Ok, so I already reviewed the ODST campaign. But its a Halo game, which means that the campaign is just filler for the online stuff. So is Firefight worth it? Well, yes and no.

The Story: There is no story, this is a single player, or Co-op (online or local) challenge for you and friends, 4 players max. See the ODST review for the game story.

The Game Type: The Halo franchise is all about First Person Shooters, except for the bastardized offspring not made by Bungie, Halo Wars. This game is basically a "Horde" mode.

The Game Play: Firefight is a "Horde" or "Onslaught" type of game. What this means, is that you pick a map, and the enemies come in Waves at you. So you have 5 Waves in a Round. A Set is made up of 3 Rounds. At the end of each Round, the weapon and health caches refill, plus lives (1 for each player playing) are added. At the end of every Set, there is a bonus round which gets you extra lives. The Waves basically go like this:
(1) Grunts and Jackals
(2) Grunts, Jackals, Brutes and maybe Drones (they fly)
(3) Brutes (jump packs an option), Grunts, Jackals, maybe Drones and maybe Hunters
(4) Brutes (jump packs an option), Grunts, Jackals, maybe Drones and maybe Hunters
(5) Brute Chieftains (Hammer and Fuel Rod), jump pack Brutes, mix of Jackals and Grunts

Other things to note:
(1) Players always respawn in the base "safe" areas (if there are lives left)
(2) Players will respawn at the start of each Wave, even if there are no lives left, as long as one player survived.

There are ten Firefight maps to choose from. Some of which are wide open and have lots of vehicles (Lost Platoon) some of which there are no vehicles (Alpha Site). Each as certain placement of weapons with usually one room in the back/center with basic weapons and health and the power weapons (rocket launchers, sniper) hidden in other areas. And some have certain fixed power weapons, such as a turret (or 3) and pod launchers.

Regardless of the map you play, three things must be understood:
(1) Communication is key. Name the map areas, so that everyone understands.
(2) Assign roles on the map. Someone may be the Watchtower, making sure that enemy locations/weapons are known.
(3) Always pickup all the Fuel Rod ammo you can. Use it on Chieftains, or tanks. With limited rocket ammo, the Fuel Rod gun is your best friend.

Other than that, always pay attention to what Skulls are turned on. For instance when Catch is on, be prepared to see more grenades that you may have ever seen before. Or when Black Eye is on, you can only get your stamina back my melee kill an enemy (hitting people with the gravity hammer counts for this).
Here are a list of the possible Skulls and there effects (note once a skull is active, it is active for all waves/sets after that):
(1) Tough Luck - Covenant forces have extra dodging ability when evading grenades, rockets and needler fire; active for Round 1
(2) Catch - Covenant troops are armed with extra grenades; active for Round 2
(3) Black Eye - Stamina only recharges when you successfully melee attack an enemy; active for Round 3
(4) Tilt - Armored units take less damage form bullets, and unarmored units take less damage from plasma; active for Set 2
(5) Famine - Dropped weapons lose half their normal ammunition/charge; active for Set 3
(6) Mythic - Enemy health is doubled; active for Set 4
(7) Iron - No respawns until the end of a Wave.; active for Bonus Round

And there are 4 optional skulls you can turn on yourself when you setup the game:
(1) Blind - No first person HUD.
(2) Cowbell - Physics impulses increased.
(3) Grunt Birthday Party - Grunt headshots cause confetti. ( I highly recommend having this one on, just because its so happy and cheers for you when you get a headshot).
(4) IWHBYD - Rare dialog is frequent and vice versa.

The Game Narrative: There is none, so make up your own.

The Grade: This is the tough part. I gave the Campaign (see prior review) a 5 out of 10. Firefight is awesome, but there are only 10 maps, and the game play can be sort of repetitive after a while. But it is also an excellent training system for those that want to get better with various weapons, and tactics. I think it gets a 7.5 out of 10. Overall, I am just not sold on ODST being worth $60. The campaign is short, and feels like it should have been a $15 DLC. Firefight also feels like it should have been a $15 DLC (maybe $20), and the three additional Halo3 maps (usually $10 DLC) are a nice touch, but are more of a method to sell more copies (since they are not purchasable outside the game). I would have easily paid $45, and probably thought the game was worth it. But the $15 markup because its a Halo game seems like a stretch.

I give the combined Halo 3: ODST game a rating of 6 out of 10.

tRuMaN