Xbox Living

Word is out from Bungie, by way of Kotaku, that Halo 3: Recon won’t be a full-length title.

Instead, Recon is more of an “expansion” to Halo 3, with a campaign of only 3-5 hours in length.  Joe Staten of Bungie is reported as saying “we do not view this as a $60 title.”

Although Halo 3: Recon is being called an ‘expansion’, it stands on its own and won’t require a copy of Halo 3 to operate.  It will use the same game engine, but won’t require a Halo 3 disc.

Recon is actually set during the events of Halo 2.  The game won’t feature Master Chief as the main character, but instead will feature a UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper.  These stealth units aren’t part of the Spartan program, so their inferior physical condition and armor will require more cautious action on the part of the players.  This originally had people speculating that Recon may have gameplay similar to stealth games such as Ghost Recon, but Bungie has stated that gameplay will be closer to that in the Halo series.

The news that Recon is a shorter, budget title can’t be too surprising. I mean, really — we first heard about Recon in September, and the game is out a due later.  That’s not nearly enough time to build up incredible hype and have it crash down just in time for an anticlimactic launch.