Halo 5: Guardians (2015)

This was the first time I’ve experienced a negative side-effect of playing all these Halo games back-to-back like I have been. I’ll of course avoid spoilers, but to me, jumping to Halo 5 immediately after 4 made me feel like the game negated a big chunk of the emotional impact the previous story had had on me. In a way, it almost seemed like a far fetched cop out, a way to undo supposedly permanent events with permanent consequences. No matter how I try to cut or explain it away it just didn’t sit well with me, and it’s a big reason why I ended up not regarding Guardians as highly as any of the past games.

This wasn’t the only issue I had with this entry (though it was the biggest): I also didn’t like the over reliance on showing you the action rather than giving you the action. Gameplay was often interrupted by drawn-out cutscenes that weren’t all that interesting to go through (in my opinion nowhere near the level of Halo 2’s for example), an the oft-present downtime between missions noticeably affected mission pacing (in a few of them you literally do nothing but walk around the ‘camp’ talking to NPCs); I didn’t like that the much wider nature of levels often made them harder to read and forced me to rely on markers to understand where I needed to go; I didn’t like what felt to me like some serious balancing issues when it came to segments, weapons and even rules (getting obliterated from behind cover, something I had never experienced with any of the first 6 Halo games, wasn’t fun); I didn’t like all the unnecessary platforming I had to worry about on some of the levels, which diverted my attention from all the shooting goodness; I didn’t like some of the art design choices (I wasn’t crazy about the Spartan Suit designs which gave off this Marvel vibe that was hard to shake off); I didn’t like the almost incomprehensible downgrade in the checkpoint system, often making you waste precious time; I didn’t like that the next level in-game cinematic flair didn’t exactly translate to higher excitement; and I didn’t like that the visible potential for truly engaging character development was poorly utilised in more ways than one.

So yeah, there were a lot of things about Guardians I wasn’t crazy about. Yet I’d like to make it clear that all of these have a slightly different weight for me, and my overall appreciation for a game is based on what it does poorly weighed against what it does well. And for all its flaws, Halo 5 also comes with some significant improvements and truly enjoyable additions. One of the main ones for me was the team assistance function. The amount of time you spend with each of the teams you get to play as might ruffle some feathers, but to me, what I liked about this was the team assistance function which now allows you to heal and be healed by your squadmates. This was such a great, unexpected touch that really added a feeling of belonging to a squad and fuelled a bigger desire to bond with them. I didn’t see it coming, but I loved it. Aside from this, the game also boasts some absolutely phenomenal environments. The art style may put some people off on occasion, but to me it is undeniable that Halo 5’s settings look incredible and varied from start to finish, which is something that truly helps you immerse in that universe. From the great horror-like vibes in early game to the ancient ruins of Sanghelios or the neonscapes of Sunaion, I often felt in awe of how visually impressive these places came across, and this made my playthrough all the more enjoyable.

There were other things about Guardians I welcomed. For my critiques of some level platforming or mission pacing, the game also features real cool shooting arenas and super intense gunplay sequences that frequently left me glued to the screen until the action had subsided. This isn’t unique to Halo 5 but it was certainly noticeable here regardless. I also liked that melee, to me at least, felt better and more useful than in any of the previous games, which made me look at it as a de facto weapon rather than a side thought, and consequently use it a lot more this time around. I also welcomed the several QoL implementations (with indefinite sprinting being the most valuable one) and the nice throwback to ODST in the form of a character return.

So summing up: my thoughts on Halo 5: Guardians are a bit complicated, multilayered, and internally conflicting. On the whole, I ended up up not resonating with it as much as the previous titles. For all intents and purposes, it felt to me like Halo 5 tried too hard to deliver a lot of different things, yet most of those things didn’t land as well as intended. This, however, doesn’t make it a bad game by any stretch, at least in my eyes. Guardians does some things remarkably well, a few of which better than any of the titles that came before it. I do think it does move away a bit from the Halo identity, and it was frustrating to see the potential it had squandered away by poor decisions and execution, but still, I enjoyed it. Seems this series can do no real wrong in my book. 7.5/10

All caught up for Halo Infinite. Didn't dislike any of these campaigns. Here's my rough ranking of the campaigns:

1. Halo 3
2. Halo: Reach
3. Halo 2
4. Halo 4*
5. Halo CE
6. Halo 3: ODST
7. Halo 5: Guardians

Only watched story vids for Halo Wars 1 and 2 because I'm trash at RTS games. May go back and try them after Inifnite.

*I know it is blasphemous to put Halo 4 above Halo CE but man, Halo CE has some missions that are rough to go back to. An incredible FPS for its time, but it has some areas where it has aged terribly. I had low expectations for 4 and thought it felt really good to play on PC in the MCC.

I'm going to focus on the single player since multiplayer in a game like this changes a lot over time and I haven't played much since the game came out. I've always liked the multiplayer fine, but I don't think I can give an accurate opinion on it.

I didn't start the campaign until recently despite having owned the game since it launched. I wasn't really that interested in it at the time, and I have to say, I wasn't missing much. Halo 5's campaign is about as big of a mess as it can be and still hold together. The story is split between two teams of spartans, one led by Master Chief and one led by a new playable character named Locke. Master Chief's squad goes AWOL to search for Cortana, who is now a malevolent AI that is attempting to conquer the universe. Locke's squad is hunting Master Chief to arrest him for going AWOL. It's a simple plot, and an interesting premise, but it gets squandered terribly.

I always like the idea of having the story play out from two perspectives, and they promoted the game like it was going to have some ambiguity around the player character's motivations. It barely plays out from two perspectives and the game never has any ambiguity about what the characters are doing. You spend about 4/5s of the game playing as Locke and spend just enough time with Master Chief to know that he has good intentions and isn't trying to betray UNSC. So the story doesn't match the promos; that happens to great stories all the time. The problem is that the story is also very boring. The plot only ever moves forward when you play as Master Chief. Cortana's plans are the driving force for the plot, and you only get that information when you're playing as Master Chief. You get to play as Master Chief three or four times, so the plot doesn't move forward very often. The rest of the game is spent with Fireteam Osiris, very slowly working your way towards Master Chief while fighting in a completely inconsequential Covenant civil war. You spend a lot of time with Locke and Osiris, but very little really happens. And when you finally reach the game's climax, it just kind of ends. A lot of waiting and build up, and then nothing really happens. No climactic battle, not really even a dramatic cutscene.

So the main problem is that the story is boring. The second biggest problem is that the characters are also boring. This game has a large cast for a Halo game. Since both Locke and Master Chief have four person squads at all times, there are eight different major characters that you spend your time with. Outside of their armor designs, they're almost indistinguishable. Of the main spartans only Master Chief and Buck, a returning character from Reach and ODST, have even a wisp of a personality. I'm not exactly asking for depth here, just personality. There's a scene near the end of the game where Cortana mocks each Osiris member over some aspect of their past and it completely falls flat, both because none of that information is established until that point and because I was completely incapable of caring about any of them except for Buck.

All of this is forgivable if the gameplay is okay, and fortunately it is fine. Never great, but fine. The game needs more variety (you see nearly every enemy the game has to offer in the first three missions), but the campaign is short enough that it ends at about the point where it starts to wear out its welcome. There's a decent variety of guns and they're satisfying to use, which is the most important part. Like any Halo, it's extremely fun to pick up a BR and shoot Jackals for a bit. I have some mixed feelings about the new mobility options and iron sights in Halo, but I honestly think it feels fine. Outside of a couple of bits where I needed to shoulder bash a wall and the game refused to let me sprint for some reason, none of these things are really intrusive, and I appreciate the extra movement moving around the campaign maps.

Overall, Halo 5 is a big mess, but not a complete disaster. It's not really a game I can strongly recommend, but it's fine. If you're a fan of the series, you might as well play it so that you can say you've played it. It's a short, bland shooter with solid gameplay; perfectly adequate, but far from the level of what a Halo game should be.

Beat on Legendary during a free weekend. I enjoyed the game but it is clearly the worst mainstream Halo game. It does feel and play like Halo with the same great gameplay and cinematic stories. I do not have a problem with the story or not playing as Master Chief, and I even found it to be one of the easiest Halo games to play on Legendary. The aspect of this game that I liked the most was the vehicle combat. Vehicle combat in the Halo games has always been amazing; this game manages to make it even better by separating the health of the vehicle and player, which makes it much easier to survive on Legendary. Even better than that, I loved being able to mark targets for the npcs to attack: best warthog driving with an npc gunner ever.

I did not like the Prometheans as enemies (and their usable weapons) in Halo 4 and I still do not like them here. The Promethean weapons annoy me because they are just slightly altered versions of already existing weapons (like automatic rifle, shotgun, sniper etc) rather than being entirely new and unique weapons (like the sentinel beam in the original Halo). At least this game improved them a bit from Halo 4 by giving those weapons some minor unique effects.

The worst part of this game were the recurring boss fights, most of which were not well designed. These fights were very difficult and frustrating on Legendary and I needed guides to beat most of them. The regular Promethean enemies were not much better. They take too long to kill, combining the regenerating shield of an elite with their own high health and they have too much offense. Far too many enemies can easily one shot the player and the worst of them are also bullet sponges on top of that. None of this is helped by the annoyingly limited ammo reserves in the game. I felt that every ammo based weapon did not have enough ammo available, and even if there was enough you could not carry enough of it. I also felt that all battery based weapons did not last long enough. There was far too much fiddling around with weapon and ammo scavenging.

The lack of split screen play is unforgivable. Despite the game being very good overall, I think the lack of split screen is enough to not buy the game ever. Also where the hell are the flood as enemies?

7.8/10

9/10

Full review: http://wp.me/p55m9h-10I

I kinda dug how Halo 5's story is a little more personal than the first 3 (much like 4 was). I have never thought of Master Chief as the most interesting main character, anyway. But I agree with people who say the way its told is a little sloppy. Outside of that, gorgeous visuals and music, fun gunplay. I lament the lack of split-screen immensely. The increase in mobility is welcome.

Multiplayer is still awesome. Old game modes are still fun, Warzone uses AI well to make intense, exciting 30-minute (or so) matches. They're gone back to the old ways so loadouts are non-existent, though the Requisition system allows weapon, vechicles, etc drops in Warzone, providing you can get to the right level during the match to use them. It's a nice touch.