So, I woke up, and watched the reveal on YouTube. A couple things came to my attention, and I desire to share it with 343 if they would so choose to listen.
I’m a Halo vet, started back at CE, had LAN parties, all that fun stuff. I know Halo like the back of my hand, and for the most part I know what gives it the feel it needs.
Allow me to say, Halo 5: Guardians gameplay actually looks fine to me; they changed the scope to be more immersive, they added gameplay elements to keep up with the times, and they even brought some new things into the dish for us. However, the topic won’t be about gameplay, it’ll be about something that defined Halo: The Announcer.
The first thing to catch my attention in the gameplay reveal was how the announcer sounds in Halo 5, he sounded far more excited and hyped compared to the other Halo games. This isn’t what the announcer should sound like, as it takes away the feeling of “Yeah, I just killed two people.” And instead has a feeling of “Whooho! I just killed two people!”
The original announcers instituted the idea that you just got two kills in a short time; the announcer always made you feel like a grade-a-badass, but this one makes you feel, well, not so much of a badass.
Here’s a comparison I threw together, demonstrating all the Double Kill sounds since the first game.
The order is: Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo Reach, Halo 4, and Halo 5.
As you can hear, the badass feeling started falling off at Halo 4, as it has a ‘squeeze’ feeling to it. Halo 5’s just sounds unpleasant. I highly suggest 343i takes the suggestions I have to throw at them, or come up with their own alternative.
1: Allow dialogue volume adjustment of both the announcer, and the in-game Spartans.
The adjustments in the options menu could be as follows.
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Disable Spartan Dialogue
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Spartan Dialogue volume
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Disable Medal Announcement volume
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Medal Announcement volume
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Disable Objective Announcement
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Objective Announcement volume
This makes it where 343i won’t have to go in and redo each voice clip, and allows the players more freedom over what they hear, as many don’t like every other medal being yelled at them. However, if that doesn’t fit the bill, and 343i wants to take it even further, they could go with another change.
2: Redo a majority, if not all of the announcers voice clips.
All you have to do is watch the gameplay reveal alone to get annoyed by the announcer and his enthusiastic attitude. Redoing all the voice clips with a grim tone in mind would bring back the feeling of badassery, PLUS make the game universally more pleasant.
Halo 5 could potentially be the next big step in Halo, but right now it sounds terrible. Even if the gameplay isn’t exactly the best - at least to some - it could be very well remembered for its soundtrack, and glorious in-game sounds like the older Halo games.
Apologies if the post is a bit incoherent/vague, this is all just my morning thoughts, and I’m sure I’ll find other things to suggest later down the line.
Have a good one, and thanks for reading.
