Exploring "New Mombasa"

Title: Halo: ODST

Designer/Author: Bungie

Studio: Microsoft Gaming Studio

Company: Microsoft

Platform: Xbox 360

Genre: First Person Shooter

Halo: ODST

Story: Halo Odst takes a different tone on the Halo series by taking you through a more open world environment and weaker main character. In Halo: ODST you play an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper whose mission was to infiltrate a covenant ship. Due to a mysterious change of course you and your squad and separated and it’s up to you to uncover what happened through a series of flashbacks. The games story immerses you into the mind set of each Odst throughout the campaign giving you new perspective on what it means to be a marine.
Premise: You are a Orbital Drop Shock Trooper and your mission is to find your squad and uncover the mystery behind you what happened during the six hours you were knocked out. The only problem is that you are alone with covenant patrols all around.
Challenge: If you were used to being able to jump ten feet in the air, regenerate health, and have a over shield than "ODST" while be a much harder experience for you. The Game stripes down on what made up the past Halo games making you have to keep close watch on health and ammo due to the fact that you are a regular soldier. As the game progresses you will find that the enemies become more and more hard making better maneuvers such as flanking. Due to the strip down of supplies and regenerating health "ODST" is a much more intense and harder experience than past "Halo" games.
The Merging of Action and Awareness: As the player progresses through the game they begin to feel what "The Rookie" feels during his lonesome tracks through the city of "New Mombassa". In each flashback though the player feels like their apart of a bigger conflict due to the excellent fight sequences and well laid out narrative. The controls work well and help keep the player immersed in the characters rather then frustrated at the lack of good controls.
Clear Goals and Feedback: In this Halo your goals are clearly placed throughout the city and way points are helpful in finding the safest route to get there. When you activate a flashback you are immediately dropped into the mindset of that individual, and after each mission you complete you are given another objective of where to go and how to handle the new point in the story.
The Transformation of Time: Throughout "ODST" you are given a wide open world where you can tackle each objective in any order you want. With the fantastic pacing and excellent narrative it is easy to lose track of time. Another great contributor is the new game mode “Firefight" which pits four players against a increasingly hard army of Covenant troops. Although this mode has been done before it is by far the installment making player make wise decisions along with giving them different objectives throughout each mission.
The Nature of Play: The game is a war game giving you different objectives form destroying a covenant ship or holding out against a onslaught. The tone of the game is serious and humorous due to the differences in each character. One moment you'll be the silent "Rookie" (serious moments) and the next you will play as the hilarious "Dutch" (humorous moments).
Types of Players: The game will appeal to Halo fans, but will also be a great way for non-halo fans to get into the narrative. The game will most likely appeal to "The Artist" due to the different type of art style compared to other halo games. The game could also appeal to "The Explorer" due to its wide open world that features different district and areas. The game could also appeal to "The Storyteller" because of its intense narrative and fascinating plot.
Levels of Engagement: In the beginning of the game it feels open and very different from the past games in the series, but if you aren’t interested in the narrative than the game will drag on as you go from flashback to flashback in the wide open world.
Characters: In Odst you play as multiple characters that have their own distinct personalities and fascinating backgrounds. In each sequence you see their role in the main plot along with their part in overall conflict. For the most part you play as "The Rookie", but those sequences change throughout. The Rookie doesn’t talk throughout the game, but you begin to feel as if you are the lonesome soldier through his reactions to each encounter and overall part in the fall of New Mombassa.
The Dramatic Arc: The narrative becomes more and more intense and dramatic due to the experience and missions that are laid out before you. You begin to see how each Odst has their own tale to tell and their own relationships and issues that they have to deal with. In the beginning you see a city in ruins and hundreds of bodies littering the streets. The game becomes even more fascinating and intense as you see how it all went down.