Armor customization (Halo 3: ODST)

Armor customization in Halo 3: ODST allows players to customize the member of the Alpha-Nine that they choose to play as, with each having their own unique aesthetic in the game's Firefight mode.

Overview
On Halo 3: ODST's launch, players could choose one of the members of Alpha-Nine, and their primary and secondary armor colors, with the armor's main color remaining the same. Players could also choose whether or not to wear a helmet, unless they were playing as the Rookie or Sergeant Johnson, who cannot remove his helmet and cannot put one on, respectively. Choosing not to wear a helmet does not affect gameplay. Without a helmet, the player still has the same health and stamina, and they can still use VISR mode. Each character has their own unique lines of dialogue which play during gameplay, similar to the Firefight voices that would later be implemented in Halo: Reach as an unlockable item.

With the launch of Halo 3: ODST on PC and the start of Series 3: Recon in Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the ODST characters were added to the game's customization system alongside Firefight as part of the collection. The various characters were added to the season progression path and can be purchased for. The Master Chief Collection additionally features two skins not available in the base game; the injured Romeo model as portrayed following the level NMPD HQ, and a "bug-splattered" Buck, as seen in Data Hive and Coastal Highway. The game also features Sergeant Johnson as purchasable for all players, previously restricted to a pre-order exclusive in the original game. Additionally, The Master Chief Collection features the helmet-less edition of each character as a separate unlock to their helmeted incarnation, unlike the original release which only had the helmet-on option as a toggle that was available at any time.

Production notes

 * The option of tertiary colors are not present. This is because the ODST character models make use of the tertiary color slot for the character's skin color.
 * Dare's character model is built off of the female marines, resulting in her playable character variant being an entirely seperate entity/biped (in engine terms) from the male ODSTs. Additionally, a strange oversight also makes Dare the only playable character in ODST who does not ragdoll upon death.