A rain-slicked city on the verge of collapse. An invading alien force seeking to destroy humanity. A squadron of ODST soldiers scattered amongst the ruins. And one rookie attempting to solve a mystery in the middle of all this. This is a markedly different approach to how Bungie had set up their Halo stories up to this point, and I think it works marvelously. The gameplay is as great as ever (by this stage in the series they had it perfected), so the real distinguishing factor from the original trilogy is the atmosphere. The overall tone of the game is such a standout from the rest of the series in that it isn’t a grandiose romp through a bright and mythic world. Instead, it is a slow and steady tread through dark streets that feel haunted by the ghosts of the people who once lived there. Seeing the remnants of the city in ruins, finding Sadie’s audio files, and uncovering clues to your teammate’s locations does so much to help this entry in the series standout. Unfortunately, the cool tone that is established at the start of the game doesn’t necessarily last since we do go back to a big space adventure for a couple of levels and for the entirety of the final level. This isn’t bad (it is Halo after all), but it does leave me wishing that we stayed in the noir atmosphere a bit longer. That and the story just sort of ends without leaving much of an impact on me. This is understandable though since this is a backdrop to the main Master Chief story so it couldn’t be a world shattering story. This is still an impressive entry in the series for me just because it does so much despite being a smaller game. It doesn’t push the series forward substantially, but it doesn’t have to and it’s great for what it is. Overall, very happy I finally beat it and looking forward to wrapping up other entries in the series soon.