Re to the ported.

OT: I can't wait to play this. Has anyone finished the game yet?

I have a few other questions too.

1. Is Firefight on the MP disk?

2. What extra content is on the 2nd disk?

3. Do you need the first disk to play MP maps?

4. Can I use Halo 3 to play against other ODST folks on MP?

I think its an absolutely fantastic game.  I haven't tried firefight yet, but I am about 3/4 of the way done with the campaign.

Positives.

1. Single player campaign is one of the best Halo campaigns that I have played yet, its perfectly paced, and can be very moody at times.

2. The addition of multiplayer medals during campaign is nothing short of brilliant, and brings the replayability up a whole lot.

3. The new pistol and silenced SMG are a blast to use, and I like how alot of the covenant have personal shields (reminds me of the good old days of fighting elites)

4. The music in this game is probably the best I have heard from a Halo yet.

5. Having the ability to finally unlock the most coveted Halo 3 armor (Recon) is pretty sweet.

6. Bungie's detailed stat system for ODST, so you can see how dominate you are!

7. The new visor view mode is a really awesome addition.

8. The achievements have a perfect balance of easy-hard.

Neutral.

1. I honestly still feel like a spartan in ODST, not much of a change at all imo.

Negative

1. Graphics are definitely a step below Halo 3

2. Its a rather glitchy game, and the frame rate does stutter sometimes (not horribly so, but enough for you to notice) 

3. No BR is a bad thing in my book (was by far my favorite weapon from Halo 2 &3)

4. There is no matchmaking for firefight.

5. The human AI is still stupid as ever (but at least they are funny)

That about sums up what I think about the game.  I'd give it a score of 8.75

my friend and I got it last night. We started playing and were very confused why the opening level is sooo dark. Its not normal darkness either. We have all played games that have dark levels before, and you can still see fine. Even with the brightness on the in game menu turned all the way up, you still cant see the details of a car 4 ft in front of you. It isn't even darkness. The game is muddled and is presented in a graphic style that definitely takes some getting used to.
It is obvious that the "visor" is just a filter they added to allow the player to be able to see edges of buildings because without it, very few shapes are discernible. When you wear the visor there is a slight light that shows like a flash light in front of you, but it doesn't actually cast light, it just sort of illuminates the area in front of you, none of this helps visibility though.

Shadows are apparently not allowed. It has been a while since I have played Halo 3, and because Halo basically invented FPS's on consoles, it was the first and the mechanics are set in stone. This means that all other FPS's have essentially refined the process of actually playing as a person in a FPS.
There is no weight to Halo, I forgot this. You get no feel that you are controlling a person. You are controlling a floating camera. There is NO sound for footsteps even. The dynamics of shooting consist of standing or crouching. There is no interacting with cover, there is no reaching around objects, there are no tactics. This is nothing new and I knew it would be this way, but it just seemed old. They took away duel guns and any strength the player had, (of course I knew they did, this isn't Master chief after all) this would not be a bad thing, but they didn't introduce anything new, like stealth mode or sneak ability, the ability to hide behind cover... anything. just silenced weapons? really?

This game IS halo 3 and somewhere along the line I was convinced it would be something slightly new or different. My mistake I guess. I am absolutely shocked more reviewers did not have the courage to give this game a lower score. It is a sign of the times I guess though.

-In the defense of the reviewers giving the game a 9-
How can arguably the best online multiplayer experience which is literally you booting up halo 3 multiplayer (with all the maps) be a bad thing? It cant. And I did play firefight, and that mode is really really fun. Just as fun as it is in Gears of War and Left 4 Dead. Oh and I almost forgot, there is no matchmaking for this mode... WTF! Halos have the best infastructure of any shooter, why is there no matchmaking. I was playing splitscreen. Semms rushed or something, but why? finish the only new part of the online multiplayer so it works!

In my opinion Halo 3 ODST is an excuse for Microsoft to re-sell the Halo 3 online experience in a holiday season when exclusive MS titles are non-existent. There may be a single player campaign, but it is just Halo 3 with options taken away, and artistic decisions that makes me scratch my head in bewilderment, and all of this is presented on the exact same engine which absolutely shows its age.

I cannot believe the OP thinks this game is on par graphically with other heavy hitting graphical beasts. I 100% disagree with that. IMO it isn't even close. Simply put, the Halo 3 online multiplayer maps look better than the single player ODST campaign.

At the end of last night of playing this game, my friend took the opened copy so that I could keep the unopened copy if I do decide to return it.

If anyone wants to play this game, just play Halo 3

@ultraslick

You're on your own here.

Game is dark on hub level but visor makes it brighter and normal
pacing, gunfights, strategies are different from halo 3.

Everything else you wrote sounds like someone that doesn't like halo.

And yes no matchmaking sucks, but firefight is suppsoed ot be played with friends. I have stopped playing left 4 dead and gears horde cause of retards that keep shooting me or don't know how to play.

EDIT - acutally you sound like someone that spent 10 mins watching someone else play the game.

@ disolitude;
We only played single player for about 2 hours. I played about 1.
The game released at Midnight afterall.

*sniff*

My copy from Amazon is lost in Kentucky. I live in Minneapolis.

*sob*

The good news I got ANOTHER $5 off for having to wait until tomorrow. This game is gonna be practically free.

But I am still sad-face clown today. :(

I finished the campaign earlier today... Best Halo story so far...

It was a load of fun...

Playing the entire game, I never saw a single frame drop and the only bug was when I got hold of a Gravity Hammer and went right in the middle of about 12 covenant and hammered away.... There were dead bodies dangling in mid air everywhere until i hit them again... Just plain funny...

Also, I found that this game had pretty scarce ammo. I was switching weapons many times just to survive... Loved it forcing me to do that... I actually had to think about conserving the weapons I liked...

I love the game a lot. Firefight is a blast. The only problem I have is that 3 of my good buddies all have the game and when my brother and me play only 2 of them can play with us. =/

We tried out the MP maps and those are awesome. Love having Midship back but I wish there was a different remake coughbloodgulchcough. Can't wait to play more tomorrow.

I beat it too last night. Im playing campaign on legendary now...alone...EEK!

I'm getting my ass handed to me pretty hard and am avoiding battles in Mombasa like im Solid snake. Those weapon Cache's though are great...didnt use them much the first time around, cause they werent unlocked. Now they are all unlocked and you can get some sweet weapons and even thosecart buggies to blast through the city.

All in all...any game that has me finish the campaign, and then replay it again right away...is a good freekin game.

Simple, kick your brother out. ~_n