I can’t wait to complete Halo 3: ODST, dear Grinding Down readers, but only because I am eager to write about it for y’all. See, I’ve barely been paying attention to what is going on and already know next to nothing about the Halo universe, which should make for a very interesting write-up. I think I even played the last two levels on the lowest volume possible because I had a slight headache, meaning that if Captain Mal said anything important, I most certainly missed it. Right now, I’m on the level where I have to escort some worm alien thingy to safety. Not sure if that’s near the end, but judging by the Achievements I’ve unlocked so far, I’d say we’re fairly close.
On top of not knowing what is going on, I still don’t see the appeal of this series. Everything screams generic, and I am constantly cursing under my breath at the controls because there seems to be no such thing as a run button. And the night missions? Frak the night missions. Might as well as turn my TV’s monitor off and play it that way.
But yeah, aliens and guns and shooting aliens with guns. That’s been Halo 3: ODST so far for me. I’m glad I bought this cheap and on a whim. Otherwise, I’d probably feel like I just bounced a sticky grenade off a wall and on to myself.
Grinding Down 
I played through this game with my brother…the fact that I was geeking out every time someone spoke might have helped…but I really enjoyed it.
The co-op was fun and the missions were interesting. I found it much better than Halo’s usual “find a group of enemies, shoot and hide, shoot and hide, repeat” routine.
In fact, I’m a little sad that we rented instead of bought.
Evidently, that was the last level, escorting the alien worm to safety, which means I just completed Halo 3: ODST. Since I never played another Halo game before, I unfortunately found all the missions here to be of the same ilk: find a group of enemies, shoot and hide, shoot and hide, repeat.
I found that there was more strategy involved in ODST. I only ever hid in the other Halo games to heal up…but in ODST the health stations, along with the exploration, gave more of a challenge.
I felt like the story was a little more down to earth than the other Halo games too, I liked it more.
So your general impression was not good?
Alas, yeah. I came away from it feeling rather indifferent. I did, however, enjoy the last mission where I rode beside the huge vehicle carrying the alien, offering protection. That mixed things up a bit.
So your best impression came from the very last mission?
That’s not a great sign.