or the motion tracker featured on the MJOLNIR Battle Armor suits. The Rookie and his squadmates will also lose the ability to dual-wield weapons, such as the M7/Caseless Submachine Gun or the Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle, and cannot use Equipment.

On the other hand, the player will receive a helmet-integrated data management system known as the Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance (or VISR), which includes a new low-light vision mode which identifies allies and enemies through the HUD on his helmet's visor by illuminating and classifying objects; green outline for allies, red outline for enemies, and yellow outline for important objects. The VISR can also be used to manage waypoints, mission objectives, and information which will help the player. The squad has two new weapons, the M7S Submachine Gun and the M6C/SOCOM, which the protagonist and most of his comrades land with in Mombasa during the initial drop. Also, the grenade limit has been increased to 3 per grenade type.

As stated by Bungie in the January 23rd Weekly Update, the Sangheili will not be appearing at all in ODST. Although, several groups of Sangheili corpses are found throughout the campaign, apparently killed by Brutes. By December 2008, the game was "representational", meaning that players could experience the game from start to finish, albeit in an unfinished state. The entire Bungie staff was pulled from other duties to play through the game and offer feedback. Among the unfinished elements was the lack of finished dialogue delivered by voice actors; storywriter Joseph Staten filled in placeholder audio. Bungie's audio director Martin O'Donnell will contribute music for ODST, as he has done for the previous Halo games. Due to ODST's shift to a new protagonist, O'Donnell created new music that was a homage to Halo, though was taken in a new direction.

Multiplayer

Firefight, a brand new feature to the Halo franchise announced at E3 2009, is a cooperative campaign gameplay mode. Four players over Xbox LIVE or System Link play to complete a series of Human vs. Covenant matches. All features from the Campaign Scoring, as well as skulls, achievements, and leaderboards of Halo 3, will be featured in ODST.

Due to a technical issue, Firefight is relegated to an invite-only game, as opposed to a matchmaking system used by previous installments in the series. Fans who have spoken to Bungie employees on this matter have allegedly stated that the matchmaking function would have taken an additional six months to create for ODST.
Firefight Maps

Below is a list of maps for ODST's Firefight mode:

  * Alpha Site
  * Chasm Ten
  * Crater
  * Last Exit
  * Lost Platoon
  * Rally Point
  * Security Zone
  * Windward
  * Crater (Night)
  * Rally Point (Night)

Map Packs

All map packs (Heroic, Legendary, Mythic, and Cold Storage) will be available for those who haven't already purchased them over Xbox LIVE Marketplace. In addition to the other map packs, an additional map pack will be featured in the ODST package. These maps are currently known as Citadel, Heretic, and Longshore.

While previously confirmed to only feature a Campaign element as the only gameplay mode, the second disc in the ODST box will contain all of the maps, which you will be able to play directly from there, without having to download the maps to your Hard Drive and starting Halo 3.

Marketing Promotions and Release

Viral Campaigns
Superintendent

On May 29th, 2008, a viral campaign for Halo 3: ODST started which focused around the AI of the same name, New Mombasa's janitorial second generation dumb-A.I. construct that aids The Rookie and his squad in surviving the Covenant occupation of New Mombasa.

ONI Candidate Assessment Program V5.02A

On September 4th, 2009, a second viral campaign was released on Xbox.com, letting fans watch interviews of the main characters of ODST. These videos go into the background of each character, with Buck and a various teammate talking about their past, military career, their education, and about the misson ahead. Clips directed by Rupert Sanders can be seen via a marker the Marines place on their right temple.

Trailers
Announcement

First, different screens of areas of New and Old Mombasa come on screen, followed by HEV pods entering the atmosphere. Here you can see the Prophet of Regret's carrier on the right, then it moves behind buildings. The pods come into view as a large explosion (Caused by the Prophet of Regret's carrier entering Slipspace) appears, sending the pods off-course. Then, the Superintendent appears, and shows warning signs and then reboots. All the screens from earlier flash onto the screen, but heavily damaged from the blast. Then, a single HEV pod falls through the sky, when the Halo 3 Logo appears. The pod then crashes into the camera and goes black, followed by the words 'Prepare to Drop'.

The second part to the trailer, released on the 8th of October, followed on from this - the Superintendent reinitialized itself, attempting to assess the catastrophic devastation and tries to identify the object that survived. Later, after a Covenant Phantom dropship has passed by, the object opens to reveal a lone surviving Marine Shock Trooper to clamber out, wielding a modified M7S Caseless Submachine Gun. The Marine narrowly avoids a Jiralhanae patrol, before encountering messages from the Superintendent, presumably leading him to safety.

Elements from this trailer have dramatically altered from announcement to the present day.

E3 2009 Gameplay 

Shown to the press at Microsoft's E3 '09 Media Briefing, the first gameplay trailer showcased the events surrounding the campaign and the new Firefight mode. It focuses mostly on the Rookie wandering around the streets of the city and looking for his lost squadmates, along with Dutch who fights during the Battle of ONI Alpha Base.

This trailer also shows the very first glimpse of Firefight, the brand new cooperative game mode designed specifically for ODST.

ViDoc: Desperate Measures

The first ViDoc of Halo 3: ODST, Desperate Measures takes a look inside the squad that consists of the main characters in the game. It summarizes the skills that each Marine has, along with what equipment they'll be using in-game.

Also shown are little clips of the flashback missions, namely, featuring GySgt Buck and LCpl Agu on a landing platform at NMPD Headquarters, where a police Pelican dropship was extracting the two Marines, before getting chased off by two Type-26 Banshee fighters.

ViDoc: Bip. Bap. Bam.

The second ViDoc for ODST first shown at the 2009 Games Convention in Cologne, Germany, Bip. Bap. Bam. shows off the new Firefight mode revealed earlier at E3 2009.

SgtMaj Avery Johnson is the narrator of the ViDoc, making a stylish entrance in a SOEIV "Drop Pod" over the Security Zone map. During the video, Johnson details the gameplay of this new gametype for ODST, along with telling how they can play him by pre-ordering the game at a number of participating retailers.

ViDoc: Terra Incognita

The third ViDoc for ODST released on Bungie's website, focuses on the development of Halo 3: ODST.

The game developers at Bungie were entering unfamiliar territory, making the largest enviroment they ever created as the freely-explorable level of New Mombasa. It also says the differences and similarities of the ODSTs and the SPARTAN-II soldiers, such as jumping height and the fact that no motion tracker is present in ODST.

Other
Strategy Guide

Prima Games released the 272-page strategy guide alongside Halo 3: ODST for $25 USD.

Contents include:

  * Move Out Soldier - Complete coverage of the single player missions. With labeled maps for New Mombasa and tactics included for the Legendary level of difficulty.
  * Team Up - Intense Co-Op strategy to ensure you and your squadmates survive. With input from the actual developers and testers to give you the inside track.
  * Clan Wisdom - All Halo 3 multiplayer maps with breakdowns and tips from some of the best clan players out there.
  * Rise Through the Ranks - Detailed info on every Achievement from Halo 3: ODST and Halo 3. More than a list, instructions and tips for every one.

Special Edition

A "Halo 3: ODST Collector's Pack" is available alongside the standard version. This includes the game itself, along with a limited edition UNSC-style Xbox 360 controller, and will retail for $99 USD (£60 GBP). The Collector's Pack is only currently available at GameStop in the USA, EB Games in Australia, and Game.co.uk in the UK.

We Are ODST

A 2 minute live-action short made exclusively for the launch of Halo 3: ODST will be released on September 7th, 2009 on Spike TV with a run-time of 2 minutes and 30 seconds. This short is directed by Rupert Sanders, who previously directed the Halo 3: Believe series.

This short showcases the 19th Shock Troops Battalion during their operations in the Human-Covenant War.

ODST Tour

To promote the upcoming release of the game, Bungie and Microsoft started an "ODST Tour", showcasing the game's Firefight mode to fans all across the United States. Beginning August 22nd in Redmond, Washington, this tour will last for nearly a month, coinciding with the release of the game.

Soundtrack

Like previous games in the series, Halo 3: ODST was released alongside an Original Soundtrack comprised of music heard in the game. This soundtrack features seventeen new tracks, composed by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, on two discs. Though over three hours of music was composed for ODST, only two hours will be released on the soundtrack.

Walkthrough Guide for ODST Levels

Halo Weapons

Halo Vehicles