ODST started off as a DLC expansion ... that got a little too large. Bungie saw an opportunity to try something familiar, but new and ran with it. Although the Campaign mode is short (IGN says 6 hours, my first hand exp says 8 to 9), Bungie made sure to offer other things in the ODST bundle to leave fans happy.

The Mythic disc (H3 maps) gives folks who do not play online all of the available content. H2 did this by releasing a separate $30 disc. Also, these maps have gone through several revisions to make them more fair .. the latest, greatest, and more final versions of the maps (Construct, Guardian, Pit, Narrows, etc) are there.

The ODST disc offers Firefight. The only downfall to this is that there is no XBL Firefight matchmaking. You need to supply your own friends.



On the topic of Campaign ... I stayed up till 2:30am to complete it. Totally worth it.

- With Halo 3, you weren't given much of an opportunity to use the "cool" weapons. I think I found a laser once, was given the opportunity to truly snipe twice, and never found properly placed chain guns. All corrected in ODST. Alien weapons are everywhere. Complete a level and you start unlocking "Superintendent artillery supply closets" around the city.

- While the IGN editor claims ODST is 6 hours long, it isn't. It's what you make of it. Bungie cut no corners when it came to level design.

- The soundtrack needs to win an award. Everything I'm hearing is full symphony composed. It's crazy to get this type of quality in a game.

- Upgrades / updates are logical.
-- Full speed w. detached gun turret.
-- Banshee hovers, no more annoying downward drag.
-- several visor updates
-- etc.


game = awesome.