I've been asked if ODST is just another Halo game by a couple people.  I'd have to say ODST is like no Halo game I've ever played before.  Halo 3: ODST is a Bungie developed Halo game that takes place in New Membosa right after the Covenant star ship leaves Earth in Halo 3.  You are dropped into the war zone fighting off a small Covenant invasion force.

Bungie took a very different approach in ODST compared to the other Halo games.  First off the game is mostly flashbacks of what has happened while your character, the Rookie, is knocked out.  Your landing was botched and your entire squad was scattered.  You wake up at night and the city is deserted except for a few Covenant squads patrolling.  Your character isn't strong enough to run into a fight and kill a few Brutes without breaking a sweat so you need to pick your fights wisely. 

The Rookie takes damage, doesn't regenerate health but does have a shield.  This is kind of like playing as Master Chief from Halo 1, not Halo 2 or 3.  You will need to find med packs and healing stations if you're hurt.  This requires the Rookie to play a little stealthy, sneaking around patrols and choosing when to engage.  The Rookie is pointed to areas of the city to where he will find an item that will trigger a flashback.

The city of New Membosa has an AI that looks over the city.  This AI will give you a map of the city and point you to these different locations where you'll trigger a new level to play.  In these flashback levels you will play as one of your squad mates as they fight back against the Covenant. These flashback levels feel a lot like Halo where you are fighting among human soldiers to accomplish a goal.  These flashback missions will end and then you are returned to the Rookie.  It seems that as you find these items, the Rookie is shown what happened bu the city's AI via surveillance footage.

While you are playing as the Rookie there are a few audio files to discover scattered around New Membosa. As you find these clips you will learn the story of Sydney.  Sydney is a citizen of New Membosa trying to get to her father as the Covenant start their invasion.  So far these feel a lot like the audio clips from ILoveBees.com viral campaign for Halo 3.  I'm enjoying this secondary story being told and will probably hunt down all of the to learn the entire story.

So far I'm on the last level of ODST and I'm enjoying the games.  The game has a bit of a mixed feel of combat heavy flashback levels that feel like traditional Halo and  a slightly stealthy game play lurking through an open world looking for audio files and attaching Covenant only when necessary.  I think the game does a better job of telling a story compared to the other Halo games.  By jumping into flashbacks and hunting down audio files it pulls you into the experience more that just jumping into a mission and killing everything that moved.  I'm excited by this change in the game and look forward to seeing how the story unveils.