So it seems like there’s been an argument about whether the mechanics of Halo 5 water down the gameplay, and make it more random/easy, ever since some people saw the game. I’m a long time Halo player as you can see in my service record, played literally every game beginning with HaloCE when I was a Sophomore in high school, and I think Halo 5’s Spartan Abilities add a lot of depth to the gameplay.
For example, I’ll hear people complain about thrusters, and how they randomize engagements. Here’s an example of the thruster being used well, and not randomly at all. Snipedown is trying to kill a guy soda stairs, who’s trying to bait him into Snakebite who’s waiting to clean him up with a storm rifle. Now according to some people the storm rifle is extremely overpowered and Snipedown should have zero chances of success because it has “insane range” and does “OP dmg”. Snipedown thrusts back and gets a nice headshot to win that engagement. In past games, literally all you’d be able to do in that situation would be strafe and shoot, however in Halo 5 there are a number of options available to outplay your opponent, even against powerful weps like the storm rifle.
People complain about sprint and clamber pretty much nonstop. Here’s a spot in that same game, and another where combo’s of the new Spartan Abilities allow an experienced, knowledgeable player like Snipedown the ability to move waaay faster around the map than worse players. Those two clips alone incorporate most of the new Spartan Abilities, and in some creative way. If you’ll watch the gameplay, high level players like Snipedown don’t run around the map sprinting everywhere. Its usually used off spawn to get to a point, and then used rarely, typically in short bursts to get to another position. Some very aggressive players like Ninja sprint more often, but the vast majority don’t play like that. In past games all we’d be able to do is run and jump, in H5 a player who knows how to move around the map and take full advantage of his Spartan Abilities has TONS of movement options. There are constantly buttons to press, combo’s to execute, and ways to use your cunning to outplay opponents.
As someone who didn’t play a whole hell of a lot of Halo Reach or 4 due to my feelings about those games being watered down, I can totally understand peoples feelings towards Halo 5; I just feel like people judged it too early, were heavily influenced by bias/nostalgia, and never really gave it a chance. Does anyone else remember the threads on this forum, and the youtube video’s that had the most terrible arguments like “sprint will slow the gameplay down because everyone will run from engagements!” Or my personal favorite, “clamber ruined crouch jumping and trick jumping in H5 has no skill!” Most of the clamber jumps in Halo 5 incorporate crouch jumping, and the depth of trick jumping in Halo 5 is waaaay more intense than any other game in the franchise. I’ve also played with tons of people who are generally not good at the game, and instead of owning up to it, and saying “damn I did the least dmg that game, and have <40% accuracy, I need to work on my shot”, they blame spawns, lag, or their “useless teammates” who “never cover their back”. Not being good at the game is fine, I’m not trying to say that everyone who doesn’t like Halo 5 is bad, but many people complain about things like spawns while having very little knowledge of how the spawns actually work. There are a lot of changes in Halo 5, and I think many players would rather complain about those changes, even if the changes are positive, rather than adapt and take a critical look at their own gameplay.
I’m not trying to say that Halo 5 is the perfect game, but sprint, clamber, slide, stabilizing, ground pounding, and thrusting have added a lot of depth to the gameplay. These updates combined with the HaloCEish feeling precision weps make the game truly feel like Halo 15 years later. Watching a new person play Halo 5 and then watching someone like Frosty or Snipedown really puts into perspective how high the skill ceiling is in Halo 5. The gameplay may feel “random” if you’re making mistakes and using your abilities wrong, but its not very random for high level players. Just ask CLG and E6, apparently they’ve figured something out.
343i has done something really cool with Halo 5, and I hope not much changes in the gameplay dept for Halo 6, because its great.