Bungie will be throwing in some free exploration elements into the Halo equation in the upcoming Halo 3: ODST. In an interview with the Seattle Times, Bungie also revealed that they've added in some mystery-solving elements as well.

"We're doing a lot of pretty neat things in terms of mixing it up, introducing some non-linearity, some free exploration," said Joseph Staten. "This is also a mystery story so there's a lot more clue-finding and mystery-solving than you would normally find in a game of this kind - nothing that strays too far from the fun Halo experience, but we definitely decided to take a little bit of risk and have some fun with this one."

ODST takes place before Halo 3. Players take on the role of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper and must search through the ruins of New Mombasa and discover what happened to his missing teammates.

The interview also touched slightly on the much more mysterious Halo: Reach, which Bungie president Harold Ryan thinks could be enabled with Microsoft's new Natal technology. Bungie's apparently already gotten a look at the new tech, so don't be surprised if it turns out to be one of Reach's features.

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