We now are at Halo 5: Guardians, the first proper Halo game on this generation of hardware and the 2nd proper entry in the series since 343 Industries took over from Bungie. Does it live up to the immense hype? Here is what I think of Halo 5: Guardians.
I will do my best to not spoil the story, and save it for the podcast.
Before even digging into the story, I will say, the frond-end menu, and really all the menus in the game, are slick and classy looking. It's easy to pay no attention to them, but people design menus and these are quite nice, even the error screens are well designed.
SPOILER ahead for Halo 4
When we last saw Master Chief, he was broken. Cortana was presumed missing or dead, and you could tell that Master Chief was in a really bad place. Fast forward to Halo 5, and Chief still appears to be suffering from Separation Anxiety, but doing his best to look stoic in front of his squad, Blue Team. When he gets a vision of Cortana and her presumed whereabouts, Chief and his team go AWOL to track her down. While all this is happening, Spartan Jameson Locke (from the Halo: Nighfall series, which I feel I should watch) and his squad, Osiris, is charged by the UNSC to track down Chief and bring him "home".
The lead-up to the game and all the marketing has been focused on this idea of Chief vs. Locke, but this point is really not capitalized on. It comes to a head at one point very early on with a face to face confrontation but that's pretty much it (Again, trying not to spoil anything).
Because I don't want to spoil anything story-wise here, here are a couple thoughts I have on the campaign:
- I wish I played as Master Chief and his team more. It felt like THAT was where the story was, whereas Locke and his team seemed to be chasing the story.
- I thought the pacing was a little weird, since there are full missions where all you do is walk up and talk to about three different people, those could very easily just have been cutscenes.
- I wish there was MORE. I wanted to get in Chief's head more, I wanted to learn more about these characters.
Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed the campaign a fair amount. I feel I need to mention the outstanding cutscenes, which look fantastic and voiced really well. The opening cutscene for sure is one that gets you amped to play some damn Halo. Also, while many questions remain at the end of the campaign, we are again left at a really interesting place with these characters. I just can't help but get a Halo 2 dèjá vu with me thinking "That was good, but it could have been better". Also note, I was able to beat the campaign solo on Normal difficulty in just over 6 hours, which should give you an idea on how long it is. The time will vary depending on difficulty and how many human players are playing.
The whole premise of the game is that there are two squads made up of four Spartans each, allowing for four player online co-op (no splitscreen, which is a point of contention to say the least). When playing alone, the A.I. takes over as the other three members. There are times where this is advantageous, especially when you get knocked down and need revived (which will happen often), and there are times where this becomes a huge hindrance. For example: Early on, you will face a couple Hunters, which Halo fans know can be a challenge, as I went into the room to fight them, I jumped on the high ground and started attacking, I then noticed I was the only one, as my A.I. teammates decided they would rather stay behind in the "safe room". Since I am paying more attention to getting them the fuck in here, I get hit with a green blast, I'm down, and still, nobody gave a shit, and I died. Let's just say the teammate A.I. is hit or miss, and it's best enjoyed with friends.
It was easier for me to look past the campaign's shortcomings thanks to the fact that this is quite possibly the best that Halo has ever felt gameplay-wise. As I have always said, "Frames makes games", and it goes a long way here. The fast action helps the experience feel frantic and intense. Meanwhile, the arsenal you have at your disposal is top-notch. The typical Halo weapons are back but did get improved, as in the Assault Rifle matters again! All the weapons feel great and sound terrific. Outside of the shooting, you are given a few new abilities, when jumping and aiming, you go into a brief hover mode which definitely has its uses, a ground pound which can be used at any height, unleashed massive damage, but the star of the show for me is the Spartan Charge. A few seconds after clicking the sprint button, you will see a couple brackets on screen, meaning you are able to unleash a devastating shoulder charge which will break through certain walls and send Grunts flying off the screen. I also use this all the time in multiplayer to great effect. It is beyond satisfying to throw one of these shoulder checks, accompanied by a resounding thud. I involuntarily give a verbal "UHH! YEAH!" every time I do it, it's THAT good.
Now, about that multiplayer. The last Halo game 343 Industries gave us delivered one of the worst multiplayer experiences in recent memory with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Those servers were broke for months after the game launched. Thankfully, after about 4 to 5 hours across the different modes, I have experienced no problems.
The multiplayer modes boil down to Arena and Warzone. Arena is your more-typical Halo experience, with Team Slayer (Team Deathmatch), Breakout (Elimination/CTF hybrid), Free-For-All, and the much-loved SWAT modes. You'll notice, no Oddball, and no King of the Hill modes. Here's hoping they will add those in later on. Also, can we get Grifball back?
Each mode is given its own, dedicated playlist. After playing ten matches of a certain type, you will be assigned a competitive ranking tier. The list goes: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Onyx and Champion. There are levels within those tiers, so if you win enough games after getting a Silver ranking, you will go up to Silver II, Silver III and so on. While your ranking can flux within the tier, you will never go from Silver I to Bronze VI and so on. HERE is a great breakdown on how this system works. Not to brag, but I am currently Gold II in Team Slayer and Onyx in Free-For-All. So...bring it!
There are currently only a handful of maps across the modes, but a real positive here is that 343 has said that future map packs will be FREE! While we don't know how often these will happen, this is a great thing. No Season Passes, no map bundles, just free maps.
Warzone is the big, new addition and you'll have to stay with me on this, because it takes some explaining.
- 12 vs 12 vs A.I.
- The objective is to capture buildings, allowing you to take down the enemy core to win the game.
- Can also win by getting 1000 points first.
- You earn points by killing enemies, be they human players or the A.I. "creeps", and by capturing and holding the objectives.
- Throughout the course of the match, your team levels up, allowing you to use more expensive cards that will grant you access to weapons, vehicles, and power-ups.
You can definitely see the MOBA inspirations here, but I really wouldn't call it a Halo MOBA. I played a match of this and it was definitely fun. Just know that these matches do take a while. My only real problem comes in with this mostly unnecessary card system. You get cards from REQ packs that you earn over the course of the game (more on that later), and, as stated, these cards can give you weapons, vehicles, power-ups and so on, and they have a rarity to them as well. These are one-off plays though, so when you die, that card is spent and gone. Well, if my team is getting our asses kicked, I'm not going to want to play some high end cards in a futile attempt at a last-second victory. On the flipside, if my team is kicking ass, will I want to waste cards and rub their faces in it? Also, let's say I play a pretty good Scorpion Tank card, if I get jacked out of it, welp...there goes a card. I guess I can see the strategy involved with it, but I don't know of too many instances where I will be searching for just the right card for the situation.
That being said, I do really enjoy Warzone mode, I just know I will be spending the majority of my multiplayer time with the Arena modes.
Right, those REQ packs. You earn REQ points with every match you play, and each time you level up in multiplayer. There are three tiers, Bronze, Silver, and Gold, each tier up will give you more and better gear. This gear will mostly be cards to use in Warzone, but every once in a while you will get an armor drop, a helmet drop, a name plate, a weapon skin, or even an assassination animation. You can spend a couple real dollars to buy these packs (Age of Microtransactions!), but you get enough REQ points per match to where you shouldn't have to do that.
Bottom line: Halo 5: Guardians is a worthy addition to one of the most premier franchises in video games. While there are some misfires when it comes to the campaign, the fantastic gameplay, incredible looks, top-notch sound design, and addictive multiplayer will keep fans of the series, and fans of first person shooters, extremely happy.
Now I must get back online and Spartan Charge some fools!
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