Halo 5 review
There’s no doubt that Halo 5 is a very polarizing title
within the community. People seem to either love it or hate it. As 343
Industries second entry into the Halo franchise (Barring the MCC and Spartan
Assault/Strike games) This was generally going to be a ‘make or break’ game for
fans of the franchise.
Story-wise, Halo 5 follows Fireteam Osiris, a departure from
other main-line entries into the series which have focused on Master-chief,
while Master-chief does still play a role in this game, it’s a much smaller
one, as the story revolves around 117 going rogue in an attempt to make contact
with a previously thought deceased Cortana. Osiris are tasked with tracking him
down as well as discovering what’s causing widespread destruction across UNSC
colonies.
People who watched the trailers and additional media
approaching Halo 5’s launch will remember that a lot of it focused on Chief
going rogue and Locke (Leader of Fireteam Osiris) hunting him down, pitting
them against one another and even implying that one of them may die by the end
of the game. If you did get caught up in that hype storm, but never got around
to getting the game, then you may be disappointed to learn that this angle of
the story is actually dropped quite early on. While Chief and Locke do fight,
it’s only the once. After that Osiris discover that Chief may be being lured
into a trap and set out on a rescue mission instead.
Aside from the actual story, the level design of the
campaign is stellar, it’s some of the most fun I’ve had playing a Halo title
and it makes full use of the new Spartan Abilities introduced in this
instalment. Friendly AI can be somewhat wonky at times, generally they’ll be on
hand to revive you when you go down though sometimes you’ll find them run in a
straight line to their inevitable death in an attempt to get you up.
Graphically, the game looks fantastic. It’s a step up from
Halo 4 (Which already looked great) This is thanks to the additional power the
Xbox One has compared to the 360. Halo 5 also runs at 1080p at 60 frames per
second constantly, even online. Which is an impressive feat that 343 industries
should be applauded for. Unfortunately, this push to keep the game running at
1080p 60fps constantly has lead to some other sacrifices. Textures aren’t quite
as detailed as in previous games for one example.
When it comes to the games Multiplayer, it shines, matches
are fast, fun and there’s a tremendous sense of balance, even when it comes to
the many variant weapons in the Warzone game-mode. Though I’ve experienced the
game generally losing connection to the network for short periods (About a
minute or so) at times. Though this could be related to my ISP, rather than the
game itself. Unfortunately for this title, Split-screen is not present. This is
another sacrifice of the push for 1080p 60fps (Something the fanbase had wanted
to see in a Halo game) Though 343 did try, they couldn’t get the engine to run
stably while maintaining that framerate and resolution while Split-screen was
being used, so it had to be cut. Due to fan outrage, all future Halo fps games
will have split-screen.
Talking about the Multiplayer now leads us onto perhaps the
most controversial of Halo 5’s features. Microtransactions. Likely a
requirement placed on 343 by Microsoft, Halo 5 features what are known as
‘Requisition packs’ these packs can be purchased with in-game currency or real
money. Packs offer two customization items or item certifications, with the
chance of an emblem as well. You’ll also receive a variety of single use weapon
and vehicle cards for use in Warzone as well as some booster cards that give
you more requisition points or xp after completing the cards specific
requirements, such as finishing a match or getting a certain number of assists.
I’ll be honest here, compared to other games, I think Halo 5 is a better example
of integrating Microtransactions, it’s very easy to earn the requisition points
in order to buy the packs without spending real money and Warzone balancing
makes it so that people can’t just endlessly spawn in powerful vehicles and
weapons. While I would have preferred to unlock armour through completing
commendations in game, I don’t really mind getting them through the packs
either.
To summarise my thoughts on Halo 5; I think it’s a very fun
game, certainly based on its gameplay. While I don’t think its campaign is the
best in the franchise, I did enjoy and I think it’s far from the worst. The
game looks great and runs great and while the marketing for the game could have
better reflected the final product, I still very much enjoyed the game.
If you would like to purchase a copy of Halo 5: Guardians, then follow the link below:
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