At long last, our fight is over. The Flood has been eliminated, as has 343 Guilty Spark. The remnants of the Covenant are working with us to establish something akin to a lasting peace between our peoples. And the Master Chief sleeps, until such a time as he is needed once more.
But although that fight has ended, our time with Halo has not. Sometime after this grand finale, Bungie released another adventure in the Halo franchise, one where we do not play as the Master Chief.
Instead, we play as a highly-trained, yet otherwise ordinary team of humans as they fight the Covenant without the aid of Spartan Enhancements. These are the ODSTs, and this is their story.
What strikes most about ODST is how it differentiates itself from the games that came before it while still being recognizably a Halo game.
Most interestingly, there’s a noticeably darker atmosphere here than in previous games. The lighting is moodier, and the background music evokes an eerie vibe. Mechanically, this is accompanied by a feeling of disempowerment since the ODSTs aren’t quite as sturdy and lack some of the abilities of the Master Chief, like dual-wielding. ODST is about as difficult as the other Halo games, but they throw us against limited groups of foes, throwing us into larger arenas where we have to utilize the terrain for hit-and-run tactics. As a player, we feel that we’re punching above our weight class and using every advantage we can to turn the tide.
The method of storytelling also works extremely well for me. It was smart to use The Rookie as a framing device to transition from one character to the next in a multiple perspective story. The writers are doing an excellent job at seeding just enough plot points to keep us hooked as we move from set piece to set piece.
I look forward to continuing this, and I’m glad that I’ve finally decided to play through the Halo games.
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