UNSC Vehicles

Originally by: Matthew Rorie (Updated by: Andre Segers)

There are a wide variety of vehicles in Halo ODST, from the small and quick to the slow and well-armed. To enter any of them, walk up to them and press R2; this will put you into a different position in the vehicle depending on where you stand and which vehicle it happens to be. You can also press the right-bumper when an enemy is riding a vehicle to attempt to carjack him. In light vehicles, this will automatically kick them out of the driver's seat, but on heavier vehicles you'll simply cling on for dear life. In the latter case, you can attempt to punch out the driver with the B button, which will leave you with a damaged but usable vehicle, or you can just chuck a grenade inside with the left trigger, which will blow the whole damn thing after a few seconds.

Most vehicles will have alternate abilities that you can perform when you're inside them by clicking the left trigger. Generally these act as some kind of speed boost, but some vehicles use this functionality for additional offensive powers.

Warthog

The Warthog is the iconic vehicle of the Halo franchise, but you'll only be using it a couple of times in ODST's campaign. It's hardy and comes in a few different configurations for your pleasure.

Driving the Warthog can be a tricky proposition, since it takes air easily and has a tendency to flip with little provocation. If it does start flipping, you can wait and see if it rights itself, but it will often land upside down, forcing you to get out and flip it over again before you can use it.

Warthogs have two to five slots for Marines to fit into. If one of your Marines is getting into the passenger slot, try to trade them a powerful weapon if you have one in your inventory, like a beam rifle, sniper rifle, or rocket launcher. They'll be able to use it while you drive to take out enemies.

Machinegun Warthog

For most of the single-player campaign, you want to be driving the Warthog instead of taking the gunner's position. You can drive well, theoretically, but the AI Marines are terrible at driving, especially during combat. On the other hand, they're ace shots with the turret, so they'll be much better at shooting it than you'll ever be.

Gauss Gun Warthog

Although rare, Gauss guns mounted on Warthogs are ideal for taking out opposing vehicles; they're capable of dropping most enemy vehicles in one to four hits. You'll need to stay mobile to avoid enemy fire if you're driving one, but your gunner will be wreaking havoc on your enemies. The Gauss gun can one-shot most enemies, as well, but it has no splash damage, so it might be difficult to take out whole crowds with it; you might be better off just running them over, if possible.

Mongoose (Multiplayer Only)

The Mongoose is a small two-seater ATV that features no weapons and little armor for the driver or passenger. With no weapons, this is basically useful only for getting to where you want, but it does this faster than any other ground vehicle. The passenger can still fire their weapons, but it's difficult to aim while bobbing up and down.

Scorpion

Ah, the Scorpion. This hulking tank is painfully slow, but equally painful to your enemies when they get hit by its shell. The shells here are highly explosive and accurate at long range, but they do take a second to hit their target, so will need to lead distant foes. That said, the ability to hit pretty much anything at any range is obviously a powerful one.

There's room for five passengers here, including four seats above the treads and one gunner, but you shouldn't expect people to climb aboard in multiplayer unless they get to man the turret, as you'll probably be moving at about walking speed and passengers are totally exposed to enemy fire. Unlike in Halo 2, you can only fire the main cannons here; the turret can only be fired by a second passenger who rides in your vehicle.