Master Chief has left the building. Heck, he’s left the whole damn galaxy.
So the question now becomes, is a Halo game still a Halo game without its iconic emerald-armoured super-soldier, who is as much a flagbearer for this franchise as the little plumber with the big ’stache is for Mario games?
Based on our exclusive and extensive hands-on with the upcoming Halo 3: ODST, the answer is an emphatic yes. In fact, a Halo shooter that doesn’t star Master Chief might be exactly what this series needs.
Landing in stores Sept. 22 for the Xbox 360, Halo 3: ODST is a semi-sequel of sorts to the 10 million-selling Halo 3. It follows the exploits of a squad the titular Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, elite space marines who fight alongside Master Chief in the war against the alien invaders of the Covenant.
It’s the same running-and-gunning experience that fans know from previous Halo games, but during a recent visit to the offices of developer Bungie Studios in suburban Seattle, we found that ODST has its own unique – and welcome – flavour.
Despite the name, Halo 3: ODST technically takes place partway through the events of Halo 2. Just as our ODST squad drops from orbit into the ravaged African city of New Mombasa, their descent pods are knocked off course by a Covenant spacecraft, sending them crashing into different parts of the city.
Players begin the game as the otherwise nameless Rookie, who must search New Mombasa for his missing squadmates while fighting or eluding Covenant forces. Upon finding a piece of evidence left behind by one of his comrades – a sniper rifle hanging from a streetlight, say – the game enters a flashback sequence, and players take control of one of the missing squadmates.
It’s a different storytelling approach from the previous Halo games, but it works wonderfully. As players switch back and forth between the lone Rookie exploring a dark and rainy New Mombasa and segments in which they play as his squadmates Buck, Dutch, Mickey, Romeo and Dare, we see how each soldier’s experience ties into the story as a whole. It’s very Pulp Fiction-y in a way.
Although the ODST soldiers are slightly less powerful than Master Chief, the game is packed with the set-piece battles for which the Halo series is famous. During our afternoon at Bungie, we played through an epic, vehicle-heavy clash against Covenant forces in an African nature reserve, held off a massive assault outside a fortified military facility and finally repelled aerial attacks on the windswept roof of an under-construction skyscraper.
As well, Halo 3: ODST will include a new online “Firefight” mode that lets up to four players battle cooperatively against never-ending waves of enemies, with seven lives shared among them. It’s similar to Gears of War 2’s “Horde” mode, but feels more fluid and even more high-stakes.
Although we won’t know for certain until the game is released in a week or so, it seems that by giving the Halo universe a slightly darker, more human shading, Halo 3: ODST could be the perfect companion to the exploits of Master Chief. And as much as we like him, he probably won’t be missed.
