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Halo 5 is a step above its predecessors, but still falls short

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@DaltynMartyn

Ever since 343 Industries took over the Halo franchise back in 2009, fans have been reasonably skeptical on whether or not the beloved franchise was placed in the right hands.  The lackluster story and multiplayer saw the community of Halo 4 diminish within months of release, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection was simply an unplayable mess at launch. It is easy to see why a few hardcore Halo fans felt alienated by the new developers. Luckily for both 343 and fans alike, Halo 5 is a step in the right direction.

Revamped Weaponry


Gone are the days of wretched Forerunner weaponry from Halo’s previous installment. The Forerunner guns now seem useful thanks to 343 completely overhauling their mechanics. The Suppressor now mimics the lock on firing of a Needler sans the fatal pink explosion, and the Boltshot has been nerfed by becoming a three-burst pistol variant. The Forerunners were not the only ones to receive weapon overhauls as both the UNSC and Covenant both receive heavy grenade launchers.  In comparison however, the Plasma Caster is the vastly superior of the two due to its room clearing explosions. All the other weapons play exactly as they used to in previous entries.

Spartan Abilities


One of the major improvements I fully enjoyed was the removal of armor abilities, replacing them with the new Spartan abilities. The removal of special abilities in favor of everyone having the same powers evens the playing field while also removing the problem of people continuously escaping death with Armor Lock. In lieu of this removal, each Spartan now has the ability to sprint infinitely, boost in any direction, ground pound while in air, and use a charged sprinting melee attack. These new additions allow for a more fluid experience, as you are able to maneuver around battlefields more tactically.  Probably the least significant of the new changes to the gameplay is the ability to aim down the sights of all the weapons. The change will take a little time to adjust for some Halo traditionalists, but the switch to an ADS mechanic feels more of an aesthetic overhaul so hardcore fans should not be too worried.

Campaign


The most disappointing section of Halo 5 is, hands down, the campaign, with the new Reclaimer trilogy building up to be as much of a flop as the Star Wars prequels. Where past Halo games picked up right where the previous entry ended, the fifth installment has an obvious time skip that is entirely unexplained to newcomers in the series. For those not invested in the extended lore of the Halo franchise, you may start asking “who is this Blue Team that Master Chief is part of now?” Apparently Dr. Halsey and the UNSC have resolved past grievances with each other from Spartan Ops, and even the return of a major character has already been established during this odd time skip. All of these points are just casually brushed off as widely known facts that have been established in previous entries. It also is discouraging that the plots that were established in Halo 4 were hardly touched on at all, or unceremoniously cut short, in this latest entry.



Another chief complaint I have with the campaign is the extreme lack of character development for the new characters. 343 Studios, yet again, introduces us to a bunch of new characters that have as much personality as the silent protagonist of Halo: ODST. With the campaign almost exclusively focusing on newcomers, Fireteam Osiris, the only fleshed out character seems to be Buck as the comedy relief. Even the character you play as, Spartan Locke, comes across as a drone that is just following orders. Blue Team also suffers from the same issue, as your new squad mates hardly add anything to the plot except stating the obvious. Even the Chief comes off as really dull, with only a single moment touching on his emotional stability after his AI companion’s untimely demise.

The most infuriating part of the campaign comes in the form of the main boss character that shows up repeatedly throughout the game. If the bullet sponge Promethean Knights angered you in Halo 4, wait until you meet the Warden Eternal. With two attacks that are instant kills, and his only weak point being a small glowing ball on his back, players will struggle getting past this big bad guy on the higher difficulties. 343 has scattered powerful weaponry in these encounters to make the battles easier. However, in later levels, you will be going up against multiple Wardens at the same time. Playing on Heroic solo, I often contemplated dropping the difficulty to get past these moments. I would imagine these encounters would be easier in co-op, however the squad AI when playing solo is completely daft. It was fairly common to see my squad rush straight at the giant Warden and get quickly picked off, forcing me to solo three of these monstrosities.

By no mean is the campaign awful, but in comparison to the other single player offerings of previous Halo games, it’s pretty lackluster.

Multiplayer


In stark contrast with the mediocre campaign, multiplayer has improved upon every aspect. The unstable servers and long wait times for matchmaking from Master Chief Collection are completely gone. Having invested eight hours in multiplayer already, I never once came across the match crashing mid-game or extreme levels of lag.

The new mode Warzone has revitalized the entire experience by weaving together player vs. player and player vs. environment. In Warzone, you are still competing against other Spartans to be the first to score 1,000 points, or destroying the opposition’s power core. All players start off with the same standard loadout that utilizes the new REQ system to gain more powerful weaponry.

The REQ system works out more beautifully than I would ever expect, forcing players to actually earn powerful weapons and vehicles instead of having everyone camp at a weapon spawn point. Even though people can buy REQ packs with real life money, it is easy to acquire enough REQ points to purchase two bronze tier packs after a single game of Warzone.

The Arena playlists are standard Halo multiplayer fare, with modes like Team Slayer, SWAT, and the new Breakout. The newest game mode is very similar to Search & Destroy from the Call of Duty franchise, with each player only having one life per round. The offerings at launch are pretty limited, with 343 planning on slowly adding more modes like Infection and Big Team Battle as time passes, much like they did with The Master Chief Collection.

TL;DR


Even though Halo 5 vastly improves upon some of the chief complaints directed at the last few entries, 343 still hasn’t reached the narrative level that Bungie attained. I appreciate where the story is heading, but it’s hard to have faith in a narrative that has now left a sour taste in my mouth twice. Hopefully 343 can revitalize their writing staff in preparation for the finale of the Reclaimer trilogy. In the mean time I will be spending a lot of time in the greatest Halo multiplayer since Halo: Reach.

+ Warzone adds a new exciting multiplayer experience

+ The overhauled Forerunner weaponry is amazing

+ The new Spartan Abilities

- The Warden Eternal

- Idiotic squad AI

- Campaign is completely unfriendly for newcomers

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