In this post I am going to talk about the features of Halo 5 and how I feel about the new features in Halo 5.
Sprint:
Sprint has always been a controversial topic in Halo and while I think it fits Halo 5 a lot better than Halo:Reach and Halo 4, I still think Halo 5 would be even better without sprint. Don’t get me wrong, 343 did a very good job in making sprint a lot more balanced but the truth remains that Halo is a game that plays better without sprint even when the maps are designed for it. The kill times in Halo are simply not designed for sprint. It is still an ability that allows you to get away from gunfights and gunshots making the game slower paced. Since a fast time to kill doesn’t fit Halo I think the best solution is to remove sprint.
Sprint also increases the mapsizes making it sometimes harder to find enemies. Sprint gives the illusion of making a game more fast paced but truth is that it only makes a game slower paced or atleast make HALO slower paced. Reducing the mapsizes and increasing the movement speed by 10% would definitely make Halo 5 play even better.
Removing sprint means you can’t use Spartan Charge and Slide anymore but to be honest, both of these abilities are not that great but I will talk about them later.
If Sprint is going to stay than I would like to suggest to get rid of the wind stripes you see what reaching maximum sprint since it makes things cluttered and I would like to suggest to make sprinting limited instead of unlimited and keep them connected to our shields.
Trusters:
The new addition of trusters in Halo 5 is an awesome addition. They really make you feel like a super soldier and create some very fun and intense moment both in gunfights and overall gameplay. The good thing about trusters is that they would work just as good without sprint in Halo 5. Trusterpack is the major new ability in Halo 5 and does not make the gameplay less good, it makes it more fun and intense unlike sprint.
Clamber:
Clamber is a new addition in Halo 5 that allows you to climb up ledges making the gameplay more fluent. However I do think Clamber takes away some of the skill Halo used to have in being able to make a good jump. This may sound silly to some of you but I think there are a lot of people out there who agree on this. Heck, even Bungie agrees on this since you can’t Clamber a ledge in Destiny. I’m not saying Bungie knows how to make a perfect game but it was just an example I wanted to share. It is just a lot more satisfying when you make a good jump instead of just clambering on it.
Spartan Charge:
Spartan Charge is a new ability in Halo 5 that allows you to tackle your enemy when you are max speed while sprinting. However this new ability is very inconsistent and does not guarantee a kill making it a random factor in the game. Spartan Charge also does not allow you to perform an assassination on someone while sprinting which is in my opinion a prefered feature of Halo.
Slide:
Slide speaks for itself. It is a new ability that allows you to slide on the ground when pressing the crouch button while sprinting. This ability is USELESS. It does not enhance the gameplay at all and is barely used by anyone. This should be removed from Halo 5 since it adds absolutely nothing to the game and makes it look like a silly addition to the game.
Ground Pound:
Ground Pound is a new ability in Halo 5 that allows you to slam into the ground when you are in the air. Personally I think it’s a fun addition to the game even when it doesn’t enhance the gameplay, it a nice and fun thing to do and I have no problems with it.
Smart Scope:
Smart Scope is a zooming mechanic based on classic zooming and aiming down sights. It looks like ADS but plays like classic zooming. I personally think it’s a nice new addition to Halo 5 especially since it keeps the classic zooming feeling. I would like to suggest though to reduce the accuracy improvements of the Smart Scope to make it more like classic zooming, especially on the AR and the SMG.
Spartan Chat:
Spartan chat is a new feature in Halo 5 were your teammates (spartans) make call outs and give information to you by talking. I think it’s a nice addition to Halo 5 but I would like to suggest to reduce the amount of Spartan chatter. Make them only say important things like calling out enemies and announcing they picked up a power weapon. I don’t need to hear them saying Nice Kill, Thanks for the assist or picked up a DMR, they are unnecessary and make things too chaotic/cluttered.
Power weapon indicators:
The power weapon indicators in Halo 5 are different from the ones in Halo 4 and Halo 2 Anniversary. Personally I’m not a big fan of them, they take away a part of the map knowledge. I do really the holograms of the power weapons when they are about to spawn but I just don’t like the green square on my screen. I would suggest to get rid of the green square to encourage map knowledge but add a similar indicator like Halo 2 Anniversary to the power weapons when they are dropped on the ground by a player.
Hitmarker sounds**:**
A new feature in Halo 5 are the hitmarker sounds. It is a ping sound you hear everytime you hit an enemy. This means we now have an hitmarker indicator and an hitmarker sound which is in my opinion too much of it. I would like to suggest to just remove the hitmarker sound since it is an annoying ping and also gives you doulbe indicators. I would like awareness to be a part of the game as well so please remove them.
Power weapon announcements:
A new feature in Halo 5 are the power weapon announcements. To be honest I think they should be reduced or removed. I would prefer them to be gone but if they are going to stay than I would like the amount of announcements to be reduced. There are a lot of times were the power weapons are announcement multiple times at once. I would like to suggest to only keep the individual announcements of power weapons and to get rid of the general announcements of them. But again, I would rather see them removed to promote mapknowledge and power weapon knowledge.
Celebrations:
A new feature in Halo 5 are the Spartan celebrations you see when the match ends. This really need to go since it makes the game look childish and stupid. This is one thing I really dislike in Halo 5.