HALO 4/5 CAMPAIGN SPOILER ALERT
Dear Mrs. Ross,
I hope you find the time to read this letter, and if you do, thank you for doing so. Halo has become my favorite video game franchise, replacing Legend of Zelda. I wanted to pen you a letter, but after failing to find an address or e-mail to send it to, I decided to post it on the Halo Waypoint forums instead. In this letter I will be sharing my feelings of Halo 5 before, during, and after release with focus on campaign and mention of multiplayer. These are only my feelings, I cannot speak for the Halo community at large.
Pre-release
As a veteran who served in the Marine Corps, I identify with John 117 in a way that may be a bit silly. Nonetheless, I see in him the silent dedication that service members display through their actions while serving their country, and I also have a deep understanding of the sacrifices, frustrations, and sorrows that service entails. He’s my favorite video game character for that reason.
The ending of Halo 4 was the most powerful moment I have experienced in any game. John’s struggle to keep Cortana stable while fighting the Didact, Prometheans, and the Covenant remnants made Halo 4 my favorite campaign. The amazing experience of replaying Halo 4 over and over left me ready for the next game.
The marketing campaign for Halo 5 was an extraordinary experience. I envied those who experienced the “bees” marketing campaign for Halo 2 and I feel like now I have a similar experience with Halo 5. I read the books, I watched Halo Canon on YouTube, I built the Metal Earth models, I watched Halo Legends and The Fall of Reach, and of course, I gobbled up the amazing Hunt the Truth episodes like Halo noobs gobble up rocket blasts.
Reception of Halo 5
After getting a taste in the beta, I knew I would love the new mechanics. Whereas before I felt like a guy with a strong energy shield, Spartan abilities make me feel like a roided super soldier linebacker beast crusher. Halo 5 retains core game play mechanics while moving them forward in a brilliant way. But honestly I didn’t buy Halo 5 for that; I bought it because I wanted to experience the next chapter in John and Cortana’s story.
After I beat the game, my initial reaction was that it was underwhelming. I wanted more of John, to understand what he was thinking and to play as him more, to see him interact with other characters, and more of Blue Team. I felt that John, Kelly, Linda, and Fred were not explored enough in the game. My favorite Blue Team moment was when they decided to join Chief on his quest, and Fred says something along the lines of “They can’t court martial all of us.” Hilarious, I wanted more of that. I also liked when Blue Team reached the planet where the Guardians were gathering and they talked about how Halsey would be able to figure out where they were by looking at the stars.
FT Osiris was great, and much to my surprise, I ended up really liking Spartan Locke and Vale. I’ve always liked Buck. And Tanaka seems like an amazing strong woman something I’m proud to see 343i putting into video games because we lack that so much right now. Vale’s knowledge of Sangheili language and culture was an interesting thing to see in a Halo game, and I really enjoyed it.
I would have liked to see the “charachter traits” differ more and feel more dynamic. Blue Team’s characters are legends in certain regards, Kelly being fast, Linda being a sharpshooter, Fred being excellent at CQB, and John just being a general badass. The characters of BT and FT Osiris ended up feeling largely the same with different, though cool, HUDs. I can imagine changing them too much would throw game balance off, but I think there could be more done there. I really liked having a squad, it made sense in this game, and I really enjoyed Halo 5 campaign gameplay.
The Warden fights were very cool because boss fights is something Halo has flirted with in the past and this more closely resembled one. Though the 2x and 3x Warden fights make sense lore-wise, the game play ended up being a bit repetitive and I felt like more could be done there. Perhaps him gaining different abilities as you progress in the game or a more dynamic stage. But don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed fighting the Warden it was a nice change of pace.
The philosophical battle between following orders and doing what is right that I thought was going to occur between Locke and John never materialized. I felt that Locke’s hunt quickly turned into a support mission for Blue Team instead, and the only battle that occurred between them was a quick fist fight. I wanted to see a cool battle where you have to fight FT Osiris with Blue Team or even vice versa.
Lastly, Cortana’s role was disappointing at first but great by the end of the campaign. I felt that bringing her back was anticlimactic after her death at the end of Halo 4. However, I like that the AI servants have now become the masters in the Halo universe. Cortana’s motives are frighteningly reasonable. The ending cut scene left me ready to see what else she does in coming Halo games, but ultimately the campaign felt a bit flat.
Post launch
Diving into multiplayer in Halo 5 has been a fun and rewarding experience. I am largely a casual player that enjoys coop and single player content. So warzone had me playing Halo 5 a ton. Once Spartan Company support came out I quickly joined a group and was playing with tons of friends. After daily REQ packs became awards for arena and warzone, I found myself playing arena more often. Grifball is perfect for me to avoid arena game play that is honestly not for me but get those arena REQ points in another way.
Warzone Firefight coming has me very interested because I really enjoy PvE game play in any game. HCS and the recent NA Championship in Columbus was a ton of fun. Halo 5 is the most versatile MP experience I have this gen and it’s going to keep me playing for years. The monthly update support from 343i is unmatched in our industry. I appreciate the hard work and I enjoy spending money on REQs and merchandise to keep the support coming.
I would love to have some more story content. I believe it’s been discussed before that 343i is not looking to do story DLC but that’s really what I want, even some Spartan Ops style missions would work. I will continue to pick up new books and hope for any TV series or movie projects to move forward.
In closing, the purpose of this letter was mostly for me to share with you and your team my experience and to truly say thank you for Halo 5. I love this game and I love being a part of the Halo community. Thank you and your team for being an exception to today’s industry standard of charging for new content. Thank you for honoring our fellow Halo gamer’s tragic loss with wonderful in game content. Thank you for all the funny videos teasing new content and all the live streams. I can only hope you know that for every vocal community member that has a grievance with Halo 5 there are several happy customers who are enjoying grifball and eagerly awaiting the next monthly update.
Semper fi,
Arturo Lemos
