The Jobber Cartel

Alvin: Halo ODST is coming out next week. Are either of you guys getting it?

Al: I’m getting it. I was a bit lukewarm about buying something Halo 3 related, since it really didn’t match my epic Halo 2 experience. But the live-action commercial was insane, and I want in on that party. In all seriousness though, I’m ready to hop back in to FPS’es after being engulfed by fighters for the past half a year. It’ll be a shame though when I ditch this for MW2, but a lot of my friends are getting it and it should be a good time.

Long: I’ll be getting it. It’s been on pre-order for a while and Victor and I will probably catch the midnight release at Best Buy. It’s been a while since I’ve played Halo, but ODST would be a good change of pace from Gears. I’m more interested in the single player campaign, which is supposedly only about 6 hours and checking out the fire fight game mode on Live. It’d be a good idea to trade in your copy of Halo 3 for it if you haven’t already.

Alvin: I wasn’t planning on getting it, but the deal from Toys R’ Us was too good to pass up. I’ll probably be done with the game after getting through the single player since I have no interest in the multiplayer.

Al: So was it just me, or was Halo 3 not as satisfying as Halo 2 (or 1 for that matter)? In retrospect (fitting, I know), Halo 3 was actually a pretty great game (a wide array of extra features), but for whatever reason, it doesn’t have the same luster to me as the previous title. They nerfed the BR in #3, and I really thought the multi-player levels paled in comparison to Halo 2’s. I was also really bummed that you couldn’t communicate (read: talk shit) to the other team. That literally made the game for me. My friends and I spent countless hours duping people into doing some really stupid shit, and I’ve never laughed so hard in my life after negotiating with people and getting them to stand on the hood of a Warthog with promises of finding a “hack”, only to shoot them in the face point blank with the mounted turret.

Alvin: I agree that Halo 3 did come off as a disappointment. Which is sort of weird since I thought the new gameplay features would be an improvement and rekindle the Bungie fanboy in me. The ability to carry equipment (bubble shield and flashbang) sounded awesome to me, but it was better on paper than in execution. I was never a big fan of the multiplayer after Halo 1, but we’ll see if this new “Firefight” can draw me back in.

Long: Halo 2 came out a time where there weren’t many other blockbuster FPS’es to compete with, especially when it came to multiplayer on Live. But Halo 3 was sandwiched between Gears and Modern Warfare. After finishing the campaign for Halo 3, compared to the other two games mentioned, the old school multiplayer mechanics (moon jumps, rocket launchers, etc.) just wasn’t as fun for me. My biggest knock on Halo 3 was the lackluster storyline compared to Halo 1 (which had the best single player campaign out of all three games) and considering the massive hype that came with the previous games, we were all probably Halo fatigued.

Long: I think the expectations for ODST are riding a bit too high right now, especially after the epic commercial. Anyone else think that?

My gut feeling for ODST is that it’s more of a ‘back to the roots’ Halo game than the previous two, for the people who are fans already and to keep the Halo name out there until Reach comes out in 2010. Expectations for Halo 3 were likely too high and the fact that the game engine was largely unchanged probably hurt it.

I’m not expecting Rainbow Six, but I hope the ally AI for ODST is vastly improved. It was badass to romp around with a squad of marines with Master Chief at the helm, but they never stayed alive for more than 5 minutes.

Alvin: Honestly, I haven’t been hyped for ODST at all. The commercial was interesting, but what interests me is the gameplay and not the universe. For all the backstory that they lay out in the books, the subtle ties to the Marathon universe and the infamous ILoveBees.com, the actual story in the games blows in comparison. It’s a testament to the game itself that in spite of its horrible story and recycled level design, I still consider it a good game.

Al: I let out a fart when they announced ODST at E3, but sure enough I’ll be copping it tomorrow. I’m always like that with big launches. I’m going in not knowing a whole lot about the game, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I want to go in surprised, and Bungie really hasn’t failed me when it comes to providing a quality game. I guess to answer the question, I really don’t carry any expectations with ODST, except for the “I’m pretty sure I’ll have a good time with it” one.