RUL ODST Community Review

[Mongerty]

Overall, the opinions of our community are just that, opinions. It seems to me that now, over a week after release, people have either loved the game or moved on.
Some of the common complaints of the community were that the game was not long enough, and really did not warrant the full game price tag. This is consistant with the reviews of other places (this could be because of influence from other sites, or simply common opinion). After the problems people have had, I think it is safe to say that Bungie will not label a game as an "Expansion" again, unless they know for sure how much the final product will cost.

Anyways, without further review, here are the summaries from our beloved community (Full discussion can be found at the original thread, beware though, we can get off track easily )
Original Thread

First we will start with the positive reviews.

HFX has absolutely nothing negative to say about the game. 9.7

The Matt-Mobile loved the music. He also found firefight and campaign to be very compelling. 9.5

Nova agrees that firefight is addictive, and likes the “fresh� feel of the game. The campaign is short and the lack of matchmaking hurt. He feels that there is not enough new content to justify spending $60, but keeps his score high. 9

Retep enjoyed most of the positives as the others, and shared the same negatives. He really liked the story, but wishes it were longer and that the flashbacks were more epic. 8.8/10

Scorcher111 echoed the feelings of Nova, citing a short campaign and lack of value. He is not sure about the tweaks to the game, but also likes the “freshness� of the experience. 8.5/10

Horizontal thinks that firefight is where the money is at, keeping the game from dropping below a reasonable 8. He Enjoys the Mythic multiplayer disc as well. (Updated afterwards, Horizontal changed his score to a 9)

Forsyt loved the campaign with friends (Co-op) and also seems to be enjoying the new maps. The new multi-kill medals are something he points out as being a cool addition. He does not like the new grenades, however. No score given, so I am going to say 9 based on his review.

Next, we go to those who felt that the game was ok, but not a must buy. Some of these guys had a lot to say, so I will paraphrase the best I can without losing any of the content. Go to the submission thread for the full reviews.

Insanewiggle did not enjoy the free-roaming aspect as the rookie. He liked the campaign overall, but feels that it could have used more structure and less “Legend of Zelda� feel. While he feels that firefight is ok, it does not surpass Halo 3 as the superior multiplayer choice. This is why he feels that the new multiplayer disc is a great addition to the game. The new interface (and all of the maps streaming off of the same place) makes the multiplayer run smoother than the older disc. With that, he also likes the new playlists available to those with the Mythic Disc. (He also gives a review of each map, check the thread). Overall, the multiplayer disc does not bump this any higher than a 7.


Predartagnon misses the scope of the Halo games. With the personal level that ODST is played at, you lose the Halo “Space Opera� feel. He likens the feeling of beating ODST to the disappointment of Halo 2, which he eventually came to appreciate. (I can assume that without the multiplayer of Halo 2 or a sequel to fix the empty feeling, he will not do the same for ODST). Without the epicness of the other Halo games, the campaign leaves him feeling empty. He never connected with the story or the characters, although he admits that some parts were good, all things considered. He misses the MC, and does not feel like he is having as much impact on the universe as the chief in this game. 7


Tough Gandhi felt that the value was just not there. He feels that all of the content could have been a DLC instead of a $60 retail game. It is just the same content (only 1 new enemy, 2 new guns) with a different story. He also does not like the rendering of the faces. Overall, the content of the game does not justify the full retail price. 5

So, out of a sample of 10 reviews, our RUL average score is
8.25/10

[Retep]

Awesome idea, I think we should do the same with MW2 when it comes out since a lot of people are anticipating that title, also i'm pretty shocked that the score was that low but I guess Gandhi's score really brought down the average.

[Mongerty]

With the next review, I hope to streamline the process into one simple thread.

[RUL Horizontal]

Wow this kinda blew my mind away, great idea

[Nova102]

Well maybe we could use thus greatly during the winter because of all the games coming out. Like we start a thread where people say the game they're reviewing tsay things about it then rate, after 10 reviews for that title we do the same thing as this summarize our reviews then average the scores. Brilliant!

[PredArtagnan]

Ooh, this turned out great. Awesome work Mongerty!

[Mongerty]

I wish that I could have put more time into it (and make it pretty like Jux does).

I am happy with how it turned out, though. Hopefully we can do this again!

[Swordspree28]

yeah this is pretty awesome

[Retep]

I wish that I could have put more time into it (and make it pretty like Jux does).

I am happy with how it turned out, though. Hopefully we can do this again!

The only thing though is that it would be a lot harder for you to do what Jux does with his review with this idea due to you having to make a lot of paragraphs for everyone's opinion.

[Semper]

I like this better to be honest. It gives a wide variety of opinions, without seeming like it goes on and on.

It should definitely help people who are contemplating buying a game, as it's been reviewed by other gamers (not a single person) who are focusing on areas that other players would want to know. (ie: in this case firefight, the multiplayer disc, is it worth the price)