The story of ODST also has some problems. The original trilogy of games tell a single story with a core cast that we got to know over the series, despite the characterisation not being great at times. ODST has a large cast, all of whom are weak characters. You play the game as "the Rookie". The Rookie is a voiceless character with all the emotion of a toaster. The game begins with you being separated from the rest of your squad, and you go to waypoint locations which allow you to have a flashback level as one of the squad and find out what happened to that member of the squad.  Even though there are some 6 different members of the squad, they all fit into the exact same character mould. The cast of characters are annoying enough, but the objectives of the entire campaign do not really hold up to examination or scrutiny, and the end result is a dead end that is never referenced again in the Halo series. There are also some strange clashes that this game has with the Halo games that released before it. Maybe I am wrong on these points, but this game is set in conjunction with the early parts of Halo 2, yet the enemies are Brutes and not Elites. The story changeover in the enemies had not yet occurred at this point, so canonically this does not make sense. There are other points in this games story that just don't hold up with the story of the original trilogy. Halo ODST does not remain faithful to the interesting and at times haunting story of the series, instead telling a strange offshoot with a poor cast and conflicts with the far superior story of the original games. 

ODST uses the exact same engine as Halo 3, and so visually it is near identical. The character models look fine, though faces are still a bit unusual. The lighting in the game is excellent. New Mombasa looks fantastic at night, with the lighting work making a beautiful contrast between fires and lamps against the shadows and emptiness of the darkened city. The locations are not as varied this time around, but what is here looks fine. Explosions and weapon effects all have the same shiny look that Halo 3 had. Much of the game is spent in a kind of hub world, and this has a kind of Noire look about, compliments of the lighting.