For all my excitement, it didn't let me down. The first new Halo campaign in 6/7 years, and for the most part it was an absolute blast. It seems to have carried over elements of lots of open world games I've played over the last few years. Destiny (somewhat ironically), Just Cause and Breath of the Wild all immediately spring to mind, yet it also retains everything that is uniquely Halo. Make of that what you will.
I found the difficulty in this one to be quite tougher than usual. Playing on normal, I wasn't expecting to breeze through, but there were some areas and boss fights where it felt near impossible at times and victory was more down to luck than anything else. Most of the enemies and fire fights tend to be pretty fun and you get into a pattern of how best to kill them and what the best weapons for each type are etc.
I enjoyed traversing the landscape on foot or using one of the several vehicles you can choose from. Having your own little band of soldiers at your disposal comes in quite handy at times as well. I enjoy unlocking the FOBs and searching for the collectables and liberating captured UNSC. There's a decent amount to keep you busy. The only thing that's really missing is being able to do this all with a friend. A game like this is crying out for a pal, and sometimes it feels like this has been made with that in mind, particularly when things get a little overwhelming.
Visually, the game is stunning. It's probably the first game of this new generation I feel really pushed things forward, rather than just slightly adding a bit more detail to a few things and having a higher frame rate. It had me stopping in my tracks to look around at the scenery more than once. Those lush greens of the Halo ring really popped out, and getting to play this on a 4k TV really added to it as well. It looks incredible.
There's lots of positives going for this, but I think the inconsistency in difficulty, especially in the final few missions, really put a dampener on what was potentially shaping up to be my GOTY. And the lack of co-op play feels like there's a chunk missing.
Definitely my favourite Halo since the 360 era, at least.
I found the difficulty in this one to be quite tougher than usual. Playing on normal, I wasn't expecting to breeze through, but there were some areas and boss fights where it felt near impossible at times and victory was more down to luck than anything else. Most of the enemies and fire fights tend to be pretty fun and you get into a pattern of how best to kill them and what the best weapons for each type are etc.
I enjoyed traversing the landscape on foot or using one of the several vehicles you can choose from. Having your own little band of soldiers at your disposal comes in quite handy at times as well. I enjoy unlocking the FOBs and searching for the collectables and liberating captured UNSC. There's a decent amount to keep you busy. The only thing that's really missing is being able to do this all with a friend. A game like this is crying out for a pal, and sometimes it feels like this has been made with that in mind, particularly when things get a little overwhelming.
Visually, the game is stunning. It's probably the first game of this new generation I feel really pushed things forward, rather than just slightly adding a bit more detail to a few things and having a higher frame rate. It had me stopping in my tracks to look around at the scenery more than once. Those lush greens of the Halo ring really popped out, and getting to play this on a 4k TV really added to it as well. It looks incredible.
There's lots of positives going for this, but I think the inconsistency in difficulty, especially in the final few missions, really put a dampener on what was potentially shaping up to be my GOTY. And the lack of co-op play feels like there's a chunk missing.
Definitely my favourite Halo since the 360 era, at least.