The point of the beta is to give feedback. What we like, what we don’t like. After my initial 2 hours, this is what I have to say.
About Me
I’m a long time Halo fan. I’ve been playing since CE. Started playing fairly competitively in Halo 3, which has always been my favorite. I love every Halo game, but 4 was my least favorite.
My Stats
Play time: 2h 0m
Games played: 15
Games Won: 11
Kills: 246
Deaths: 127
K/D: 1.93
Rank: Onyx 1
Weapons
So far every weapon feels both unique and useful. Smart Scope is pretty great, but I know a lot of people are going to cry foul about it being to similar to CoD.
AR: Man, it’s great to finally have a BR that isn’t total crap. It is definitely more powerful than in previous Halo games, but it still doesn’t beat the BR/DMR in most cases. Smart link reduces zooms in and seems to reduce spread a bit, but also has a decent kick to it. Definitely not good unless firing in short bursts (similar to in other games). P.S. Yeah, you’re dying from this a lot. But that is mainly because its AR spawns right now. You’ll be dying more from BRs once we have new gametypes up, I promise.
BR: Everyones favorite toy is back and its just as good as ever. The new scope helps differentiate it from the DMR. Smart scope is pretty much the same as in previous titles, it just now has an animation to go with it.
DMR: Pretty much the same as it has always been. Good for longer range than the BR and very accurate. Smart scope is the same as before, just with an animation.
Sniper: Very similar to previous snipers. I definitely think it could fire faster though, and the shoot/melee time could also be increased. Smart scope zooms in like before, with an animation.
NOTE: The BR, DMR, and Sniper all have an animation. I like this, but it needs to be a quicker animation than it is now.
SMG: Perhaps the biggest improvement to any weapon ever, the SMG is now a beast. It is really powerful, and I like that, but I think they need to limit how many they put on a map. Too many people with this weapon is not a good thing. Smart scope is what really helps differentiate this from the AR. Hipfire is really inaccurate, but smart scope really increases the spread. It makes this weapon a unique and deadly tool.
Sword: The Legendary sword on Regret is pretty good. Increased sprint and lunge makes it a powerful weapon, but when switching to it it takes some time to be able to be used. I’m hoping that the regular sword has a faster transition time.
Magnum: The magnum is similar to how it was in 4. I’m not really a fan of it though. I think it needs a buff. It may be because the AR got a buff, but it doesn’t seem as useful as before. Smart scope is a zoom, now with an animation.
Frag: The frag grenade is the same as always, except for it seems to have a new bounce reaction when other grenades go off. Still as useful as always.
Plasma: It may be because of the new movement abilities, but I haven’t found the plasmas to be as useful as before. Its hard to stick these faster targets. My suggestion is to decrease the AOE and add a very slight homing feature. Just my thoughts on it though.
Abilities
Spartan abilities are the new movement options every player has. To me, they’ve really helped to freshen up the game. They’re a lot better than AAs from Reach and 4, and everyone has access to them at all times.
Sprint: The balance they’ve found with sprint is pretty great. Every time you sprint it resets the shields cooldown. This means that you have to know when to sprint and when not to. I’ve screwed myself over a few times because of this.
Thrusters: Thrusters are another great addition. It can help close a gap, increase jump distance, and escape from grenades and enemies.
Hover: I didn’t think much of hover, and I honestly haven’t used it much. It did earn me a really awesome mid-air snipe, though, so it has its uses. It’ll be interesting to see how players use this once everyone gets better.
Clamber: I was really worried about clamber. I was worried that it would ruin the platforming elements of Halo. My fears were unfounded. The maps seem to be perfectly made to accommodate clamber, and sprint jumping to thrust to clamber creates some really cool jumps. I love this feature.
Ground Pound: So far its the most useless ability. I haven’t had any reason to use it, and it hasn’t really been used against me, at least not effectively. It’ll be interesting to see if it ever has a place in high level Halo games, but right now it seems like it could be left out entirely.
Comments and Concerns
Empire is a good map, but a little noisy. I also don’t like the inside sniper spawn. I think it would be better with sniper outside and maybe a shotgun inside.
I really want to be able to see more stats in game.
The announcer constantly yelling and the medals always popping up is distracting. I think they should keep all of the medals, but only show a small portion of them in game. The other medals, such as “Perfect Kill” should be tracked and viewable in your stats, but not shown/spoken in game.
There are times when you can’t back out of a lobby and it seems to be endlessly searching. This needs fixed.
Spartan chatter is great, but needs improvements. For one, I think they should be able to call out individual Spartan IDs. That would make callouts more specific. Also, the female voice seems to be a lot louder than the male ones.
Custom controls NEEDS to happen. I want to play Bumper Jumper AND have Sprint be left thumb. Please, please, PLEASE make custom controls happen.
TL;DR
Halo 5 is a blast. It feels fresh, yet feels like Halo. It definitely needs some work, though, and I can’t wait to see how it changes over the next year. I really hope 343i keeps us in the loop on what changes and how.
Edit: Somehow my brother’s account was logged in instead of mine. My GT is Reclaimer DC, in case you want to verify that I’ve played the beta or anything.
