Editing Firefight (Halo 3: ODST)

{{Status|Gameplay}}

[[File:H3ODST LostPlatoon Art.jpg|thumb|250px|Officially-commissioned keyart for Firefight, by Brad Rigney.{{Ref/Site|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BWU_091809|Site=Bungie.net|Page=Bungie Weekly Update: 09.18.09}}]]

Firefight is an endless wave-based survival mode introduced in ''Halo 3: ODST'' to supplement regular competitive multiplayer matchmaking. Players compete to survive waves of [[Covenant]] troops deployed by [[Phantom]] dropships for as long as possible, earning points and attempting to survive as long as possible. The mode supports up to four players in splitscreen or Xbox LIVE cooperative play. Players have a limited number of lives - meaning the game only ends when all players are dead. Firefight can be played on [[Easy]], [[Normal]], [[Heroic]] and [[Legendary]] difficulties, and players can optionally enable the Blind, Cowbell, IWHBYD and Grunt Birthday skulls for no increase in score.{{Ref/Site|Id=DropInto|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=Halo3ODST_Firefight|Site=Bungie.net|Page=Drop Into Firefight}}

Firefight is structured into waves, rounds and sets. A wave consists of a handful of enemy infantry deploying from one or two dropships or doorways onto the level at a time. Five waves make up a round and three rounds make up a set. At the end of every round, players are restored lives, weapons and vehicles. As a set progresses, a new [[Halo 3 skulls|skull]] will be enabled for each round, though these skulls will reset at the end of the set. Meanwhile, at the end of every set, an additional skull is enabled permanently, making the experience harder and harder. As the waves in a given round and rounds in a given set increase, the enemies deployed onto the battlefield will get harder, progressing from Grunts and Jackals to Brutes and Hunters - ending the round with [[Jiralhanae Chieftain|Brute Chieftains]]. No matter what difficulty is selected for Firefight, the Tough Luck skull is always enabled.{{Ref/Reuse|DropInto}}

At the end of each set is a bonus round. During the short bonus round, a single Phantom will hover over the battlefield and disperse an endless wave of Grunts for players to kill for points and score. During the bonus round, all skulls are enabled including Iron, meaning that if a player dies they will be unable to respawn until the round is complete. However, player deaths in the bonus round do not subtract from the overall pool of lives.{{Ref/Site|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=http://halo.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BWU_081409|Site=Bungie.net|Page=Bungie Weekly Update: 08/14/09}} If players score high enough during the bonus round, they will be awarded bonus lives.

In Firefight, players can choose to play as any of the members of [[Alpha-Nine]], the ODST squad featured in the ''Halo 3: ODST'' campaign mode, with an additional bonus character of [[Avery Johnson|Sergeant Johnson]] for players who pre-ordered the game. In the original ''ODST'' game, characters could be unlocked by completing campaign missions. In ''Halo: The Master Chief Collection'', all characters are unlocked in the [[Series 3: Recon]] progression system and available for play, including the previously-exclusive Johnson. ''The Master Chief Collection'' additionally introduces two new character variants based on models used only in the campaign, unlockable through [[Challenges/Halo: The Master Chief Collection|Challenges]].  

As part of ''The Master Chief Collection'', Firefight has undergone a number of changes inspired by the customisability of the ''Halo: Reach'' [[Firefight (Halo: Reach)|iteration]] of Firefight. Notably, Firefight now supports gametype customisation, similar to that of ''Halo: Reach''. Players can alter their player traits and equipment to make themselves more or less vulnerable to enemies, have unlimited ammunition or spawn with any weapon in the ''ODST'' sandbox. Notably, this feature now allows players to spawn equipped with a [[Battle Rifle]], a weapon never-before available to use in ''Halo 3: ODST''.{{Ref/Reuse|MCCAugust}}

 

 

 

Strategies may be either unchanged or improvised to deal with the Flood forms and Sentinels, especially weapon-wielded ones since in one of the rare chances, players may stumble upon Flood Combat Form using heavy ordinances such as Fuel Rod Guns and Rocket Launchers.

Also in this update, new customization settings have been added to maps in the form of boons. Boons add helpful assets to the map that players can use, such as additional weapons and allied A.I. which spawn on some maps. Two Spec Ops Elites spawn in drop pods on the night versions of Rally Point and Crater, two Marines spawn on Lost Platoon and Security Zone, and two NMPD Officers spawn on Windward. These allies will respawn each round. Allied Elites can come equipped with Needlers, Plasma Rifles, Carbines, or Fuel Rod Guns, allied Marines spawn with Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles or Shotguns, and allied NMPD Officers spawn with Assault Rifles, Silenced Pistols or Shotguns. These allies can assist the player by manning vehicles or turrets.

Many of ''Halo 3: ODST''{{'}}s [[Achievements (Halo 3: ODST)|achievements]] are based in the Firefight mode. Due to ''The Master Chief Collection''{{'}}s already 700-strong [[Achievements (Halo: The Master Chief Collection)|achievement roster]], no Firefight-specific achievements were added to the collection, though a number of Firefight-based [[Challenges/Halo: The Master Chief Collection|Challenges]] were - notably, the Vidmaster Challenge: Endure achievement returned in [[Series 3: Recon]] as a challenge.

''Halo 3: ODST'' game director [[Paul Bertone]] was responsible for the conception of Firefight as an idea. While [[Development of Halo 3|developing]] ''[[Halo 3]]'', Bertone worked on the game's campaign scoring mode, which he credits with ultimately leading to Firefight. This, mixed with wave encounters like those from the level [[The Truth and Reconciliation]] in ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'' ultimately served as the basis for the Firefight mode. Designer Tim Williams ultimately created the first Firefight prototype in-engine, and [[Martin O'Donnell]] was instrumental in giving Bertone the push needed to pursue active development of the mode.{{Ref/Site|Id=VICE|D=01|M=6|Y=2020|URL=https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xwqjg3/the-complete-untold-history-of-halo-an-oral-history|Site=VICE|Page=The Complete, Untold History of Halo}}

When porting Firefight into ''The Master Chief Collection'', 343 Industries explored the idea of allowing the [[M313 Elephant|Elephant]] to be useable, so players could bunker down inside the vehicle with multiple turrets. However, this did not work out due to technical reasons - though the developers are still interested in potentially adding this later down the line.{{Ref/Reuse|MCCAugust}} While making the Floodfight mode, 343 Industries investigated using the opportunity to resurrect the [[Cut Halo 3 enemies#Flood Arbiter|Flood-infected Arbiter]] enemies originally intended for inclusion in the ''[[Halo 3]]'' level [[highcharity]], though ultimately found the [[tag]]s had been discarded too early in development to be useable.{{Ref/Twitter|The_Psycho_Duck|1710525787693355251|Dana Jerpak|Quote=The tags for the cut Flood Arbiter are called the "flarbiter". 😁 We looked into resurrecting the flarbiter (pun intended) for Flood Firefight, but it was cut early enough that there was nothing usable.|D=29|M=03|Y=2024}}