Hang in there, kids. Reclaimer will be back soon.

I, like so many others, watched the first cutscene video when it released a few weeks back, but I didn’t experience the true impact of that scene until I watched it in Hi-Def and heard it in Hi-Def audio through my Astro gaming headset. It was an amazing way of getting my feet wet with a new character.

Of course, from there it was all new territory. I met my first patrol within moments and quickly realized just how much I was going to have to rethink the way I play Halo. We were warned that we wouldn’t be able to just rush into a fight, guns a-blazing, and expect to be able to weather it well. But it’s one thing to hear it, and quite another to discover it first-hand and learn just how different an ODST is from a Spartan.

I quickly found that I enjoyed the experience of sneaking around the semi-deserted streets a great deal, picking fights from a distance by sniping Grunts with my auto-mag, and then turning their own needlers back on them and on their Brutish overlords. The mechanics of fighting as an ODST are a lot of fun, and you quickly learn that the best way to survive a fight is by looting Covenant weapons as necessary and doing as much of your killing as possible from a distance. At one point in the second mission, I was able to take down a Jackal sniper and use its weapon to take out a few Brutes. (Unfortunately, I failed to notice the other Jackal sniper perched a couple of blocks away.)

The soundtrack for Halo 3: ODST is another amazing work done by Marty. I listened to the whole thing yesterday before dropping into the game, but it was fabulous to hear the music in its native context. The music really adds to the experience, and the driving beat in one of the tracks makes a great backdrop for fighting through hordes of Covenant.

One other thing I really loved as a new HUD addition is the display of your progress toward earning various achievements. I was pleasantly surprised when the first popped into view and let me know how many kills I had left until I earned the appropriate achievement.

I spent two hours combing the streets of New Mombasa last night (an hour longer than I probably should have), and got about halfway into the second mission before deciding to call it quits. I’m already looking forward to getting boots on the ground again and digging around in the rubble—and taking out some of those Covenant bastards in the process. I did manage, however, to locate the final three skulls on the Mythic maps for those achievements and the Brainpan achievement. Now, I’m just three achievements away from owning Recon armor. It should be an interesting ride.

By the way, Heretic is a gorgeous remake of Midship, and I can’t wait to play some games in there again.

Congratulations to Ron Z., the winner of the Halo 3: ODST screenshot contest! His entry garnered 18% of the final vote and has earned him a copy of Bungie’s latest title and a code to unlock Sgt. Johnson in Firefight.

Thanks to all of you who participated, both with your submissions and with your votes. You’ve helped make this another successful contest. See a full gallery of all the contest entries below the fold.