Introduction: I’ll be honest, Halo 5 and Star Wars Battlefront were two of my most anticipated releases and being tight on funds I still managed to squeeze both games into my budget, now, after playing both games I am utterly disappointed in both 343 and Dice, two studios that know how to get things done yet what is put before me is a mass of crap under the disguise of a quality game. Both these companies need to get their heads back in the game. Therefore, the only complaint I will put forward is the single player, the primary reason I buy a Halo game. This is not an attempt to lowball any of the staff at the studio nor is it an attempt to insult the labor put into it. This is just how I honestly feel and I hope this is seen as a reasonable post from the reader’s perspective. Let’s begin…
General beef: What the heck is with the huge reuse of Warden Eternal in campaign? Once is enough and that fight sucked. The biggest kick in the rear was the hype train building up on an epic showdown between Locke and Chief, I had very high expectations of this encounter but when we finally have it 1, a cutscene steals the glory of that fight from the player and 2, it was so pathetic and short it left a real bad taste behind, there was no substance to match the hype train, c’mon really writers? Master Chief, who has been the series main character got demoted to a plot asset, I was not happy about that, not to mention Blue Team and their long overdue appearance into the video game media being nothing more than a plot asset is unacceptable in my opinion.
Regarding Osiris and Blue Team: The game essentially forced Osiris on the players, not like how Halo 2 introduced the Arbiter, we were treated to a very healthy dose of both assets. If you look at how the Osiris levels play and the Blue missions play there is a significant difference. For example, on Osiris missions you have the tracker which lights up nice lore rich recordings that help fill small plot points so you are encouraged to slow down as you move through the areas. With Blue team you have no such device, yes, you have recordings in those missions too but in all honesty does anyone really want to spend more than a reasonable amount of time trying to locate them? Chances are no, I’d rather just push forward and continue blasting meatbags and get to the next cinematic. Bare in mind I am speaking as if one is playing the game for the first time.
Conclusion: Bringing up Halo 2 again, there was accomplishment despite being left hanging, this game, there’s no satisfaction, not even the slightest. I get that Halo 5 is meant to lead into something bigger but the amount of “plot meat” here is the culmination of a novel, yes, a novel. I would have rather had this game be a book than a $60.00 download.
Desired improvement: Please consider implementing more player involved events such as what you did with Didact and his final moment(though minimal control it was) so we may feel the satisfaction of victory or at the minimum the satisfaction that our effort was not for nothing.
Bonus post regarding actually presenting valid complaints and just straight up mindless whining(This is copypasta from a post made in another thread that I’d thouht I’d include here with an apology at the end of it for past behavior): A complaint requires more than just a crappy phrase. I’ve made my one complaint and for some reason it got me banned but whatever, I still stand by it. But what also must be noted is that one can easily confuse complaining with straight up hate. I give 343 a ton of crap because I know they can do better than this and that itself should be a compliment. I give a crap about this series, if I didn’t I would say nothing and let it rot like a cesspool of death, so if anyone sees my posts try to bare this in mind. I do not attack the labor put into the game, that is unquestionable, anyone who knows anyone in the industry knows how much work is put into a project. But some of the command level decisions that were made for this game are extremely questionable, especially the marketing, gotta be careful with what you present to the public prior to launch, it builds the excitement and expectations and when you present one thing and get another that was not really even related to each other it can be seen as false advertising(though I wouldn’t worry about anyone suing cause they don’t have the balls or the time to deal with such a tedious process). I realize that I am only one individual or even just a number here but like I said, I say it because I care about the future and I want 343 to thrive because they did take up the mantle of an extremely successful series. But they should not rely on the Halo namesake for success, they need to create a game as if it’s the first Halo ever, go in with that mindset and you will got at your work strong. That’s my two cents, to all those who saw my pointless alcoholic influenced posts and wasted their time reading it, I apologize. You will never see that crap from me again.
Carry on.
~Sev