Honestly…I have very mixed feelings about this game. I am very indifferent. Overall, I am not impressed by the game, but I am not disappointed either. I have only played a few games mind you, but I feel that since I have been with this franchise since Halo CE, I feel entitled to my opinion. Frankly, some aspects of the game just annoy me or bewilder me, while other aspects can garner some approval. In general, the gameplay is not bad. It is pretty solid for a beta. I do have nitpicks, but most of them can be called minor. However, some things are just flat out annoying.
First the good:
-I like iron sight aiming. It makes AR starts more useful and appealing.
-I like the power sliding, thruster jumps, and the climbing. These things can make a world of difference when evading enemies.
-No loadouts and no BR starts. With the advent of iron sights, I feel that we can legitimize AR starts permanently.
Now the bad:
-The death song. This song is REALLY annoying. There is no need to have that stupid song play every time you die.
-The kill cams. These are also very annoying. Not sure when this started (either Halo Reach or Halo 4) but it should end with Halo 5. There are a million things more useful than a kill cam - such as the stats screen or a 3rd person cam of your team mates, or even a map showing players where everything is on the map. Anything but a kill cam. Make that 3-4 seconds worthwhile by providing us info. At the very least, give us the option to turn them off.
-The frag grenades selectively obey the laws of physics. I have seen grenades bounce off of three walls, while others have dropped like bricks. Either way, I see the former more than the latter, but above all else, they should be slightly less bouncy.
-The shield recharge times are horrendous. It takes somewhere in the ballpark of 10 to be combat ready. It takes too long to get back into the action, and increases incidental/opportunistic killing. I don’t play Halo to hide in cover.
-How can two people melee each other to death? Did 343 drop the tie breaker contingency? mutual melee deaths happen at an alarming rate. I can see it happening once in a while, but not every single time. I just find this kinda dumb and easily correctable.
-There seems to be no formula or algorithm to pair people up correctly. I have seen teams with serious skill gaps. On my first ever game, I was paired up with people who have played 19 games and won 3 (and that was the best stat on the team).
-No Dual wielding. As far as I am concerned, this was a dimension that was cut from the game for no good reason. A wasted opportunity to be totally honest.
-Frat Spartans…NO! The fist bumping simply looks dumb. Grand standing the way they do at the end of the match looks REALLY dumb. I would expect that from marines, and even ODSTs…but not Spartans. It looks silly and very out of place.
Even though the “bad” heavily outnumbers the good, I will not say that this is a bad game. Quite the opposite - I think Halo 5 has some pretty good mechanics, and it is a fine game in its present state. Perfect? No. Bad? No. Good? Yes.
The only real thing I truly hate about Halo 5 is how “fast” the game moves in contrast to how “slow” your shields recharge. Halo 5 is a noticeably faster game than any previous Halo, but they try to artificially slow it down by nerfing the shield recharge times. That is a big no-no as far as I am concerned. If you want a fast game, keep the action going at a steady pace.
Like I said, I have only started playing as of this afternoon, and I still getting use to a few things…but seriously…fix those shield recharge times. They are totally inconsistent with every previous Halo title…like…totally out of whack.