Rather than bring Halo 4 to life, Bungie announced last year that it would be serving fans a Halo 3 single-player expansion pack rather than a true sequel. Over time, Halo 3: ODST has evolved into a full-fledged, full-priced title that demands to be played on its own merits. Halo players might notice a little something missing, however: there's no Master Chief in this one, folks.



Instead of donning the hallowed helmet of everyone's favorite space marine, you'll be playing as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (yes, that is where the ODST comes from) known as "the Rookie." The Rookie is a lone UNSC soldier protecting New Mombasa in the East African Protectorate (what was formerly Kenya). He's weaker, slower, and more vulnerable than MC, so expect to spend a significant amount of time in cover, strategizing, rather than running in guns blazing and straight up kicking a Jackal in the face.



The game boasts a nerd's delight of a voice cast, the likes of which we haven't seen since C&C3. Three of your space marine teammates will be voiced by Firefly/Serenity alums, including Nathan Fillon (Buck), Adam Baldwin (Dutch) and Alan Tudyk (Mickey). Not to be outdone by the men, Battlestar Galactica is well-represented by Tricia Helfer, who plays Dare, an ONI agent in charge of the squad. Something tells us Cortana won't hold a candle to her. And that something is hotness. Brace yourself for this trivia fact: in a rare move for this industry, Nathan Fillon and Tricia Helfer were actually in the same room, doing their voice acting at the same time. It is unknown what kind of force field Bungie constructed around their studios to prevent the world from exploding upon this awesome meeting.



ODST takes place before the events of Halo 3, at about the same time as the end of Halo 2. Players finishing Halo 2's campaign were left with images of Earth under attack, and ODST tells the story of how humanity defended it. The game features weapons, vehicles, etc. from Halo 3, an anachronistic move (to fit in with the time table it should feature assets from Halo 2) that has some die-hard fans upset. We have a feeling that once they get into this game, they'll be having too much fun to care about continuity.