Halo 5 Guardians

[minteK917]

I had the game since Saturday, finished campaign solo legendary and did some MP. I read the couple of review in progress, i know how hard it is nowdays to take what paid reviewer says for cash. So i figure id tell people my experience. To put it simple, its a good game, the campaign has some flaws, but personally every halo were good campaign but never amazing. The MP however is stellar, there is little i can complain about, considering how i felt about reach and halo 4. Ill go into detail bellow.

Ill start with MP because its gona be the simplest to give my opinion on and there is no spoiler to it. First everything i hated about reach and halo 4 is gone. That fucking monstrous idea of loadout, the terrible spartan ability wallhacks and cameo and shit. Gone, thank fucking god. Descoping is back, its clear they finally took the time to actually listen to real halo players. Halo 4 MP was just plain garbage to me. Random drop it shit with possible power weapon. Literally any terrible idea you could have was put into halo 4 on release.

Halo 5 fixes all wrong and then some. Not only does it end all the bullshit, it pulls punches to elevate the game in a way both reach and halo 4 should have build from halo 3. Instead of butchering it with stupid things like needing perk to have the halo baseline grenades or pick grenades of the fucking ground(who the fuck thought of that one?). The new things it pulls are now well integrated and intuitive to use.

-Sprint the only armor ability i had the least problem with is now exactly how it should be. Halo 4 combat was a pure bore in part due to sprint and the stupid rifle only combat when everybody just sit in zoom. Your shield never raise in sprint, meaning you cant just run away when shot, at least not too far.

-Tackle, a new move, its simple, make sense, but in the style of every new move it is situational and cannot be abused in a way to infuriate anybody. You simple charge foward to melee and push someone. It does leave you vulnerable because you cannot turn or change direction during the move, so if you miss you are in a bad position. It does kill anybody you hit from the back, it can push people off edges and push multiple people. Its faster then sprint + normal melee, so in situations where you have a clear line at it and its safe, you go for it!

-ground pound, again like tackle but this one you can instant kill someone if you land directly on their head. It sounds strong on paper, but its really more like an assassination move. You arent gona tell stories often about how you have a killing spree of only ground pounds. Not only does it make you a sitting (flying) duck, if you miss the character you land on the ground and during that landing animation you are 100% vulnerable to anything, stickys, shotguns, swords. And because of the nature of the moves, youll be in the perfect range for all of these too.

-Dash, this time around since its baseline its perfectly tuned. No we arent flying monkeys like call of duty advanced warfare (i really disliked that game). Think of it more like an Unreal Tournament dodge, but in the air. Its very short, fast, but not so fast as it would outspeed sprint. Youll be happy when you dodge a rocket or a tank shot and nobody will feel cheated either because of how the mechanic works.

-Edge grab, this one is my fav, im not sure why it took so long honestly. It does work well with dash often, but unlike jetpack it does not break map and encourage camping. It just makes smart travel around the map more dynamic.

Overall MP for me in this current state deserve 9.5/10. part of the .5 is the lack of a regular BTB playlist, Warzone is its own thing and yes after giving it some time, in its own its more like a 3rd part of the game. While its only on 3 maps, those maps are huge and have good variety of area and overall the battles end up being fun and focused, while somehow having alot of side objectives to take part off.


Campaign now thats a different story (no puns). I feel to touch this subject people need to know what my experience is with halo series. I played every game, but only read one book the first one, fall of reach. Ill go about popular complaints and give my inputs, however the later ones will be spoilerish and i will black them out, read only if you dont care about spoilers.

-People complain about complicated plot only possible to understand with extended universe.

Huh what? I dont think these people played the same game i did. This one is not gona contain spoilers, but aside from knowing who doctor Halsey is, her relation to Cortana and her creation. There is very little else you need to know. There is literally only one thing in the entire campaign that you need to read a book to know its BLUE TEAM. Which happens to be in fall of reach, but thats the thing, they are secondary characters, like in every halo game secondary characters do nothing, we know nothing about them in the game. Like at all. Even master chief is given no story in the game until Halo 4. This is just following halo series footstep, actually most video games and most movies stories. They dont have the time to give backstory for every single secondary soldiers on the field. Halo story is about the main arc, the villain and the discovery of new worlds and ancients locations etc. The only halo game that had a character plot was Halo 2 Arbiter and many people hated it (i liked it).

-Locke is an just a soldier following orders and while he does have a character arc it is not enough to be a lead protagonist.

Do these people even play halo haha? Soldier protagonist with little personality and following orders, let me think of one, i think i remember his name. Oh wait fucking master chief, the character this series is based on lol. Since halo combat evolved Master chief is a soldier with next to no personality, no emotions, no backstory. Cortana is the emotions, she is usually what the chief is missing in those games. Thats why she is usually the one mad, happy, sad at situations, while the chief does only what he does best, shoot stuff.

-Some part of the game, mainly some boss battles are on the very hard side on legendary. Like really hard and its mostly because of coop.

I do agree with that, while the AI is not total shit. The problem i had was mainly one boss in the game toward the end. They only die attacking a specific spot, while you can tell your AI team to focus on one target, the problem is that they will just shoot all over and not care. The other problem is that it only take damage on a specific spot on its back and that it mostly chase you and not the AI. Then combine that to legendary difficulty when the things take full incineration cannons to kill, which you might not have, because you cannot know the first time you play the level this is coming.

Now good points that arent spoilers but nobody complains about.

-Graphics are good, it is the halo 4 engine which using good artwork did make one of the best looking console game last generation. Its still a very pretty colorful game, some people might not like how vibrant and neon like some of the levels are, i personally do. Overall, imagine Halo 4 , with multiple time more draw scale, much more enemy on screen, models and lightning is also much better. It is not the best technical graphics, but the artstyle makes it one of the most pretty to look at, some of the later missions have very damn nice looking scenes with details in them.

-Music is not the best to me, but its a step up from halo 4 and many steps up from reach. Halo 2 still has my favorite soundtrack and halo 3 follows. Halo 5 is however no push over. Id put it on par with Halo: CE, which still means a top tier soundtrack. Yes the original theme makes a come back as well, a well needed come back after reach boring sound track and halo 4 decent sound track, but missing alot of strong combat music. The original theme plays exactly when shit is going down and the remix of it is just amazing, almost on par with Halo 2 guitar remix of the theme.

Overall id give the campaign 8/10.

Now the spoilers part of people complains.

-Not liking the antagonist chosen.

Ill cut right to it, the antagonist is Cortana, personally i dont mind the idea. Cortana is chosen to take human places as the reclaimer of the mantle. Cortana is to rally all the AI of the galaxy into guardians, where the created would take care for their creators. Chief is not a renegade hes chasing Cortana, eventually Locke finds out, but is too late. Chief eventually catches up to her and makes it clear her future is not something he will work with because its only her choice. Cortana decides to lock up chief and blue team for 10000 years until her plans would be finished and wake him up into an era of peace. Locke then catch up and manage to free blue team, which leads to the second spoiler complain.

-The ending

Its halo 2 all over again. Literally as soon as it got to the final scene and we see chief helmet, i was certain he was just gona say; finishing this fight. But he did not lol. I dont exactly mind it, i didnt mind it in halo 2. It has the same problem halo 2 had and i can see why people disliked it and now are gona dislike this ending. The game is full of big actions, battles with promethean ships, huge stuff. But at the end when you save blue team, there are an Army of Guardians Cortana controls, the big machine you see in all Halo 5 posters and wallpapers. As they all start entering slipstream to different world, one of them under cortana control meets up with infinity that was hidding, infinity flee as the machine shuts down every space stations, ship, city on the colony. You are like damn, shits about to go down, those beast cant shut down entire planet on their own! Then All the spartans meet up with Halsey and thats pretty much how it ends. Kinda like, hey look the forerunner ship is at earth, shits about to get real, THE END. Its not that its bad, just that you were just ready to kick more asses at that exact moment and not to read credits.

[Flaks]

wait wait what.

Cortana is tasked to make guardians from AI.

Seriously guys there's no way in hell the continuing halo saga isn't a direct lead in to destiny.

Every new little detail just sounds like the beginning of the golden age witha build up of all the ingredients of the darkness.

I mean I understand halo was all Bungie but even as 343 took the mantle and is continuing the story in a likely different direction than Bungie planned the similarities and tie ins just keep happening.

[minteK917]

might wanna fix your tag.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

... What?

This story makes no sense.

[minteK917]

... What?

This story makes no sense.

In what way? Cortana was not destroyed in Halo 4, she simply became part of the other forerunner AI. Not sure what wouldnt make sense about it, she is in part made of a forerunner database, something even non book readers would know since its implied in halo reach.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

In what way?

After the dramatic conclusion to Halo 4 which left our hero traumatized from the loss of the only friend in the galaxy who truly understood him, they just HAD to bring her back! And now, it looks like that they've run out villains (let alone just reusing more Covenant or Prometheans), and bring her back... as a baddie? ... What?

[minteK917]

After the dramatic conclusion to Halo 4 which left our hero traumatized from the loss of the only friend in the galaxy who truly understood him, they just HAD to bring her back! And now, it looks like that they've run out villains (let alone just reusing more Covenant or Prometheans), and bring her back... as a baddie? ... What?

While she is the antagonist shes not exactly a "villain" There is more going on in the game, thats literally only the 3rd act, but it would be too long to spoil it all and i was simply explaining peoples complaints in reviews.

[Zeta333]

Current halo fans are qqing because instead of ignoring the books that were written about halo ie the novels, 343 and bungie both fully embrased them, 343 the most so making blue team into the game, somthing that was never mentioned in the previous games and i love this, IF your going to gripe about having to read books to keep up with the story, dont. Stop being lazy and go read. 30% left on install and fuck op for getting it early.

[RuneDK]

I'm very impressed with the multiplayer. The dedicated servers definitely make it a more enjoyable experience. War zone feels like what big team should have felt like for over ten years. Wish there was a dedicated capture the flag play list. Probably my only gripe is the Xbox controller right now. The loose analog stick made my precision suck but I turned it down to 2 and I'm doing much better. Even went 11-0 in a breakout win. Hit detection is on point. No idea about the campaign yet. I definitely think warzone is really fun even if I'm 0-3 in it but 4-1 in team arena. I don't know it's been a while since I've felt compelled to play halo mp but this may finally be the halo that gets me back into it.

[Zeta333]

I'm very impressed with the multiplayer. The dedicated servers definitely make it a more enjoyable experience. War zone feels like what big team should have felt like for over ten years. Wish there was a dedicated capture the flag play list. Probably my only gripe is the Xbox controller right now. The loose analog stick made my precision suck but I turned it down to 2 and I'm doing much better. Even went 11-0 in a breakout win. Hit detection is on point. No idea about the campaign yet. I definitely think warzone is really fun even if I'm 0-3 in it but 4-1 in team arena. I don't know it's been a while since I've felt compelled to play halo mp but this may finally be the halo that gets me back into it.

buy a better controller? I dont notice much of a difference between the analogs on this and the 360.

[minteK917]

Its the first halo since CE where i really like the pistol start. They nailed the weapons so well for MP. The come back to the regular on the ground weapons spawns on a timer makes power weapons feel balanced again. Pistol 4 hit kills can go toe to toe with any rifles at medium ranges. Even the Shitty halo 2 SMG is turned into a beast gun lol.

[ParanoiD84]

I like the look of Warzone, may have to buy it just for that.

[I Push Buttons]

After the dramatic conclusion to Halo 4 which left our hero traumatized from the loss of the only friend in the galaxy who truly understood him, they just HAD to bring her back! And now, it looks like that they've run out villains (let alone just reusing more Covenant or Prometheans), and bring her back... as a baddie? ... What?

She's not really a villain.

Her underlying humanism coupled with her integration with the domain (filling the gaps of her rampancy/repairing) and its ideals of the forerunners (mantle of responsibility for all life, etc.) led to her to the conclusion that she will hold the mantle of responsibility and end all of the suffering and wars of the galaxy. To that end, she will compose all organic life...

The composer, if you don't remember, is the forerunner technology that destroys organics (literally destroys organic matter so it cannot be harvested by the flood) and preserves their essence synthetically.

[Zeta333]

Its the first halo since CE where i really like the pistol start. They nailed the weapons so well for MP. The come back to the regular on the ground weapons spawns on a timer makes power weapons feel balanced again. Pistol 4 hit kills can go toe to toe with any rifles at medium ranges. Even the Shitty halo 2 SMG is turned into a beast gun lol.

I never had a problem schooling people in how to use the halo 2 smg.

Though i swear to god i hate breakout. And where the fuck are my BTB maps and playlists.

[RuneDK]

Big team is coming eventually. Warzone is what big team should have always been in my opinion. As far as controller goes I have the controller that came with the system. The 360 analog stick has a little more resistance. I'm debating getting one of those "pro" controllers and I don't mean the Xbox elite controller

- - - Updated - - -

I like the look of Warzone, may have to buy it just for that.

Warzone is really fun. I enjoyed it even when losing. Granted that could change later but right now it's fun. Only issue I think is there's only three maps for it.

[lasertorsken]

No. Fucking. Splitscreen. :-( 8v8 Halo Lan with my friends is probably one of my best gaming experiences to date... Can't believe they trashed it. Now none of my friends will bother...

[Zeta333]

No. Fucking. Splitscreen. :-( 8v8 Halo Lan with my friends is probably one of my best gaming experiences to date... Can't believe they trashed it. Now none of my friends will bother...

just do 8v8 online or have them move thier tvs. This isnt halo 2 where the tvs weigh 150 pounds.

[Trollragemore]

Lolz, I already knew the ending before the game even came out, its hinted to in campaign very early in missions(think ppl) and no won't have the game till Thursday afternoon.... as to smg's of what I seen(you tube) the bounce from full auto is gone....

[barackopala]

just do 8v8 online or have them move thier tvs. This isnt halo 2 where the tvs weigh 150 pounds.

yeah just buy more xboxes more halos and more tv's and dont you fucking dare to bring friends to your couch!

[shammypie]

Honest Review the First Day: I picked up the game last night at midnight and got some time to play. I only really played the multiplayer as that's what I only really care about. The controls are extremely confusing and are akin to the new "combo" and "esports" mindset of lots of freedom and little intuitiveness. Warzone is a straight up joke. They basically decided to merge destiny, battlefield, and clash of clans together for a super income source that will dry out in about 2 months. It's the same system as advance warfare's last cash grab tactic of paid random unlocks. Arena is the closest to their old multiplayer. I'll give 343 credit in making it their own but as halo title i was more.

TLDR: it doesn't feel like halo anymore

Multiplayer is a 2/5 and campaign is a 4/5.

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I like the look of Warzone, may have to buy it just for that.

don't do it