So. I beat the Campaign the other day. Not sure what to think. Did the advertising lie to us? Hmm. I suppose it did a little bit. But putting that aside, I won’t use that as reason to view Halo 5 negatively.Overall I quite like it. But it has its flaws.
So, what did Halo 5 do right? Well, between the new abilities and the squad combat, the gameplay of H5’s campaign was a nice change of pace, and for some, a well needed breath of fresh air. I liked the Squad combat overall, as it allowed for situations and environments we couldn’t quite experience in past Halos. But, part of me did miss those personal moments. And I’m not necessarily referring to that in the sense that I always want my character to be alone. But think back to encounters in past games. The moment during the Silent Cartographer when you turn the corner of that one Hallway inside that forerunner structure and the Zealot comes charging at you. That was a very one on one moment that couldn’t quite exist in the world of squad combat. In the future, it would be cool to see a bit of both in Campaign. Having some missions with a team, and others designed for a lone player environment like past Halos. Looking at enemies. I think the Soldiers were a smart addition. More of an Elite equivalent, while the Knights were upgraded to mini bosses. I think it worked out well. Makes the Knights seem more bada**. And Speaking of Bosses. I think Warden Eternal made for a very cool boss. I suppose he could be considered the newest boss style enemy addition we’ve had since H2.
How did H5 deal with its characters? Did Chief or Lock really benefit from having friends around all the time? (From a story/character perspective, that is)
Well. I consider Team Osiris to be a wasted effort. And I don’t even mean that in an insulting way. By the end of the story, I didn’t feel much attachment to them. Probably because I, like many others wanted to see more Chief, the main character of the story. I respect Locke as a character. And I love Buck. But Osiris needed their own space to breath. It was easier to get attached to Buck’s ODST team and Noble Team because going into the experience we knew the game didn’t revolve around Chief, and solely revolved around those two new groups of characters. Made it easier to care about them. But in the end, Osiris means very little to me. Blue Team also didn’t fair much better. We didn’t go to deeply into the other members of Blue Team. But perhaps this is less hurtful to them as a group. They’re other Spartan 2’s. What would you expect? They’re straight to the point, and get the job done. They’re family. Chief’s personal upbringing was the same as theirs. But in the end. Having them around would be nice in the future. But not quite so mandatory 100% of the time. But take note: 343 has clearly considered Squads returning for H6. In fact, they ended H5 with a setup for H6’s 4 man squad. Chief, Locke, Palmer, and Arbiter all untied in one place against one enemy. Right there is H6’s four man squad, should they choose to bring that back.
What about the major plot points of Halo 5? Were there some issues?… Yes. There were some.
Overall. I think the biggest issue with H5’s plot wasn’t the direction itself, but the fact that it did little to build off of the direction Halo 4 seemed to be pointing us in. What exactly am I talking about? Let’s take a look backwards for a moment. The Reclamation. Humanity’s journey to reclaim what the Forerunner’s left behind. The Librarians plans for humanity. Chief’s “accelerated evolution”. The Didact believing that nothing good will come of Humanity’s journey to ascend as the rulers of the Galaxy. The Composer and the Promethean Knights being AI’s made from organics. The future of Chief’s journey in a world without Cortana. All major plot points the player was left to think about after completing Halo 4. Halo 5 did little to progress along the path of anything I just mentioned. At all. Nothing further elaborating the accelerated evolution. Nothing being Reclaimed by humanity at all. The Librarian and her plans are maybe mentioned once or twice but are regarded as if they no longer really matter. And are the Promethean’s still relevant? The Composer? The Didact? And let’s not forget that they kind of 180ed on letting Cortana die. If they always planned on her return, then they wouldn’t have made her death so dramatic. I think they just changed their minds, honestly. Now, you could argue that some of this did sort of come up in H5. If the Knights are composed beings doomed to eventually go corrupt and Rampant, then siding with Cortana would make sense to them, as she has access to the Domain. But I’m not really sure where things will go from where they leave off.
And what of Warden Eternal? What is he? Where did he come from? Why is he even around? Who created him? Is he actually a composed Forerunner who is using Cortana to reclaim the Forerunner might and power before the humans have a chance? (I doubt this theory holds true. Just tossing out ideas). I was secretly hoping that the whole AI army plot point would eventually lead us into the introduction of Mendicant Bias into the story. Alas. He is no where to be found. Maybe in Halo 6. It would really make some of the weirder elements of H5 worth it if it led us into MB showing up.
Overall, I think Halo 5’s story wasn’t as bad as some people think. It just felt very out of the blue and didn’t feel like it built much off of where Halo 4 seemed to be taking us. Also. Not enough Chief. I think we were all hoping for more self-reflection and personal moments with Chief. I wanted more conflict between Chief following Cortana, and Blue Team being hesitant because they didn’t have the attachment to Cortana Chief did. And maybe the game lost the “Hunt the Truth/Team Rivalry” vibe after the Locke v Chief cutscene, which kind of made people a little upset. But on a related note I really like the Chief v Locke cutscene. Very intense.