After seeing the Halo 5 (Halo Xbox One) trailer at E3, I got pretty excited. I’ll admit my initial thoughts of Master Chief in a cloak were not too positive, I’ve grown to love the idea and the trailer. In fact, I think it was a pretty fantastic trailer. But that’s the trailer. The game’s the important part. Halo 4 was good, but plenty disagree. I think it’s an amazing game. I can understand why competitive players didn’t like it, but it could have been so much worse. That was it’s downfall. 343 talked so much about making the game good for anyone and there’s no problem with that. The problem was they didn’t make it enjoyable for everyone. They focused too much on the new players. And there is a way it could have worked. I’ll tell you how later on. This is a complete guide. Practically every aspect of the game will be included. Some of these will be fixes but some will be next gen features.
The Main Menu
Yes, when I said every aspect, I pretty much meant it. I’ll start here because it’s the first thing you see when you play the game. Starting with the image, I think this is something 343 got right. All it has to be is space. But what would be cool is to show of the gorgeous visuals in the menu. Make an outer space vista that players will stay in the menu’s to see.
The music. This really got on my nerves in Halo 4. Atonement is neither classic Halo or worth listening to. I find myself trying to get out of the menu as fast as I can just to spare my ears from listening to. The only song on the main menu suite worth stopping for is green and blue. But enough about Halo 4. In Halo 5 I need the old monk chants. The biggest issue with Halo 4’s menu suite is that it doesn’t tell you “This is a Halo game”. There should also be a sad piece like Never Forget - preferably orchestral rather than piano like Green and Blue. Also an action piece like Farthest Outpost or the Halo theme. You know you’ve got it right when you stop at the menu and sit there for 10 minutes taking in the music. I’ve done that to every Halo game except Halo 4.
Lastly in this section is the UI. In the Halo 4 main menu there’s no issue here. In Halo CEA it was ridiculously sensitive though. But what about multiplayer lobbies. Halo 4 was different and I appreciate that, but the player cards took up way too much space. I suggest taking up something like this - https://forums.halowaypoint.com/yaf_postsm2159547_Halo-4-UI-Design-Concept.aspx
Maybe have a little less detail or press a button to display details. All this being said, the UI doesn’t make or break the game.
Campaign
The campaign in Halo 4 was an area of the game almost everyone liked. The story is always most important and 343 managed to have a fresh story but keep a Halo feel. However, there is always room for improvement. One big thing for me is an open exploration feel like in Halo CE’s second mission. There hasn’t been something like that in a Halo game since, and that’s kinda disappointing. With the Xbox One’s power, 343 should be able to make the biggest Halo sandbox ever. IGN recently had an interview with Bungie’s Jason Jones. His biggest Halo regret was that the campaign was not replayable enough. I can understand where he’s coming from. But what if you could explore maps. What if you could take several routes. E.g. you could take the warthog across the land or go through a tunnel and meet your enemies In close quarter combat. That’s using the Halo sandbox and also a reason to replay. But I don’t want an open world Halo. Instead I want a Halo where some missions are very open and explorable and others are quite linear in corridors. Also, I don’t want an RPG. No upgradable Chief. There have been rumours about RPG elements and if they’re true then 343 have got to make a change.
Skulls should be found in the game. Again, it’s about making the game replayable. On the subject of skulls, make the IWHBYD skull do something. In Halo 4 it did nothing.
I know it’s quality over quantity, but I prefer to say “quality and quantity over quality over quantity” If the game can be made longer but remain just as good, then be sure to make it longer. Boss battles would also be very welcome.
Last point on the campaign is on Master Chief. Firstly, I think Halo 4 is the limit for the number of words for Master Chief. If he speaks more, then it doesn’t fit his character. In Halo 5, I expect him to speak less since he’s going to be sad after the ending of Halo 4. Also, what happened to his Halo 2 one liners? “Tell that to the covenant” and whatnot? Lines that are so memorable and make Chief seem epic. They were nearly completely missing in Halo 4.
Guns
Halo 4 introduced a lot of new guns, but also took out a few. Most noticeably the SMG and Brute shot. For me, Halo 5 should have every Halo gun except ones that were not well received like that Needler Rifle thingy from Reach. The guns that the fans liked should all be there, as well as a few new ones. About, the new ones though. I’d love to see unique weapons. Rather than making it an equivalent of a human weapon, make it completely fresh. Like the needler. A gun that fired needles that explodes is only in Halo and more guns like that would be awesome. And because I’m nice, here’s a list of weapons needing to return.
- Plasma Rifle: I know it was replaced by the storm rifle but variety is a nice thing to have and I’d love both.
- SMG - Seriously 343, if you only bring back one, make it this one. Or use the silenced one to make it differ to the SAW or AR
- Brute Shot or Grenade launcher (Both if your feeling nice)
- Flamethrower (Maybe reduce the killtimes though)
- Mauler
- Spike grenade and firebomb
- Sentinel Beam
- Spiker
- Missile pod
That’s 9 weapons. Get busy!
Probably the most requested feature out of everything though is Duel wielding. Why that was ever removed just confuses me. It has to return. Please 343.
Vehicles
I feel like this one could be becoming too much to ask for but this is the perfect Halo we’re talking about, so of course it’s going to be hard work to make. Firstly, boats. This is something Bungie wanted and had concept art for and by the power of next gen would certainly by possible. I know it would be tough to make though and I wouldn’t mind waiting till Halo 6 for them.
http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/halo-wish-list-16.jpg
Then we have Promethean vehicles. A must for me. They have weapons, so why not vehicles. I would say 4 vehicles for them. An air vehicle, a tank, a small vehicle like the ghost and a boat if aquatic combat’s in the game. As well as those we have a list of vehicles that should return:
- Spectre/Revenent: The humans get a warthog. Feels kind of racist the covenent don’t get anything similar
- Hornet/Falcon: I can’t say anything that hasn’t been said a million times by others. This has to be in Halo 5.
- Brute Chopper
- Driveable Mammoth in multiplayer (Including the Flip message easter egg!)
I’m almost out of characters so I’ll finish here. This is only the single player part. I’ll do the “Infinity” section in a few days. When it’s done I’ll link it. Feel free to leave suggestions or correct and grammar since I haven’t got a chance to proof read it. Thanks for reading.