About ODST: Halo 3: ODST is a standalone expansion for the first-person shooter video game Halo 3. It will be released as an Xbox 360 video game console exclusive on September 22, 2009. Players assume the roles of elite human United Nations Space Command soldiers known as Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODSTs) during the events of Halo 2. After the alliance of alien races known as the Covenant attack Earth, the player explores the ruined city of New Mombasa to discover what happened to their missing teammates, separated from each other as they entered the city. Bungie initially conceived ODST as a small side project to produce in the lull between Halo 3's completion and Halo: Reach. Instead of featuring recognizable characters such as the Master Chief from previous games, the developers focused on the ODSTs. Story director Joseph Staten penned a detective story utilizing film noir settings, design, and characters. Composer Martin O'Donnell abandoned his previous Halo themes to create a quieter, jazz-influenced sound. During development, the game grew in scope to that of a full-sized game. Multiplayer: In lieu of a complete ODST multiplayer option, the game ships with Halo 3's multiplayer contained on a separate disc. The 24 maps consist of the original eleven Halo 3 maps (Construct, Epitaph, Guardian, High Ground, Isolation, Last Resort, Narrows, Sandtrap, Snowbound, The Pit, Valhalla), the Heroic map pack (Foundry, Rat's Nest, Standoff), the Legendary map pack (Avalanche, Blackout, Ghost Town), the "Cold Storage" map, and the Mythic map pack (Assembly, Orbital, and Sandbox) as well as three new maps (Citadel, Heretic, Longshore). The exclusive maps are also counted as "Mythic" maps and are tied into Halo 3's achievements. The Halo 3 multiplayer does not require Halo 3 to play and ships on a separate disc. ODST also contains a new game cooperative game mode called Firefight. Firefight is Halo's version of a survival mode, wherein players take on increasingly difficult waves of varied enemies and see how long they can last. Firefight will include new medals as well as the ability to co-op with up to three other players over Xbox LIVE or System Link. Each player has a set number of lives and the game ends upon their depletion. There is no time limit, no limited number of rounds and no maximum number of kills. Skulls will be incorporated into Firefight as a means to increase the difficulty and provide variation. The maps used in Firefight will be unlocked as the player progresses through the ODST campaign. It is also noted that the enemy characters appearing in each wave are generated at random, thus the player will be unable to anticipate the strength of the next wave prior to its arrival. Players are awarded medals for making special kills, and individual and team scores are tracked throughout the games
I’m sure a lot of us here are getting Halo 3: ODST yet we don’t really have a topic about the game, until now I’m looking forward to playing the 4-player co-op campaign at the moment, then ill finally have all the new multiplayer maps to play. After playing Firefight I was quite disappointed by it, but some classic slayer or big team battle on loads of new maps sounds good to me! I might be getting my copy early as we don’t seem to have any postal problems around here!
You may not have postal strikes in your area, but you may have some between where the item is dispatched, and your destination. Do remember most of the big hubs which transport stuff across regions are backlogged. Pretty much all mail from the south to the north and vice verca is delayed because of this. You will need to check where Game's despatch place is.
It was Leeds which is only 30 mins away, not sure if it still is... if it gets here early great, if not I can wait.
Everyone is going to be very disappointed with firefight I think I’m looking forward to the campaign as 4 player co-op games are few and far between.
Yes there’s a couple of people at University with dodgy consoles, no fun in French and without Xbox Live though.
I know a few people who have the English version of it now, I hope to get my pre order early from a guy I know at GameStop
Just got emailed my Xbox Live Code to redeem Sgt Johnson, all I gotta do is await the game to be delivered!
Everyone was saying how Firefight mode would be better than Gears 2's Horde Mode, but I don't agree. I have seen some firefight videos and it looks alright, but nothing that hasn't been done already in games such as Gears 2 (Horde), Left 4 Dead (Survival), and CoD: WaW (Nazi Zombies).
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Mine got dispatched today so I’m guessing it will be here on Tuesday! So the Sgt Johnson code doesn’t come with the game? No idea if i get that but I’m not too bothered either way.
Same here Haloman, Sergeant Johnson has just dropped in to my console, wonder what the chances of the postman dropping the game off a day early are?
oh that explains a lot. I ordered mine from amazon so they wont have sent me anything. you Lucky Lucky People.
Everyone who preorders the game should get the code for Sgt Johnson and a code redeemable for the Halo Reach Beta (don't know if they give this out later around the time the beta is released). If you don't get your code Haloman contact Amazon and complain! Unless they specifically said they wouldn't be providing the codes that is. I ordered through Gameplay and haven't recieved my code also so I'll wait a few days and then e-mail them.
I think only certain retailers are offering Sergeant Johnson, however everyone who pre orders or gets a copy from the first batch of Halo 3 ODST games should get a beta code for Halo Reach.