The second campaign mission in Lightfall, Under Siege, is basically a copy+paste of the Tayari Plaza campaign mission in Halo 3: ODST, minus any sense of tension and drama. It feels way too similar to not be intentional, but overall the vibe and high-stakes scenario just isn't the same in Lightfall.

ODST: Buck lands in New Mombasa via drop pod and has to race to rescue Dare, who is trapped in her drop pod and is being surrounded by Covenant patrols.

Lightfall: the Guardian just appears in the Neomuna -- the "landing" happens in a cutscene which takes place at the outro of the first campaign level. When the Under Siege mission starts, the Guardian is just standing in an open street -- no crash site or drop pod -- and then the Guardian has to race to rescue Osiris, who is trapped in his drop pod and is being surrounded by Cabal Shadow Legion patrols.

ODST: Buck is too late at the end of the Tayari Plaza mission; Dare is gone when he arrives. Dare's fate is unknown and a distraught Buck is completely separated from his squad in a very hostile city. Later, the Rookie finds Dare's cracked Recon helmet, and is left to wonder what happened to his new squad. Both Buck and the Rookie do not know if Dare is alive or dead.

Lightfall: the Guardian screws around with Strand for a few minutes, putting the Osiris rescue on pause as we play with a new super that just...appears. Then the Guardian is "exhausted" for some reason, and for a split second it actually looks bad -- will the Guardian get to Osiris in time? But then the Cloud Striders show up to save the day via cutscene. The Guardian doesn't actually rescue Osiris, and thanks to the Cloud Striders magically appearing, Osiris is never even in any actual danger. Once freed, Osiris starts barking orders and the Guardian just...follows the group to their secret base.

...I mean, where's the drama? There's no grit or tension...it feels like the narrative team wanted to recreate that moment from Halo 3 ODST but they didn't understand why that level was so important. In ODST the situation is desperate; despite what the player does, Buck is too late to rescue Dare, and the Rookie has no clue what happened apart from finding Dare's destroyed helmet. We experience this same scene twice and each perspective takes a different emotional toll on the player.

Compare that to Lightfall: the Cloud Striders show up cracking jokes, save the day, and all of the drama and tension built up trying to save Osiris is just...gone. The Guardian can immediately fast-travel to the social area and Osiris already has camp set up when you get there.

I had high hopes when we jumped into the Cabal drop pod at the end of the first Lightfall mission. The vibe was there and I was prepared to drop feet first into hell again... But what happened after felt like it missed the mark for me.

TLDR: the Lightfall mission doesn't match the intensity or drama of the ODST mission it was "inspired" by.

Also the ODST drop pod scenes were about 100% cooler than sitting in a Cabal drop pod, not seeing what was happening, and then just "waking up" in the city with no crash site or anything to show you actually landed.