So, I’m done playing HALO and moving on. This is hard for me as I’ve been a HUGE fan of HALO since CE came out. Heck HALO CE was the only reason I bought an Xbox. I own and have played every iteration of the game. Unlike some others I liked HALO 4 as well. While a good story is important to me, I’m not one of those thats totally into the “lore” of the game. I’m into how the game plays. I don’t read the books, watch the animated or live actions series. I’m about the game experience. So my comments will reflect that.
My goal of posting this is I’m hoping 343 reads it and adds it to their queue of what was wrong (IMO and some others) with HALO 5 and what they can do to improve it.
I played the Beta. Unfortunately, the Beta didn’t really give me a real good feel for the game. I figured some of the short-comings were just function of it being a “beta”. But apparently the Beta was about 95% of the finished product.
My biggest gripe is the game just feels “tired”. Nothing really new, nothing engaging. Slight improvements in some areas, and not-so-good “improvements” others".
Issues I had with Story Mode;
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Way too linear. While being linear has always been the case with HALO, this one felt more so. It really felt you were forced into going in one direction without any sense of discovery. - The story was uninteresting and was not engaging. There were no “a-ha” moments, there were no surprises or big bosses to fights and if there were, they were forgettable. Unlike the other HALO games I didn’t feel like I was in the game. I truly felt like I was watching someone else. I felt disconnected. - The story was too short. I’ve got a career and family, so I can only play a little at a time. I finished it faster than I thought it would have taken me. Thought maybe I was playing in easy mode. But I was in “normal”. I went back and changed it to legendary. While it made the AI’s tougher it really didn’t change much. - The addition of making it squad based with OSIRIS team was horrible. This should have been fully tested in the Beta and its shortcomings would have been evident. The team is not of any help but feels more like a liability. They stand in the open or hide behind an object and rarely shoot. They must be given CONSTANT direction to do anything of use. I’ve played other squad based games where the AI team was actually useful, needed, and good. Here they are just a liability. - Then end was not really a satisfying end in any shape, manner, or form. Now I understand its just a chapter in a longer story. But it felt like an arbitrary end. Like they just decided; “We’ll end it right here”. - No opportunity to re-explore areas unless you replay the missions. Most areas aren’t really big enough to explore, but I’d sure like to get into my Scorpion or whatever and drive around or fly around some of the more interesting places. Bungie’s Destiny once you’ve completed the storyline you can go back to Venus, Mars, Earth, etc, and basically explore and pick up some trivial quests. But you get to explore the environment.
Warzone/Arena - -
The REQ system is not intuitive and not explained well “in-game” I had to google the 'net to understand how it worked. Even then I don’t quite understand how they interact work with the terminals when can I use what, what does buying the gold pack get me, etc… - At first I thought the Arenas and Warzone required more skill, it actually requires less skill, Over-powered weapons seems to abound. - My real complaint with this area is that its boring. It gets old really fast. 3 maps, same exact goal with the exact same. Nothing to randomize locations of defense points or the like. Everything is exactly the same every game. - If you aren’t in a company its just a giant chaotic mosh-pit. Every man for himself, which is exemplified in the Arena based games. But that has always been the case. If you want to win you had to play as a team. - The aiming reticles are not bright enough in the outdoor environments. The reticles needs to be brighter.For a game that took as long as it did to develop, its really poor. It feels like a company’s freshman effort into this type of genre. I expected a lot more than it delivered. I don’t think 343 understands the genre like Bungie does.
HALO 5 feels like a game that might have been decent 5 years ago. But not today. There are other games that do different parts better. COD for PVP, Destiny for PVE.
Give/sell/award the franchise back to Bungie….