Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360, 2009)

For the first time in Bungie history, a Halo game is released and Master Chief is not included. Though this may steer people away from the game (and I admit I was wary at first), this game is fun and complete without the Halo hero. The campaign is like a murder mystery and you soon forget that Master Chief isn't around.

In the campaign, you take the role of the Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, or ODST. These highly-trained, but not quite super, soldiers don't have all of the strengths of Master Chief. They can only aim one weapon at a time (no dual wielding), they have a health bar that requires health packs to restore once their light overshield is depleted, and they can't jump as high or fall as far or take as many bullets without dying. Personally, these differences were hard to notice and your ODST is definitely not some regular Joe. They handle quite like Master Chief did in Halo: Combat Evolved, and they have a powerful scoped pistol to complete the throwback feel.

A wonderful addition is Firefight. With those familiar with Call of Duty or Gears of War, Firefight is the Halo version of Nazi Zombies and Horde. This mode is extremely fun and is a must play for any shooter genre fan, and especially worth the look for a Halo fan.

The campaign and Firefight together make this game more than just a random expansion of Halo 3 before Halo: Reach is released next year. This game is excellent and a must play for previous Halo players. For what started off as a small idea for a simple expansion, this game turned out to be more than something that only Halo fans could be interested in. Halo 3: ODST is one of the better games released this year.