Halo 3: ODST

This was one of the "off-shoot" Halos done after Halo 3 similar to Halo Reach. While Halo Reach is much more of a traditional game where you play as a Spartan with tons of open level designs with lots of vehicles, ODST is different in that you play as a group of marines with no real special abilities. You're a bit squishier and they add a couple new guns like a silenced pistol and submachine gun.

The plot follows a group of ODST marines dropping into New Mombasa, the location of Halo 2 as well as part of Halo 3 (where the mothership or whatever is buried on Earth). They get split up so you actually play as "The Rookie" as well as the other marines as you get flashbacks to what happened to each of them as they're split up.

I really liked that they tried something new with the fact that you're not a basically invincible Spartan. I like that it has this patchwork episodic nature. But in the end I think I still prefer to the level design and atmosphere of alien worlds to playing on Earth in urban levels. It gets a bit samey, especially after having freshly played Halo 2 which had lots of New Mombasa bits.

I will give a special shout out to the music that plays at night on the levels. Kind of jazzy low-key somber music. Very nice and a good departure from the typical epic strings and guitar of the mainline Halo games.