Being a long time Halo fan is not all that matters, there are exponentially more gamers today then when CE released. Their opinions are also valid and they also deserve the game they enjoy.
That being said, I am not one of the new gamers. I’ve been a huge halo fan since CE released and I’ve lived and grown over half of my life with Halo as my favorite series. I’ve spent countless hours playing, reading, and watching things Halo related. I do believe that should count for something, not everything, but something.
I am not afraid of change, thanks to 343i I have all the Halo games (except reach) to go back to on my xbox one, but I also feel strongly about where the series is heading and I would like to continue to be excited for future Halo games. I understand this is only a beta, and anything can change once the actual game releases, I just want to get my 2 cents out there, take em or leave em. That ends the (hopefully unbiased) disclaimer, and now on to my extremely opinionated impressions.
LIKES:
- Servers work well for me, quickly and easily finding games- Basic Halo gameplay is intact- Clamber is nice- Thrusters are nice but need to be polished up, maybe negate gravity while thrusting- Sprinting with no shield recharge works well and feels natural- I like the hover mechanic, but I think it should be separate from ADS- I like the ADS, but it feels kinda like a half implementation. Either go for it or don’t, you can’t make eveybody happy- FunDISLIKES:
- Graphics are not awful, but severely unimpressive. Maps are dark and muddy looking. Spartans look like they’re wearing styrofoam- The main menu song is laughably bad, the rest is just not good. Halo music used to win awards- Callouts make me cringe. snipes? nades? Imagine a super soldier in battle, not a teenager on his couch, or better yet imagine silence- Ground pound is gimmicky and should be removed- Sprinting melee is useless and annoying- Weapons need balancing (obviously, it’s only beta)- Too many medals. At least half of them could and should be removed- The slap-a** bro-out after each match is straight up embarrassing- High-pitch chirping for hit recognition is irritating and useless, remove it- On the fence about controlling power weapon spawns being like an objective, don’t really like it- Announcer sounds sh***y and speaks too often- Headshot pop is silly sounding- Killcam is bad idea and poorly implemented, more annoying than anything- Customizing only helmet and body armor, no individual shoulders and chest pieces- Thin, hard to read font instead of an image of the weapon for pickups- Weapons do not sound cool or interesting at all, they sound generic and forgettable- Overall game quality does not live up to Halo standards. (say what you will, but I truly think if you put in Halo 3 or Reach right now and played a few games, you couldn’t honestly tell me that halo 5 is on that level, yes it’s just a beta, but Reach came out 4 years ago and Halo 3 was 7 years ago)And finally, the weapons overall (what I’ve seen of them at least). Very disappointed. Simplify the lineup, and make them more interesting. The DMR, the BR and the Lightrifle are essentially the same gun. The AR and SMG are also essentially the same gun, with no dual wielding the SMG is pointless, remove it and focus on AR to fill that niche. The only new weapons I’ve seen are a pointless, stupid looking version of the sword, and a miniature rocket launcher that just sucks, honestly, it looks and sounds boring, and I have yet to kill or be killed by it.
I will undoubtedly be buying Halo 5, I would love for it to be the best in the series. I’m sure many people will think I’m wrong, or just have different opinions than me, but like I said, just my 2 cents.
Edit: Actual bug: Couple times after an enemy and I kill eachother at the same time, I continue my spree, earning a medal 1 or 2 kills after respawning