Team Osiris speeds down a snowy hill, taking out Covenant with accurate shots to the face and pounding melee attacks. The entire squad seems to be accelerating, gaining momentum with every kill, taking out an endless number of baddies in the opening cinematic. It evokes The Avengers, in a way. Over-reaching scenes like this tend to put me in a pessimistic state of mind. Sure, that looks great but I know Halo. That’s always the intent–arena style, feel-like-an-unstoppable-badass combat–but you can’t play like that. Heck, it wasn’t too long ago that we were hiding behind portable shields in Halo 3 to help Master Chief cope with such onslaughts. In the first mission, to my giddy delight, I discovered this cutscene demonstrated exactly how you’ll play Halo 5: Guardians.
Let me put it this way: If you enjoy cowering behind cover, Halo 5: Guardians is not for you. Now, that doesn’t give you a license for irresponsible running-and-gunning, but I really enjoyed how fluid and open the combat felt. The story is linear, but every battle features 360 degrees of choice. The arenas and environments are varied, enormous, and exploitable. I’ll remain spoiler-free, but just know the campaign ensures you’re never stranded in the same place for too long. And because the battles take place within such expansive areas, the sheer number of Elites, Jackals, Soldiers, Knights, and so many other Spartan-hating aliens is a site to behold. Even when faced with a seemingly insurmountable army, you’ll find aspects of the environment to help tip the scales in your favor.
The weapons pack an impressive punch and are perfectly balanced through reload times or ammo restrictions. The Battle Rifle’s “POP POP POP” pierced my ears and sounded like it would tear through armor as easily as flesh. All the familiar dealers of death are well-represented. The Needler, Assault Rifle, and DMR are all back and feel great, but I was magnetically attracted to some of the new items like the Splinter Turret–which you’ll mostly snag out of the dead hands of a Promethean to palpably swing the battle’s momentum.
I was never lost or accidentally backtracking in Halo 5: Guardians. Somehow, 343 Studios has designed these levels in a way that guides you to the next area. And for the times when your path isn’t abundantly clear, you can toggle a way point to your next objective. Being optional means players who want to explore can do so without distraction, and if all you want to do is move on, you won’t be stuck running in circles.
There’s no wall-running, but the Spartans finally feel like they can move like the athletic beasts they’re supposed to be. A Titanfall-esque booster pack helps you dodge massive attacks from tanks or hunters. Tap A to hurdle a ledge like Faith from Mirror’s Edge. Hit melee while running for a Spartan Smash to send an Elite flying. Discover alternate attack angles, hidden Intel, or weapons caches by crashing through a cracked wall or through a roof vent. Sing your favorite Death From Above 1979 song as you Ground Pound four or five Grunts. You see, these are all moves from that opening sequence and you can skillfully eliminate a batch of baddies without stopping or ever repeating the same kill twice.
Playing as Spartan Locke feels identical to Chief but his voice acting is a nicely juxtaposed to the monotone delivery from John 117. Locke is emotive but only slightly more-so; but it’s enough to appreciate the little extra we get. He is polite, focused on the mission, and a good leader. When Master Chief is down, nearing death, he’ll give a gentle reminder to his squadmates: I’m in trouble. But it’s totally in character. If he shouted, I’d be upset. Locke, on the other hand, has a little more urgency in his voice. Then again, Halo’s universe has always benefited from the characters that surround Master Chief. Chief is too busy saving the universe; he can’t carry this entire show on this shoulders too. By the time the credits roll, you’ll have only played as Chief three times, so I’m left wondering if we’ll see future numbered sequels without the hallowed hero. It’s not a bad thing because I quite enjoyed Locke.
While we’re at it, I should probably mention that Halo 5: Guardians is, by far, the most handsome in the series. Character models for ODST Edward Buck (Nathan Fillion) and Jameson Locke (Ike Amadi–voice; Mike Colter–likeness) are almost ridiculously better looking than some of the other characters (Tanaka, Palmer). Stunning features aside, the performance capture on these lead characters is top-notch but is a bit jarring next to the supporting cast.
What do we do when you fall off the horse?
Master Chief gets all the glory even though he’s often battled with others. Remember how Nameless Marine #3 helped you in that courtyard in Halo 2? No?
One man going toe-to-toe with an entire army literally doesn’t even make sense–if you think about it. It’s the product of an older generation of first-person shooters. Thankfully, 343 Studios recognizes this, meaning you’ll fight with forgettable marines no longer. Similarly to Gears of War, a small team of AI supporting characters follow your lead and have a powerful impact on the result of each battle. While playing solo, you’ll feel like you’re experiencing the campaign with friends (slightly less intelligent friends but I guess that depends on who you roll with). You can easily command your mates to attack a specific target, take position, or help revive a fallen comrade. It isn’t the deepest mechanic, but it complements the style of shoot first, plan later nicely.
Provided you’ve kept them safe from harm, your squad can help bring you back to the battle. This means death isn’t the end in Halo 5: Guardians–and it significantly improves the overall experience. I didn’t say it was perfect, so be forewarned: Members of both Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris suffer from tunnel vision. They will courageously/stupidly put themselves in harm’s way to revive you. After nearly two complete playthroughs, I never saw them try a Spartan Smash to clear a safe path, so if you fall next to a couple enemies, your Spartan effectively becomes live bait to finish off the rest of the team.
For the most part, however, it works fine and the net result is a much easier game. You might be tempted to crank the difficulty up a notch particularly while playing co-op, but before you do, enjoy the fluidity of not replaying the same parts over and over (and over) like you would in previous games. It is pretty forgiving but has an adverse effect on a typically misleading metric: How long is the campaign? My first playthrough was on Normal, and I breezed through the seven-hour set of 15 missions (may be shorter for you if you have no interest in searching for Intel).
I can nearly hear the internet screaming as I write this. Yes, the campaign is a bit short, but you won’t hear me complaining about it. There are no mazes, no ill-conceived puzzles. No filler. It means more players will finish the story with friends because scheduling becomes less of an issue.
Guess what I did immediately after the final credits–I started a new campaign. I could not wait to shoot more stuff. That’s because, quite simply, the Halo 5: Guardians is outrageously fun to play.
During one mission in particular, I was on the edge of my seat, making every shot count, pushing the enemy back, the music in a crashing crescendo, and the mission’s urgency mounting. It’s a pivotal and character-defining moment. Just thinking about it gives me chills again! And appropriately, the game ends not too long after. Whether you agree with the outcome, it’s difficult to deny how masterfully paced the campaign turned out to be.
But.
There’s a deep universe here. Anyone who’s had the opportunity to listen to the Hunt the Truth podcast or watch Halo: Nightfall can appreciate the lore. Even if all you’ve seen are the Spartan Locke vs Master Chief commercials and social media propaganda, you’d know there’s something brewing here. Yet, Halo 5: Guardians never reaches that pinnacle of storytelling that’s required to elevate it to masterclass status. It’s disappointing because this game is so(!!!) close to being the event–that “stop what you’re doing and come play this no matter what moment–we’ve experienced in the past when Halo raised the bar on all fronts. That’s not to say previous games are better but, if you appreciate the nuance, at the time they were more impactful on the industry.
At best, the story will pleasantly surprise you. At worst, you’ll feel downright misled. But we’re starting to get into spoiler territory, so I’ll just say there are plenty of other conflicts to worry about and you’ll care about them much more. Ultimately, I’ll give 343 Studios the benefit of the doubt and assume that gameplay was the priority. Anything that stood in the way of an excellent FPS experience, including over-indulgent exposition, well–it just wasn’t.
Moving on up in Multiplayer
Rest easy. After 24-hours of live multiplayer, I can safely say everything is fine. I was online the moment the servers kicked over from pre-release to public access and if anything, things worked even more smoothly. Matchmaking was darn-near instantaneous – reminiscent of the old days, before we ever considered online connections could be suspect. A big kudos goes out to 343 Studios for overcoming the hurdles from last year’s Master Chief Collection. Everything works so well, you’ll forget that even happened. Maybe.
For the ADD-stricken players out there, Team Arena offers a mishmash of modes in a 4v4 format. Breakout, Strongholds, Slayer, and Capture the Flag. There aren’t any surprises here but it’s a nice way to quickly sample modes you wouldn’t have necessarily want to spend an entire evening with. To ensure the player-base isn’t splintered among too many playlists, some of these modes are only available through Team Arena. That means, you won’t be able to select a Capture the Flag lobby unless you join a custom game. It’s a tradeoff that some may find more offensive than others. I didn’t mind it at all. You can, on the other hand, dive into 4v4 Slayer, Breakout, Free-for-All, and the controller-squeeze inducing SWAT: No shields, no motion tracker. Aim for the head!
The addiction comes in the form of leveling up through each mode and Requisition Perks. You’ll earn points to purchase Requisition Packs in both Arena and Warzone but only cosmetic items will be unlocked for Arena. It’s a familiar addition but the near-endless rewards will offer plenty for the completionists to set their sites on.
But let me tell you about a little 12v12 mode called Warzone. The maps are enormous and full of life. Giant landmark structures seem to have their own gravitational force and pull players towards them. You’ll never wonder where the action is and a smart respawn mechanic allows you to view each point and choose where to jump back in.
And there are so many ways to contribute to the team. You could treat it like Team Slayer and just kill, kill, kill. You can dominate and capture bases. Or, oh my this is great, you can hunt down Bosses like a Promethean Knight or a Banshee-flying Elite. Now, both sides have free reign on the boss and all the points go to the last strike. Chipping away at a boss’ health bar causes me cardiovascular distress because at any time, especially during an inevitable reload, the other team could swoop in and steal the kill. All’s fair in online war, I guess.
At one point, six other teammates and I were working as a cohesive unit, protecting each other while picking off our attackers, one-by-one. I felt like shouting “hold the line!” as we held off wave after wave. And when the time was right, our defensive posture turned offensive and we began to conquer the enemy-controlled structures. For such a futuristic game, I was struck by how it felt like an attack on a medieval fortress. The defenders naturally retreated from the outside walls and reestablished a new line closer to our target, deep within the base. Finally, they could withstand our coordination no longer and I placed the final blow on the enemy core. This is incredible stuff, fellow nerd. It has me reevaluating what other multiplayer games I’ll need this fall. It is that good and I can’t wait for you to play it.
Final Verdict
A score is but a number. So I’ll try to translate it this way: Buy Halo 5: Guardians. If you already have an Xbox One, this is a no-brainer. This game comes to us at a perfectly opportunistic time for those who’ve waited for that game to justify the purchase of a new console. Halo 5: Guardians is it. It is the single best reason to own an Xbox One. While you’re at it, snag a thrifty bundle for some extra hard drive space and multiplayer Requisition packs. The campaign’s somewhat limited storytelling mechanic keep Halo 5: Guardians from achieving its full potential, which is a 100/100, but the multiplayer will satisfy veterans to the series and convert newcomers to addicts.
Also, no Flood. Thank the maker.
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