H5 art style and Maturity rating.

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Maturity Rating: Does anybody else feel that its wrong for 343i to bring down the maturity rating? Halo is a game about warfare that means adult themes such as loss, sacrifice, death, and the occasional despair. I know a lot of people said that it had to do with trying to get to a wider audience but look at COD. they don’t sacrifice on the gore and feeling of war to pander to kids and regardless of how you feel about COD, at the very least we can agree they still sell way better. Parents are gonna buy the game for their kids if they feel that they are mature enough for it or because they are spoiled anyway. I feel Halo 5 really took away from that particular feeling, I’m not saying I want it to go the route of GoW but I would like to be able to know I’ve slaughtered some covies with something other than a lifeless body that looks like it passed out after one to many shots at a frat party.

Art style: To be honest I much rather preferred the darker tone to the art style in Halo 4 and Reach compared to Halo 5’s art direction. I never thought I’d ever wish Halo to look like COD until I actually started wishing it looked more like call of duty. I don’t wanna say it looks like an iteration of Naruto ninja storm…but compared to H4 and Reach its definitely a lot closer to it. I know that humanity isn’t looking so bleak these days in Halo but that doesnt mean that we have to play in a world with the color palette of Power Rangers.

Just some thoughts of mine. Happy hunting Spartans.

2

> 2535408098758027;1:
> Maturity Rating: Does anybody else feel that its wrong for 343i to bring down the maturity rating? Halo is a game about warfare that means adult themes such as loss, sacrifice, death, and the occasional despair. I know a lot of people said that it had to do with trying to get to a wider audience but look at COD. they don’t sacrifice on the gore and feeling of war to pander to kids and regardless of how you feel about COD, at the very least we can agree they still sell way better. Parents are gonna buy the game for their kids if they feel that they are mature enough for it or because they are spoiled anyway. I feel Halo 5 really took away from that particular feeling, I’m not saying I want it to go the route of GoW but I would like to be able to know I’ve slaughtered some covies with something other than a lifeless body that looks like it passed out after one to many shots at a frat party.
>
> Art style: To be honest I much rather preferred the darker tone to the art style in Halo 4 and Reach compared to Halo 5’s art direction. I never thought I’d ever wish Halo to look like COD until I actually started wishing it looked more like call of duty. I don’t wanna say it looks like an iteration of Naruto ninja storm…but compared to H4 and Reach its definitely a lot closer to it. I know that humanity isn’t looking so bleak these days in Halo but that doesnt mean that we have to play in a world with the color palette of Power Rangers.
>
> Just some thoughts of mine. Happy hunting Spartans.

Graphic wise I agree. Mature rating I think it’s more because of the lack of flood or people getting vaporized. The OT got the M rating because you can dismember the flood and Id say Halo 4 got it because of people getting vaporized.

3

My question to you is when did Halo ever deserve a mature rating to you?

4

> 2533274816788253;3:
> My question to you is when did Halo ever deserve a mature rating to you?

I would have to say CE, it had blood, mass death, as well as mature theme’s. This could be just because its the one I started with, but with its graphics at the time it came out I feel it should have. How about you?

5

> 2535408098758027;4:
> > 2533274816788253;3:
> > My question to you is when did Halo ever deserve a mature rating to you?
>
>
> I would have to say CE, it had blood, mass death, as well as mature theme’s. This could be just because its the one I started with, but with its graphics at the time it came out I feel it should have. How about you?

I don’t think Halo ever deserved a Mature rating. I always tried to figure out why it had MA. I guess because I played other games like GTA and cold winter games that actually had clearly cut MA stuff. Yeah Halo had some blood but not enough to rate MA to me.

6

> 2533274816788253;5:
> > 2535408098758027;4:
> > > 2533274816788253;3:
> > > My question to you is when did Halo ever deserve a mature rating to you?
> >
> >
> > I would have to say CE, it had blood, mass death, as well as mature theme’s. This could be just because its the one I started with, but with its graphics at the time it came out I feel it should have. How about you?
>
>
> I don’t think Halo ever deserved a Mature rating. I always tried to figure out why it had MA. I guess because I played other games like GTA and cold winter games that actually had clearly cut MA stuff. Yeah Halo had some blood but not enough to rate MA to me.

I dunno, those teabags are obvious sexual content in the games, Halo should be rated AO for the lulz. /sarcasm

I have mixed feelings with Halo. On one side, we have hardened space marines fighting a genocidal religious extremist alliance that glass worlds, a zombie-like parasite that wants to take over the galaxy, and ancient space aliens that want to help/destroy all life in the galaxy. But, on the other side, we get the Grunts. And the Birthday Party Skulls. And Chips Dubbo and SGT Apone-- sorry, I meant Johnson.

7

> 2533274915643658;6:
> > 2533274816788253;5:
> > > 2535408098758027;4:
> > > > 2533274816788253;3:
> > > > My question to you is when did Halo ever deserve a mature rating to you?
> > >
> > >
> > > I would have to say CE, it had blood, mass death, as well as mature theme’s. This could be just because its the one I started with, but with its graphics at the time it came out I feel it should have. How about you?
> >
> >
> > I don’t think Halo ever deserved a Mature rating. I always tried to figure out why it had MA. I guess because I played other games like GTA and cold winter games that actually had clearly cut MA stuff. Yeah Halo had some blood but not enough to rate MA to me.
>
>
> I dunno, those teabags are obvious sexual content in the games, Halo should be rated AO for the lulz. /sarcasm
>
> I have mixed feelings with Halo. On one side, we have hardened space marines fighting a genocidal religious extremist alliance that glass worlds, a zombie-like parasite that wants to take over the galaxy, and ancient space aliens that want to help/destroy all life in the galaxy. But, on the other side, we get the Grunts. And the Birthday Party Skulls. And Chips Dubbo and SGT Apone-- sorry, I meant Johnson.

That’s why the ESRB invented the “Online play not rated” thing on that point. Most likely because the entire thing is a can of worms to consider.

On the latter part, though. Halo has always been half-serious, but half not to me.

By all means, the marines should be hurling expletives and bloodily shooting at corpses for all the worlds that the Covenant glassed, but instead, crack jokes like “Dear Sarge, kickin’ -Yoink- in outer space, wish you were here.”

8

> 2533274826920712;7:
> > 2533274915643658;6:
> > > 2533274816788253;5:
> > > > 2535408098758027;4:
> > > > > 2533274816788253;3:
> > > > > My question to you is when did Halo ever deserve a mature rating to you?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I would have to say CE, it had blood, mass death, as well as mature theme’s. This could be just because its the one I started with, but with its graphics at the time it came out I feel it should have. How about you?
> > >
> > >
> > > I don’t think Halo ever deserved a Mature rating. I always tried to figure out why it had MA. I guess because I played other games like GTA and cold winter games that actually had clearly cut MA stuff. Yeah Halo had some blood but not enough to rate MA to me.
> >
> >
> > I dunno, those teabags are obvious sexual content in the games, Halo should be rated AO for the lulz. /sarcasm
> >
> > I have mixed feelings with Halo. On one side, we have hardened space marines fighting a genocidal religious extremist alliance that glass worlds, a zombie-like parasite that wants to take over the galaxy, and ancient space aliens that want to help/destroy all life in the galaxy. But, on the other side, we get the Grunts. And the Birthday Party Skulls. And Chips Dubbo and SGT Apone-- sorry, I meant Johnson.
>
>
> That’s why the ESRB invented the “Online play not rated” thing on that point. Most likely because the entire thing is a can of worms to consider.
>
> On the latter part, though. Halo has always been half-serious, but half not to me.
>
> By all means, the marines should be hurling expletives and bloodily shooting at corpses for all the worlds that the Covenant glassed, but instead, crack jokes like “Dear Sarge, kickin’ -Yoink- in outer space, wish you were here.”

T’was a joke post mate.

And it just ruins some, not all, of the immersion for me. I get it, and I enjoy it, but sometimes, it gets slightly irritating to hear Marines not being all sober and serious about the stakes that were at hand back in the OT. I guess that’s why the books were written, so that Bungie could somehow tell us that the marines are actually very professional and sober, unlike their portrayal in the games. Again, just a minor pet peeve of mine. I still enjoy their dialogue, especially that line from Halo 2.

9

> 2535408098758027;1:
> Maturity Rating: Does anybody else feel that its wrong for 343i to bring down the maturity rating? Halo is a game about warfare that means adult themes such as loss, sacrifice, death, and the occasional despair. I know a lot of people said that it had to do with trying to get to a wider audience but look at COD. they don’t sacrifice on the gore and feeling of war to pander to kids and regardless of how you feel about COD, at the very least we can agree they still sell way better. Parents are gonna buy the game for their kids if they feel that they are mature enough for it or because they are spoiled anyway. I feel Halo 5 really took away from that particular feeling, I’m not saying I want it to go the route of GoW but I would like to be able to know I’ve slaughtered some covies with something other than a lifeless body that looks like it passed out after one to many shots at a frat party.
>
> Art style: To be honest I much rather preferred the darker tone to the art style in Halo 4 and Reach compared to Halo 5’s art direction. I never thought I’d ever wish Halo to look like COD until I actually started wishing it looked more like call of duty. I don’t wanna say it looks like an iteration of Naruto ninja storm…but compared to H4 and Reach its definitely a lot closer to it. I know that humanity isn’t looking so bleak these days in Halo but that doesnt mean that we have to play in a world with the color palette of Power Rangers.
>
> Just some thoughts of mine. Happy hunting Spartans.

343 Industries doesn’t choose ratings. ESRB does. And ESRB decided that, in comparison to fully-rendered -Yoink!--scenes, drug-use, increased use of vulgarity, and ultra-realistic gore, Halo is not public enemy number one in regards to mature content.

10

> 2533274974033696;9:
> > 2535408098758027;1:
> > Maturity Rating: Does anybody else feel that its wrong for 343i to bring down the maturity rating? Halo is a game about warfare that means adult themes such as loss, sacrifice, death, and the occasional despair. I know a lot of people said that it had to do with trying to get to a wider audience but look at COD. they don’t sacrifice on the gore and feeling of war to pander to kids and regardless of how you feel about COD, at the very least we can agree they still sell way better. Parents are gonna buy the game for their kids if they feel that they are mature enough for it or because they are spoiled anyway. I feel Halo 5 really took away from that particular feeling, I’m not saying I want it to go the route of GoW but I would like to be able to know I’ve slaughtered some covies with something other than a lifeless body that looks like it passed out after one to many shots at a frat party.
> >
> > Art style: To be honest I much rather preferred the darker tone to the art style in Halo 4 and Reach compared to Halo 5’s art direction. I never thought I’d ever wish Halo to look like COD until I actually started wishing it looked more like call of duty. I don’t wanna say it looks like an iteration of Naruto ninja storm…but compared to H4 and Reach its definitely a lot closer to it. I know that humanity isn’t looking so bleak these days in Halo but that doesnt mean that we have to play in a world with the color palette of Power Rangers.
> >
> > Just some thoughts of mine. Happy hunting Spartans.
>
>
> 343 Industries doesn’t choose ratings. ESRB does. And ESRB decided that, in comparison to fully-rendered -Yoink!--scenes, drug-use, increased use of vulgarity, and ultra-realistic gore, Halo is not public enemy number one in regards to mature content.

Not by a long shot. Come to think of it I dont even think anyone drops the F-bomb in ANY Halo game. I don’t think I’ve heard anything harder than “damn” or “hell”.

11

> 2533274915643658;8:
> > 2533274826920712;7:
> > > 2533274915643658;6:
> > > > 2533274816788253;5:
> > > > > 2535408098758027;4:
> > > > > > 2533274816788253;3:
> > > > > > My question to you is when did Halo ever deserve a mature rating to you?
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > I would have to say CE, it had blood, mass death, as well as mature theme’s. This could be just because its the one I started with, but with its graphics at the time it came out I feel it should have. How about you?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I don’t think Halo ever deserved a Mature rating. I always tried to figure out why it had MA. I guess because I played other games like GTA and cold winter games that actually had clearly cut MA stuff. Yeah Halo had some blood but not enough to rate MA to me.
> > >
> > >
> > > I dunno, those teabags are obvious sexual content in the games, Halo should be rated AO for the lulz. /sarcasm
> > >
> > > I have mixed feelings with Halo. On one side, we have hardened space marines fighting a genocidal religious extremist alliance that glass worlds, a zombie-like parasite that wants to take over the galaxy, and ancient space aliens that want to help/destroy all life in the galaxy. But, on the other side, we get the Grunts. And the Birthday Party Skulls. And Chips Dubbo and SGT Apone-- sorry, I meant Johnson.
> >
> >
> > That’s why the ESRB invented the “Online play not rated” thing on that point. Most likely because the entire thing is a can of worms to consider.
> >
> > On the latter part, though. Halo has always been half-serious, but half not to me.
> >
> > By all means, the marines should be hurling expletives and bloodily shooting at corpses for all the worlds that the Covenant glassed, but instead, crack jokes like “Dear Sarge, kickin’ -Yoink- in outer space, wish you were here.”
>
>
> T’was a joke post mate.
>
> And it just ruins some, not all, of the immersion for me. I get it, and I enjoy it, but sometimes, it gets slightly irritating to hear Marines not being all sober and serious about the stakes that were at hand back in the OT. I guess that’s why the books were written, so that Bungie could somehow tell us that the marines are actually very professional and sober, unlike their portrayal in the games. Again, just a minor pet peeve of mine. I still enjoy their dialogue, especially that line from Halo 2.

Well, seeing how vehemently opposed Bungie was to any novel published during their tenure…

12

> 2533274907200114;10:
> > 2533274974033696;9:
> > > 2535408098758027;1:
> > > Maturity Rating: Does anybody else feel that its wrong for 343i to bring down the maturity rating? Halo is a game about warfare that means adult themes such as loss, sacrifice, death, and the occasional despair. I know a lot of people said that it had to do with trying to get to a wider audience but look at COD. they don’t sacrifice on the gore and feeling of war to pander to kids and regardless of how you feel about COD, at the very least we can agree they still sell way better. Parents are gonna buy the game for their kids if they feel that they are mature enough for it or because they are spoiled anyway. I feel Halo 5 really took away from that particular feeling, I’m not saying I want it to go the route of GoW but I would like to be able to know I’ve slaughtered some covies with something other than a lifeless body that looks like it passed out after one to many shots at a frat party.
> > >
> > > Art style: To be honest I much rather preferred the darker tone to the art style in Halo 4 and Reach compared to Halo 5’s art direction. I never thought I’d ever wish Halo to look like COD until I actually started wishing it looked more like call of duty. I don’t wanna say it looks like an iteration of Naruto ninja storm…but compared to H4 and Reach its definitely a lot closer to it. I know that humanity isn’t looking so bleak these days in Halo but that doesnt mean that we have to play in a world with the color palette of Power Rangers.
> > >
> > > Just some thoughts of mine. Happy hunting Spartans.
> >
> >
> > 343 Industries doesn’t choose ratings. ESRB does. And ESRB decided that, in comparison to fully-rendered -Yoink!--scenes, drug-use, increased use of vulgarity, and ultra-realistic gore, Halo is not public enemy number one in regards to mature content.
>
>
> Not by a long shot. Come to think of it I dont even think anyone drops the F-bomb in ANY Halo game. I don’t think I’ve heard anything harder than “damn” or “hell”.

I know cortana said b I c T H a couple times. but thats really it.

13

Halo has never really been a very hardcore game as far as language and violence are concerned. I don’t think it even deserved an M per se. It was likely a case of too violent for rated T (Flood and stuff) but not quite hardcore enough for M (and I’ve seen some hard M’s) so the safer route was to stick Halo as an M. 343 toned the dial back a bit to get a T rating (less blood, still some language though.) likely to get a wider audience for more mone- I mean, appeal. Ever hear of ‘Shadow the Hedgehog’ on the old Xbox (original)? That game was E10+ but had aliens getting shot and dismembered with blood and egregious amounts of ‘Damn’ and ‘Hell’ and the S word too. I wonder if the ESRB was just having a bad day.

I do agree that Halo Reach and 4’s art styles were superior to H5. I love grittier and washed out artwork, especially compared to our vibrant, sporty Spartans. I don’t get why the Spartans in campaign get to look so cool, then they give the multiplayer Spartans dorky power ranger undersuits and super vibrant colors.

14

I’m pretty sure the switch to the T rating screwed up the story massively and any dark themes this plot was supposed to have in the first place.

15

> 2533274915643658;8:
> > 2533274826920712;7:
> > > 2533274915643658;6:
> > > > 2533274816788253;5:
> > > > > 2535408098758027;4:
> > > > > > 2533274816788253;3:
> > > > > > My question to you is when did Halo ever deserve a mature rating to you?
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > I would have to say CE, it had blood, mass death, as well as mature theme’s. This could be just because its the one I started with, but with its graphics at the time it came out I feel it should have. How about you?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I don’t think Halo ever deserved a Mature rating. I always tried to figure out why it had MA. I guess because I played other games like GTA and cold winter games that actually had clearly cut MA stuff. Yeah Halo had some blood but not enough to rate MA to me.
> > >
> > >
> > > I dunno, those teabags are obvious sexual content in the games, Halo should be rated AO for the lulz. /sarcasm
> > >
> > > I have mixed feelings with Halo. On one side, we have hardened space marines fighting a genocidal religious extremist alliance that glass worlds, a zombie-like parasite that wants to take over the galaxy, and ancient space aliens that want to help/destroy all life in the galaxy. But, on the other side, we get the Grunts. And the Birthday Party Skulls. And Chips Dubbo and SGT Apone-- sorry, I meant Johnson.
> >
> >
> > That’s why the ESRB invented the “Online play not rated” thing on that point. Most likely because the entire thing is a can of worms to consider.
> >
> > On the latter part, though. Halo has always been half-serious, but half not to me.
> >
> > By all means, the marines should be hurling expletives and bloodily shooting at corpses for all the worlds that the Covenant glassed, but instead, crack jokes like “Dear Sarge, kickin’ -Yoink- in outer space, wish you were here.”
>
>
> T’was a joke post mate.
>
> And it just ruins some, not all, of the immersion for me. I get it, and I enjoy it, but sometimes, it gets slightly irritating to hear Marines not being all sober and serious about the stakes that were at hand back in the OT. I guess that’s why the books were written, so that Bungie could somehow tell us that the marines are actually very professional and sober, unlike their portrayal in the games. Again, just a minor pet peeve of mine. I still enjoy their dialogue, especially that line from Halo 2.

I liked that one too. There’s another one that’s one of my favorite dialogues in the entire series.

It’s in Halo 2, pretty sure it’s the Regret mission. Certain things have to happen in order to get it. First, I’m not sure which Pelican drop it is, but I think it’s the last one before you make it into the final structure. It has to give you the male and female marine combo. I’m thinking you have 1 more gondola ride after that. In any case, you have to keep those two marines alive until you get into the structure that has the huge hologram of Regret giving a sermon… it’s full of snipers.

Once you’re spotted by the snipers and they open fire, there is the typical banter from the marines. I really lol’d the first time I heard this one though.

After taking a few shots and saying the usual “Ouch!” and "Oww!"s

Male marine: “Oh man! I’m bleeding!”
Female marine: “I bleed more than that on a regular basis…”

16

Cortana got covered up…maybe thats why the removed the M rating and made it T?

17

I would love to see 343 do a Halo with a similar art style as in Reach. The environments just looked so beautiful.

18

There’s no big conspiracy. The game is rated T because nothing in it qualifies it for an M rating, and even the original Halo games barely qualified as an M rating in the first place, only getting an M-rating because of technicalities like low-res blood and unconvincing zombie gore.

My parents bought me Halo when I was a kid because this was self evident. There’s no way in hell they’d ever have bought me something like Postal 2 though, games that truly deserve an M rating.

I mean seriously is there anything about any Halo game that a fourteen year old couldn’t handle? A T rating isn’t the same as an E rating.

19

> 2533274881560701;13:
> Halo has never really been a very hardcore game as far as language and violence are concerned. I don’t think it even deserved an M per se. It was likely a case of too violent for rated T (Flood and stuff) but not quite hardcore enough for M (and I’ve seen some hard M’s) so the safer route was to stick Halo as an M. 343 toned the dial back a bit to get a T rating (less blood, still some language though.) likely to get a wider audience for more mone- I mean, appeal. Ever hear of ‘Shadow the Hedgehog’ on the old Xbox (original)? That game was E10+ but had aliens getting shot and dismembered with blood and egregious amounts of ‘Damn’ and ‘Hell’ and the S word too. I wonder if the ESRB was just having a bad day.
>
> I do agree that Halo Reach and 4’s art styles were superior to H5. I love grittier and washed out artwork, especially compared to our vibrant, sporty Spartans. I don’t get why the Spartans in campaign get to look so cool, then they give the multiplayer Spartans dorky power ranger undersuits and super vibrant colors.

Honestly, I felt Halo’s vibrant art-style is part of what makes it unique. Instead of the same usual “hardcore, dirt-covered, dusty, washed-out warfare game”, it’s a game of wonder and beautiful vistas. Art inside of art.

In either case, Halo :CE, Halo 3, 4, Wars, and 5 all had vibrant color. Halo 2, Reach, and ODST were the only ones that had darker, gritter art-styles. (And in my opinion, very fitting. Halo Reach was a ‘dark’, gritty game for obvious reasons, Halo 2 was dark and gritty because the Covenant found Earth. And ODST is similar to 2.

20

> 2533274818594069;16:
> Cortana got covered up…maybe thats why the removed the M rating and made it T?

Cortana was never naked, just tightly clothed. If you look at her appearance in Halo 2 Anniversary, you can see she clearly has a collar, indicating clothing. None of the Halo games were rated for nudity or partial nudity, excepting H2 Vista, which had that half-naked guy “easter egg.”