WARNING
THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR HALO 5: GUARDIANS! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, DO NOT READ THIS BLOG
First blog, eh? I couldn't get any other (brilliant) idea than this one (currently). Hello everybody, and welcome to my review of the critically-acclaimed Xbox exclusive of 2015, Halo 5: Guardians.
Introduction[]
My friend Dab started a weekly series of reviews of the games of the Halo series on the Halo Wiki. In the Halo 5 one, I went on to write a comment expressing my views on Halo 5... and ended up writing a review, or more like a half-review, half-opinion. So, I wanted to post the "review" here so you guys can get a better understanding of Halo 5: Guardians. And, I also used this as an oppurtunity to write my first blog post on Halo Fanon (there are very few options of writing blogs here).
Campaign and the Story[]
The story, although amazing, has many plot-holes. For example, how's the Domain magically back, and how did it cure Cortana of Rampancy when it didn't cure Mendicant Bias.. ah yes, Mendicant Bias. I was hoping he having a place in the story. I expected the Flood to come back and John and Blue Team meeting Mendicant Bias to stop the Flood, since he knows about the Flood. They find that Bias is on a Forerunner World shielded in a massive prison-cum-weapon of destruction called the "Guardian". He goes there and somehow tries to revive Cortana since he has her chip (E3 2013 trailer). But the story was nothing I expected. In my opinion, 343i spoiled too much of the story before the release. If they hadn't, the story would be so epic. They did the same mistake as Rocksteady Studios on Batman: Arkham Knight. Take my word, when they said the campaign to be "twice as long as Halo 4's campaign", what they meant that the Campaign had "twice as many levels as Halo 4". Overall, the story is great, but didn't come quite as I expected
Marketing and the Hype Level[]
One of the things I hate the most was the marketing. 343i claimed Halo 5 to have the "deepest story ever in a Halo game" and as the "Greatest hunt in video game history". Screw it, Halo 3 had the deepest story in my opinion. And the greatest hunt? Locke and Chief meet only twice, with the first time becoming a 40 second fist fight (and somehow Locke doesn't get bashed by Chief. I mean, come on, Locke ain't a superhero) and the second one ending up Locke saving Chief. Yeah, the "greatest hunt". Frankly speaking, I felt Assassin's Creed: Rogue to be 100 times the "hunt" that is Halo 5. 343i made us believe by the Halo 2 Anniversary terminals that the story will have a deep focus on Arbiter Thel 'Vadam, and the result? Hell no. The Arbiter has a little impact on the overall story of Halo 5. In my opinion, they didn't quite live up to the hype level created by the marketing.
Multiplayer[]
Continuing on to the multiplayer. I myself don't own a Xbox One, let alone owning Halo 5. But I have seen enough videos to get an idea on how it is. The multiplayer is fun, and is the best multiplayer since Halo 3 (I didn't know about Halo at that time, but trust me, I know it). However, I hate the fact that there is no Forge at launch. I just don't understand why. Warzone is fun, but I'd rather take out the microtransactions (I bloody hate them, unless they don't give some players the edge over some others) and make REQ packs solely on the in-game money. I may add microtransactions for extra perks in Campaign, since the enemies are AIs, but definitely not in multiplayer. By the special weapons and the rarity level, they seem to "Destiny-fy" Warzone. I like Arena multiplayer, classic 4v4 gameplay. It made all players equal, by having one common loadout for all and the entire match focusing on the power weapon.
Game mechanics and designs[]
Now onto the game mechanics and designs. First things first, I absolutely hate 90% of the armor designs, worse compared to the 80% hate on the Halo 4 ones. About 40%-50% of the armors are just variants of other armors. I don't like the new rocket launcher. Believe me, when I first saw it, I thought it to be the JAW from Crysis 2. Screw it, even the scopes are same. The Covenant designs are ok. I like the new Ghost, but not the Banshee, and I totally dislike the new Wraith. Halo 4's Covenant designs seem to be better, except the Ghost though. I mean, the Halo 4 Banshee is much cooler than the Halo 5 one. The game mechanics now, I hate the fact that they removed split-screen. I mean, why? It's like taking out the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars. The Smart-Scope, or as my friend Dab would have said it, Dumb-scope, is ridiculous. Why would the Spartan-IVs use the scopes on the weapons when they can link the scopes to their HUDs and zoom directly like in previous Halo games? Does that mean the S-IVs have inferior technology (Hell no, 343i wouldn't want their "legendary" Spartans to have inferior technology than the S-IIs)? I like the idea of Spartan Abilites, but where the hell is dual-wielding?! I may add Armor Abilites back in campaign, but Spartan Abilities are much cooler.
Finally, the conclusion[]
Overall, Halo 5 is a great game in my opinion, but not the greatest. 343i created a very big hype level for it, but failed to live upto it. The campaign is short but interesting, but if you've been following Halo 5's news since it's announcement during E3 2013, there isn't much that it can offer, but hey, it can offer a bit, right? Screw it, you should be asking that to me. The multiplayer was fun, one of the best multiplayer Halo ever had to offer, but the REQ packs in Warzone give some players the advantage over others. And the micro-transactions, don't get me started all over it again. I dislike the addition of Smart-scope and the removal of split-screen, but enough fan uproar can set things right (at least I hope so)
Note[]
- This review and these ideas are my personal ones, and don't generally reflect the ideas of all Halo Fanon users
- As I've said above, these are my personal ideas. So, if you actually like some things I dislike, say, the new armor designs, don't just come shouting "YOU SUCK! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW EPIC THEY ARE!". Understand the point.
- This may not seem like a review, because as I said before in the the 'Introduction' part, this originally was a comment expressing my ideas and opinions on another review, which turned into a blog here. So, I'd suggest you better assume this as a half-review, half-opinions.
And finally, Cheers. DecryptedPixel: Ignoramus Et Ignorabimus