Hey community! These are some feelings I have about Halo 5 as of now.
Background: I have played Halo Combat Evolved, 2, 3, ODST, Reach, 4 and now 5. Only got into the whole online multiplayer thing when I first got Xbox Live along with Reach. I know what Halo is like! Halo is very dear to me! I have been collecting Halo actions figures for years now and Halo is a staple game for me. After playing Halo 5’s Warzone Firefight today, I felt like I had to say some things about the game. I will not compare this to other Halo games in terms of content or quality.
I have spent a lot of time on Warzone Firefight, made some suggestions as to how this mode can be improved in the dedicated FF thread. Many concerns have been raised and yet we haven’t heard anything regarding updates, and yet I continue to play. I really don’t enjoy this game anymore. To many, Halo 5 is the best Halo title only because it has the best graphics so far and it’s the latest Halo game. There is no question how lacking the story was, and yet I put it aside and spent time with its Multiplayer modes. I have been looking forward to Warzone Firefight because the other Warzone modes are really just glorified PvP slayer modes.
Spending so much time on the PvE Warzone Firefight mode just highlighted the many flaws of the game's design. Basically, Warzone FF is just a shallow "shoot fest" with no intricate challenge. The solution to most rounds are simply to purchase REQ vehicles like tanks etc. The enemy AI are just so haphazardly thrown into the game.
Some enemy AI problems are:
Jackals have full auto on their plasma pistols, hitting you with such a high fire rate. Besides, their shields just protect them too much. The ability to get a shot to a Jackal's feet or along the edge of it's shield depends on terrain and whether or not the Jackal is shooting at you. The only way is to attack them from the side, which is not practical in a time-based mode.
Phantom turrets are indestructible. This is ridiculous and lazy! Furthermore, Phantom turrets are more of a deterrent than a lethal force, they should not hit you all the time.
You never know what you can or cannot hijack. While it is obvious after multiple games that Boss enemies cannot be hijacked, accompanying enemy vehicles like Ghosts and Banshees seem to vary. Sometimes you can hijack, sometimes you can't.
Defending a place or a core should not start at 75% health. When the enemies spawn so close to the objective and you are on the other side, not being able to know where to go next until the round starts.
Prometheans. This is when things start to fall apart. So little thought is put into the design and balance of these enemies. ALL crawlers are "snipers" who move and fire rapidly. Soldiers just need to be shot over and over, over and over, and over and over again. Besides, they can teleport too great a distance and too frequently.
Like other enemies, but more so obvious, Prometheans can fire at you without facing or aiming at you. Projectiles can be seen being fired at you even when the enemy models have no indication that they are engaging you. What happened to intricacies like shooting Knights at their "glowing" weaknesses to finish them off? When Prometheans appear, they appear in such a large number, move so fast, move so often, hit so hard, take a ridiculous amount of damage to be destroyed.
You do not get the assists you deserve. If you die after spending REQs on lasers and rockets that do majority of the damage, you are not rewarded with any assist medals. Besides, weapons and grenades just disappear too quickly. Don't even think about sprinting towards where you died to pick your power weapons up, they are gone!
While these may only be Warzone Firefight complains, they give me the impression that Halo 5 is not a game played by its developers. These game improvements or fixes never seem to come as often as necessary. I believe it is not too much to ask for regular hotfixes and gameplay updates. People do not like bring Call of Duty into the picture, but they are doing a great job of updating and tweaking through regular weapon patches etc.
There have been many great suggestions offered by community members, especially in the Warzone Firefight feedback thread, and yet there is little to no acknowledgement. I really hope the next update will not be one that merely shifts levels around. Despite what many think, many fixes are needed.
Thanks for reading guys! There are many brilliant contributors out there in this community. Really hope multiple updates are coming! 343i might not want to play their own game anymore, but I still do.