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Halo 3 Recon renamed (again) to Halo 3 ODST. Features an open world

New details have been revealed on the upcoming Halo 3 ODST, Bungie’s stand-alone expansion of Halo 3 that features an all new main character and a new campaign set in the heart of a Covenant occupied New Mombasa.

Additionally, the project has been renamed (again) to Halo 3 ODST. Previously it was known as Halo 3: Keep It Clean and then Halo 3: Recon.

“ODST” (literally pronounced “Oh-Dee-Ess-Tee” and not “ohdst”) is the acronym for “Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.” This special forces branch of the UNSC military force is called into action for highly specialized, small scale operations. ODST units were deployed during portions of the Halo 2 and Halo 3 campaign and have also been featured in some of the Halo novels.

Here is the new name trailer reveal. (even though it’s the same as before)

Halo 3 ODST will reportedly be only 3 to 5 hours long and won’t cost you $60, the game will include a bevy of new Halo fun for fans to sink their teeth into, including new equipment, more human characters and, possibly most surprising, an open-world city for you to explore.

The U.S. magazine Game Informer got the scoop and they revealed that you will play as a character known as “The Rookie”. Who is voiceless and faceless (covered in armor like Master Chief, although I guess Samus from Metroid Prime 3 is a more valid comparison in this regard) and is an Orbital Drock Shock Trooper (ODST) and is part of a five-man team that is rocketed to Ground Zero of the city of New Mombasa during the events of Halo 2.

The game gives you some new equipment to use, including a PDA that allows you to set waypoints on a wireframe map. The city is completely open and you are allowed to explore it in whatever order you desire.

“The reason we chose the ODST is it’s absolutely a character that we’ve had ideas about how to develop and put more front a center in the Halo games,” Bungie creative director, Joseph Staten explains to Game Informer.

Here’s a few more details about the game:

* Your goal is to find and investigate the last known locations of your other four ODST teammates.
* To do so you use a new “Visual Mode”. This was revealed in the first Halo 3 ODST trailer and highlights enemies with a neon glow.
* Once you reach one of your locations (the last known waypoint of one of your teammates) you’ll find a crime scene that you need to investigate (such as a sniper rifle hanging from a street light). You’ll then enter a flashback sequence to earlier that day in which you’ll control the squad member for an entire level.

* The flashback sequences are meant to play like a more traditional level in Halo and last about 30 minutes, where you’ll discover the fate of your teammate and get pieces towards unraveling the mystery of what happened in New Mombasa. “This isn’t a crazy dream sequence or metaphorical journey that the object allows you to do. It works just like any detective show, Cold Case or Law and Order or whatever, where a detective can arrive at a crime scene, look at the chalk drawings and bullet holes and see what’s going on. He hears some echoey voices and the camera crossfades and now you’re at the scene of the crime two hours ago.”
* Characters you’ll control include Dutch (a big heavy weapons guy) and Romeo, a sniper who’s kind of a jerk.

* Nathan Fillion from the sci-fi Western show Firefly will do the voicework for one of the squad members, which is fitting as he played a random ODST trooper in Halo 3. “So if you like the voice cast in Halo 3, we’ve elevated some of them to a cinematic level. In Halo games you’ve been the Chief for a thousand years and the Arbiter for a little bit of time too. It’s a really nice feeling to jump into somebody else’s boots for a while,” says Staten.
* Due to the downgrade from super soldier to non-super soldier, you will lose a few of Master Chief’s abilities, including his shield (ability to regenerate health), motion tracker, as well as the ability to dual-wield two weapons at once. In addition the ODST is slower and shorter.

* But you will gain a few abilities as well, including the PDA, Visual Mode and a silenced SMG.
* Bungie says the limited abilities will make for a more interesting and intense, scarier, experience. They used the example of Master Chief going up against a Brute Chieftain with a hammer. As Chief you’re faster than the Brute, can jump over his head and see where he is with your motion Tracker. As an ODST it’s bit trickier; the Brute is bigger, closer and as fast as you, so if you turn around and run you know he’s going to catch you, and you don’t know exactly where he is. “You don’t feel like a chump. You feel like a very Capable ODST marine, but it’s a different feeling,” says Staten.

The game is scheduled for release next year.

Via CVG