Six Games That Won't Be Worth The Hype

Today's hyperbole, tomorrow's 7/10? Kikizo runs a cynical eye over some of the biggest upcoming console releases.

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Halo 3: ODST
Xbox 360

What they've said about it:

"[Halo 3: ODST] represents our most ambitious release cycle yet as a Studio." - lukems (Bungie.net)

"The gripping story, cooperative campaign and new multiplayer content will have Halo fans "Preparing to Drop" in Fall 2009." - Microsoft game page (Xbox.com)

"You'll be playing flashbacks of desperate struggles of "normal" human ODSTs as you find (remains, tags, something of that nature) while exploring an open environment looking for the items as the main character. Includes Halo 3 maps, actually has promise." - immortaldanmx, Kikizo forum member

Despite having no face, a bottle-green plastic codpiece and a Captain America complex, Master Chief is the best-known videogame icon this side of the Pacific Ocean, one of the few the non-gaming public will recognise when they spot him on a billboard. This time round, Bungie's ditched him in favour of one of those rubbish people from Halo 3 whose job it is to get blown away while Chiefy does the dirty work. Smart move, chaps.

Except the Chief's still there, really, isn't he? Just retitled, reskinned and a bit weedier. Details on new protagonist "the Rookie" (who ends up in charge of the show after his ODST squad eats dirt in Covenant-infested Earth city New Mombasa) are scarce, but he's evidently chipped from the same old block of ultra-macho tabula rasa as our Spartan acquaintance - helmeted, dramatically nameless and a man of few words. Can't you just feel your identity leaking onto that immaculate character canvas?

One of the game's more touted novelties is its plot, which unfolds through flashbacks whenever the Rookie stumbles on one of his squad-mates' possessions. Exploited right, this retrospective premise could produce a genuinely moving tale, perhaps akin to Saving Private Ryan. Trouble is, it could just serve as an excuse for the kind of patchy, bombastic storytelling the Halo games are already known for.

This way, when somebody complains that characters lack proper introduction, or that the twists are ludicrously contrived, or that the cut scenes are merely vehicles for pathos-laden phrasing rather than links in a narrative chain, Bungie can just hold up its hands and say "It's meant to be all fragmented, guys - he's remembering that shit." We're not sure the game's going to look so hot, either: Halo 3 was greying at the temples even at the preview stage, and ODST will run on the same engine.

Probable appalling reviewer's quip: "Halo 3: Oh Dear So Terrible"

Likely score: Three red rings of death out of four.

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