I decided recently I would get back into playing Halo 5 regularly, after a two year hiatus. My favorite game mode is and always will be Warzone Firefight. I love the req system, I love playing cooperatively to take down enemies and the big baddies.
However, my return to Warzone Firefight has soured both my opinion of this game and the studio as a whole. Done correctly, Firefight can be some of the most fun you’ll have on a Halo title. Halo has always had a good reputation of tough but fair AI, but in this title it is anything but. Time after time I have been killed inexplicably by an enemy that has never one-shotted me before, or by a unit shooting me with its back turned.
I don’t make these claims without proof. I have in my Xbox recordings 3 instances just today that shows clear evidence that this game’s AI isn’t just tough, it cheats. The cheating is what I take offense to. I’m all for AI that forces you to think and act tactically, cooperate as a team, and manage powerful requisitions. What I don’t enjoy is getting requisitions only to be one-shotted by a Hunter elder facing the opposite way, or Warden Eternal eye-lasering me from across the map. There are no methods of defending yourself no matter how high your skill is, and it cheapens the experience for everyone.
In closing I’d just like to say that I’m really enjoying being back but 343i needs to try harder to get back to what Halo was. Tough, rewarding, but most of all – fair.