Halo 3 ODST – Interview with Bungie

With Halo 3: ODST fast approaching, all eyes are on Bungie and because we love you guys so much, XBoxer360 went to meet two of their number this week.  Obviously Lars Bakken and his colleague Ryan were very busy preparing for September’s launch none-the-less they managed to provide us with answers to a few questions we’ve been sitting on.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Xboxer360:     What would you say is the main selling point of playing as an ODST rather than a Spartan?

 

Ryan:               From my perspective it’s really just a new look on the Halo world, we know people like Master Chief and so do we – we’re not saying get rid of him entirely it’s just there’s a lot that happens which is out of Master Chief’s eyes and to be able to experience that in a different way is a very fun and intriguing thing.  Weapons are great, then there’s the visor mode but it’s all really about that different view.

 

XBoxer360:     Would you say Halo 3: ODST is aimed at the same audience or a different audience than Halo 3?

 

Lars:                I’d say that Bungie make the games they’d like to play and that if it’s not aimed at old fans then it is hard for me to predict how it’s going to play out.  Hopefully it’ll target an extended audience though as Firefight might attract someone who is nervous of online competitive multiplayer.  I hope it hits the key audience but I hope other people play it too.

 

Xboxer360:     Bungie have focused on Firefight as the big co-op experience of Halo 3: ODST.  Are we to assume that there is no campaign co-op in the game?

 

Lars:                No, there is still co-op in the main game I think this is something we haven’t talked about much but yeah just like Halo 3 there’s four player co-op there.

 

Xboxer360:     Right.  On that subject there’s kind of a “behind-enemy-lines” feel to ODST, does the co-op take away this atmosphere?  Do you still get the feel that the odds are against you?

 

Lars:                Absolutely!  For sure, the game defiantly gets easier when you play with more people but just crank up the difficulty, turn on the difficulty and the game will kick your ass.  The difficulty is still there, don’t worry about that.

 

Xboxer360:     Other than Firefight is it right that players will not be able to play as Orbital Drop Shock Troopers in multiplayer?

 

Lars:                Correct.  Other than Firefight the multiplayer is Halo 3’s.

 

Xboxer360:     Weapons!  We sampled Firefight and while doing so we noticed aspects such as recoil, zoom etc have been changed significantly since Halo 3.  What prompted you to make these changes, particularly with the SMG?

 

Lars:                We wanted it to feel different.  The SMG itself is actually a bit more powerful than it was in Halo 3 so to compensate for that you can’t just have a weapon you know that’s 20% more powerful and not change something to offset that, because that makes the weapon a “super-weapon”.

 

XBoxer360:     So, a balancing issue?

 

Lars:                Yes, absolutely a balancing issue and that’s what it comes down to, adding recoil.  Same with the pistol, when you’re zoomed in you can get two or three shots maybe before it starts riding up but we balanced that by the fact you can fire as fast as you pull the trigger.  Each weapon has a new learning curve and once you get better at them you’ll be able to compensate for the offset and everything.

 

Xboxer360:     Is it possible to buy ODST without the recently announced second disc, for those who’ve already downloaded the maps?  Obviously there are a lot of people out there who have downloaded the content and are not going to want to pay £40’s for something they already own.   

 

Ryan:               It’s not possible to buy it without the second disc.  In our minds disc two is just an added bonus, it’s like a convenience having them all in one place – I think the real value in for us (Bungie) is the size of the multiplayer or size of the singleplayer campaign and the mode called Firefight.  The additional Halo maps are in our minds bonus content as is the Halo: Reach Beta.

 

Xboxer360:     Regarding the main campaign: how similar would you say ODST is to Halo 3 in terms of playtime?  Shorter, longer, the same – what sort of length?                              

 

Lars:                That’s a really tough question to answer mostly because if you played any of our earlier Halo games and even down of every encounter, every mission it plays different every time you play them.  With that combined with different difficulty levels (easy through to legendary), you’ve got the ability to turn on skulls at will from the offset, being able to play four player co-op all these things kind of factor in make everyone’s playtime different so I just can’t give you an hour breakdown but the other thing we haven’t really talked about yet is the city of New Mombasa is really big (largest Halo level build to-date) and people are going to spend different amounts of time in that city because there are things in there that we can’t talk about yet but are really cool.

 

Ryan:               It’s very exploratory, right? In the city of New Mombasa you can spend a tonne of time in there so you know there’s a way to look at it like: “hey, I’m going directly to each of the key objects and rush through” but some people will seek all of the other information instead. 

 

Lars:                So if you jam on through it it’s probably going to be I’d say a little shorter than Halo 3 but it depends on your play style.

 

Xboxer360:     You mentioned about the city.  Can we expect to find little Easter Eggs and hidden features scattered throughout?

 

Lars:                It’s possible!  There will be things in the city we aren’t talking about yet which are really cool.

 

Ryan:               So you’ll have lots of fun.

 

Xboxer360:     In previous Halo games we’ve seen a sort of repetition: the battle with the Covenant, then the Flood and finally a mad AI out to get you.  Can we expect the same formula for ODST?

 

Lars:                I’d rather not say too much but I think people will be presently surprised.

 

Xboxer360:     The Halo universe has been expanded now in quite a few formats: graphic novels, books and even the RTS – Halo Wars.  Can fans expect plot references to any of these past formats?

 

Lars:                Yeah you’ll absolutely see references to other games and formats.  Obviously they’ll be subtle but the fans will pick up on that. 

 

Xboxer360:     Like how Halo Wars had a few subtle plot links?

 

Lars:                Yes… I think if you’re really into universe then you’ll notice these things.  If you only like playing the Halo game then maybe you won’t.

 

Xboxer360:     Will ODST share achievements with Halo 3 or have its own?

 

Ryan:               ODST will have its own 1000GS but also have inter-linked achievements with Halo 3.  Nailing these can mean new Recon armour and who knows what else.     

 

Xboxer360:     Will there be achievements for completing certain waves within Firefight?

 

Lars:                There’ll be achievements linked to Firefight but we’ve not really discussed which yet.

 

Xboxer360:     Is it safe to assume Halo: Reach is going to be an FPS?

 

Lars:                (Laughs) Yes, that’s all it is safe to assume at the moment.

 

Xboxer360:     Is 22nd September a worldwide release?

 

Ryan:               For the most part, yes.  There will be certain exceptions though.