Halo 5 has received a huge amount of criticism since its release and I just really wanted to give my two cents on the game, mostly the campaign. Normally I don’t really share my opinion in the forums or anything like that. To start, I have no problems with the multiplayer, to me the gameplay is as close to perfect as Halo has been in a long time without repeating the same old formula which I know so many people have been screaming 343i should go back to (I don’t agree with that but I’ll keep why to myself). Sure, there’s a few decisions I don’t particularly agree with like withholding gametypes and giving us a much smaller amount of maps than we would have if they gave us map packs, but all those decisions have been made and people have voiced their opinions constantly on the forums (if 343i is listening I’m sure they got the memo by now, you can stop writing the same topic over and over). My only real problem was the campaign.
I’m a huge Halo lore fan and I think the only thing that got me into Halo in the first place (I got in a little late, my first Halo was Reach) was the story. I played Halo 3 and while I didn’t get everything, I was hungry for more. So naturally I bought Halo 2 (which was playable on my 360) and 3 and went and saw a CE walkthrough on YouTube. First time I played CE was when anniversary showed up. I spent more time reading the Halo novels and comics than actually studying for school. When Halo 4 came out, I felt like a minority when I said that Halo 4 was my favorite campaign. Halo 4 had its issues but I was less affected by them than most people (those who love repeating Halo is dead). While Halo 4 did not have the most fun campaign to play, it was for me, the best one story wise. Not only because they added expanded universe stuff, but also the character development, especially Cortana’s and to a lesser extent John’s was amazing. Halo 4’s story did one error, it expected everyone to have knowledge of the expanded universe and so it talked about forerunners, the Didact, geas and the Librarian as if everyone had any idea what they were talking about. But as someone who took the time to read the books and comics, I felt as if I was being rewarded for doing that. With that, I was hoping Halo 5 would continue with that but at the same time it would be more inclusive to those with less knowledge of the expanded universe. Halo 5 did not only not continue to include the expanded lore, but at the same time destroyed or under used many things from it.
Halo 5 to me was fun, the campaign was fun but it was not perfect and to be 100% honest, I only repeat the missions on Sanghelios because those were the most fun to me and the only ones I can replay without feeling bored. Halo 5 not only wasted the opportunity to make true on its marketing (Hunt the Truth), which I now see was only a hype inducer for fans, but it also completely destroyed any change to follow up on the Escalation comics (which followed up on Spartan Ops and besides the art being sorta not good in the first 20 issues, was really good) or use any of the elements they set up in Halo 4, Escalation and the Forerunner books. Chief’s accelerated evolution? The Didact surviving and then dying again? The Janus keys? The Absolute Record?
343 Guilty Spark being alive?The Bornstellar Didact?
The Librarian maybe being alive??Let’s get out the easy stuff first: Halo 5’s campaign was only a little fun to play. The only major fun I had were like I said, the Sanghelios bits. The rest, even the parts with Blue Team, the fun wears of in like the second replay. The levels were designed amazingly and everything, but it felt exactly like Halo 4’s last parts, just shoot and go from point A to B. Even Halo 4 (at first) made you feel like you were doing something more than that (disable the gravity anchor, protect the marines, warn infinity, etc). Halo 5 only gave us a few moments that were fun like those (save the Arbiter, stop the Kraken, save Halsey, help the Arbiter with Sunaion, etc) and guess what, those were Osiris missions. While I have many reasons why I think Osiris is one of the best additions Halo has made to its lore, I’m disappointed in the way they were handled. (Here’s a link about a review of Fireteam Osiris, I read it and mostly agree with it and thought it deserves to be shared: What I Liked About Halo 5's Story - haruspis ) Halo 5 did nothing to expand on their personalities and build character. The only thing we got was a few things on Buck (which doesn’t count since we already knew about his character) and a few things about Vale knowing Sangheili. That was it. They made Cortana’s sacrifice look stupid and undramatic and they wasted characters like Jul M’dama. For ways they could have used Jul M’dama better (and more) I give a link to anyone who is interested: https://haruspis.wordpress.com/2015/12/10/halo-5-a-compendium-of-lies/ . I just feel that Halo 5 lacked the emotional impact that Halo 4 gave me. Remember Cortana’s little ‘’I’ll never know if it looks real, if it feels real’’ speech about Requiem’s sun? Or Master Chief’s and Lasky’s heart to heart in Halo 4’s ending cut scene? Or the Didact’s speech at the very end of Halo 4? They even misused characters that could eventually become a bigger part of the Halo story, like Lasky and Palmer, which I hope have bigger roles in Halo 6.
After some digging I realized who Halo 5’s lead writer was, someone which I was already mad at for destroying the Didact in Escalation issue #10 even if he could have been used better in a future game. The premise of this new Halo saga was the Forerunners right? I feel like the only thing this person has written that I can enjoy was Spartan Ops and Halo 4’s terminals (which I loved). Here’s more info on this person’s contributions on the Halo series and some opinions which I mostly agree with: http://ndas-sraom.tumblr.com/post/136336065343/haruspis-volcanicexpression-haruspis-just
I mean, I have so many more things I could say but I honestly think that it can all be expressed in those three links I shared. I just want to know, anyone feel the same, have some things to say about the campaign, story wise? I just wanted to give my thoughts on the whole thing. I know one thing though, I’ll probably won’t be as excited for Halo 6’s story unless I read that they give someone else a chance to continue the story, someone like Joseph Staten (one can dream) or anyone near his caliber. Might as well bring in Chris Schlerf (Halo 4’s lead writer) back. If anyone knows how to continue his story or at least make a better attempt at it, it’s himself.
TLDR: Halo 4 had a more emotional story than Halo 5 did and I wish they would bring that back for 6. Also, none of the links I shared are written by me, I just agree with a lot of the things said in them and was better than making this wall of a post even longer.