Oct 29, 2015
Halo 5 Guardians is the next installment of 343 Industries’ iconic shooter. It features a smooth multiplayer experience and a story told from two sides. Spartan Locke’s team is out to complete a mission while Master Chief has gone AWOL and is looking for answers. There are a few new characters in the game, new to those who aren’t well versed in the lore. Even with what may be considered as a disjointed story to some, Halo still captures the essence of ‘epic’ with its multiplayer and narrative. I expound on the points below in this episode. Enjoy.
- Unless you’re in the lore, the story is disjointed
- 7 hour Halo 5 Livestream give you a glimpse of what went into making Halo 5 Guardians
- New abilities include clambering (similar to Crytek’s Crisis series), boosting w/ Jetpacks for evasion tactics.
- Strongest combat to date, multiplayer is intense...
- Co Op Campaign is incredible - Drop in/Drop out actually works - gives it that ODST feeling
- Although both Locke and Master Chief grace the cover of Halo 5, you play mostly as Locke in the game. It should have been the other way around (have Chief be the lead) or even Buck as the lead because of his wit and the context he adds to the Halo narrative
- Squad command is effective with added elements - targeting a hostile with focus fire, pick up a weapon, hold a position
- You get a snapshot of some of the characters through another character in the story..the audio logs may not include what you think they should
- There’s a lot of intel in the campaign and you missed a lot of intel on your first go around, chances are you will go back and explore to acquire them.
Kelly, Frederic, Linda, who are they to John 117? The narrative assumes that you read, consumed a great portion of the lore for Halo. There is a percentage of players out there that are in it just for the gameplay...You can connect.
Lieutenant, Junior Grade Frederic-104, born Frederic Ellsworth, is a Spartan-II Commando and is one of the few surviving SPARTAN-IIs. Historically, Frederic-104 has held the highest rank among any of the active SPARTAN-IIs except for Kurt-051. He has been known to become greatly affected by his injured teammates. He has also had a close working relationship with John-117.
Petty Officer Second Class Kelly-087, born Kelly Shaddock, is one of the few remaining SPARTAN-II supersoldiers. She is well-known due to close friendships with Joshua-029, Samuel-034, Linda-058, Frederic-104, and John-117.
Petty Officer Second Class Linda-058, born Linda Pravdin, is a SPARTAN-II super soldier. She is one of the few known surviving Spartans. She is best known for her skill with the SRS99-S2 Sniper Rifle Systems, and once eliminated two targets so quickly that even John-117 couldn't tell who she had targeted first in the field. She also has a very close working relationship with Joshua-029, Kelly-087, Frederic-104, and John-117 and formed the combat sub-unit Blue Team.
- Warzone is like Big Team Battle, but you're getting points when you capture locations when you kill bosses. Arena, CTF, and Swat are also back.
Overall, Halo 5 is an absolutely amazing, adding a strong multiplayer component, dedicated servers, and smooth launch.