Welcome to New Mombasa
If you've already got boots on the ground in the city of New Mombasa, there's nothing in this intelligence briefing you shouldn't already know. If you're still sweating it out in your pod, waiting for the drop, let’s get up to speed before you go in feet first.
The year is 2552, Covenant forces control the city of New Mombasa, and they are searching for something beneath its darkened streets. You're an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper - The Rookie. Your orders: Stay alive, meet up with your scattered squad, and escape the embattled city.
The short form not good enough? Check out the full scope of all the UNSC's pre-mission intel:
New Campaign. New Hero. New Tactics.
You’ll be dropping into New Mombasa as The Rookie, one of the few Marines that survived near-annihilation on Cygnus. This Trooper wasn’t chosen to round out the squad for his luck. He’s fast, efficient, and more than ready for combat. Alongside him are four of the meanest and greenest ODSTs this side of anywhere. This team knows a suicide mission when they see one. Good thing for you, they’ve already survived more than their fair share.
Meet the Squad
Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck
Sergeant Buck has two primary missions: keeping his team alive and stopping the Covenant. Two monumentally tall orders. A lifelong student, Buck’s learned his lessons the hard way. And since he’s not dead, that makes him the ideal candidate to run this operation. When Buck says drop, you say, "Yes, sir!"
Lance Corporal Kojo Agu
Romeo’s tongue is sharp, but his shot is sharper. He’s sarcastic, a touch self-absorbed, and a self-professed ladies man. You don’t need to worry about any of that. Slap a Sniper Rifle in his hands and he’ll earn his keep, one round at a time.
Corporal Taylor H. Miles
For Dutch, the only good part about dropping into combat is getting his boots on the ground. Once he’s found terra firma, he’s a one man wrecking crew. If you’ve got big problems, Dutch will have very loud answers. It's probably best you stay behind him.
Private First Class Michael Crespo
Mickey has the distinct pleasure of being the only member on the squad who hasn’t seen everything go all fire and brimstone. He’s a flyboy, but for this mission,he’s the guy that’s tapped to set the charges. If things are going boom, chances are Mickey is at the switch.
Veronica Dare
Check out this lady’s gear. That's
definitely not regulation. And her presence alone should have you on high alert - ONI doesn’t send in spooks to take care of routine operations.
The Right Tools
M7S Submachine Gun (SMG)
Silence used to be golden. Now it’s matte black. This suppressed version of the M7 Caseless Submachine Gun might not look much different from the M7 you’re accustomed, but what it lacks in character it more than makes up for in close range wetworks.
Performs miracles against Drones and Brute Armor. Don’t waste shots at long range or against infantry that will go down with a well-placed headshot from a more accurate weapon. Scope your targets at close to mid-range, pulse fire to keep recoil to a minimum, and pair it with something better suited for the one shot, one kill...
M6C-SOCOM “Auto-Mag”
When you need to make that one shot count, reach for your M6S. Acquire your target, zoom in tight, and pull the trigger. If your aim is true, you can forget that hostile and move right along to the next one. Tangos will drop just as fast you can squeeze your finger.
Use it on anything that doesn’t have shields or armor. Aim for the head. Wash, rinse, repeat.
The Best Technology
VISR Mode
VISR Mode is on your X. When the lights go down, you’ll want to keep your VISR mode up and running. Not only will it provide you with low light vision enhancement, it’ll also ID hostiles, flag friendlies, and highlight points of interest. It’s intel, instant gratification style.
It can also link you up with New Mombasa’s urban infrastructure, giving you access to sector schematics, way point navigation data, COMM records, and critical mission intelligence. It's your one stop shop for staying alive. Use it.
Get Cooperative
If going it alone doesn’t sound safe, you can bring some squadmates into the fight for both campaign and the all new cooperative mode, Firefight. Both modes support up to four players over Xbox LIVE or System Link. Up to two players can splitscreen on a single Xbox 360. If you’re playing campaign, everybody takes on the role of an unnamed “Rookie” ODST. No need to fight it out over who gets Recon.
In Firefight, you can customize your Trooper’s appearance, call sign, colors, and emblem for all sorts of added visual appeal. You can even pop the top on several soldiers and go sans helmet. Check out Buck's hair. It's dreamy.
Firefight 101
Firefight’s gameplay mechanic is pretty simple. You and up to three other players will be squaring off against an endless tidal wave of Covenant bad guys. The further you get into the Firefight, the more difficult the enemies you’ll have to face. You’ll also have to weather more game-altering skulls. To help ease the pain, you’ll also be scoring more points.
Sound easy?
Halo: Reach Xbox LIVE Multiplayer Beta
Just in case you haven’t heard, your copy of Halo 3: ODST also serves as your invitation to the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta coming in 2010. You don’t need a code, an cardboard insert, or anything else. All you need is the disc. Don’t lose your copy. Keep it secret, keep it safe, and before you know it you’ll be playing Bungie’s next big thing.
Hopefully you’re now acclimated to all things Halo 3: ODST. We’re prepping a fresh article to help you get more out of the game using Bungie.net’s unprecedented game integration. If you like stats, leaderboards, and film clips (yup, they work just fine with Halo 3: ODST), you should check back soon to get all the gory details.