After several weeks of analysing Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer gameplay, I’ve come to a conclusion with what i feel needs to change. Im going to be starting off stating things that i feel are needed to change, instead of things which are simple aesthetics like having elites as an avatar, having a brighter more attractive UI or having the shield recharge sounds, since although these are favourable changes that many people would like, they don’t affect gameplay. As a reminder, you can agree or disagree, but these are all opinionated, and just what i feel would need to be changed to make Halo 5 the perfect Halo game.
1: I feel like the overall gameplay could be slowed down. What separated Halo from other games, is that the player had different situations memorised in their head. A user can react to being shot and figure out how to avoid the situation with either tactical manoeuvres or a counter attack. In Halo 5 i feel as if the weapon fire rate has been increased, meaning there is less time to react and act upon a situation. This means the user cannot use as many tactics as they could have done before, meaning they cannot act in a situation where they are in danger, before being shot down wondering what just happened. This isn’t as serious as some other points, but it is something to consider.
2: I feel some weapons need to be fine tuned when firing. The BR fires 3 shots as if they’re single shots, i cannot differentiate one shot from 3. This is why myself and opponents die easier, making a kill less satisfying and tactical. And some weapons need to be nerved (I’m looking at you SMG). The way the game is designed though, is that AR and Magnum starts are perfect, so right now with the BR as it is, its too powerful and fast to kill, so theres little reason to head for power weapons.
3: I know this is quite a controversial subject in Halo, but ‘ADS’ or Smart Scope may need a change. I understand it still works like traditional Halo scope, and I’m actually fine with the changes. But weapons do make noticeable less spread in Halo 5 than there has been in previous Halo games, and many people in the Halo community do not like this. From a gameplay standpoint, if you’re in a firefight and someone fires at you from a long range and you’re descoped, you will have less of a chance to fight back due to the weapon spread being scattered, and the injured player would end up hiding until you can scope again. This is not the way Halo should be played, i believe if you’re skilled enough you should be able to fire descoped as you are scoped in, and this encourages the use of Smart Scope, and 343i said themselves, ‘if the player feels the need to be scoped in all the time, then we’ve broken the game’, though doing the less weapon spread in scope, means people will want to use it just to get more damage, instead of a better view.
4: More user options for the player. For example, Spartan Chatter is quite an easy change i think, just simply giving the user the ability to switch them off would make everyone completely fine about it, because they will be able to use them when there are no talking players, and then switch it off so they can hear actual contributing players. Another option could be killcams, some people would rather see how their team makes are doing in combat, instead of focusing on the way they died, so giving the users options to switch these off would make much more people favour multiplayer. This would mean the player would be able to see where their comrades are and help out when they return to the game. Speaking of returning to game, i hope that Halo 5 continues the user being able to select when they return to the game by the ‘press X to spawn’ option.
5: This is another thing i don’t mind too much, but many people do. The fact you tell all players where the weapons are with an icon on the HUD, encourages a sort of scram to get the weapons first. In one view this encourages a fight over power weapons, but on another viewing this means that there can just be someone who luckily gets there first, instead of the skilled players memorising where the weapon was on the map, and how to get to it. I think the narrator saying that the weapon has spawned is enough for hectic gameplay to fight to try find it, but the fact it tells you where it is, means players in a firefight just drop what they’re doing to run for the weapon.
6: Finally i think the spartan abilities could be lowered in power a bit. The most the Ground Pound should be able to do is drain shields. Since it gives the attacker a slight immobility, it gives the other player an actual chance to fight back even while shields are down, while still giving you an advantage as they have no shields to protect themselves with. And i feel as if the Thruster Pack should move the player a little less than it does, meaning theres more of a repercussion when a player makes a slip. I feel these balance out gameplay.
7: Finally, This is pretty much a nitpick about user friendliness than a gameplay aspect, but its still something that drastically changes the way someone uses the game. The 4 beep counter noises that occur before a match starts have been renown for Halo multiplayer since Halo CE need to be incorporated into Halo 5, since right now there are non. The beeps were always an indication of when the match begins, when you cant actually see the counter. For example, when you’re in the Armoury, as soon as you hear the beep noises you finish everything you’re doing in time, instead of being half way through changing something, a match starting unexpectedly can be frustrating for the user. Now i don’t know if its not featured because its only a beta, but it still needs to be added.
These are a few ways which i feel like Halo 5 could be changed just a bit. If these were to be changed, Halo 5 would end up being more tactical, more balanced, and better designed for the players. Thanks.