Here is an excellent video analyzing Halo 5: what it does right, what it needs improving in, and and what it doesn’t need.
I strongly urge you to watch the entire video: listen to the commentary and think about the content. Please watch the entire video.
Here is a summary of points from the video:
- The removal of armor abilities and custom loadouts is a step in the correct direction, every SPARTAN being equal makes the gameplay much better. The removal of grenade indicators was also a step in the correct direction. There should NOT be grenade indicators in the final version of Halo 5.- Smart Scope presents some problems: Halo is an arena shooter. Halo is not about aiming down sights, it is about having your weapon ready at all times. Smart Scope interferes with this: historically, in Halo you were always combat ready (unless reloading) and there was never anything that prevented you from firing. With the addition of Smart Scope, there is the mentality that you must Smart Scope before you start firing. This is not true to Halo’s past or core gameplay of firing from the hip.- The animation for Smart Scope is a step in the wrong direction. The animation of bringing the weapon up to your eye to look through it is intrusive and a step back. A SPARTAN does not need to move his/her weapon up to his/her eye. The weapon and helmet are cybernetically linked, so to have a magnified sight picture, the visor need only display what the optics on the equipped weapon see. The Smart Scope animation should be the same as the zoom animation is in every other Halo game: an instant zoom with the reticule on the screen.- Sprint is controversial: How necessary is it really? Sprint being tied to shield recharging is an excellent mechanic that should remain. But does sprint really need to be in Halo 5? 343i has said that the market expects an FPS to have sprint in it. If an FPS doesn’t have sprint, then nobody would buy it. That is not necessarily true. NOT having sprint would make Halo 5 different, special. Maybe convince more people to buy it.- Sprint is also another function that interferes with having your weapon ready at all times. This changes Halo’s gameplay because while sprinting, a player does not have his/her weapon instantly ready. This further diverts Halo from its arena shooter roots, and fundamentally alters Halo’s core gameplay.- Not having sprint and not having aim down sights would make Halo unique among all the other First Person Shooters and stand out in the crowd. Standing separate may even bring about more game sales.- Halo 5 is the fastest game in the franchise. The time to kill is far too short. The time to kill is too fast. A player feels weak in Halo 5. A player does not feel like a tank in MJOLNIR armor, a player does not feel like an invincible super soldier, a player feels like a feather. Halo has always been about engagements that take a long time. If a player shoots you first, you have a chance to outgun him/her if you are quick and accurate enough. Halo 5 loses this feeling of being an invincible super soldier because the time to kill is so short, you die so quickly. Engagements should be longer, with enemies taking longer to kill.- Although it is possible to perform reversals in Halo 5, it feels a lot harder and more uncommon than before.- The time to kill should be longer, it should take longer to kill enemies and it should take longer for you to die.- Aesthetics in the 343i games have departed from Bungie’s classic Halo style. The Spartan Armor is too much like Power Rangers, character models are harder to spot, and sometimes lighting interferes with gameplay. Lighting cannot interfere with gameplay in an arena shooter. The art direction in general does not feel right. 343i’s art direction is far too busy. There is too much detail in the SPARTAN armor, there are too many unnecessary contours and curves in certain bits of geometry, everything feels too busy. Halo 3 is a Halo with excellent art direction and style. The detailed textures look very earthy but are still shiny, there is just enough detail, and the lighting is very warm and organic. This is a shame, as Halo has managed to stand out without all this unnecessary noise and all this unnecessary detail.- Halo should make a return to the Halo 3 aesthetic style, with mellow colors, warm and natural lighting, and earthy and detailed textures.- Why change the design of the Rocket Launcher? Why replace the so iconic and original design of the dual-barreled SPNKr with a generic single barreled tube?- There are just certain things in Halo 5 that don’t feel like Halo at all.