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[Izayoi]

There didn't need to be a group of "new" and "old" Halo fans if the transition from Halo 3 to Halo 4 would have respected the source material better. You could write an essay on everything that changed from the gameplay, story, sound design, music, multiplayer, and art design.

It's true, but unfortunately, instead of learning from their mistakes, 343 decided to run away from what made the original games great as quickly as possible with Halo 5.

The series might as well be called something different at this point, it's a completely different animal, and one that I am none too fond of.

A real shame. :x

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

This is the first I'm hearing of a saga. I know 343 is gonna make more Halo after 6 but the saga part is new, which means this is gonna be never ending.

Preach.

I want normal movement too, hate this boost shit.

People mainly use sprint. Most forget they can side dodge.

 

[Izayoi]

i always bought halo for the singleplayer, been doing so since my dad brought an og xbox with halo ce home back when it was released and i hate what 343 did with the story so far

the terminals in bungie games foretold a promosing future but it never came to fruition. instead we got agent locke chasing master chief the game and incredibly boring enemies (prometheans) in design and combat.

what sets old bungie and 343 apart is writing,pacing and level design.

missions like assault on the control room, two betrayals or silent cartographer are godlike and will always be fun to playthrough

Fucking nailed it.

The writing and atmosphere was so completely different that it's hard to tell the two are even related.

Now we're stuck with this terrible fanfic-level tripe that continues to degrade with every new entry. What the fuck happened?

 

[Akai__]

This is the first I'm hearing of a saga. I know 343 is gonna make more Halo after 6 but the saga part is new, which means this is gonna be never ending.

They announced it prior to Halo 4 even released. They called it Reclaimer Saga, so that every book, movie, comic and other piece of media, would be included in the Halo 4 - 6 trillogy. This Saga will still most likely end after Halo 6.

 

[Bulby]

They seriously need to push the boat out with the Halo 6 campaign IMO.

Halo 5 multiplayer is great, carry on in that direction.

The campaign, go wild. Im sick of shooter campaigns being tutorials for multiplayer. If you dont get this shit by now, you never will.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

They announced it prior to Halo 4 even released. They called it Reclaimer Saga, so that every book, movie, comic and other piece of media, would be included in the Halo 4 - 6 trillogy. This Saga will still most likely end after Halo 6.

I'm thinking in Dragon Ball Z terms. So I expect another to follow after this saga is over.

 

[bidguy]

i know marty has his own studio,but damn how i wish he would go back to halo

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

I can understand the criticisms of the campaign, I was interested in where the story went but the levels themselves didn't have memorable moments like the peaks of Bungie-era Halo and the recycled Warden fights suggest that 343 didn't enough time to fully flesh out that side of the game.

343 absolutely nailed the gameplay itself though, and that's a much more important thing in my opinion. They added sprinting, double jumping, wall running, kind of but not really ADS and yet it still feels like the most Halo gameplay since Halo 2 where it's about knowledge of the map and no fucking about with loadouts, armour abilities or dual wielding. It's closer to the beloved guns/grenades/melee triangle than any Halo game in a decade and better than most of the Bungie developed Halo games.

If people want to shit on the campaign for not being memorable then fine, but anyone saying the gameplay isn't fantastic is out of their mind.

 

[Ricky Ricardo]

Nevermind I didnt catch where you said Halo 4 is strong gameplay wise 😂
Makes your opinion regarding everything Halo automatically irrelevant

So, I guess the massive observable bias you have riding against 343 and Halo 4 and 5 doesn't also preclude you from discussion?

Fancy that.

 

[DesertFox]

It's true, but unfortunately, instead of learning from their mistakes, 343 decided to run away from what made the original games great as quickly as possible with Halo 5.

The series might as well be called something different at this point, it's a completely different animal, and one that I am none too fond of.

A real shame. :x

Yeah this pretty much echoes my sentiments exactly. I used to be upset with all the missteps that 343 made, but I think now I just stopped caring and have moved onto other franchises.

 

[RexNovis]

I would say Halo 5 is definitely the best playing - in terms of mechanics and feel.

The campaign is certainly not the best designed though. I like the idea of boss fights like the Warden, and even enjoyed a few of the fights (fuck that last one though), but it is absolutely insane how many times they reused that.
The Krakken (I think that's what it was called) was a huge step back from the Scarab battles in Halo 3.
None of the levels in 5 were particularly memorable.

Ah he did say gameplay didn't he? I saw best and flew off the handle. Still I'd argue that the enemy design, encounter design and boss design leads to the act of playing through the campaign being sub par compared to any of the original trilogy. I really really dislike the combat loop when fighting the promethians. They are annoying to fight instead of fun or interesting to fight. the same can be said of the multiple warden fights. It just misses the mark way to much in the design for me to say the act of playing the game is the best in the series.

 

[FyreWulff]

"Halo 4 might have played it safe"

i take it the writer didn't play halo 4, the game was loaded with controversial design decisions from day 1.

"The fact is Bungie's games were often more important than they were good,"

Bungie was successful at always getting people to transition over to a new Halo when it came out. At the end of the 360's run, Halo Reach had 3 times the population of Halo 4.

 

[TheUnsunghero26]

Ah he did say gameplay didn't he? I saw best and flew off the handle. Still I'd argue that the enemy design, encounter design and boss design leads to the act of playing through the campaign being sub par compared to any of the original trilogy. I really really dislike the combat loop when fighting the promethians. They are annoying to fight instead of fun or interesting to fight. the same can be said of the multiple warden fights. It just misses the mark way to much in the design for me to say the act of playing the game is the best in the series.

Yeah, I can agree with this. The promeatheans still need work. They tweaked them from Halo 4, but they're still not there yet. Hopefully they can improve them the same way Bungie improved the Brutes from 2 - 3.

 

[Cranster]

They announced it prior to Halo 4 even released. They called it Reclaimer Saga, so that every book, movie, comic and other piece of media, would be included in the Halo 4 - 6 trillogy. This Saga will still most likely end after Halo 6.

I think your not correct there. The Reclaimer trilogy wasn't rebranded into the Reclaimer Saga untill after Halo 4's release. The reason for it is because they don't want to limit it to a single game trilogy thereby limit the kind of story they want to tell.

 

[FyreWulff]

Also if they're gonna build off Halo 5, they need to streamline the controls. So many actions are mapped to separate buttons when you could have made them context sensitive. Halo 5 is very hard to control and "muscle memory" actions. Basically to me, Destiny is riding one side of that line, Halo 6 went just over it on the other side.

 

[Karl2177]

Also if they're gonna build off Halo 5, they need to streamline the controls. So many actions are mapped to separate buttons when you could have made them context sensitive. Halo 5 is very hard to control and "muscle memory" actions. Basically to me, Destiny is riding one side of that line, Halo 6 went just over it on the other side.

Huh? A lot are context sensitive. Melee while sprinting gives charge. Melee hold while midair is ground pound. Crouch while sprinting is slide. The only one that is even weird is stabilize which is the most context sensitive thing to the point that I don't understand it entirely (sprint while zoomed in and midair).

 

[Ryouji Gunblade]

I don't knock H5 for the multiplayer or gameplay mechanics. I knock H5 for the stupid story. stupid bullet-sponge Promethean enemies, and campaign execution. The music wasn't that memorable either.

Wars 2 did some real good in comparison to H5, but it still wasn't even close to Wars 1.

 

[bidguy]

whatever happened to this ? they are achievement pics. after the inital trailer this should have been the main direction

looks infinitely more interesting than what we got

 

[FyreWulff]

Huh? A lot are context sensitive. Melee while sprinting gives charge. Melee hold while midair is ground pound. Crouch while sprinting is slide. The only one that is even weird is stabilize which is the most context sensitive thing to the point that I don't understand it entirely (sprint while zoomed in and midair).

The one I was thinking of is thrust not just being press A twice to thrust instead of LB. Then you make forward thrust the equivalent of charge.

And delete sliding, because it's stupid and doesn't belong in either Halo or Destiny.

there i made it better

(but seriously, the controls need to start getting back more towards halo 2)

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

Sprint ruined everything

 

[Ricky Ricardo]

whatever happened to this ? they are achievement pics. after the inital trailer this should have been the main direction







looks infinitely more interesting than what we got

Something transpired between the Halo E3 2014 trailer and the retail release of Halo 5. There's evidence in the campaign that things were cut and rejiggled.

As to whether the game is better off or worse off because of this, we may never know.

 

[hollomat]

They need to give it to another studio. 343 had done a trrrible job and completely ruined the goodwill built up by bungie.

At the very least they need to get rid of everyone responsible for the story for Halo 4 and 5 and get in new writers. They're hiring a new narrative director, but the position says they report directly to the creative director so nothing will change.

 

[Taliban Stan]

"The fact is Bungie’s games were often more important than they were good,"

I don't even know what this means. Seriously. They were more important than they were good. You can be a great game that was tremendously important, but tremendous > great so more important than good... but I get the feeling the person who said that is using it as a negative statement on the "goodness" of Halo games.

Or better yet, why does it matter? People like Halo. Are you saying they actually hate Halo but they like important things so it just seems like they like Halo? That Halo games are actually bad? If you say you enjoy Halo, are you just a fanboy with the wool pulled over their eyes about how the game is really terrible and you really just like that it's important?

Again, an awesome game could be mind-blowingly important or a terrible game could be important and both of those are more important than good. What is the point being made?

 

[soldat7]

"The fact is Bungie’s games were often more important than they were good,"

This doesn't make a lick of sense. Meaningless words.

 

[Dash_Riprock]

"The fact is Bungie’s games were often more important than they were good,"

I understand what the author was trying to say (kinda) but 1-3 were amazing games in their own right.

Also, wow, the Halo movie. One of the biggest "if onlys" in recent history. Would it have sucked? Probably (If Fassbender couldn't save Ass Creed then Peter Jackson couldn't save Halo). But still, so much hype for it only for nothing.

 

[Ocarina_117]

I really liked the ending to 5, despite not enjoying the story overall. Too many repeated boss fights, although I enjoyed the triple one at the end.

The multiplayer is just amazing, as is the gameplay. They really just need to hit the campaign out of the park and they'll have a god tier Halo again.

Refocus the story on master chief alone.

 

[Evil John Locke]

Bungie "never wanted to oversee a global entertainment property" erm...

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

I really liked the ending to 5, despite not enjoying the story overall. Too many repeated boss fights, although I enjoyed the triple one at the end.

The multiplayer is just amazing, as is the gameplay. They really just need to hit the campaign out of the park and they'll have a god tier Halo again.

Refocus the story on master chief alone.

Yeah, as boring as a lot of the campaign was the ending leaves things in a really exciting place. With lots of AIs defecting to join Cortana, the UNSC is in a position where they have to rely on guerilla tactics more than conventional warfare. Would be nice if Halo 6 brings back some of that Halo: CE feeling where you are one person taking on a foe with vastly superior firepower and numbers.

 

[DyZ]

Give me a Halo 3 remaster and I won't ever touch another game until servers are shut off. I mean I know it's not likely to happen, but I can always dream right?

 

[thumb]

Sprint ruined everything

If only we were restricted to trudging slowly across expansive maps again, Halo would surely regain its greatness.

Spoiler

/s

 

[Swordsman VII]

Honestly, I feel like 343 really needs to resist the urge to fully refocus back on the Master Chief. Playing as another character can work just fine, they just need to make whoever you are playing as a lot more compelling than Locke was in Halo 5. Locke and Osiris were a decent start, but they were barely fleshed out character-wise.

They can keep them for Halo 6 but they need to make them much more interesting if they are going to be able to compare to playing the Chief.

On this subject, I feel like now is a good chance to put us back in the Arbiter's shoes, at least for a few levels. My avatar betrays my bias on this whole subject matter XD

 

[Blueblur1]

The writer of the article is out there to say the least .

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

In terms of 4v4 MP and it's mechanics, Halo 5 might actually be my favorite Halo. Everything else though? Seems a bit unfocused, to say the least.

 

[Ocarina_117]

Yeah, as boring as a lot of the campaign was the ending leaves things in a really exciting place. With lots of AIs defecting to join Cortana, the UNSC is in a position where they have to rely on guerilla tactics more than conventional warfare. Would be nice if Halo 6 brings back some of that Halo: CE feeling where you are one person taking on a foe with vastly superior firepower and numbers.

Gave me some Battlestar Galactica feels.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

In terms of 4v4 MP and it's mechanics, Halo 5 might actually be my favorite Halo. Everything else though? Seems a bit unfocused, to say the least.

Halo 5 SWAT is just perfection.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

Halo is gone. Time to let 343 ruin perfect dark, even though zero has a head start on that.

 

[Apoleptica]

I'm not at all surprised Halo 4 and 5 didn't sell as well as the earlier titles. As a big fan of Halo since 2001, 343 really fucked it all up with Halo 4 and 5. Pretty much everything they added and changed to the series is contrary to what made Halo Halo in the first place. The overly detailed, overly colorful art direction, the uninspired and annoying promethean enemies, the contrived plot, etc. Disregarding the graphical difference just look at the difference in art direction in terms of mood and tone between Halo and Halo anniversary. Halo has an architecturally minimalist, relatively dark tone and 343 basically turned it into a saturday morning cartoon in the anniversary remaster. Halo 4 feels more like power rangers than it does Halo, and Halo 5 is even worse. I feel like 343 is forcing a transition between an M rated Halo and an E rated Halo. Unless 343 completely shift their course for the next Halo they've lost me and a multitude of other original fans.

 

[FyreWulff]

I'm not at all surprised Halo 4 and 5 didn't sell as well as the earlier titles. As a big fan of Halo since 2001, 343 really fucked it all up with Halo 4 and 5. Pretty much everything they added and changed to the series is contrary to what made Halo Halo in the first place. The overly detailed, overly colorful art direction, the uninspired and annoying promethean enemies, the contrived plot, etc. Disregarding the graphical difference just look at the difference in art direction in terms of mood and tone between Halo and Halo anniversary. Halo has an architecturally minimalist, relatively dark tone and 343 basically turned it into a saturday morning cartoon in the anniversary remaster. Halo 4 feels more like power rangers than it does Halo, and Halo 5 is even worse. I feel like 343 is forcing a transition between an M rated Halo and an E rated Halo. Unless 343 completely shift their course for the next Halo they've lost me and a multitude of other original fans.

eh. I always thought Halo was barely an M. It's been super colorful since day 1. And Halo 1 was even originally T until the last minute.

I think it's even been outright said that for the longest time Halo games basically got rated M because.. the previous Halo games were rated M.

 

[jelly]

I want a great campaign experience, you can knock the story or whatever but encounters, missions just aren't good enough for Halo. It's what I most look forward to with each Halo release but that's two disappointing campaigns in a row.

 

[Deadstar]

I want a great multiplayer experience again. Bring back big team battle and trash the disgusting forge mode. I do not want to see user created levels in a multiplayer fps game.

 

[AYF 001]

eh. I always thought Halo was barely an M. It's been super colorful since day 1. And Halo 1 was even originally T until the last minute.

I think it's even been outright said that for the longest time Halo games basically got rated M because.. the previous Halo games were rated M.

I always thought they were M due to The Flood being dismemberable, and the Composer scene in 4.

 

[FyreWulff]

I always thought they were M due to The Flood being dismemberable, and the Composer scene in 4.

Composer is about the most M it ever got but even then that was for a brief second, and other T games got skeletons and blood

 

[Apoleptica]

eh. I always thought Halo was barely an M. It's been super colorful since day 1. And Halo 1 was even originally T until the last minute.

I think it's even been outright said that for the longest time Halo games basically got rated M because.. the previous Halo games were rated M.

I didn't really mean M in terms of gore, violence, language, etc (the usual requirements of an M rating), but more in terms of mature and gritty tone. Halo CE had horror elements with it's dark corridors, eerie audio, and mystery around the corner and with every sequel those elements have diminished. My ultimate wish is for Halo to be closer to the range of Aliens than Splatoon.

 

[Toa Axis]

I can understand the criticisms of the campaign, I was interested in where the story went but the levels themselves didn't have memorable moments like the peaks of Bungie-era Halo and the recycled Warden fights suggest that 343 didn't enough time to fully flesh out that side of the game.

343 absolutely nailed the gameplay itself though, and that's a much more important thing in my opinion. They added sprinting, double jumping, wall running, kind of but not really ADS and yet it still feels like the most Halo gameplay since Halo 2 where it's about knowledge of the map and no fucking about with loadouts, armour abilities or dual wielding. It's closer to the beloved guns/grenades/melee triangle than any Halo game in a decade and better than most of the Bungie developed Halo games.

If people want to shit on the campaign for not being memorable then fine, but anyone saying the gameplay isn't fantastic is out of their mind.

I would argue that the new abilities still end up damaging the multiplayer gameplay quite a bit. Sure, we're back to even starts, but the Spartan Abilities don't take the old Halo multiplayer and improve it, they take what was there and make it different, and if we're comparing it to the old Halo multiplayer, worse.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But I certainly disagree with the notion that the abilities make the old experience better, as opposed to different.

 

[Cranster]

Refocus the story on master chief alone.

Screw that. Halo 2 was proof enough that a great story can be told ingame outside of the Chief.

I always thought they were M due to The Flood being dismemberable, and the Composer scene in 4.

Halo was rated M because of the ESRB tightening up the ratings after 9/11. Halo 1 was originally rated T for Teen.

 

[chaosmaster(1)]

A soft reboot with Chief is a perfect opportunity for 343 to really course correct and get rid of all this extra baggage after Halo 6.

 

[Zvonimir Boban]

I would argue that the new abilities still end up damaging the multiplayer gameplay quite a bit. Sure, we're back to even starts, but the Spartan Abilities don't take the old Halo multiplayer and improve it, they take what was there and make it different, and if we're comparing it to the old Halo multiplayer, worse.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But I certainly disagree with the notion that the abilities make the old experience better, as opposed to different.

I don't know if I can say it's better than CE and Halo 2 (Halo 2 had dual wielding which sucked but the maps were better than 5) but imo the multiplayer is definitely better than what Bungie put out in 3, ODST and Reach, hence the "better than most Bungie Halo games" bit. The one caveat being that ODST Firefight > Halo 5 firefight.

 

[Swordsman VII]

Screw that. Halo 2 was proof enough that a great story can be told ingame outside of the Chief.

Again, my avatar is betraying my bias a bit, but I agree.

There is plenty of evidence the story doesn't NEED the chief to be good. ODST, Reach and Halo 2 were great story-wise. What the story needs is a player character that is either simple and relatable like the Rookie/Noble 6 or a bit more complex and badass like the Arbiter. Locke and Osiris can be fixed, though, there is potential there with a bit more fleshing out.

 

[Abinash117]

I think it would have a similar effect DOOM 2016 had when that dropped. Basically, it would be a really great "back to basics" shooter. That would end up getting pretty solid word of mouth

Kind of simplistic. Doom 2016 had both old school and used plenty modern elements in the campaign. It never went full old school.

It is also a very huge assertion, since the games played for very different reasons( Halo is more multiplayer focused, while Doom 2016 is campaign focused).

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

Halo is gone. Time to let 343 ruin perfect dark, even though zero has a head start on that.

So like Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo Reach had a head start in ruining the Halo bliss that is Combat Evolved? Interesting.