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:

Halo 5: Guardians - Xbox One

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