Blockbuster.co.uk's Marshall Julius chats with producer Alex Cutting about Microsoft's mighty Halo 3: ODST.
Developed exclusively for
Xbox 360 by acclaimed developer Bungie,
Halo 3: ODST allows players to experience the thrilling events leading up to the epic story told in Halo 3. Seen through the eyes of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers as they search for clues leading to the whereabouts of their scattered squad and the motivations behind the Covenant's invasion of New Mombasa, this amazing new game introduces Firefight, a new co-operative multiplayer mode where up to four players can assume the role of an ODST squad and fight together to take on increasingly challenging waves of enemies.
A first-person shooter offering a rich blend of eye-popping detail, atmospheric settings, tense, exciting game-play and a cool new range of vehicles and weaponry, Halo 3: ODST is available to buy now from Blockbuster.co.uk. At a recent London launch event for the game, Blockbuster.co.uk caught up with Alex Cutting, producer on Halo 3: ODST from Microsoft Game Studios, who was only too happy to chat about the game that he confirms is equally aimed at long-time fans of the franchise, as well as newcomers to the Halo universe.
"In the Halo games," explains Cutting, for anyone not yet acquainted with the back-story, "humanity is at war with an alien and religious alliance called The Covenant. Basically, in Halo 3: ODST, the war is taking place on Earth. The Covenant have found Earth and established a presence in the city of New Mombasa. In Halo 2 and 3 there's a story where the Master Chief pursues the Covenant into slip-space, and they jump far from Earth to continue that battle.
"In ODST, you take up the reins of an orbital drop shock trooper who drops into the city as that orbital cruiser drops into slip-space and basically lays waste to the city in its wake. After you drop in, it's up to you to unravel the mystery of why the Covenant were in New Mombasa, what were they looking for, and in the process try to reunite with your team because you got scattered during the drop.
"What this story does a good job of is merging the Master Chief story with a completely independent story as well. So people who haven't played the game before, the first thing they get is a recap of what's happened so far, and are immediately brought up to speed. You don't need to know the events of Halo 1, 2 and 3. You can drop into this game, play it on any difficulty you want, and have a good experience."
Those more familiar with the Halo games will enjoy the differences and developments that ODST has to offer, says Cutting. "It's the first game where you're not the Master Chief, so there are some big differences. You don't have energy shields like you used to. You have a health and stamina system now. You also have a visor system which is going to be really useful in this game because a lot of it takes place at night. The visor system will help you see in the dark, it'll help you identify enemies, targets, objects of interest, things like that.
"In ODST, you're a bit more vulnerable, so you need to little play a little bit more strategically than you did when you were a Spartan. You're not a seven-foot-tall war machine any more, you're a marine alone in the city, so it's definitely a big difference from our previous Halo games."
With two discs in the package, Halo 3: ODST offers plenty of bang for your buck. "On the first disc," details Cutting, "is a fully-fledged single player campaign. You can play that campaign on single player in all of our classic difficulties, or you can play it with up to four players co-operatively.
"Also on that disk is our new multiplayer mode, called Firefight. It's the first fully co-operative multiplayer mode in a Halo game. Basically you and up to four friends defend yourselves against wave after wave of increasingly difficult Covenant. As those waves come in, the game starts turning on Halo Skulls in different combinations to change the game and the AI, forcing you to change your strategy in order to survive.
"The first disc also includes an invitation into the
Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta. On the second disc, meanwhile, is the
Halo 3 multiplayer collection, which is every Halo 3 multiplayer map we've ever shipped plus three brand new ones: Citadel, Heretic and Longshore."
Those who have so far gotten their hands on ODST, says Cutting, have provided nothing but positive feedback. "Most of the people who spent time with the game have played Firefight and it's absolutely addictive. Even internally, once you start playing Firefight, you can't stop. That co-operative environment is something that's kind of new to Halo. It's basically your team striving to get that high score. You can see your score which gives you some bragging rights, but really it's about how well your team does.
"The single player campaign is also really going to impress people," promises Cutting, signing off. "We've kept it very secret but there's a ton of new stuff in there. It's another great Halo game!"