Campaign Review:
Yeah, took me a while to get around to finishing this. Like Halo 4, it's a mostly forgettable campaign that's saved by some solid action in the last 4-5 levels. But far more than any previous Halo, this made me realize how much I hate it when modern AAA titles craft huge, detailed, yet forgettable areas that you just walk through without interacting with anything. There were a few times where my team of four Spartans was just walking across an alien planet with nothing else going on. It was all style over substance, but the style wasn't impressive or memorable. To be clear, I love a lovingly crafted environment in a game, but if it's in a linear level and you pass through an area in 30 seconds without engaging with the environment in any way... what was the point?? It doesn't contribute anything to the game, it just felt like adding more work to the dev team for the sake of adding more work. I dunno man, it got me real cynical.
Speaking of style over substance, Halo 5 has a habit of putting stuff in cutscenes that we should actually be playing, like killing the Elite boss in the beginning level, or a set piece in which Spartans are jumping across falling panels over lava. There's a cutscene where Locke briefly fights Chief, and I can't think of a single reason why it wasn't playable other than "it looks cooler this way". I'm not here to watch characters do cool stuff, I'm playing games to DO the cool stuff AS the characters!
Anyhow, everything I said in my Multiplayer review still applies to the core mechanics. The weapon variety is unmatched, and being able to use The Answer to take down a couple of bosses was just delightful. It's still frustrating that there's no split-screen, but whatever. My wife and I beat this with one of us on XCloud and one on console, and the streaming was fine about 80% of the time. At least when we play the Infinite campaign we'll be able to actually install in on a PC. Why is this the only Halo not on computers?!?
It's a fine campaign, but definitely the weakest in the series. Ending felt kind of pointless, and there really wasn't much in terms of standout sequences other than the huge numbers of enemies in the Battle of Sunaion. Glad I've finally beaten it, just wish it was better!
Yeah, took me a while to get around to finishing this. Like Halo 4, it's a mostly forgettable campaign that's saved by some solid action in the last 4-5 levels. But far more than any previous Halo, this made me realize how much I hate it when modern AAA titles craft huge, detailed, yet forgettable areas that you just walk through without interacting with anything. There were a few times where my team of four Spartans was just walking across an alien planet with nothing else going on. It was all style over substance, but the style wasn't impressive or memorable. To be clear, I love a lovingly crafted environment in a game, but if it's in a linear level and you pass through an area in 30 seconds without engaging with the environment in any way... what was the point?? It doesn't contribute anything to the game, it just felt like adding more work to the dev team for the sake of adding more work. I dunno man, it got me real cynical.
Speaking of style over substance, Halo 5 has a habit of putting stuff in cutscenes that we should actually be playing, like killing the Elite boss in the beginning level, or a set piece in which Spartans are jumping across falling panels over lava. There's a cutscene where Locke briefly fights Chief, and I can't think of a single reason why it wasn't playable other than "it looks cooler this way". I'm not here to watch characters do cool stuff, I'm playing games to DO the cool stuff AS the characters!
Anyhow, everything I said in my Multiplayer review still applies to the core mechanics. The weapon variety is unmatched, and being able to use The Answer to take down a couple of bosses was just delightful. It's still frustrating that there's no split-screen, but whatever. My wife and I beat this with one of us on XCloud and one on console, and the streaming was fine about 80% of the time. At least when we play the Infinite campaign we'll be able to actually install in on a PC. Why is this the only Halo not on computers?!?
It's a fine campaign, but definitely the weakest in the series. Ending felt kind of pointless, and there really wasn't much in terms of standout sequences other than the huge numbers of enemies in the Battle of Sunaion. Glad I've finally beaten it, just wish it was better!