While I really enjoyed the Halo 5 beta, it did not have a Halo feel. In this
thread I’m going to describe why it didn’t feel like Halo to me without even
touching the gameplay elements of the game.
First of all, the sound effects in the Halo 5 beta all contained high
frequency pings and beeps and they were very annoying. I always loved the
classic shield recharge sounds and the sound you heard when your shield were
down. I would like to suggest 343i to change the current shield sounds to
something more similar to the classic shield sounds, they played an important
part of giving me a Halo feel, it may sound stupid but that’s just the way I
feel and I’m probably not alone on this.
Secondly, the announcer has been auto tuned too much. In the Halo games
before Halo 4 he sounded a bit more relaxed and less exagerrated. I would
like 343 to make the announcer less auto tuned and less exagerrated to make
him sound more similar to the classic announcer. He always sounded cool and I
really miss the classic announcer, his sound in H1, H2, H3 and Halo Reach
didn’t change much and made him an important part of Halo. The way he
announced things became an iconic part of Halo and it should return in Halo
5.
I have to say that 343 is very good in making a game look good in terms of
graphics but there is something that is really turning me off with the
graphics in Halo 5. The problem with the graphics in Halo 5 is that 343 made
everything really shine and/or bright which really makes the game look
generic which is a really bad thing. A game that looks less generic and more
unique immediately creates a better mood and feel to a game. When a game
looks generic I mean it doesn’t look special or unique enough to stand out
even when the gameplay is very different. My suggestions is reduce the shine
a lot on a lot of objects and add more details and colors to them. The art
needs to stand out more and this can be done by reducing the shine on a lot
of objects and giving them more color and details. There are also some areas
that are either too bright or too dark, this is probably because it was a
beta but 343 needs to make sure this is fixed in the full game.
The sun was really too bright in the Halo 5 beta which caused disadvantages
in gunfights which is a very bad thing in Halo. I understand it looks good
but it interfers with the gameplay which is a bad thing and to be honest, I
and a lot of Halo fans rather see some beautiful skyboxes instead of a bright
sun blinding us when we look at the sky.
The match ending animations are also making the game look totally different
from Halo and make the game look kinda childish. The moment I saw it I
disliked it. It just does not fit Halo at all and should be removed from the
game entirely. It makes the game look really unserious which is something
Halo absolutely isn’t.
The killcams should also be removed from the game. When we died in previous
Halo games (except Halo 4) we would see our teammates and could help them by
giving callouts. With the killcams we barely have a chance to do that because
it takes time to skip them and they are very inaccurate making them kinda
annoying to watch.
Something minor I would like to see return is the classic match countdown
sounds you hear when the match is about the start. It’s just a minor thing
that immediately reminds me of Halo.
Overall the weapon designs in Halo 5 look good but there are some things I
would like to see changed. The Rocket Launcher is the first and most obvious
one that needs a change. The current design makes the Rocket Launcher look
very generic, it is a bland green tube that is in no way similar to the
classic and iconic Rocket Launcher design from previous Halo games. It would
have been much better if it was the classic two pipe design with a smartscope
on it.
The Sniper Rifle in Halo 4 was a significant change from the classic one we
had in every Halo game till Halo 4. It became bigger but it still looked in
my opinion. The design in Halo 5 though is a worse version of the one in Halo
4. The weapon lost it’s metal look and blue scope and now looks like a washed
out version of the Halo 4 Sniper Rifle. When you zoom in, the scope is very
cluttered which is something I would like to see changed.
The BR looks pretty good but why is the yellow stripe almost dark grey like
the entire weapon and why is the scope rounded instead of being a bit more
like the Halo 4 BR? The Halo 4 BR design is my favorite and I would like to
see the Halo 5 BR design to become more similar to it.
The magnum looks like a weak pistol and doesn’t appeal to me that much. It
should be a bit bigger like the one in Halo Reach or Halo 4. The magnum is
one of the most iconic Halo weapons and I definitely would like to see a more
similar design to the classic magnum in the full game.
Overall the weapon design are not bad but they do lack details and colors.
They need to look similar to the previous variants we had in other Halo games
and need to have a more appealing and less generic look but adding more color
and detail to them.
The final thing I would like to see changed to make Halo 5 feel more like Halo is a removal of the delay on using Smartscope. I understand why it was there but it’s annoying to have a delay on zooming in while we didn’t have this in previous Halo games. Being able to immediately zoom in was a great aspect of Halo, especially on the power weapons such as the Rocket Launcher and the Sniper Rifle. This will also allow 343 to use the RS button again as the zooming button which fits Halo much better. 343 can just use the Halo 4 controller scheme as the default one and it will immediately will feel more like Halo because the controls are much better and tighter.
I hope this thread explains why Halo 5 despite the fun gameplay doesn’t feel enough like Halo and I hope 343 reads this and will hopefully use this feedback to make Halo 5 a better game and will make it feel more like Halo.