Before i begin the post. I want to say I very much enjoyed the Halo lore and story. I enjoyed the books, and comics, and sequence videos. Here is my opinion.
I was a huge fan of Halo 4’s story, not so much multiplayer and such, but thats neither here nor there. I’m disappointed that about 80% of the time, i’m not playing as the chief, instead i’m playing as what appears to be a bland military agent for a character, simply doing what he is told. With all of Halo 4’s flaws, including needing to know the extended fiction from the universe and not being able to explain it in game, Halo 4 had a great story about the Chief and Cortana, a more personal and emotional story along with a grand sci-fi adventure.
I wanted to dive more into how Chief has been going on without Cortana, whats that been like for him, how blue team has now been effected, and even dive into Blue Team as characters themselves and look more into their relationship as a family. nope, instead i get 10 missions as Locke who has proved to be 1 dimensional. I’m not interested at all in Locke, he is just doing what he is told, and shows no substantial change from the beginning of the story to the end. He is nether the protagonist we deserve or need. You would think Michael Bay had a hand in this story. (Sorry i’m not sorry for making a Michael Bay comment, the mans good with big action set pieces, but lacks character driven story, my opinion of course)
“But what about Halo 2?”
I enjoyed Halo 2, i actually was interested in the Arbiters story, and i got just enough game and story time with him and Chief, (excluding at the time, that cliffhanger of an ending) and i felt they actually handled the story and character of the Arbiter absolutely better then Locke.
With Halo 5, their was what, 3 missions as Blue Team out of 14? It may just be me, but i feel confident that every Halo lore fan, when they heard they were playing as Blue Team from Fall of Reach, it was very exciting, unfortunately the game makes little to no time giving Blue Team the proper time they deserve as characters we know and love from the extended fiction. For the most part, unless otherwise stated, when i play a Halo game, i’m playing with the knowledge and expectation of “I’m playing as the Chief for the most part, and the other character for some of the time.”
Maybe if they handled Locke better as a character, and devoted more time to Chief and Blue Team, it could of turned out better. Also tell the story the marketing team was clearly thinking we would get, instead of what we got in Halo 5. The Idea of Chief going rogue and playing with the Idea he was a possible traitor sounded like a way better idea for a story then what we actually got.
ex. I play uncharted to play the story of Nathan Drake, I play Tomb raider to play the story of Lara Craft, and i play Halo to play the story of the Master Chief. (Again if they want to add characters like they did in Halo 2, i’m completely okay with that, so long as it is a quality story and character and adds onto Chief’s story in a meaningful way.)
I’m sure some people will disagree, but this is what i rather see in Halo’s Campaign.
P.S. I do not want The writer who wrote Halo 5 again, sorry, but i don’t believe he is doing a good job writing for this franchise in particular.