Since I’ve racked up quite a few hours in Halo 5, I decided to share some of my comments and suggestions on how to improve Halo 5 or future games.
Feel free to correct me if some of my criticisms are outdated and let me know if you agree or disagree with any of them.
Customisation
-
I suspect that the vibrancy of Spartan armour colours was a response to the darkness of Spartans in the beta, though I feel that some small reduction in vibrancy may help diversify players’ appearances. I see a lot of players using muted colours like blacks, silvers and dark reds, probably because a lot of other colours (like aubergine, which despite being the darkest purple looks very pinkish) are very bright.
-
Another issue with colours is that some armours possess a different hue of the secondary colour (such as Mark VI, which has a darker secondary colour than most armours). For example, I could unlock a helmet only to discover that its secondary colour doesn’t match that of my armour, so I’d be inclined not to use it.
-
An issue myself and many others have with Halo 5 armours is that a great many of them are not particularly aesthetically pleasing. This may be purely because of the design or because of too much distracting detail.
-
As far as I’m aware, you can’t sort armours in your REQ collection (e.g. alphabetically) and so they can be listed only in the order you unlocked them. If you’re someone who switches armour regularly, looking for sets might prove difficult. I suggest allowing alphabetical or rarity level sorting of armour, and perhaps also grouping different variants of the same armour (e.g. Recon and Recon RSO) together in some way to reduce clutter.
-
I assume removing the ability to customise shoulder armour separately from chest armour was done to allow for more armours to be added, however since many of these armours look similar or don’t stand out all too much, I’d personally prefer separate chest and shoulder customisation over variety in armours.
REQs
-
If micro-transactions via the REQ system allow 343i to release free DLC for future games, this would be of great benefit (to prevent a division between players who do and do not own DLC). I take very little issue with the REQ system personally, and feel that it greatly enhances the replayability of the game, though I’ll admit I’ve never bought packs with money.
-
My primary issue with the REQ system is the 'inflation’ of unlockable items since (and even before) the many DLC updates. I know some have complained about the many redundant variants of REQs (such as those of Mongooses and Warthogs) though my issue is mainly with armour and loadout weapon variants:
Since launch, I had tried to get the Recon helmet since it was what I had always worn in Halo games, so ultimately any other helmet found in REQ packs would be worthless to me. Since most of my efforts to unlock it went on after most of the major updates, I would have still been waiting to get it to this day were it not for the release of Gen1 Recon (I did get Recon RSO but took issue with the permanent blue stripes on it, which is another issue in itself).
Part of the problem stemmed from the amount of loadout weapon variants which would take up a ‘Permanent Unlock spot’ in Silver Packs. For the longest time that was all I’d be getting in the packs, and ultimately a lot of these loadout variants would also be redundant (especially given that you can unlock many combinations of many different enhancements and scopes).
Another issue is that there are a lot of armours, each with several variants that make trying to unlock what you want long and tiresome. A lot of these armours look quite odd anyway and would rarely be worn by players.
Like emblems, I suggest making loadout weapon variants not count as permanent unlocks so that more armours can be unlocked, and / or having armour be unlocked through milestones instead of through REQ packs. Additionally, given the number of armours to unlock, it may be useful to remove unpopular items in Halo 6 and reduce the number of variants of the armours that can be unlocked.
Gameplay
-
Some have said that the Boltshot doesn’t stand out as being as effective as other weapons. I suspect this might be a controversial opinion but I think a possible way to make the weapon more viable is to bring back the shotgun-based function (or something similar) since I feel that having the Boltshot as a loadout weapon in Halo 4 was the only thing that caused the shotgun function to be an issue.
-
The shock you’d get from seeing an Elite charging at you with an Energy Sword is mostly gone in Halo 5 as I find a lot of the time Elites charge at you and then give up half way through and turn around again. Having them charge relentlessly and aggressively would bring that feeling back, I hope.
Campaign
- While I think the squad mechanics are unique and innovative, I think they place too many limitations on storytelling, for example by removing opportunities for ‘lonely missions’ like Requiem from Halo 4. They also distract from the development of the core characters as time and effort has to be placed on acknowledging and developing the other squad members. In Halo 6, I’d like to see more of these characters (particularly Blue Team) but not in this squad-based format and instead as background characters like Lasky or Palmer. However I’d welcome the squad mechanics in a spin-off game or in a classic Firefight or Firefight-like gamemode.
- Many of the areas in the levels in Halo 5 felt quite confined. I appreciated the alternate means of approaching different areas, however this arena-like feeling in the levels ultimately made them feel more linear. I feel like the best levels from the Halo series were often very open (the best examples being the Ark and the Covenant from Halo 3)
Arena
-
I find Strongholds games to be very one-sided a lot of the time given that a team can only score when two or more objectives are controlled. The majority of the time, my games end with one team having a significantly higher score than the other, making any sort of comeback nearly impossible. This could be resolved by allowing teams to score with only one objective as well.
-
Some of the Big Team Battle maps that have Wasps tend not to have very decent counter weapons. For instance, on the Headlong remake, it’s difficult to destroy a Wasp with the Plasma Caster or the Sniper Rifle, and the Saw isn’t the best at it either. I suspect Rocket Launchers might take them down too quickly, though a Hydra or Railgun might be a better choice.
-
Particularly in Arena, shielded vehicles tend to be very difficult to combat unless your team has a decent power weapon. I’ve always found Mantises to be particularly overpowered given the extra armour under their shields as well. Weakening armour or shields (or removing shields) may help balance these vehicles more.
Warzone
-
Very limited weapon despawn times in Warzone (Firefight in my case) often causes annoyance when I die and want to pick up my REQ weapons again. These limited times evidently help keep the game running smoothly, though I’m wondering if it’s possible to have REQ weapons despawn less frequently while keeping AI-dropped weapons despawn at the normal rate.
-
The inability to destroy Phantom cannons is a bit of a nuisance, especially when you spawn a slow vehicle right next to one and can’t escape in time.
