Halo 3: ODST

Halo 3 ODST was released to the U.S. September 22 after a whole year of being teased and taunted with little to no information on what the game actually was. Halo 3 ODST was one of the most talked about games over the summer; from online discussion boards to Xbox live party chats while playing Halo 3 multiplayer.

Picking the game up at midnight in Lynnwood myself, I saw more people there than I should have; people in chairs playing and others wearing ODST shirts. I paid $65.69 upfront for this two-disc brand new game, which was worth it to say the least.

Halo 3 ODST comes with two almost completely different disks. The first disk is titled ODST, which is exactly what it is. It has a whole new Campaign mode that is quite different from any Halo game you have played. It also has a newly introduced game mode called Firefight, a wave-based survival game mode.

Firefight can be played with one to four players, and is one of the most fun, hardest and surprising multiplayer modes in Halo history. You can select from 10 different closed maps to play this mode on, and from that you can also change the difficulty for each one and add Skulls (Difficulty/Game play Multipliers) that change multiple aspects of the level.

Disk two is not what I had thought it was at all, it is Halo 3. That's it. It is the Halo 3 multiplayer with all the maps previously released for it, plus three brand new maps for your Halo gaming pleasure. Being that, if you only play Halo 3 for the multiplayer, then you don't need your old Halo disk. Which, if it's like mine and looks like it was used to sand something down, is a very good thing.

On that note, I highly suggest that any Halo fan should already own this game, but if you are looking for a good shooter to kill sometime with, I suggest you save your money for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
4/5
Sam Fisher

Couples Retreat

With a strong cast and a great script, "Couples Retreat" takes a hilarious look at problems many couples face and delivers a fun night of entertainment.

In this comedy, four couples travel together to a tropical resort paradise. While one couple comes trying to save their marriage, their friends come for moral support and fun in the sun, only to discover that the advertized couples therapy is not optional.

The resulting interactions are both very funny and insightfully realistic in their portrayal of the ups and downs of married life.

Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell and Faizon Love star, but Carlos Ponce also stands out in his role as the couples' over-the-top yoga instructor.

Lots of fresh twists and strong performances kept the preview audience laughing the whole way through.

"Couples Retreat" opens nation wide on October 9.
*****
Mairi Miller