Bungie’s latest release for the Halo series has taken the story back to before the series really started. Bungie had always said that the new game wouldn’t feature Master Chief and that it would be taking a new look on the game.  this different view was looking more at what fighting would be like if you weren’t a genetically modified superhuman Spartan trooper.

The game itself is based around a covenant surprise attack on New Mombasa and what they’re looking for. It’s done to give all those interested Halo fans a look at how things all got started and the teams responsible for getting the covenants secrets. The story is focussed on our new hero Rookie, I know it’s a fear inspiring name, and what happens to his drop team.

You spend most of the game exploring the streets of New Mombasa trying to locate your drop team after a botched orbital drop sends you scattered around the city. Because of a rather rough landing the rookie is knocked out for the longest time and wakes up 6 hours after the drop. As you find the clues to where each of your squad mates are you flashback to what happened to them and slowly put all the pieces of the story together.

As well as the main story here are hidden audio files telling a side story. It makes for good entertaining listening as you run through the streets and makes for an interesting insight into what’s happened and why the superintendant wants to help you. As for Halo’s game play it is basically the exact same as Halo 3 with some differences.

If you liked Halo 3 then you should like ODST the fire fights are a lot tougher for you because you’re not the super trooper Master Chief. It makes for interesting game play as you need to avoid troops and use tactics if you’re running low on ammo or if your health is running low. there aren’t any dual weapons in ODST and you can’t use any tools either like bubble shields and flares but you don’t notice that too much. there are still plenty of vehicles to ride around in and annihilate your enemies with as well as full scale battles on large beautifully detailed maps that can make for truly epic gaming.

To compliment this awesome gaming  Bungie have kept their theatre function allowing you to replay your past gaming adventures and take impressive screenshots. The multiplayer of ODST is a little disappointing however, especially if you like the halo 3 multiplayer. It’s a small co op game that is almost the same as the gears of war horde mode. The multiplayer limit is 4 which helps to enhance the felling of playing as a small squad shooter.

All in all ODST is an amazing game that is fun to play time and time again with more to discover if you look a little harder. The downfalls of he game are made up by the mythic multiplayer disc you get free with the game. I’m more than happy to give ODST a 9 out of 10  if you’re a fan of halo and a 8 out of 10 if you’re not.