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[m23]

I found it hilarious that they killed off Jul Mdama in a cut scene without any sort of battle. 343 set him up as a major character, kill him off in a cut scene at the end of the first level.

Almost as bad as they killed off the Didact after setting him up in 3 books. Totally butchered his character, Greg Bear was probably shaking his head in disbelief.

 

[TheDarkKnight774]

To make things worse. After the complete misrepresentation of the game for halo 5's campaign leading up to it I have a hard time believing anything they tell me what the next campaign will be about

 

[krang]

I found it hilarious that they killed off Jul Mdama in a cut scene without any sort of battle. 343 set him up as a major character, kill him off in a cut scene at the end of the first level.

Almost as bad as they killed off the Didact after setting him up in 3 books. Totally butchered his character, Greg Bear was probably shaking his head in disbelief.

They took the comments about the inclusion of EU characters too far.

 

[Vanadium]

So. Many. Warden. Fights.

 

[meanspartan]

Great gameplay (multiplayer is even perhaps my favorite in the series), but the story was TRASH.

- We just see Master Chief with the other Spartan IIs all of a sudden, no explanation at all how he found his old buddies and how they are even alive. They are just kinda there, when this whole time the series has told us he was the last one. You know what woulda been cool? An explanation for that or even a level where you find them. And don't tell me it is in some fucking novel or some shit, I don't care. Important story beats should be in the main games.

- Game was marketed as an interesting personal battle between Locke and Chief. This never really happens. They have one minor spat that is less violent than a bar fight and then Locke is on team Chief. Fillion's character initially even talks about the repercussions of going after basically a folk hero in their hunt of Chief, a fascinating idea to explore. The game drops that idea, never mentions it again, and instead goes big and stupid with its "story".

- Repeated boss battle how many times over?

- Cortana is a lame big bad, and the story leans too heavily on the forerunner stuff. The forerunners were great when they were mysterious, when the story is too heavy on them it is nowhere near as good.

 

[Nheco]

I found it hilarious that they killed off Jul Mdama in a cut scene without any sort of battle. 343 set him up as a major character, kill him off in a cut scene at the end of the first level.

Almost as bad as they killed off the Didact after setting him up in 3 books. Totally butchered his character, Greg Bear was probably shaking his head in disbelief.

More depressingly funny is how the clash between Chief and Locke is resolved on a cutscene. I almost throw my joystick trough the window.

 

[jem0208]

Guys, linear = Uncharted, Gears of War, Call of Duty.

Halo = huge levels that you can do different approaches to drive trough end or use a vehicle and wander a lot.

Sorry, but if you guys think that besides Halo 1, everything else is linear, the only thing I can say is that you don't have played much Halo. Every Halo from 1 to Reach had Huge maps with multiple paths.

It's so pervasive in the series, that I'm baffled that someone is asking me to explain this.

They still 100% linear. The corridors are just wider than the games you mentioned. Even then that's only for the levels which are designed with vehicles in mind. A lot of Halo is just a corridor shooter (albeit a fucking amazing corridor shooter).

Also I'd argue that the increased width often doesn't actually contribute much to the game. It gives the illusion that there's tonnes of different options however for most part the large levels are too sparse to actually allow for much creativity.

Halo 5's approach is slightly smaller but far more dense levels. Instead of a valley with a couple of rocks dotted around, it's a multileveled canyon filled with nooks, crannies, ledges, sightlines etc. The playspaces in 5 are designed so that a players movement is more defined however despite that there are far more options in how to approach and deal with encounters.

 

[Butane123]

Is it bad I'm trying to remember specific things about the campaign and the only thing I remember is the 3x Warden Eternal fight?

I remember thinking the campaign was a chore to play through. Just didn't have fun with it and found it completely forgettable aside from that absolutely horrific boss fight.

 

[op_ivy]

I definitely miss the level scale of past halo titles. In a perfect world wed have very large more open spaces AND more densely populated well designed tighter areas.

 

[Gai Murakumo]

For some reason I liked Halo 4's campaign more, I cannot really explain it, but the on foot gameplay of Halo 5 trumps all the previous games.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

This was the only Halo game I didn't replay on legendary, once I was done with it I had no interest to play it again. I hope 343 can bounce back with Halo 6.

 

[Zeus The Dino]

Their hunt the truth campaign was such bullshit, it was nonexistent in the game

 

[Samurai G0SU]

Why RIP HTT? It was successful and it worked because of the medium.

Also, it was made after Halo 5's story was finalized. It worked to further build out the universe.

If it had any significant impact on the game's story it would only lead to even more complaints of requiring the player to have read/listened to/watched something to fully understand the game (on top of what was already required).

HTT was marketed as a way to understand the story of why MC was labeled traitor for halo 5. Remember all the tv ads? :'( .. i do

Mainly Because i wanted more. I wanted a continuation of those characters. So far we have no confirmation that will ever continue. so they failed in keeping continuity.

BB, Fero, Ben . Mshak ... they made me become more interested with the halo story than the mainline games.


To note, i did enjoy the story and gameplay. However, like 4, i had no desire to replay with higher difficulty. I play the MP just about everyday. that gunplay is so good.

 

[RichiRamjag]

Why?

Take a look at The Ark or New Mombasa. Those are levels that define halo to me.

I'm sorry that I can't go into more detail (working).

 

[jem0208]

Take a look at The Ark or New Mombasa. Those are levels that define halo to me.

I'm sorry that I can't go into more detail (working).

I presume you prefer more vehicle focused gameplay, if so I can understand why you'd be disappointed in H5.

 

[Bulby]

Didnt like it at all. I guess if you are more into exploring the combat opportunities it was well designed, but I found it pretty boring and repetitive.

I want the feeling of levels like 'Halo' 'Silent Cartographer' 'Assault on the control room' '343 Guilty Spark' and 'The Covenant' back. Where pacing and exploration is part of the level, not forced upon you.

 

[icespide]

just an awful campaign.

 

[Whompa02]

Used to be a huge Halo fan and I couldn't even be bothered to watch it all the way through on youtube...

 

[RichiRamjag]

I presume you prefer more vehicle focused gameplay, if so I can understand why you'd be disappointed in H5.

That's certainly part of it. I didn't care much for the story either. Repeat boss, etc.

That whole Locke/Chief rubbish certainly didn't play out the way I expected either based on the marketing.

I still enjoy the multiplayer though. I'm not the fan I was back during halo 2, but then again, I'm not the same person I was back then either, so nolstalgia is probably a big factor when remembering the old stuff.

 

[LapinAgile]

I presume you prefer more vehicle focused gameplay, if so I can understand why you'd be disappointed in H5.

Halo always had a good mix of vehicular options in the sandbox. Their movement away from that dynamic has been to the chagrin of many fans of the series. It's great you like the on foot game but halo has always been about the sandbox to me.

 

[Sydle]

It has some of my favorite level design and controls of the series, but the story could have been much better and what they had wasn't well presented to be clear (i.e. I dislike the reliance on lore outside of the games). The multiple Warden fights were also a low point.

I think 343 has a great foundation to work on and has a chance to make Halo 6 the best in the series on all fronts. I hope they can pull it off.

 

[R aka Bon]

In similar format

+The gameplay is Great, Halo 5 makes you feel like an actual spartan as opposed to previous entries, with the added abilities. The gunplay also feels much tighter and more responsive.

+Love the added verticality and different options you get in each segment, where you can approach the fight in a lot of different ways.

+I also enjoyed exploring both Sanghelios and Genesis, which looked great, and Sanghelios was in particular a very memorable world to visit.

+Mantis section on Sanghelios is my favorite moment in the whole campaign, the battle, the sheer scale and the Music, all helped in making that level highly exciting.

-Story, i have no idea what they were thinking. Too much stuff going on; Unhappy with how fast they got rid of an actually interesting antagonist as Jul 'Mdama. I mean the build up from spartan ops was actually intriguing, but then it just ended very fast, in the first mission of the game...
A covenant civil war? Come on i totally missed that, such important events felt like nothing...
What did fireteam osiris bring to the table? In Halo 2, with the Arbiter, you got to experience a whole different world, another culture, a different system, and a different individual that had different ideas of what is right/wrong and good/evil. With Locke and his team, you just end up being late to everything and have to follow something...urghh

-Why was Argent Moon even necessary for the campaign? I get that it introduces blue team, and therefore continuing that lead, but it just ends after that, they don't develop blue team any further. I wouldn't mind Argent Moon, if they actually continued from there, but Nope instead they just switch to fireteam osiris, which...

-in Halo 4, they developed Chief and Cortana so well, that you got very emotionally attached to them, and they even made you think about relatively deep subjects, in the halo universe.
Here you get none of that. They thought that adding more characters would result in better experience. But sometimes Less is Better/More. I personally would like to know more about Vale. I don't refer to them adding a bit of dialogue here and there just to give the illusion of them being there, but them having an actual importance on how events and the story turns out, like actual actors that drive the story forward or have an impact on it, as is the case with the Chief, Arbiter, Cortana etc.

 

[op_ivy]

Halo always had a good mix of vehicular options in the sandbox. Their movement away from that dynamic has been to the chagrin of many fans of the series. It's great you like the on foot game but halo has always been about the sandbox to me.

This is the biggest issue with 343 halo campaigns imo and its a result of the downscaled levels. Now, vehicle sections suck and are there own thing rather than a choice a player makes contributing to the unique feel of halo spaces and freedom to play. Its a major knock, but the core on foot gameplay has never been better imo, so that makes up for it to some extent. I see why others lament it more though, hopefully 6 can return some of that scale

 

[Samurai G0SU]

this just clicked in my mind. (probably was obvious to most) but halo 5 lacked the sense of discovery.

In 5, we felt more about taking on a mission and executing it to the T. Soldiers on a mission. smash x to finish

I believe in 1-3 we all were placed in locations where we had to discover what to do. Like escape. Round up allies. rescue your closest friend. save lives. prevent disaster. Traverse an island to find the Map to the ring world you are on. Where you actually perform actions that lead to discoveries.

For example: That sense of wonder and awe when the flood was first introduced. I screamed and i think i died the first encounter because i was trying to use my pistol like a nub. It was so excited to come across that.

In 2, it was the discovery of how the covenant really are. How they have civil unrest between each-other and the how we took control of the Arbitor. Building a stronger narrative for us to actual care about another character than MC, Cortana, Jones. Also the inclusion that you are trying to save humanity.

In 3 it was a discovery about how menacing the flood actually was. Not that they were just some type of bacteria/virus infesting any type of lifeform, but was actually a thought out plan by a mastermind, the gravemind. Oh his plan still continues....

then we get to 4 ...

In the beginning it was so good. That sense of discovery on a distant planet you never, ever thought could exist., The art was phenomenal, the sphere world looked like a promise and held an amount of surprises my imagination couldn't even think of. then.. the story shifted into a very closed and scripted sequence of events that didnt feel like i discovered anything special. Yes, the Prometheans were revealed, but it was spoiled through e3 videos. this made the threat less menacing and less interesting to fight. I think we all boo'd and asked for the covi's back lol. Then the last boss fight? Poor didact - he had promise to become a villian to toy with humanity, yet we get a rogue cortana going copy-pastah and sending him away. Then saving MC too.

And then the game ends with us on the infinity. Laaaammmeeee - and to even make it worse the spartan ops made us destroy the sphere world where a lot of potential could have been had! WTF!? SEND THIS AMAZING NEW WORLD YOU BROUGHT TO LIFE into the nearby sun.

.. now leading up to halo5 reveal - poncho chief - his journey of revenge? or salvation? for cortana? remember that reveal? Him grasping the chip and him seeking these big machines that rose from within a planet? (desert in this case) So much wonder and awe in what his motives are becoming. Is he finally doing things for him self, showing more of a human side finally?

Questions came up and the sense of wonder took over me once again, like how i felt with halo 1.... ffw to the next year closer to release and welll.. that's all out the window and the narrative is solidified on a detective hunt. You playing as another character from a Series 5% of the halo population even watched. The story developed and now Cortana is the villian, but that discovery didnt shock me as the first time i came across the flood or learned that the elites are REALLY fucking badass (Arbitor)

Anywho, i still will continue to play halo games because i really, really enjoy the universe and gunplay. MC will always be the dopest hero in my book too. Mister chief is a close second.

 

[op_ivy]

Genesis gave me that sense of wonder, exploration, and discovery.

 

[singhr1]

HTT was marketed as a way to understand the story of why MC was labeled traitor for halo 5. Remember all the tv ads? :'( .. i do

Mainly Because i wanted more. I wanted a continuation of those characters. So far we have no confirmation that will ever continue. so they failed in keeping continuity.

BB, Fero, Ben . Mshak ... they made me become more interested with the halo story than the mainline games.


To note, i did enjoy the story and gameplay. However, like 4, i had no desire to replay with higher difficulty. I play the MP just about everyday. that gunplay is so good.

Oh right the Ads.. Ugh. Yeah That was dumb. Whether purposefully deceitful or not, portraying Chief as this rogue warrior for disobeying one order (in-game) was soooooooooo dumb

The characters in HTT had their story told. They were well established and had completed their story arcs. Although they are very strong characters after HTT, giving them a proper backstory for players who never listened to HTT is a fool's errand (and an unnecessary one). Their story was told, and we are better for it... but we don't need to shove them where they don't need to be. Halo has enough of that already lol

 

[Samurai G0SU]

Genesis gave me that sense of wonder, exploration, and discovery.

All you were led to were warden fights though. nothing special that shifted anything in the halo story.

Genesis has the same potential as the sphere world in 4 i think.

Oh right the Ads.. Ugh. Yeah That was dumb. Whether purposefully deceitful or not, portraying Chief as this rogue warrior for disobeying one order (in-game) was soooooooooo dumb

The characters in HTT had their story told. They were well established and had completed their story arcs. Although they are very strong characters after HTT, giving them a proper backstory for players who never listened to HTT is a fool's errand (and an unnecessary one). Their story was told, and we are better for it... but we don't need to shove them where they don't need to be.

Yeah, you're right. i just really hope we get to see them soon. atleast bb/fero since they are AIs. I remember the speculation and hope that we would rescue Ben from that Oni Prison haha. ... ;'( or maybe get intel from Mshak. oh that humor was great.

 

[Can Crusher]

It took 343i just 2 games to turn Halo into just another franchise. Dying to see what they do with 6.

 

[Trey]

Sanghelios is top to bottom brilliant. That's about as nice a compliment Halo 5's campaign is going to get from me.

I believe saddling you with AI the entire game is a mistake.

 

[Black Mantis]

Good write-up OP. H5 is my 2nd favourite in the series, mainly because the gameplay is the best of the franchise imo. Story-wise, I'm happy with the direction it's heading in, but do feel that Cortana's come back into play too soon. H5 should have been a game for the Didact and Forerunner to be fleshed out more imo.

 

[Poster#1]

Halo 5 has the best on foot campaign gameplay in the series and I'd argue some of the best on foot gameplay in any FPS.

That's some bullshit right there.

 

[singhr1]

All you were led to were warden fights though. nothing special that shifted anything in the halo story.

Genesis has the same potential as the sphere world in 4 i think.



Yeah, you're right. i just really hope we get to see them soon. atleast bb/fero since they are AIs. I remember the speculation and hope that we would rescue Ben from that Oni Prison haha. ... ;'( or maybe get intel from Mshak. oh that humor was great.

HTT is up there with some of the best storytelling Halo as a franchise has every done. The voice actors were AAA and delivered. I, as any HTT fan, would LOVE to see them continue exploring this medium, especially because I don't think a Halo movie/TV show will ever garner enough of an audience to be a successful ROI

The ARG aspect of it was pretty fun too.

 

[Fata1moose]

It's among my least favorite campaigns in a Halo game. That being said, the overall campaign isn't overtly terrible, although the story is. The moment to moment gameplay and encounters are really good, the on foot level design is also nice. The campaign lacks the grandiose moments from Halos of past though, such as the 2 scarab fight, warthog run, Assault on the Control Room's pyramid section, stuff like that. If it had large scale moments like those I think it'd be better. The Kraken was a pretty static encounter compared to the scarabs.

As I said the story was pretty bad, which is especially disappointing after Hunt the Truth was so good. Hopefully they will turn things around with Halo Wars 2 leading up to 6. I didn't mind playing as Locke, but I wish there would have been more Chief and Blue team within the campaign. I'll echo the OP's sentiment and say I feel the campaign felt unfinished. It feels like there were more Master Chief missions planned that got cut.

The art style for the most part is fine with me, the environments are nice. I think they falter on the design of some of the armor and whatnot, but overall it still looks like Halo.

Anyway, the multiplayer is the best in the series which also means one of the best this generation, you should play that if you have any interest.

 

[uncledonnie]

The campaign gameplay (outside of the Warden fights) and level design is easily among the best in the series.

The story is easily among the worst.

 

[farisr]

I gotta say, coming up with the most disappointing/worst Halo campaign, despite having some of the best gameplay the series has ever seen has to be some sort of accomplishment.

First Halo game where I didn't bother doing a second run-through of the campaign in co-op after my solo playthrough, and also the only Halo game that I sold off and didn't keep.

 

[The Hobo]

The story is such a slog. You spend most of it playing as Locke and his team, and all they are doing is playing catchup , trying to reach where the story is happening.

Meanwhile, Chief and Blue Team are where the story is happening, and yet you only get to play three missions as them.

 

[jem0208]

That's some bullshit right there.

It absolutely is not.

The encounter design is fucking superb.

 

[op_ivy]

Battle for tsuniaon doesnt get enough love, but maybe its luumped into "<3 sangelios"

 

[Fata1moose]

Battle for tsuniaon doesnt get enough love, but maybe its luumped into "<3 sangelios"

I think this is the case, when I say the Sanghelios missions are good, I'm including battle of Sunaion.

 

[TalonJH]

I had always planned to pick it up to play through the campaign(I've played every Halo campaign up to this and because it was up for sale and another gaffer said it was a good price for just the campaign I bought it.

It's been the most fun I've had on XB1 in a while. I really like it. I just feel like the controls are really solid and everything just feels right.

As I've said before, Halo stories are never "good". Halo just has really strong fiction. I can look pass the story for the great controls and fiction that I love. Really enjoying myself.


On the other hand, I bought Gears 4 for Christmas and I think I honestly hate it. Something about the controls feels wrong and nothing else is really grabbing me. I'm going to finish it though. Also, thinking about going back and playing the other Gears games to make sure I just haven't grown out of the Gears series.

 

[Thursday War]

I liked it. Story could have been abit better but still was good. The gameplay was great tho. Loved it.



Hides behind rock.

.

 

[Glass]

Great gameplay, great level design (Sangelios, Genesis etc) but a story which failed to connect with a lot of people imo. Still think 343's writing isn't engaging a lot of people. Locke was so bland. The set up for 6 looks interesting at least.

As an aside, excellent multiplayer.

 

[jem0208]

Battle for tsuniaon doesnt get enough love, but maybe its luumped into "<3 sangelios"

That's exactly what I do.

The whole Sanghelios through to Sunion section is fantastic.

 

[sullytao]

For me it wasn't a Halo campaign. Bungie always managed to make the level design and encounters flow near perfectly. Halo 5 felt closer to a cod campaign with the narrow levels and getting pushed from firefight to firefight with the odd vehicle section forced in for variety.
In Halo 4 I thought the covenant were still fun to fight for most of it but forerunners were bland bullet sponge enemies with no personality. Halo 5 the covenant now feel bland and uninteresting and forerunners are just as boring but theres more of them.

 

[jizzlobber]

Not only was the warden annoying but having an exposed weak spot on its back is sooo lame... think harder 343!

I liked the campaign, the story sucked and had nothing to do with the marketing unfortunately... but The gameplay was still fun and there were some cool levels and truly epic soundtracks.

Multi is my drug

 

[E92 M3]

Somehow it was worse than Halo 4. Bungie's campaigns had a sense of adventure and fun encounters. Also, the art direction was very bland. Also, why didn't we go to any Halos for 2 games?

 

[The Hobo]

I really hated the Promethean enemies. Constant teleporting is incredibly annoying. They just weren't fun to fight, more like a chore.

 

[butalala]

Also, why didn't we go to any Halos for 2 games?

That seems like the kind of thing where 343 would be damned if they did and damned if they didn't. People would criticize them for being unoriginal if they returned to a Ringworld.

 

[Diablohead]

Great gameplay, great level design (Sangelios, Genesis etc) but a story which failed to connect with a lot of people imo. Still think 343's writing isn't engaging a lot of people. Locke was so bland. The set up for 6 looks interesting at least.

As an aside, excellent multiplayer.

I feel like a big cause of the ropey story is how many small things are required to be known about, all they needed to do was make a story about chief finding cortana but they added 20 other things inbetween which could have been a lot more simple, straight forward and not padded out with several spartans we hear a few lines from and then never again (blue team is the worst for this)

Halo 1, 2 and 3 made us love johnson because he was a good soldier and contrast to the chief, most of the spartans in halo 5 are just there because....?

 

[jet1911]

I really hated the Promethean enemies. Constant teleporting is incredibly annoying. They just weren't fun to fight, more like a chore.

Yeah. They made it a bit more fun to fight than in Halo 4 but they're still way less fun to fight then the Covenant.

One thing I think Halo 5 needed is some kind of story or lore exposition.