Ready to drop, SIR, YES SIR!
Bungie came rolling down I-45 like the Helljumpers they are releasing to us on September 22nd. I hope they were truly prepared for hell, given that temperatures were in the mid-90s when their modified military vehicle pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot in north Houston on September 5th. BSG sported both senior and junior members as Mb021 represented for BSG Texas along with his young’un Dakota. The crowd to be waded through was substantial, but the rewards were sweet as BSG now has 35 minutes more ODST experience than most other gaming communities.
The truck Bungie brought down from Seattle was as impressive as they made it out to be in the Weekly Update, dwarfing even the impressively sized Mb. Big props to urk at Bungie for paving the way for our representatives to enter the ultra-secret door in the back of the vehicle for a preview set up by TTL Locke before the plebes got a chance to come in, having waited in line since 7 a.m. Patrick, TJ Scoot, and G-Mo were as professional as they could possibly be, especially given their severe sleep deprivation after a tour that started for them in Los Angeles and included little sustenance but the totally asbestos-free Goldfish crackers. The host of the event, Doug from Gamestop, was also welcoming and professional, and looked as excited about the product inside the truck as he was about the crowds outside his store.
The event brought out all kinds, including the clan that called themselves the Helljumpers, complete with ID tags and incredibly intense looks on their faces, as well as lots of people with big wide grins on their mugs as they left the candy coated awesomeness inside the truck. Once the lucky eight at the front of the line were ready to drop, they were brought in for a briefing in the small tent set up outside the doors leading to Olympus. They were given a card that detailed the controller configuration for the mission before being led into the truck, which was packing eight stations for recruits chomping at the bit to experience Firefight.
At first, I imagine it was kind of a giddy feeling, but before long, the new recruits started to realize that this was not exactly Halo. The AI is smart and seems to learn your tactics, which means that if you are on the chain gun for the first wave or two, be prepared for the enemy to try to flank without popping their heads out. If you push forwards into an area, it is likely that the enemy is going to spawn behind you. Suicide grunts, the laughingstock of Halo players everywhere, are deadly to an ODST, and if you are sitting back sniping, expect the opposition to take cover much better than they did in Halo 3.
Callouts and teamwork will be a premium in Firefight, and expect to be torn up if you run off alone as you will not be wearing Master Chief’s armor, so you will have no shield. The pistol is useful again and includes a zoom feature, but all of the weapons kick a lot more than they do in Master Chief’s hands. Remember to use your SMG in short bursts or you will end up wasting highly useful ammunition. The physics engine seems to have improved the way grenades bounce (according to someone who knows how grenades bounce off stuff 
) and weapon kick is a much larger issue than has been the case up until now.
Mb estimated that the crowd was between two and three hundred when he left at 2:30, and the crowd was doing nothing bet getting bigger and bigger, so all hail urk for getting us the first look. If you see TTL Locke out there on the ‘tubes, make sure to give him a big shout-out too as I understand he was instrumental at getting us in without the line. Also, thank Mb for keeping on top of me to get this done as I was being singleminded of purpose on the whole Grifball general thing.
I am sorry to say that we have no news of the campaign as details for that seem to be shut up tighter than a sea-turtle’s behind, but based on Mb’s take, just Firefight would be well worth the $65. He said as much and I don’t doubt him, I paid for my copy two weeks ago. Check out the full picture gallery here.