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In terms of Halo, I was a little late to the party. Growing up as a Nintendo kid, I got my Gamecube in 01 when I was like 9, and never really got a chance to play Halo. However, I was playing Marathon since I was in diapers, never knowing of its relation to Halo until much later, and around 2008, shortly after Halo 3 came out, I finally tried it out for the first time- and loved it.
From there, I bought both Halo 1 and Halo 2, enjoyed them a hell of a lot.
The games, as a whole, have always been excellent. In terms of story mode, Halo 1 had the best. I always remember the opening area of the Halo, where you're in that grassy, snowy field, and the Covenant ship lands and the little grunts start attacking you. Very cool. However, the story mode for the other games has always been a hit or a miss. Halo 2 had a decent story mode, but Halo 3...It could have been better, though it was far from terrible.
However, I recently got back into Halo after a few weeks of departure, and decided to pick up a Halo game I had never played before- ODST. Now, previously I had looked at this and thought "This looks kind of stupid. Silenced weapons? Dark graphics and atmosphere? This isn't Halo"...But my mind changed, and I gave it a try.
I'm glad I did. Because this is truly the most excellent Halo game I have ever played. There are a few reasons I feel this way though...
#1: The story is the deepest since Halo 1. It has deep, quality characters with real personalities, and great cinematic sequences.
#2: The story mode is actually a real blast to play. It has become more than just your run of the mill "point and shoot" game. You actually have to use strategy and thought in many of the levels. I know I ended up getting hammered a few times because I tried playing like Master Chief, and ended up having to adapt my strategies.
#3: The sound track isn't just the booming, epic score we've heard in past Halo games. Not to say those sound tracks were bad, but having some nice ambient-techno tracks mixed in to compliment the new feel of the game is a nice touch indeed.
#4: I like how instead of just sapping the game of color to make it more "dark and gritty", it instead just makes the game more highly contrasted. Yes, you have a lot of completely dark and pitch black areas, but they are adorned with very bright, colorful lights nearby, very bright enemies, and some gorgeous day-time missions. It's very colorful and beautiful, and I love the subdued reds and blues they're working with within the game.
#5: FIREFIGHT. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Reach's firefight. It seems a little too large for its own good, and the multiple modes seem a bit unnecessary. Also, the map selection isn't as good. Crater has to be the finest survival map in any game I've ever played.
#6: The new weapons are excellent. You finally get to use chief's (well, it basically his) pistol again, with the scope and the nice power and kick. The silenced SMG is actually really amazing too, very efficient and fun to use.
#7: The design is much better. In past Halo games, while I have loved them, the characters felt like Gods or something- they could jump incredibly high, take a million bullets, and wield two weapons. While, in the context of the story, these make sense, I prefer this particular game's approach. Rookie only uses one weapon, doesn't have much in the way of shields, and can't just run out into battle and slaughter everything.
#8: It's a nice touch how they gave you the entire Halo 3 MP mode with all maps and 3 new ones. Frankly, I would have kept the game without that- Firefight is worth it. But the fact they did? Awesome.
So yeah, in conclusion, I really love Halo 3: ODST. It's the best Halo game I've ever played, and hopefully they'll make another game in this vein very, very soon.