I love all the negative predisposition in this thread about how Dobbins is awful, and overly negative, and stupid etc. etc. etc. (typical name calling, eh waypoint?) but had people actually bothered to watch the video they’d notice he spent the first 12 minutes of it complimenting Warzone and the REQ system.
I still have seven minutes to go in the video, but he even started off the Arena review positively, complimenting thrusters as an interesting and fun way to move around the map. It’s only in the last 10 minutes he’s actually started to talk negatively about the product. But you know, where would Waypoint be without biased reactionary comments that fail to address any of the points made or open themselves to alternative points of view?
Somewhere more constructive, probably…
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> I never have any problems finding a game, but I feel like Halo 5’s days are numbered since it was marketed to and targeted towards the eSports crowd. And not really as accessible to casuals like myself who have always been able to get in and have fun in Halo, and not have to fight to erase 15 years of reflexes to figure out the Aiming in this game.
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> I mean, if you’re fine with how the game plays, and are Super 1337, then this is your game, by all means, have fun.
Honestly, other than the lack of Casual playlists in arena, I’d argue the design of Halo 5 is meant to be accessible. Mechanics like Sprint, Clamber and ADS are there pretty much solely because they’re “expected” in this day and age as waypoint so dearly loves to argue. Sprint is just movement at a risk without the strategy or depth revolving around Man Cannons and Teleporters. Clamber is just “advanced” mobility without the precision or difficulty involved with previous techniques like grenade jumps or spring jumps. ADS is there purely to appeal to those crossing over from other titles in which it’s a standard feature (basically every FPS game not made by Valve), really not accomplishing anything in Halo but there to make it feel “familiar.”
None of the other additions (ground pound, slide, charge) are competitively focused either, more there for the flare than the function (though groundpound is pretty cool.) The only ability one could argue has any real “competitive” value is the Thruster pack, and even that is a pretty standard feature these days (what with Titanfall, Destiny and CoD).
In fact to say ‘these days’ in regards to thruster is kind of misleading. If my memory serves me right (which it might not, as I’ve never played the game I’m about to mention) Unreal Tournament had a “dodge” mechanic that functioned very similar to Thrusters, only I think its main purpose was ground strafing. If that’s the case the general function of thruster pack has been around since at least 2004, if not longer. Only air thrust is a relatively new idea.
I don’t think there’s anything particular about Halo 5’s design beyond the ranking system that makes the game overly geared towards the competitive crowd. It might be marketed as an eSports title, but I don’t think the gameplay itself is a reflection of those ideals. It’s only really lacking for casual play in the form of fun playlists like infection, or playlists that don’t have a ranking system. Both of which I agree are important and should be in the game by now.