As someone who was very skeptical of the direction 343 was going with the series after Halo 4, I have to say, I am actually enjoying it. Not just as a fun game in general, but as a Halo game. The removal of the armor abilities, loadouts, and the silly ordinance drops already make it ten times better than Halo 4. But one thing I definitely appreciate and praise is simply the balances that have been made with the new Spartan abilities.
I was skeptical about what they would bring to the game and if they would end up being the new armor abilities, but after trying it out for myself, I have noticed that they don’t ruin the gameplay at all. Smart scope (or whatever it is called) is basically zooming in with the BR, DMR, and pistol like in previous games. Just looks aesthetically different. You can do it with any weapon you want now, but it doesn’t make them any more effective (like the SMG or AR). Sprint helps get around the map faster of course, but the balances made to it in Halo 5 with its effects on your shields have made it less annoying to deal with when encountering other players. Sprinting for the most part doesn’t do much to help escape your inevitable death (I’ve tried many times when my first instinct was to sprint away, but most of the time do I end up dead). But overall, the balances made with sprinting do encourage players to not use the ability without thinking.
There are definitely some major differences made to gameplay however that I’ve noticed, or at least, I think I do. The AR is, well, actually an effective weapon now. It actually has more range (if not, a bit too much range) to it and deals more damage, unlike it being the useless starter weapon you’re wishing to get rid of at the very second you find a BR on the map like in Halo 3. The SMG as well is just as efficient, although I am still trying to tell what the major differences are between it and the AR. But going back to my point with the AR dealing more damage, sometimes I feel as if that’s not the case. Sometimes it feels as if the kill times are just faster in Halo 5 in general. But I don’t know, I could be wrong. Might be why I feel the AR does more damage, or why sprinting doesn’t help much when trying to escape (in which case, I am okay with that).
Another thing is ground pound, which was basically the Spartan ability I was most skeptical of. To be fair, it is a very situational ability. You can’t just jump in a middle of a firefight and use the ability out of no where to surprise your opponent, but you actually need some height in order to use it. But when using it, it’s basically an instant kill upon a successful collision with an enemy. But not only that, but it seems to have a bit of a blast radius to it that if you don’t directly hit your target, you at least take down their shields. Again, very situational ability, but still.
I still have some gripes with it (l still think Halo could do without sprinting in general), but overall, I’m liking it so far. Looking forward to playing some new maps and trying out some of the other weapons. Curious to see how those Promethean weapons play here, as I wasn’t quite fond of them in Halo 4. But of course, I really look forward to seeing some of the campaign. Excited to see the Arbiter again.
Giant wall of a post, but hey, I take my Halo very seriously.