Halo 3: ODST is derivative. It's an amalgamation of many unrelated parts fused together in an experimental Halo game. The narrative arc is that of a standard mystery or action novel. It's nothing revolutionary but it's certainly different, especially for a first-person shooter. ODST's gameplay and engine are built on the back of 2007's Halo 3. This is felt throughout the game and the tweaks to the venerable engine aren't enough to make this game look great as we approach 2010.

What throws me off is that Bungie's first pioneering and experimental work since Halo: Combat Evolved is only a side project. Even though it was staffed by some of Bungie's foremost developers, the game was only fourteen months in production.

I'm not interested in the game or expansion debate. It's a full single-player campaign, a brand new multiplayer mode, and classic Halo adversarial multiplayer. Please, do not write to me about the lack of content.

ODST could have been a redefining game in the genre if it was afforded a full production cycle. A FPS-Open World hybrid built into the Halo Universe? The possibilities were staggering but the idea didn't fit the budget or the time constraints. ODST is full of evidence in favor of this conclusion.

The city itself is massive and sprawling. It has a solid set of landmarks and a compelling, albeit predictable, aesthetic. What the city doesn't do is tell a human story. The (literal) writing on the wall is mostly war related and Mombasa is nothing more than a shell. Dead soldiers and smoldering wreckage force a player to think about the fighting for the city and not the life the city had before invasion. Civilians are nowhere. Storefronts do not exist. This is ODST's biggest missed opportunity.

Sadie's Story is the only thing working against the military complex that the game desperately clings to like a constant reminder of where it came from. However, Sadie's Story was developed outside of Bungie. So why pick a setting with a human story to tell and completely under-utilize it? Again, I believe that ODST didn't have enough time in the oven.



The major story arc is tight, controlled and very focused. It is a far cry from the galaxy roving, ring wrecking, alien battlefields of the first three Halo games. This is a welcome change. Joesph Staten and his writers largely succeed at their stab at mystery-action. The flashback concept is well played and characters are well crafted and have a little more depth than you would expect. This was ODST's largest narrative success. Buck, Mickey, Dutch, Romeo, and Dare all have personalities, quirks, and areas of expertise. They all exhibit the toll the war has taken on the human psyche, and carry their share of emotional baggage. This is where the human element can be found, but it does not compel me to forgive the city being devoid of humanity.

The Rookie pisses me off. I am so over main characters not talking, especially when they should be. For a genius soldier gone detective, the Rookie doesn't have the brains to try his radio? Is the UNSC so low on man power that it readily fuels men into its elite reserves whose only mode of communication is a shrug of the shoulders or a nod of the head? No excuses Bungie; the Rookie being a mute doesn't make any damn sense.

In stark contrast, the flashbacks are brilliant in separate ways. First and most obviously, they serve as showcases to the best parts of playing Halo. Tank battles, demolitions, dog fighting, sniping, desperate defensive stands and of course driving a warthog stocked with marines are all strongly represented. The flashbacks echo some of the best parts of the main trilogy and finally give Mombasa the defense it deserved back in Halo 2.



The most important purpose of the flashbacks is pacing. Think, ruminate, postulate, and retire to your study regarding that. What was the last first-person shooter that had pacing? Arguably Bioshock or Prey, but I'd argue that that those games are adventures in the vein of the Metroid Prime games. Pacing, as set up by the dark lonely streets of conquered Mombasa and the bombastic flashbacks, is not only the strongest part of the game, but it is ODST's contribution to the genre at large. The implications of what pacing is and how it can affect a story is integral if narrative in first-person shooters is to improve. For example, consider the scene in Saving Private Ryan where an enemy sniper violently interrupts a character building conversation between the American soldiers.

I am never out to make excuses for a game but the length of development was the root issue of ODST's flaws. The great ideas at play in this game force a designer to think of what narrative can be in a first-person shooter. The flaws are here in numbers that we aren't accustomed to seeing in a Bungie game, and I can't forgive it if only because Reach took priority over ODST in terms of development.



As a design docket, Halo 3: ODST is a wet dream; however, the resources and time required to fulfill that docket were never in the cards. ODST has many loose ends and missed opportunities for a finished product. If the ideas at play in ODST are as strong as I believe them to be it doesn't matter. The design docket will be more of an inspiration to developers than the final product, and in the end that is what is most important.