I think Halo 5 is just wasted potential. Particularly because it’s supposed to heavily focus on Locke as a character, and Locke doesn’t really make that bold of an impact like the pre-release information and the teasers made it look like.
Before the game came out, i always got the impression that Locke was going to fill this grey area, being this shadowy agent with questionable ethics, who follows orders and is essentially a walking weapon, possibly manipulated by his superiors. I thought he was a lot more arrogant, have a lot more ego, and generally have a lot more weakness in him, because his mind is clouded by authority. More attitude than the bolder, stoic, more legendary hero that Chief is often portrayed to be. Look at the teasers, that was pretty epic, he’s talking down to the Chief with these deep booming voice, “All hail the conquering hero”, and trying to rain down his fury with an iron fist. Yet ironically, he’s not the one in control, he merely thinks he is because of his overconfidence, ONI has the upper hand because they have him in chains.
This didn’t really come to fruition in the game, and I’m disappointed. There’s not really any epic moments regarding Locke as a character. The only cool moments regarding Locke were generally surrounding the entire team or the events around him. He never personally does anything cool. The only bold “Woah” moment he has is his personal meeting with the Arbiter. Part of what makes a good Halo story, as far as everything I’ve seen in the past, is the boldness. Nothing really major happens, it starts with good premise, but then it’s quickly over and it’s like it never really happened to begin with. It wasn’t like a large-scale chase across the galaxy, it felt like a “chapter” of the game. Not to mention Locke’s “development” happens way too fast and he doesn’t have any time to showcase himself as a character before the development happens. I don’t even get what caused the development. Halsey says one thing and Locke has a change of heart? It just doesn’t feel natural to me. We get the impression that Locke hates Chief and wants him to die, and now he’s like “Pleasure serving you sir” or whatever. Like, really?
Not to mention, Chief going rogue didn’t really provide much either. The exchange between him and Lasky is ridiculous. So because Lasky says that someone else is going for Cortana, Chief immediately betrays the entire military for his own selfish needs? Like, that all happens so fast, like they weren’t even trying. You didn’t even feel like Chief transitioned into being like that, it just happened out of nowhere because the developers wanted that type of story. Not to mention, the trailers made it look like Chief was going rogue for a greater, noble cause. That he was going to fight against a great threat and save humanity on his own, because he believe the UNSC would get in the way. That’s what I always got. But what ended up happening is that Chief just ditches the UNSC over a single AI, for****his own selfish desires. I’m sorry, but that isn’t the Chief. When Chief rescued Cortana in Halo 3, he made sure that the time was right, and as soon as he fulfilled that motive, he was going to continue fighting by humanity’s side to end the Flood threat. He didn’t just leave everyone behind. The fact that Chief is portrayed as such as a careless traitor, it bothers me. The story would’ve worked better if Chief went off by himself in an attempt to save humanity and serve a greater purpose. That’s when Locke would come in, because everyone misjudges Chief as a selfish traitor when all he’s doing is trying to save everyone from their demise, and no understands. But this story isn’t like that, Chief IS a traitor here. He doesn’t have any good reason, he backstabbed everyone and all the other characters has good reason to be pissed off at Chief. Chief was not a hero in this game, he was a selfish backstabbing traitor and it saddens me to see that.
The Sangheili civil war is brushed over quick. Doctor Halsey’s rescue is short and underwhelming. I didn’t even realize Jul Mdama died in that cutscene until I looked up a wiki page to find out. Locke never does anything substantial as a character and his development is rushed. Chief betrays everyone and his portrayal is unfaithful to the original character. Cortana is revealed as a villain, but generally the rise of a villain is usually a piece of a game’s story, not the only major thing that should happen. Blue Team and Osiris do absolutely nothing for the plot, they’re just there to be guns behind their team leaders’ backs. Lasky does nothing, Palmer should’ve had her face dented in during Spartan Ops. The overall story of Halo 5 is a joke. It’s just a bridge between Halo 4 and Halo 6, not a fully satisfying story on its own merit. You remember when they used to make film serials? You know how each serial is just a tiny chapter of a larger-scale story? Halo 5 feels like an entire game based off ONE serial. That’s how fast it goes by.
You know what bothers me more than a bad game? Wasted potential. That is Halo 5.