Halo 3 ODST: Pardon our dust

LookFreeGrenade

Halo

established November 9th, 2004

MEET YOUR NEW DADDY

"The Covenant comes to kill us. And the ODSTs? We do our best to kill them first."

Halo 3: ODST is Bungie's newly released first-person shooter.You are the Rookie, an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper deployed to New Mombasa in Africa at the same time the Master Chief is fighting there in Halo 2. The Prophet of Regret's ship enters slipspace as your pod falls to earth, and the ensuing blast throws the city into disarray and separates you from the other four members of your squad. You wake up at night in the city, and are tasked with finding clues in the open world to the whereabouts of the rest of the squad, and relive their experiences through playable flashbacks.

Halo 3: ODST comes with two discs. One contains the ODST campaign, and a Horde-esque co-operative multiplayer mode for four people called Firefight. As time progresses, gameplay modifiers are added such as the enemies throwing more grenades or your HUD vanishing. If the team wipes, it's game over.
The second disc (known as Halo 3:Mythic) contains the standard Halo 3 multiplayer that we know and love, as well as all previous free and paid DLC maps. Also included are three new maps, Citadel, Longshore and Heretic. This disc is fully compatible with anyone playing vanilla Halo 3 multiplayer and has all the features you'd expect except for the Halo 3 campaign.

Still confused? Charts usually solve that problem - at least, for me.

Still thinking, "Fuck that, I love Nathan Fillion!" Meet Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck.

Sergeant Buck has two primary missions: keeping his team alive and stopping the Covenant. Two monumentally tall orders. A lifelong student, Buck’s learned his lessons the hard way. And since he’s not dead, that makes him the ideal candidate to run this operation. When Buck says drop, you say, "Yes, sir!"


Romeo’s tongue is sharp, but his shot is sharper. He’s sarcastic, a touch self-absorbed, and a self-professed ladies man. You don’t need to worry about any of that. Slap a Sniper Rifle in his hands and he’ll earn his keep, one round at a time.

For Dutch, the only good part about dropping into combat is getting his boots on the ground. Once he’s found terra firma, he’s a one man wrecking crew. If you’ve got big problems, Dutch will have very loud answers. It's probably best you stay behind him.

Mickey has the distinct pleasure of being the only member on the squad who hasn’t seen everything go all fire and brimstone. He’s a flyboy, but for this mission,he’s the guy that’s tapped to set the charges. If things are going boom, chances are Mickey is at the switch.

And the FNG. The Rookie. Not exactly green; no ODST is. If I didn't think he could do the job, I wouldn't have him on my six. He doesn't say much, but I don't care. I just need him to listen.

And let's not forget Miss Naval Intelligence herself. Check out this lady’s gear. That's definitely not regulation. And her presence alone should have you on high alert - ONI doesn’t send in spooks to take care of routine operations.

These are my men. And I'm dropping them straight into hell.

Naval Intelligence says we're taking down a Covenant carrier that's sitting pretty over New Mombasa. Not what I'd call a routine operation, but it doesn't matter. We know what we're up against because we've seen it all before: Harvest, the Outer Colonies...Reach. The Covenant comes to kill us. And the ODSTs? We do our best to kill them first.

We're planning for a close-quarters fight, and Navy Special Weapons set us up real nice. The Suppressed M7 SMG. It can tear through armor and turn bad guys into chum. And the M6S Pistol. Whisper-quiet with Armor-Piercing Rounds. Brutes might see us coming...the only thing they're gonna hear is their asses hitting the ground.

Wasn't just our weapons systems, either. Navy eggheads knocked the dust off our electronics, too. VISR, Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance, upgrades with uplinks to secure Metropolitan systems; clearance codes to access New Mombasa's Superintendent Artificial Intelligence. That means navigation data on the fly; instant Intel on the field. Hell, we could commandeer the city's garbage trucks if we need to. Course, from what we can tell, the Super isn't exactly in fighting shape. Seems the Covenant have knocked a few screws loose. Won't be a problem. ODST's are used to working in the dark.

It's simple: If you see green, squad up. If you see red, shoot.

But what about Firefight? well-

Welcome to New Mombasa

This is Firefight. And we need every able body we can get. Even yours. Lucky for you, your squad is the best of the best. Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Problem is, we got alien bastards in the house. Each new wave means more bad guys. Five waves make up a round. Three rounds in a set. Sounds easy, huh? Wrong! See these skulls?

When they activate, they turn a casual Covenant make-out session into a full-on test of your manly prowess! let's just say they call 'em "difficulty multipliers" for a reason. As long as you're feeling cooperative, there ain't no need to go it alone. Get cozy with up to four players over System Link or Xbox LIVE and firefight with your friends through ten battlefields all over New Mombasa. But it's not just about greasin' bad guys. Sometimes it's all about the glory. Put your boot up enough alien backsides, and the Corps will pin rows of medals on your chest. Might even earn some Achievements too. Badass, unlocked.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Sergeant Major Johnson, these sound like overwhelming odds. I don't wanna drop into hell without an airtight insurance policy." Well, do I have an offer for you! If you pre-ordered your copy of Halo 3: ODST at participating retailers, you'll get all the confidence you need:

ME! He he he, that's right. The toughest, cigar-chompinest marine there is- yours to play in Firefight.

So what are you waiting for? Get set troopers, and prepare to drop.

OUT NOW

Halo 3 is a first-person shooter, the third in the trilogy after Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. You are the Master Chief, an artifically-augmented seven-foot supersoldier known as a Spartan to the United Nations Space Command Marine Corps and the Demon to the Covenant, a collected alien force made up of several different races. The Covenant believe that their purpose is to usher in Judgement Day, based on the teachings of the Prophets, of which only one remains. To do this, they must light the Halos, structures in space. Their real purpose, however, is to extinguish all sentient life in the universe, as they are a last resort weapon created by an ancient race, to eliminate any food source for the all-consuming hyperintelligent parasite known as the Flood.

OUT NOW

Halo Wars is a real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble, the company behind Age of Empires. It takes place before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, and tells the story of the previous Arbiter of the Covenant and the battle for control of the planet Harvest. The Covenant have uncovered a Forerunner artifact that leads to a site now occupied by humans. After travelling from planet to planet, a plot is uncovered that could threaten the survival of humanity.


AVAILABLE TBA 2010

Halo: Reach is a first-person shooter. Little is known at this time, other than it takes place immediately before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, and will tell the story of the attack on the human-occupied and defensive cornerstone planet Reach by the Covenant. A multiplayer beta of Halo: Reach will be included with Halo: ODST.

"I'm not here for that campaign nonsense! I'm here to play online with cool dudes," I hear you cry, in that unlovely way of yours. Well, you're in luck! TBK, The Bees' Knees, have been around since 2004 and take their name from the Halo 2 ARG, 'I Love Bees'. No matter what gametype you like playing, you'll find someone who shares your interests here to team up with. Unless you play Lone Wolves, in which case you'll have trouble teaming up.

You don't need the paid maps to play with us, and if you don't have them already, I'd suggest not buying them, as they all come packaged for free with Halo 3: ODST in September, as described in the post above. However, there's no reason not to grab the free maps, and if you want to grab the paid ones, these images will come in quite handy.

Now you have the arenas, you need gladiators to fill them with. Fortuitous, then, that I happen to have my class register right here.

The Usual Suspects:




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Things you need to know ahead of time: Yorker is mute, X is diabetic, Major Leitner is annoying, and Beeb is only here for comic relief.

This list collates the more active folks - there are many others, and you can become one of them very easily. Post in the thread, say hi, add a few of us as friends and play some games with us. As long as you're not the typical shit-flinging retard that Xbox Live seems to cultivate, you're welcome to do so and to call yourself a Bee.

Join this if you're looking for Firefight players

UEAKCrash

Oh god I can't fucking wait another night.

Cantido

What is NXE?

OmnomnomPancake

last thread died before her time, really

jclast

I hope I don't get any homework today because there is no way I am working on it tomorrow.

Leitner

Diggin the new controller.

Willeth

I'm home after celebrating my degree results (check me out with a 2:1, whoo), and I'll probably not be jumping on to finish ODST tonight because of alcohol. I expect to complete it tomorrow. I'll probably then be running through some of the missions again - some of them are just that much fun.

Those on a midnight launch just now, enjoy. Those six to ten hours behind, enjoy it then, I guess. I'll probably have time to go to sleep and wake up again before your line is over.

Spartan 0092

I like the OP, though are Willeths pics gone so quickly?

Mx. Quill

ETA: Four hours, 32 minutes.

Damn the slow passage of time.

Chris Redfield

Leitner, what's it like?! And what's the controller like?

LookFreeGrenade

Willeth's thread got locked before I could quote his post, working that out now

OmnomnomPancake

http://www.willeth.com/img/tbk/fyre.jpg

this is not a blue dot

Leitner

Chris Redfield wrote: »

Leitner, what's it like?! And what's the controller like?

Installng to hard-drive now. Chill man, I may throw up a post of mid game impressions just before I hit the hay.

Lookfree, just ask Echo, I'm sure he'd be able to oblige.

Willeth

Lookfree, I have the text file still on my PC with all the BBcode intact if you want me to upload it somewhere. That might be easiest.

Dr.Oblivious

I'll be playing this tonight, hit me up if you want someone to firefight with.

Saiga

I'll be playing this ASAP after the midnight launch, add me for some Firefight.

Probably heading to the GameStop at around 9 pm (central).

LCDXX

I think I'll go take a nap before heading to GS.

LookFreeGrenade

I'll take you up on that offer willeth

I gotta get going here in about 2 hours. Pretty excited

OmnomnomPancake

everyone playing firefight as Rookie

very lame

Willeth

I have Mickey set up, sans helmet, with my Halo 3 emblem slightly colour-shifted. It's great.

I'll boot up my computer and upload the file to a secret location, Lookfree. Looking forward to getting my Firefight on with you folks tomorrow.

Saiga

Nice, oh and Willeth I send you a friend invite, I think it only just now sent though for some reason.

Only 5 and a 1/2 hours for us central folks.

Willeth

You've probably grabbed one of my coveted three spots. Man, I need to do a ruthless clearout of my list at some point soon.

T4CT

I haven't really picked an ODST to use in firefight, I want to play a little campaign and see who I dig the most.

Can barely fucking wait for tomorrow night. No sleep for classes the next day.

Librarian's ghost

Slightly related, the season premiere of Castle, starring your favorite ODST Sgt Nathan Fillion is on tonight, for those of you not getting the game till tomorrow.

Kazhiim

so this takes place during Halo 2, right?

Spartan 0092

Kazhiim wrote: »

so this takes place during Halo 2, right?

Yes.

LookFreeGrenade

Yeah, after Chief leaves the city

Professor Snugglesworth

So yeah, I'm pretty much ready to buy this come Tuesday at TRU for the gift card.

Are we collecting XBL names? Dr Shizuma needs some more squadmates.

Kazhiim

I never played Halo 2

I wonder how the A.I. in this game will interact with you. I hope he's less like Cortana and more like, oh

I don't know

Durandal (not likely )

Willeth

Relation to Halo 2, pretty spoilery for ODST:

Honestly it feels like it's the plot that they couldn't fit into Halo 2, expanded. The main reason I'm saying this is that there's a ton of parallel with I Love Bees, that I'm sure will be picked apart for months to come.

I recommend anyone familiar with Halo lore outside of the games reads the first few pages of the manual.

EDIT: RE the Superintendent -

he's a dumb AI, not a smart AI like Cortana. He's programmed to manage the city, and what limited communication he has with you is done through that medium - if he wants you to go a certain way, he'll display road signs, that sort of thing.

Kazhiim

Bungie should make a new Myth game

(I don't care that they don't own the I.P. anymore)

LookFreeGrenade

Well they said they're at least making one new IP along with reach

Kazhiim

it better have a narrator between levels

LookFreeGrenade

First post once again has Bee info thanks to Willeth, get some friend requests in

Kazhiim

so, I mentioned this in the last thread to no avail:

Xbox live disconnects whenever I try to do matchmaking in Halo 3, but not any other games. Any reason why?

LordNibbler

Daw I'm out of the OP.



Is this cause I'm not going to be a midnight BrODST?

Hugh Jass

I feel dumb for asking, but what is fng?

Also, it looks like I will be among those picking up their copies tomorrow at lunch. Have a good time with the midnight launch you crazy bastids :P

LookFreeGrenade

Fucking New Guy

also my only suggestion is try xbox support lines Kaz

jonny439

I cant wait for this but I wont be able to play till tomorrow.

AuburnTiger

Fresh new . . . grunt? *shrugs*

I, like another poster mentioned in the previous thread, have kept myself almost completely unaware of ODST details; I really know nothing going in. I believe this might be a good thing.

LordNibbler

Also copy/paste from GAF

Don’t forget to save and quit at the end of your single-player session.

The game’s new Firefight mode — a co-operative multiplayer brawl that pits up to four players against waves of Covenant troops — seems to be the big culprit. Here’s what happens: A solo player engrossed in the game’s campaign gets an invite to join a Firefight match. He quickly accepts the invite and jumps out of his game, unwittingly losing whatever progress he’d made in the single-player game.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/09/dont-forget-to-save-before-halo-3-odst-firefights/

Although maybe the guy just didn't have a checkpoint in a whiiiile.