Full Scoop On Halo 3: Recon, Including Box Art
Feast your eyes on your new man. Our new hero, new campaign and all that. Oh, and no, as you can see by the fact this is box art, this won’t be made available as a cheesy downloadable pack. No Sir. Halo 3 Recon will be a full Game.
By now, you should have heard of Bungie’s next project, Halo 3: Recon. But if you’re still confused about what Halo 3: Recon, let’s try to run though what it is, and what it is not. And to help everyone figure it out, Bungie reps Luke Smith and Brian Jarrard wanted to get a few things out of the way, right off the bat.
Halo 3: Recon is not a tactical squad based shooter. Halo 3: Recon is not Splinter Cell: Halo. Halo 3: Recon is not Brothers In Arms: Halo. And apparently there’s a very, very good chance you’ll never, ever run into Master Chief.
As its turning out, the Master Chief and the rest of the familiar Halo cast won’t be popping up for cameos. They’re busy saving the world and stuff. So what is Halo 3: Recon?
Halo 3: Recon is a first-person shooter that’s going to feel very much like any other Halo game. It goes along the lines, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Instead of playing a super space marine, however, you’ll play an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST), one who’s not quite so burly or bad-ass.
So you’ll have to pick and choose your battles a bit more carefully than you would have as a super Spartan.
Recon will be a standalone release, not part of a title update or some measly downloadable content. It will come with new Achievements totaling 1000 Gamerscore and a new aesthetic. The single player campaign, in which your ODST will clean up a Covenant infested city in New Mombasa, will feature plenty of dark, nighttime play.
That said, Bungie says “We’re not viewing this as a full game.” Of course, how that will affect Recon’s pricing, is still to be decided.
Should gamers view it as Bungie’s metaphorical Half-Life: Opposing Force, giving Halo fans an alternate look at the events of previous games or merely a contract obligating Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s?
“I would think of it as our Frozen Throne,” Luke Smith has said, pointing to Warcraft III’s expansion as the best comparison.
Recon’s multiplayer, however, is essentially Halo 3’s multiplayer. That means saved films, four-player coop and the map editor Forge will work seamlessly with the expansion. But outside of a new bundle of maps, expect the proven same-old, same-old online play that currently satisfies some 900,000 unique Halo 3 players a day.
Of course, there is some bad news: it appears that there are no plans for a Legendary-style Orbital Drop Shock Trooper helmet that one can put on their mantle. Shame.
