By Matthew Scott Hunter
Team up
‘Halo 3’ play feels just like it should
‘Halo 3: ODST’ (M)
****1/2
Microsoft Game Studios
Xbox 360
Master who? The faceless hero of Microsoft’s flagship first-person shooter series is absent from this latest “Halo” spin-off, and you probably won’t miss him. Instead, you’ll enjoy the new and varied abilities of a group of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers as they battle through the aftermath of New Mombasa, a city destroyed by a slipspace rupture that fans will remember from “Halo 2.” The story proceeds concurrently with the events of “Halo 3” from the point-of-view of low-ranking grunts — sort of a “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead…and Respawn…to Fight Aliens” sort of thing.
The good news is that, despite its various changes, this feels exactly like a “Halo” game. In some ways it’s even better. The single-player campaign is short, but the story is split up amongst several characters and slows down the action occasionally to allow for some mystery, making the narrative so much more compelling than the been-there-done-that yarn that was “Halo 3.” But multiplayer has always been the franchise’s strongest selling point, and hardcore Halo fans are likely to find “ODST’s” a bit too familiar. If you’ve already purchased “Halo 3” and downloaded all the new maps from Xbox Live, you’ll only find a couple fresh battle arenas here. But “ODST” makes up for this with its Firefight co-op mode, which will have you teaming up with friends to fight wave after wave of Covenant forces. This mode will have you kissing your social life goodbye, which is exactly what we expect from “Halo” multiplayer.
‘Wet’ (M)
***1/2
Bethesda Softworks
Xbox 360
It’s strange that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s 2007 homage to grindhouse cinema hasn’t inspired a lot of silver screen rip-offs, and yet it has inspired quite a few interactive rip-offs. “Wet” joins “House of the Dead: Overkill” and “Left 4 Dead” as the latest over-the-top, low-budget action movie that you can actually play. And like those other games, “Wet” is shockingly vulgar, exceptionally dumb and undeniably fun. If hot chicks creating an abundance of slow-motion blood spatter is your sort of thing, then this third-person shooter is for you.
‘Need for Speed Shift’ (E)
***1/2
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360
The “Need for Speed” franchise has come to a fork in the road. To the left is a realistic racing simulation. To the right is a fender-bender-encouraging, arcade-style racer. “Shift” has decided to pave its own road right between them. Many of the physics are straight out of “Gran Turismo.” You’ll have to brake well in advance of turns or you’ll lose control very easily. But you’re encouraged to trade paint and spin out because the game will allow you to catch up, even after a nasty detour. When AI drivers hit the brakes and wait for you, it can feel a little patronizing, but the game finds its balance when you’re racing flesh-and-blood opponents.
‘Section 8’ (T)
**1/2
Southpeak Interactive
Xbox 360
There is nothing wrong with this game, and despite that, I will never play it again. This makes me feel good about the current state of first-person shooters. The genre is so supersaturated with stand-out titles that a new IP can’t survive simply by being competent. There’s another game out right now about space marine who drop from orbital ships (the aforementioned “ODST”), and it’s superb, so why would anyone choose to play a forgettable, generic version of that instead?
