Introduction
Halo 5: Guardians was developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released for Xbox One in October of 2015.
Review
When Master Chief finds himself back in the UNSC army, he takes his team to respond to a station that was attacked by covenant forces. Only to find out that it was attacked by the Promethean threat that has seemed to come to light. While recovering vital Intel on the station, he learns that Cortana, of all people, may still be alive. This sets Master Chief on a journey, yet again, to find his AI partner, and ignore the commands of his superiors.
What this means for poor Locke and his team of ODST soldiers, is that they’re tasked with bringing Master Chief back. So in the game, you have many storylines at once, and honestly, it felt even more hectic than anytime before! Between Master Chief trying to find Cortana and bringing her back, to Locke and his team trying to capture the Chief, to Cortana amassing an army of “Guardians” that the forerunners used, it was all crazy, all the time, and kept me on the edge of my seat constantly. I will say that sometimes the story can get a little bit confusing. Especially when it delves deep into some of the terminology that’s being built.
The game left off on one heck of a cliffhanger. But luckily, with Infinite right around the corner at the time of writing this review, I don’t have to wait much longer before getting to continue the epic journey. I’m especially starting to appreciate Master Chief more now, as his character keeps getting fleshed out. He knows what he has to do, but at the same time, he can’t just leave a friend behind. Plus seeing Buck and his squad back in action, made me realize how much I truly love that crew. I wish we could have more of them.
The gameplay was so refined in this entry. It truly felt like a modern day shooter. Sure most of the game is still played with hip firing your weapons, but you now have the opportunity to aim down the sights for just about every weapon. Unfortunately when you get hit, you still get knocked out of aiming, but I’m hoping this gets reworked in Infinite, as it’s still really jarring.
The game also employed a whole swathe of new vehicles to drive! Whether it was the Mantis, which was like an exo-suit of power armor, with guns and missiles. Or a Phaeton, which is a super awesome air vehicle that the Prometheans use, I once again had so much fun driving them! The only downside to some of the vehicles is that some feel extremely underwhelming. Like one mission where I was driving a Scorpion tank, and I had to keep it alive. But as I was keeping it alive and being smacked around by everything the game threw at me, it just felt weak and useless. I’d shoot at enemies with the explosive shells, and they’d still be standing. So I’d have to wait until I could unload another shot and just hope for the best.
One other terrible thing this game does, is that it plays dialogue in the middle of levels. But if you traverse an area too fast, it cuts off said dialogue and starts the next thing of dialogue, or goes into a cutscene. So you’re forced to stand around if you wanna hear everything. I don’t see why they wouldn’t give you the necessary space to be able to hear everything.
Rating
Pros:
- Fantastic Story
- Guns Feel Great
- New Vehicles Are Awesome To Play With
Cons:
- Dialogue Is Cut Off
- Some Vehicles Feel Useless
Summary
Halo 5: Guardians was a blast to play. Between the awesome set pieces, and the fun vehicles, and enjoyable level design, it kept me entertained for the whole campaign. 343 Industries keep reeling me in deeper to the universe that they are creating, and I can’t wait to see where it goes!
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Game & Developer Information
Developer Website: 343 Industries
Developer Socials: Twitter
Publisher Website: Xbox Game Studios
Publisher Socials: Twitter
Images – https://www.igdb.com/
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