Originally intended as a three-hour expansion to the superb Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST finally arrives and is anything but an expansion pack. Taking place mere moments before Master Chief destroyed the first Scarab in Halo 2, you are an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, ODST, known only as "The Rookie." Your squad has been given orders to drop into the Covenant ship holding the Prophet of Regret that's still hovering over New Mombasa. As you drop the ship enters a slip-space rupture and the iconic cast of the Halo trilogy follows after them as your drop pods crash into one another and the squad spirals out of control in the coolest opening in a game since Quake II.

You wake up six hours after the drop; your pod crashed into a building and the only way down is to jump. The first thing you'll notice after jumping down is the new health system. The health bars are back and the rechargeable shields are gone. Your first order of business is to find one of the health kiosks around the city before setting out. An AI called the Superintendent will be there from the very beginning to help guide you through the city. It will have helpful hints that flash warnings to keep back or arrows to guide you through certain areas, and in some cases, detours. Either way, it's a creative guide and while not necessary to enjoy the game, following the helpful hints of the Superintendent only make ODST that much more satisfying.

As an ODST you aren't as tall, swift or strong as a Spartan and the game makes that evident from the very moment you touch down. The new health system (or is it the old health system) adds an immediate benefit to Halo 3: ODST: the Covenant are scary again. And the dark, gritty feel of the city only adds to that feeling.

The most noticeable thing about Halo 3: ODST is the atmosphere: the game absolutely nails it. If ODST were not as atmospheric as it is it would have been a lesser game. Bungie had stated that they were taking their cues from Noir and it's a breath of fresh air for Halo. The entire point of Noir is to tell the story more through the visuals and sounds than anything else and as you play as The Rookie you'll see the destroyed city, dead soldiers and Covenant all over the streets, phones ringing off of the hooks, tickets being spewed out by machines and cars flashing their lights on and off as the sirens tear through the night. Add in an ODST's relative fragility compared to the Master Chief and you're suddenly all alone in a huge city with a half-empty submachine gun, Covenant forces that tower over you in combat and a whole lot of loneliness.

Combat still feels like Halo and that's a very good thing, but it's the subtle changes that make it seem different. You can't dual-wield as an ODST, so you need to be more careful with which weapons to go forward with in any situation. And with your more fragile state combat isn't quite as gung-ho as in previous Halo games. That's where the new VISR comes in. It's basically night vision and it highlights enemies in red, friends in green, weapons in blue and important objects in yellow. It helps penetrate through the darkness of the night and let you know what you're getting into. In previous Halo games, avoiding combat would have been pointless, but in ODST sometimes it's just a smarter idea to not get caught by the patrols or the squads holding down certain locations. Being in the city at dark it's a wise idea to keep your VISR turned on as often as possible since there could be Jackal snipers above any rooftop or Brute patrol squads, and if you're truly unfortunate a pair of Hunters will not only work your health down but whittle away your ammunition and supplies.

As The Rookie your job is to find out what happened to the rest of your squad. Scattered throughout New Mombasa are clues that can be found using your VISR. These clues, once located, will provide one of the most creative methods of storytelling I have ever seen. The clues take you back in time to when your squad mate, whichever of them it was, was fighting and how their situation came about. These flashback missions play out like a greatest hits compilation of all things Halo. You're given UNSC Marines to fight alongside, tons of firepower and a lot of enemies. Unlike The Rookie's intimate crawl through the city at night, the flashbacks have all the bombast of previous Halo games. Vehicular battles, rockets, waves of enemies and more await you as you go through the stories of your squad mates.

Upon the completion of each flashback mission you're returned to The Rookie as he continues his search. However, the New Mombasa hub is more than just a means of walking from one flashback to the other. There are audio logs, thirty of them, hidden throughout the game, that tell their own story. These audio logs are called Sadie's Story and gamers with a keen eye will find them tucked away, some in obvious spots, and others deviously hidden. The story told on it's own is actually not that good. In fact, the less said about Sadie's Story the better. However, keen observers will find that each arc of the story depicts one of the nine circles of Hell, and that finding all of the audio logs not only nets you achievements but also ties into the game's main story and broadens your understanding of it. It's a very creative method of using audio logs, it just would have been better if the actual story told through them were a bit more compelling at first glance.

The campaign also includes coop, however it ruins the game. Coop is a mode added into ODST simply because every other Halo game has it, but it isn't necessary. The atmosphere and loneliness of the game are lost, as it simply becomes two to four guys running through the city. It isn't well implemented into the flashback missions at all either since again, it's two (or more) of that same character even if there are others around. If you're going to play cooperatively there's another mode, a multiplayer mode that blends together the competitive spirit of Halo and the excellence of it's single-player: Firefight.

Firefight is Bungie's take on the new "it" multiplayer mode that was originally brought to the forefront in Resident Evil 4's Mercenaries mode and later popularized by Gears of War 2's Horde mode. It's nothing new, but with the core Halo formula running the gameplay Firefight ends up feeling fresher than it should. You can play the mode on one of ten maps, two of them are set at night making your VISR a necessity, and the mode can be played with one to four people making this the destination of coop gamers.

Firefight is a success because not only does it feel competitive since you'll be aiming for the high score but it's also a very cooperative mode with other players. You'll have a pool of lives that are shared with each of the players. This emphasizes cooperation since one weak link can ruin the entire match. Firefight also feels fresh because of the randomization of each group of enemies. In Gears of War 2 there were ten different waves that repeated five times, making for fifty total waves. In ODST everything is random and it's never-ending. As you play more and more skulls will be activated and these will cause you to mix up your strategies each time. One will cause bullets to deflect off of enemy shields; another will cause them to always avoid danger while another has the Covenant throwing grenades at you with any chance they get. Teamwork is a necessity though skilled lone wolves will also find one of the most rewarding modes around.

One aspect of ODST that demands to be praised is the sound. The soundtrack is marvelous. There is no amount of fancy hyperbole that can be used to describe it because there's only one way of saying it: it's mature. ODST's soundtrack is refined, soft and delicate when it conveys the loneliness of The Rookie. It's a pleasant surprise when you hear it, because the music just sweeps through and adds to the game's wonderful Noir feel. There are also the musical pieces that will get you pumped up for the fights ahead, though these pieces are typically found in the flashback missions.

Playing as The Rookie at night, the game comes alive. You'll be able to hear enemies following you. You'll be on edge as you hear two Hunter's prowling the streets or a group of Brutes that spotted you. The sound design in Halo games has always been excellent, but it's the different spin on the soundtrack that really boosts ODST's atmosphere.

The visuals from an artistic standpoint also add to the game's atmosphere. The city is dark, oppressive and moody. You are alone and it's up to you to solve the mystery at hand. The cars lighting up, the ticket machines going out of control, they all seem so real that you can't help but believe in ODST's world. From a technical standpoint however Halo's engine is showing it's age. It looked good in 2007, but it's time for a new engine that can take better advantage of the system. This is especially obvious in the character models. The world might look great, the guns too, but the characters are looking a little outdated. Then again, there is a reason why it's called Halo 3: ODST and not Halo: ODST.

As an added bonus for customers, ODST comes with a second disc that contains the full Halo 3 multiplayer experience. Not only does it include the three new Mythic Maps, but it also includes all of the previous downloadable maps and everything that came packed in with Halo 3. These maps make one obvious point: if you have never played Halo then ODST is the best place to start. It is it's own stand-alone game with it's own story that's wrapped up by the game's end. But as an added bonus it also includes Halo 3's full multiplayer suite.

Halo 3 ODST may have been originally intended as an expansion pack to Halo 3, but it ended up exceeding expectations. This is a case of quality over quantity. The game's campaign may be a few hours shorter than Halo 3's and it's multiplayer may be cooperative only, but ODST shows just how flexible the core Halo engine is. An innovative storytelling method, wonderful atmosphere, exciting campaign and addictive multiplayer make Halo 3: ODST not only one of the year's best shooters but also one of the Xbox 360's best shooters.

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