90%Xbox Series X/S

Juegazo

100%Xbox 360

My favourite in the series, playing as an ODST gave the gameplay a different spin and approach, with the OST from Marty is in my opinion his best, fully capturing the essence of games story and environment through sound. A must play.

80%Xbox Series X/S

This kind of retro first person shooter isn't among my very favorite genres, but within that arena it seems Halo is basically the gold standard, and ODST is no exception. A lot of FPS titles from this period are floaty, imprecise, ugly shades of brown and grey, and the jerky movement and aiming tends to make me motion sick. But not Halo, the world is beautiful and vibrant, movement on foot and in vehicles is fluid, and the shooting is impressively realistic for the time, especially considering the vast array of crazy weaponry. ODST goes even further by making some specific improvements to the formula, like a muuuch better waypoint system that kept me from getting lost like I did in the labyrinthine levels of the earlier games. I also appreciated the remixed mission formula, which would move you around different areas depending on which character you were playing as. This lent itself well to perhaps the most unique story I've experienced in a Halo game yet - the more tightly focused narrative on a group of normal soldiers was an interesting, more intimate departure from the usual, more epic Master Chief plotline .Even though it was really short and lacked some of the wow factor of the other Halo entries, I still I enjoyed it more than Halo 1 or 3, but not quiiite as much as Halo 2.

75%PC

7.5/10

90%Xbox One

Halo 3 ODST is a different and familiar Halo experience at the same time. It has a melancholy aesthetic that no other game in the series provides. It's a beautiful bite-sized game as an FPS, and is probably the most underrated game in the Halo series.

Freeform jazz.

Score: 88

70%PC

Pretty cool side story. That's about it really.

80%PC

Halo's first single-player DLC expansion is a unique game that is full of high points with a few low points that make it stand out from the rest of the series. Halo 3 ODST's campaign is a moody mystery story with action filled levels that is memorable despite it's short length. Although the game doesn't do much to make you care about these characters which is weird considering the focus on them. The levels are great with interesting additions like the suppressed SMG and Pistol while interestingly omitting of Halo 3's crown weapon the Battle Rifle. Though the game only introduces Engineers who barely do anything in combat while and bizarrely keeps Elites out of the gameplay loop which it really could have benefitted from. That game also introduces Gold Hunters but that's all there is to really be said about them as you don't fight them differently from regular Hunters. Mombasa Streets is also a series first but it feels rather barren, tracking down the audio logs is tedious and it feels more like Peaches Castle instead of a proper open world like the Capital Wasteland for example. The soundtrack is fantastic, probably Halo's best, it's got a wide range of moody and somber songs while delivering on the action tracks that the series is known for. The game is also pretty short, Firefight is great and is able to provide some more playtime but it isn't nearly as rewarding as Horde modes since. It relies too much on ODST's core gameplay loop with the only interesting shake-up to it being that different skulls turn on and off, instead of introducing some unique system.

70%PC

7.5/10

A surprisingly good entry in the Halo series. Great atmosphere, evocative music, and a solid story make ODST worth a playthrough. The ending is a bit abrupt, though.

1: Halo 2 8/10

2: Halo 3 8/10

3: Halo 1 8/10

4: Halo: Reach 8/10

5: Halo 3: ODST 7.5/10

95%Xbox One

Gameplay 3/3 really unique combat amongst the halo series and fps. Well executed and worth playing really fun
Story 3/3 really great inclusion that fits in between halo 2 and 3. Not required but really enjoyable and unique amongst the series
Visuals 1.5/2 it's the exact same as halo 3 effectively halo 3 dlc content but everything else is unique (gameplay story and music) just not the Visuals.
Audio 2/2 outstanding music and great voice acting

Reccomend completing, not 100%

65%PC

Decent, Decent
Hard to judge it in 2024, tho but still decent.

100%PC

I love this fucking game.

90%PC

This game improves on Halo 3 in every way. The campaign is incredibly unique, presenting a more open method of play than in other Halo games, and presenting missions in flashbacks. This is a great game and I recommend it to everybody.

70%PC

The worst part of this game is that I will never be able to experience it for the first time again.
More words: https://kerosyn.link/oh-yeah-halo-exists/#halo-odst

100%PC

This is absolutely like, my new honorable favorite. I LOVE taking the focus away from Master Chief and onto the little guys and the ODSTs don't disappoint. The atmosphere in this game is one of the best I've ever experienced, the soundtrack alone has impeccable vibes. The little changes in hud, weapon design and tiny mechanical adjustments do so much to sell your role as a regular marine instead of a supersoldier. Exploring the city of New Mombasa along to the music, finding the Sadie's Story audio logs (which were also incredible) and reaching each new mission was an awesome change of pace from the previous games.

75%Xbox One

Still gradually making my way through the Halo series. Halo 3: ODST is the most surprising entry to date and perhaps my new favourite. It takes you away from the power fantasy of playing as the near indestructible Master Chief and places you in the shoes of a regular, human marine. Due to this change the tone takes on a far more oppressive tone to reflect the weaker player character and the dire situation they find themselves in. It almost feels more like a survival horror games at points, and in my mind is more akin to something like Bioshock than Halo at certain points. I must also mention the fantastic OST/score by Marti O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori. Halo has always had great music but this brings it to a whole new level of brilliance. It's so melancholic and depressing, while at the same time being beautiful and so very human. I'd expect to find this tone of music in a game like Hollow Knight or a Souls game, but it fits here never the less. Although the story itself is nothing to write home about, the ruins of New Mombasa are so interesting to explore and the music makes it an almost hypnotic experience. This atmosphere is even more impressive when you consider how fast-paced and chaotic Halo usually is as a shooter. It just shows you that any gameplay can be complemented and improved by proper world-building and atmosphere, no matter how diametrically opposed they might seem to be. Although not my favourite narrative in the series, this is probably my favourite experience so far. It delivers the same great combat, and with an even deeper level of intimacy and emotional impact. I'm hoping Bungie can recapture some of this magic in their final outing with Halo: Reach.

80%Xbox Series X/S

Sad, beautiful, reminds me of Starship Troopers.

75%Xbox 360

Awesome side story to the Halo universe. Firefight was a cool addition as well.

60%Xbox 360

A more "realistic" take on Halo, with no shields and a focus on stealthier approaches. Takes place in an urban setting, but it feels empty. If you're a diehard Halo fan, give it a shot, but otherwise you can skip it.

80%Xbox 360

Halo 3: ODST is a short but interesting side story for the Halo universe, taking place during and after the events of Halo 2. Unlike the rest of the series, which focuses on the story of the Master Chief, ODST is played through the multiple perspectives of a squad of ODSTs. I find this to be a refreshing change that expands Halo's lore and characters. The group is scattered after dropping, and must find one another in order to escape the city of New Mombasa. The player's primary character, The Rookie, must wander the streets of New Mombasa looking for clues as to where his comrades are. As the player searches, they find beacons of the last known locations of the rest of the team. For every beacon found, the game switches perspectives, and the player goes through flashback missions, playing as the other ODSTs and unraveling the story of what happened after they all dropped onto Earth. The story is well-executed, and it is enjoyable to see everything piece together as you play through it. The characters are well-written, and you get to know them as the story progresses. In particular, Nathan Fillion does a great job portraying Buck. Another high point of ODST is its atmosphere and soundtrack. The composers made great use of different jazz instruments and percussion to create a soundtrack that is unique, but still very Halo. The music adds to the film noir atmosphere of roaming the rainy, empty streets of New Mombasa as The Rookie. The gameplay is similar to Halo 3, as it is made in the same engine. There is more of a focus on survival, since the ODSTs aren't as heavily armored as Spartans, but it's still largely the same first-person Covenant fighting action.

60%PC

Slow start when trying to find your team mates from the crash. Wished you could have driven to the different crash sites instead of walking. Enjoyed the flashback missions when he finds the item. Had the vision always on since the atmosphere is too dark. The last 1/4 of the game picked up, but it ended too quickly.

95%Xbox 360

Expands on the already legendary Halo story from a completely different perspective. The themes that this game has and the general atmosphere while exploring dark streets of New Mombasa make for a top notch narrative experience. Also, firefight was introduced here which became a staple in the Halo franchise.

80%Xbox Series X/S

ODST is a very short and rushed Halo game that shouldn't have costed the full price at launch (Bungie wanted it to be a expansion, Microsoft released for the full $60), but playing today included in Gamepass, I had a blast with it and it reinforces all its strenghts. The narrative is charming and cool, it takes place during a crucial moment between Halo 2 and Halo 3, it has at time noir-ish vibes, very atmospheric with great music and a pseudo open-world. The final missions are so much fun, the voice actors are great (we have Nathan Fillon from Firefly and Castle as the lead, he would return in Halo 5, he is pure charisma), the game fits well in the lore. It's the penultimate Halo game from Bungie, they already knew they would end their contract pretty soon with Reach, so it has a bit of a farewell vibe, melancholic at times but experimenting new things.

80%PC

Super smooth, a Halo game without Master Chief. No inconsistencies in difficulty level, you get to battle on land and underground on foot, in a military car (Warthog) and Battle Tank (M808), glider (banshee) and use all sorts of fancy weapons and grenades

70%Xbox One

This is an ok side story for halo. Nothing great and some big loop holes towards the main plot.

80%Xbox One

Like the Story, City Big but nothing in it, Legendary mode

75%PC

Foi bom, mas nada incrível.

60%PC

An alright story but felt like the difficulty was way lower compared to the main games.I genuinely hated the rookie missions in Mombasa street

85%Xbox One

Atmosphere is 10 out of 10 and the gameplay is fun but the narrative is weaker then the other Bungie halo games.

80%Xbox 360

Really solid spin-off with great characters. Level design fluctuates but is overall enjoyable. Health system rework was okay.

60%PC

Not a fan of the pointless walking through the city, but overall it's okay.

Cutscene animations are awful though (almost pantomime-levels of over the top) and the digital likenesses of Nathan Fillion and Tricia Helfer are almost unrecognizable.

But it's mostly just more Halo, except you're slightly more vulnerable.

40%Xbox One

Worst Halo, not close

90%Xbox One

Why is this better then Halo 3 itself who the fuck
Also those boys shred on a piano holy hell

9.0

70%Xbox 360

I was expecting this to be awful, based on how the halo community talks about it but i ended up liking it until the last missions.

I can completely understand why someone would find the backtracking sections extremely frustrating but to me they were the best part. 10-20 mins of down time wandering through a burning city at night with a melancholy piano playing gently was not something i knew i wanted.

That being said, the story and dialogue are painfully bland. The voice acting is... serviceable at best, buck is embarrassing to listen too and characters will be doing funny-man quips and one liners while everyone is dying horribly around them.

While the plot surrounding Vergil is very cool and a really awesome reveal that actually made me feel bad, the levels following are just plain AWFUL. FOUR consecutive escort missions, FOUR missions in a row where you're reduced to a crawl to protect a slow moving A.I with the path finding of a newborn. This would be manageable if either of the two friendly A.I with you would actually help, but they'll just sit there and watch you burn through all your ammo.

In conclusion: It alright.

75%Xbox 360

Short game but fun i love halo.The story is interesting and gunplay is awesome having only 2 weapons is good because you need to srategise which weapons to use

70%Xbox Series X/S

Halo 3 ODST brings a fresh new twist on the Halo franchise by walking away from Master Chief and letting your see the Halo universe through a more human eye. Its adds some welcomed elements like waypoints and more character to character interactions that you do not get much of in prior games. But the you feel the lack of Chief and the narrative / level design is nothing to write home about.

Rating: 7/10 "Good"

Narrative & Writing:
The narrative in Halo 3 ODST has its moments and gets better by the end of the game. But it lacks true big moments and is leaning heavily on you wanting to love the characters they introduce. While the characters aren't horrible, It's hard to get a player to connect with someone other then Chief up to this point of the franchise. Especially with the little time you get with them in ODST

Level Design:
To be point blank.. Its fine, Nothing much better or worse then the franchise has given you at this point. Exploring the city does bring a fresh element to the series, searching for the doors and exits to reach your next destination. It gives the player some choice in directly avoiding conflict or going guns blazing and fighting your way through enemies.

Combat:
While the base of the combat still feels very Halo, You get a new element in this game.You don't get the benefits as playing as a super soldier. You take control of just a ODST marine that has to take a smarter approach to gunfights. Worrying about taking more damage, you have to play strategically and use your environment as an advantage.

Visuals & Performance
As a 2009 game, It honestly doesn't look to bad. It runs very well in the MCC and while playing on the Series X I had no fps or performance issues

Soundtrack:
It might not be a popular opinion, But to me this OST is the best in the franchise so far. It brings a different tone and theme to the halo games and it gives you more of a soft humanity to the universe. Having the soft toned music settle in as you explore the night city... It brings vibes that I would have never expected from a Halo game.

Quick Summary:

Pros
- Best OST Of The Series So Far
- A Fresh Spin On Combat
- Waypoints And A Map
- More Character Interactions

Cons:
- Enemy Variety
- City Exploration
- Level Design

70%PC

Halo ODST is a solid expansion to Halo 3, but it feels like that through and through while also removing mechanics that was present in the base game like the equipment system and changing the health back to Halo CE's system and while I while I talk about the health I might as well talk about my brief experience of the game on Heroic difficulty: I am surprised playing Halo on Heroic is supposed to be the "intended" difficulty or how you should play Halo. All that difficulty does is make me dislike the regen health more than I already do. Raising the difficulty just increases the amount of time I have to hide behind cover. I thought playing it on Heroic might be fun considering you don't have regen health but all it does is remind me how much Resistance Fall of Man's health system is far superior. What annoys me so much in ODST especially on Heroic is that you can't partially regenerate your health after being in critical condition and enemies don't drop health either so if you fight more than 3 brutes, it's basically shoot, take hit, find cover, regen health, rinse repeat However play Halo ODST on Normal, and I am running out in the open, throwing grenades, actively engaging with the melee attack and actually not hiding behind cover like a wimp. Taking on 3 Brutes or more actually feels possible and not frustrating. I remember Halo 3 having a pretty balanced Heroic mainly due to the equipment system but that gets thrown out the window once the Flood shows up. Playing ODST on Heroic you can't even take more than 3 shots until you are in critical health and you have to hide behind cover. I started to enjoy the game much more when playing it on Normal due to the above mentioned reasons.

Now I'll talk about the game overall, the game feels experimental but at the same time also removes things that made Halo 3 interesting like the equipment but ODST has it's own innovations like the "open world" which I will admit nails the atmosphere with the art direction and the fantastic music but it's ultimately a gimmick, it's basically just a fully rendered level select menu and it often just gets in the way of the actual Halo missions you will be partaking in. The Halo missions are pretty good if typical, you got your vehicle sections and traditional shootouts and I do like that in this game you got to use the Spartan Laser a lot more where in Halo 3, you used it on occasion. I do enjoy Halo's combat outside of the regen health, I like how the 2 weapon limit makes you experimental with different weapons, how melee and draining shields can help you save ammo or how draining shields and using bullets can effectively make you better at fighting the Covenant. Grenades also work for crowd control as well. I feel like only regen health prevents from enjoying the game even more considering whenever you are at critical health, waiting for it to regen while hoping the AI would ignore you is not super effective especially on higher difficulties. The Banshee mission is also really bad and goes back to Halo 2's bad habbit of waiting for npcs or the game to progress the next sequence. Data Mine and Costal Highway also kind of go on for way too long for my tastes but I played this game so much that I got used to it by now. The usual Halo issues show like how the series only has four enemy types and whenever it tries to add more, the game starts to fall apart like with the Flood, the lack of bosses can be pretty disappointing but I don't mind since Halo's combat can't really allow for it.

Story is decent if nothing special. The characters interactions are okay but feel a little too Whedonesque for my tastes but I did like the way the story was told with the narrative being scattered and you and by proxy the Rookie have to connect all the dots. I do like how there is a bit more humanity in the story with Buck being torn between the safety of his men and the mission with Dare, it's not super amazing but it's engaging enough. I am still to this day not 100% sure how the narrative to this connects to Halo 3 but I do think the story is decent for a Halo and an FPS story.

Overall, Halo ODST is an interesting expansion to Halo 3 and I did enjoy my time with it, even if this game never reaches the highs of the base but at the same time, never reaches the lows of Halo 3's Flood levels.

70%PC

Halo 3 ODST is a weird game to review. This spin off title does a lot right but something makes it feel like a mod rather than a spin off title or DLC. The dialog and voice acting can be laughable at times, a large part of what makes this game feel like a fan made mod to me. The gameplay is Halo 3 gameplay but so much different due to small tweaks to how powerful the player feels, again making it feel like a mod, slightly altering base game mechanics to greatly change the way things play. The atmosphere in this game is fantastic, it feels more like a survival horror game in tone than it does a Halo game. ODST leaves me with very mixed feelings but overall a great experience that is not a must play.

70%Xbox 360

It's more Halo 3, but this time from the ODST perspective. It's sort of neat playing from the weaker soldier's perspective, and the hub world was a unique touch, but overall, I've never been too crazy about this one. If you like classic Halo, it sure is more of that, and that's why I've... bought it twice now. Thanks, MCC.

80%Xbox 360

I would have placed this higher if the multiplayer achievement detection weren't so scuffed and it felt a little more coherent.

The characters are loveable and seeing the perspective of these soldiers paints a, some how, more bleak picture of the already bordering hopeless Halo universe.

50%PC

who liked walking through the city. who liked that part tell me

50%PC

kinda weird that there's a hub, but i dig the mix up. the game broke a lot tho, multiple missions were hard broken

50%Xbox 360

Super average.
Dark graphics, hard to see anything without the night vision on.
Bland story and backtracking.
Disappointing, considering how great the other entries in the Halo series are.

50%PC

I only played the campaign because I don't give a shit about multiplayer so this review is for the campaign only.

What a short game. I beat it on normal difficulty in a little over 4 hours, which is way less than it took to beat any of the previous Halo games. But you know what? I'm actually glad it's that short because those 4+ hours were filled with suffering. This game takes place between Halo 2 and Halo 3, but it doesn't even come close to living up to either of them. I assume this game was intended as a side story, and that's fine if you're going to sell the game at a discount, but this was sold at full price, which is a scam. There are only 11 missions in this game, but half of them involve walking around a hub world, New Mombasa, in order to find your squad-mates. You have to go from one side of New Mombasa to another in order to find an item that'll give you a flashback to an actual level in which you play as one of those squad-mates. This happens over and over again and it gets tedious and boring extremely fast. It just feels like padding, which is always a bad thing.

The levels themselves are by the books Halo levels: one of them involves a warthog section, one of them involves a scorpion section, one of them involves a banshee section, and so on. Most of these levels are pretty short too and none of them feel special at all. And then having to walk from one side of the map to the other in between them sucks. Plus, the map is so dark that you pretty much have to use night-vision the whole time to be able to see where you're going. And New Mombasa is basically a maze, with locked doors everywhere, so I had to constantly pause the game to check the map to plan out my route. However, you can still get attacked when you're looking at the map, which got annoying because of how often I had to open up the map. At least the actual gameplay is mostly like Halo 3's, which I love. However, you can't use the equipment introduced in the base game (deployable cover, flare, etc.) or dual-wield guns, which is lame.

The story is a lot less intense and engaging than the previous games, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but the overall execution really hurt it. Each level lets you see what happened before you showed up, through the perspective of your squad-mates, but the problem is that the monotony of having to walk through the hub world between these levels hurts the cohesiveness of the story. Plus I didn't care for any of the characters at all. I found them all to be annoying and unlikable. Hell, I cared more for the generic marines that fight with you in a few levels than any of the main cast.

I played this as part of The Master Chief Collection, and this version of the game runs well. I always play with the original graphics to experience these games as they were initially released and I think the game looks fantastic for when it came out, except for the characters' faces. They all look weird, almost like they were designed in the OG XBOX era. But one major problem with this port is that there aren't any in-game subtitles. So other characters will talk to you and give you instructions, but it's hard to hear, primarily due to all of the noise during firefights and/or the music, which makes it really easy to miss important information. This is also a problem for Halo 3 and Halo Reach as well so 343 have to fix this. 2022 UPDATE: they finally added in-game subtitles. It took them 2 years to add a feature that should be part of the bare-minimum. Way to go 343.

Overall, this game is a massive step-down from Halo 3. The only thing I liked wholeheartedly is the music: it's typical Halo goodness. But everything else is problematic, especially the hub world, which really soured my whole experience. Therefore, I can't recommend playing it unless you're a massive Halo fan and absolutely need some more Halo.

100%PC

Best Halo game ever made. Sorry, not sorry.

70%PC

-review coming soon-

70%PC

Very short but sweet. The eerie atmosphere during the opening level is something the world could use more of.

80%PC

Starts out slow, but when you understand what kind of story and mission structure it presents it becomes very engaging.

70%PC

6.5

60%PC

Ironically this was the easiest halo to complete on legendary. I flew through this game maybe it is cause I just came off of Halo 2 legendary taking me a life time to beat. But this game was very simple and quick. I did like the story for the first half of the game because it felt like a detective style game. The later half was fine. If You like halo, it is more of the same. Less of a score for being pretty easy on legendary but still above average because of the simple but enjoyable story and the lore of the halo world.

80%Xbox Series X/S

Decent but not as good as previous 3 Halo games.