Halo 3: Recon is definitely not a full game [News]

Uploaded By: Mark Podd | Published at 14:02 (GMT) on Friday, October 10, 2008

http://www.360-gamer.com/

Bungie reaffirms expansion pack

Bungie has categorically denied that Halo 3: Recon is a full game, re-confirming that the freshly announced expansion pack is just that – an expansion pack.

Microsoft announced Halo 3: Recon during its keynote speech at the Tokyo Game Show yesterday, clearly referring to it as an expansion pack.

There was some confusion about this though, after it emerged that Recon would in fact be released as a stand-alone product on a DVD, and that it would feature a full 1000 gamer points – just like you’d expect from a full release.

Speaking to Kotaku though, Bungie reps Luke Smith and Brian Jarrard dismissed such suggestions, saying “we're not viewing this as a full game.”

"I would think of it as our Frozen Throne," Smith added, in reference to Warcraft III’s popular expansion pack.

As reported yesterday, Recon’s single-player mode is set to differ substantially from Halo 3, with players assuming the role of an ODST drop trooper instead of the Chief.

According to Bungie, this will mean players will need to be more cautious when in battle with The Covenant, with most of the battles taking place at night.

The multiplayer mode will be essentially be the same as Halo 3’s, albeit with a few new maps.

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sounds good, i didnt think it was a halo 4 like many people were saying.

i predict this may be the highest selling expansion pack ever on consoles.

i also belive that halo 3 will be made akin to a game of the year edition, in the same vain as oblivion goty edition where you get the main game plus an expansion dvd that you install.

i think total halo 3 sales could reach 10million

this is bungies last halo chuck, i think they will make it special

Wonder how much it will cost. They probally working on Halo 4 too.

How many expansin packs have come out on consoles before this anyways? Is it standalone or do you need Halo 3 to play it?

It's been rather crytic so far but this quote was in the Eurogamer interview

There will be a lot of replayability as well; we have tons of new Achievements, four-player co-op, all the social features we had in Halo 3. It's a standalone disc as well, so you won't have to have Halo 3 to experience Recon. There might be a surprise later that we'll talk about, that might benefit people who have Halo 3, but it's not a requirement.

There have obviously been small DLC enhancements like Mission mode for NG2, and dungeons for games like Mass Effect/Lost Odyssey, etc.  The only full blown "expansion" pack I can think of would probably be the Shivering Isles for Oblvion.  I might be wrong though.  I could see what Skeeuk says about a GOTY edition coming down the road.  I think this being a standalone title will sell by itself for quite a while though.  Maybe when the prices on the games drop a year or so after release will we see a new edition.

Retail:

TES IV Oblivion Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles

Halo 2 Multiplayer Mappack

C&C 3 Kane's Wrath

Maybe some more... (to lazy for research)

Via XBLA/PSN:

Many

If they're comparing Recon expansion to The Frozen Throne expansion, then what they're saying is that Recon is not going to run on a new game engine, but use the Halo 3 engine, just as The Frozen Throne re-used the same Warcraft engine.

But remember, The Frozen Throne was a VERY large campaign, so comparing it to Knights of the Nine or Shivering Isles probably doesn't reflect how large a game it will really be.

In other words, saying it's not a "new game" is splitting hairs... it will probably be just as large.

TFT wasn't as big as RoC, but the missions themselves were varied GREATLY. There were very few, build a base destroy the others, types of missions.

Huh.  Well, TFT seemed fairly long to me.  I didn't time myself, so I can't say for certain how long it took me to complete.

You have to keep in mind it had 3 campaigns, NE, Undead, and Humans/Elves. Also the RPG as a campaign for the Orcs. They also had less missions per campaign, but they were a great deal more fun than most of the missions in RoC.

I have to hand it to you... you pay a LOT more attention to that sort of thing than I do.  Then again, I should be the poster child for suspension-of-disbelief when it comes to various forms of entertainment.