Hi, Before I get into this I feel like I need to try and repel the fan boys beforehand and preface this by saying that I’ve been a Halo fan since I played Combat Evolved on the OG Xbox when i was like 5 lol, and I was instantly hooked, I’ve logged a ridiculous amount of hours in every Halo game over the years across 2 accounts ( plus the OG Xbox on Combat Evolved and H2C.) so I’m not some filthy casual who’s just complaining. I wanted to actually make a detailed list of What I dislike about Halo 5 and what I hope 343 does better in Halo: Infinite. Some of this will have been fixed already (art style, story elements are already confirmed fixed obviously but I’d like to discuss anyway.)
1: ART STYLE- Okay, so obviously we’ve already been shown Chiefs Armor for Infinite at E3 a month or so ago and oh my god it’s so damn good. I think it’s a perfect mix of the Bungie art style and their own flair added to it, and I’m absolutely excited to see what they can do with other armor, and it looks like Chief had a Reach-Style Assault Rifle which is my absolute favorite as well. There are some things I like about what 343 has done ( in Halo 4 how everytime Chief moved his armor cracked and crinkled was super satisfying, Halo 1 and 2 remasters, etc.) but the art style overall is not one of them, everything looks way too Bulky and shiny yet made of plastic. Also, nothing in the game seems to have any wear and tear to it, everything looks absolutely pristine and that’s why it bothers so many people.
2: ARMOR- now, I will say that there are a couple decent looking helmets that 343 has made, but the majority of armor in Halo 5 looks awful. They look way over Designed, Bulky, Chunks of plastic, like I just said, but it also sounds like plastic every time you take a step, and what is with the awful colors? This is the most colors we’ve had to choose from, yet due to the Art style and pristine condition armor, everyone walks around looking like Power Rangers with the juicy filter turned on.
3: Story/Characters- Okay, So I thought I remember seeing something about how they had to Rewrite the story midway through development or something, idk if that’s true or not, but can 343i not hire some people who know what they’re doing to write even a decent story? Halo 4 was alright, it had an interesting in depth view at Chief and Cortana’s relationship, it had IMO the best cortana model(H2A is a very close 2nd.) and I loved the new Warthog models. Chief had a few cool one liners and Steve Downes absolutely killed the Voice acting like usual. Fast forward to Halo 5 and if you didn’t read the books, play Spartan Ops in H4, or watch “What happened between Halo 4 and Halo 5” Videos on Youtube, the story would feel like the 4th act in a 5 part story. The armor went from kinda cumbersome in H4 to Comically oversized in H5, and the whole “Chief Vs. Locke” story was capped off by a horrible scripted, sloppy looking fight, Chief ended up winning in the end but they made it way too close of a fight than it should have been, I know Gen2 armor is meant to help make up for the spartan-IVs Weaker Augmentations, but not only is a Spartan-II SIGNIFICANTLY stronger than a IV, but last I checked they still also wore Mjolnir armor, there’s simply no way that even with a better Suit that a IV could give a II that much of a fight, especially THE GREATEST SPARTAN-II EVER. Especially how both Chief and Locke were throwing the most ridiculously slow and ineffective Punches I’ve ever seen, just trash. it was an absolute spit in the face that Chief and Blue team had like 4 missions and we were forced to play as Osiris, who had one good character (Buck, big shocker that the Not- New guy is the best.) Locke kinda grew on me towards the end but Vale just seemed like a moody teenager in a way and Tanaka was absolutely, by far, the worst character in Halo history. Forget Palmer, forget Del Rio from H4, 343 tried to write her as the badass “lol guys look im a girl but I’m one of you” stereotypes and it was forced and awful. She was a horribly Cringey character with awful Dialogue. So it’s good that 343 said it’s mostly about Chief in Infinite, I would love to see Buck and Chief team up, MAYBE Locke if they do it right. Also the elites look clunkier than Brutes but I’m running out of space so screw it you get the point.
4: GAMEPLAY/REQ SYSTEM/MAPS- okay so this should be a touchy subject, but I didn’t really start playing Halo 5 until a few months ago because of everything I’ve mentioned so far and this, while the Aiming Down Sights grew on me, the Sword zoom feature is stupid and seems inconsistent, and INFECTION is absolutely trash, Regular Infection is fine but that absolutely AWFUL Contingency game mode can die in a hole, other than the ADS Feature, I absolutely hate. Hate. HATE. The overall gameplay for halo 5. I know they designed it with the help of some MLG players, And it shows, I understand that playing a game 4 years after it’s release is asking for trouble but come on, I can’t stand Sweaty, Try hard gameplay. It literally triggers me. I’ve never been a great player, but I’ve always considered myself decent at least, and I’ve always been able to at least hold my own, Reach was my Ish. (Lost my OG account though which still triggers me.) but the Sprinting, boosting, climbing crap just brings out the annoying G-fuel kids who play like they’re getting a Million dollars per kill, who boost, slide and jump spam and have every Pixel of every map memorized with every cheap trick and exploit perfected. You can’t play H5 casual or solo, all of the “Casual” modes in the social playlist are not fun to play and filled with low life try hards just Pub stomping for the laughs, and arena has all of the fun game modes but are ranked with Super Sweats and Smurf accounts, and the maps have horrible spawns and look/flow awful (Regret, I’m looking at you.) Infinite needs to have playlists more like OG Halo. Now the REQ System, Armor shouldn’t be in REQ packs. Period. There’s no reason to have 40 visors that each have 2-3 similar visors with SLIGHT differences in secondary colors, or over 200 different sets of armor when only a handful don’t look stupid, just to sell packs. I shouldn’t have to open hundreds of Packs to get the ONE piece of armor or gun that I want just because RNG, instead of earning it. It’s not satisfying at all. And Quality over quantity is extremely important with Armor, now what I DO like is the different, Cool weapon Variants that the REQ system allows. Needler Hog? Hell yeah. Spanker prime? Sign me up. Gavel? You’re -Yoink- right.
Anyway this wasn’t AS in detail as I wanted but I’m tired of typing and I’m running out of space anyway, I probably left some stuff out and I might have sounded salty or whatever when it came to gameplay but I’m limited here lol, but to add on I do like 343, even if the majority of their decisions so far have been awful, they seem like a passionate company and it looks like they’ve learned from their mistakes, reviving MCC and adding Reach is absolutely world class and if Infinite has a similar rank/unlock system like Reach, the Story isn’t a complete mess and the gameplay isn’t tailored to the Redbull- Blooded try hard MLG crowd it’ll be a phenomenal time for gaming. Would Love to hear your thoughts, if you ask a specific question maybe I can clarify with more room to write in a reply:)