>>15650563
The game's overworld is dark, rainy, and moody, an attempt to put a noir twist on Halo game. I'd argue as a side point that this itself is a failed concept; the attempt to develop the lone Rookie as a resourceful yet isolated detective character falls flat when all he ends up doing is wandering from map marker to map marker, finding random pieces of his squad's gear that offer no real clues to their whereabouts, and provide insight into events that he couldn't have possibly known about. The Rookie is a lost wanderer, not a noir protagonist, but at least the overworld he's in stays true to the theme.
Compare that to the flashback levels. From the get go the Rookie's team is introduced as over-the-top jock parodies, and they carry out their missions in an action-cartoon fashion complete with cringey one-liners and exaggerated character animations. Hilariously enough though these A-Team antics are also punctuated by apparently heartfelt moments when people die, as if the loss of a cardboard cutout is suddenly meant to be a big deal.
Topping this all off is when the Rookie, through no real skill or ability of his own, is suddenly propelled into the finale when other characters suddenly make contact. From their the noir elements are completely abandoned in favour of a much more traditional explodey escort quest, leading to a conclusion that fits more with the ludicrous events in the flashbacks than the supposed alternative theme the game said it was going for.
There was a lot of potential in ODST, and most of it was wasted on these inconsistencies.