Thecairocat/Article2

The Lockout Weekly goes on-site with Halo 3: ODST
Thecairocat heads off to San Diego to squeeze all the secrets out of a Firefight sample and deliver them back to you

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Firefight on Crater (Night) is one of the most fun things I have played

”

Extra! Extra! I have just come back from a day-long trip into the world of Halo 3: ODST, and the saga is right here, in this very article. So, it's Saturday morning, and here I am, sitting in my house playing Mass Effect and eating Lucky Charms, excitedly waiting to head out to Pasadena and experience Halo 3: ODST. Before we leave, I go upstairs again to check the website.

ODST Road Show - Coast to Coast trip: Los Angeles (Pasadena) - Hastings Village - 12:00 to 8:00 - Friday...

Wait... Friday? I read over the page again... yes, friday. The event I had been planning for for weeks with much joy had happened yesterday, and I had missed it because some Gamestop guy didn't even know the days of the week. Depressed, I sit down on the bed to sulk (and play Mass Effect). After about an hour, my dad saves me from much unhappiness and decides to make the long drive to San Diego, just to let me play this game

Three hours, two truck stops, and 4 bags of cookies later, we arrive in Carmel Mountain. After driving around some more, we finally manage to find the truck parked in the middle of a parking lot, almost overwhelming me with awesomeness. Amazingly, I only see 6 people standing around it, and my thoughts fill with hours of getting the van all to myself. But I quickly realize it's too good to be true, and that realization is confirmed when I see the huge line running in front of 4 buildings and turning a corner down the side. After about 10 minutes of waiting, and realizing there are a LOT of Halo fans in San Diego, I decide to get up and try to talk to people while my dad waits in line. I see a San Diego GameStop employee and decide to inquire about Bungie employees here. He tells me there are two here, but they are over taking a break.

I proceed to find a seat by the exit of the truck, get out my trust The Lockout Weekly notepad, and (wishing I had a press badge) proceed to pry people exiting for information about the new medals or gameplay aspects. To my dismay, most were uncooperative, giving me only 'it's awesome' and 'it's freakin amazing', which, although good to here, aren't exactly newsworthy.

At that point, one of the Bungie guys (who turns out not to be a Bungie guy, but in fact just a Microsoft marketing employee) come up to me, sitting on a little chair in the 110 degree heat and asks " Hey, what are you doing here?" Nervously, I show him my notepad and explain "I'm asking people what they experienced in the game when they come out, it's for Halopedia, I'm reporting for them".

"Hey, that's cool" He smiles. "Aren't you hot here in the sun?"

"It's worth it, being able to get information here." I explain.

"Come on" He says, pointing to the truck "I'll take you in there to watch."

"R-rreally?" I gasp, scrambling to my feet.

"Sure, it's not so hot in there," He says, and proceeds to lead me inside the truck.

Eight plasma screen televisions displaying scenes of pure awesomeness inside a dimly lit and air-conditioned truck. Scrambling, I try to desperately take notes on all the new details I am seeing, such as the ability to Board the wraiths, the swirl center in the middle of the killing spree symbol, and the fact that you grunt or cry out when injured. There is also fall damage, and the inability to dual-wield. There were also more subtle things, like Brute shields becoming much more visible when shot, and the Chieftain's movement being much more fluid.

When this group's 10 minutes ends, the other Microsoft guy shoos me out with the other players, thinking I had just played. Not wanting to cause a commotion, I leave with them and hurry back to my dad to report my findings.

3 water bottles, 1 Mountain Dew, 1 McFlurry, 4 Trips to the Air-conditioned buildings, 2 achy feet, and 3 1/2 hours later, I am still in line with about 24 people in front of me, when the first Microsoft guy comes up saying "Single! We need a single person here!"

Instantly I rush up and state my solo status. "Didn't you go before?" He asks. I explain to him I was the one taking notes. "You're gonna like it" he tells me and leads me up to the truck. It's incredible. Firefight on Crater (Night) is one of the most fun things I've played. VISR mode is so helpful, it even shows cloaked Brutes, making it ridiculous not to use it. As I'm sure you've seen on the stat preview, you can have your identification tag to be a combination of four letters or numbers (I bet there are a LOT of restrictions, though). There are a LOT of Fuel-Rod Chieftains, and the HUD does a good job of telling you the precise wave, round, and set.

There are a lot of medals identical to that of Matchmaking, such as Incineration and the combo-kill medals (Double, Triple, Overkill). One thing that struck me as odd, was the Drone Major, a drone with a Brute Plasma Rifle and shields. Yes, a drone with shields. You can also pick up turrets and do pretty much everything a Spartan can, aside from fall off a skyscraper and survive, or dual-wield weapons. Another thing, you can hold 3 of each grenade, not 4 as previously assumed.

Game Over. 10:00 minutes was up in the blink of an eye and I was being funneled out of the truck before I even got 'into' the game. Oh well, it was totally worth it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 15 Coldplay songs, 548 Street lamps, a meal at Chili's, and 3 hours later, I arrive home, and begin retelling this epic tale to you.

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