MR BIFFO PLAYS... HALO 5: GUARDIANS

27/10/2015

It's finally here! Halo is back on the Xbox One with Halo 5: Guardians... and the fragrant Mr Biffo gives you his first impressions of the game's campaign mode.

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
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IMMERSE VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET REVIEW
VIDEO GAME MOVIES MAKE ME ANGRY - by Mr Biffo

2 Comments

Ben

28/10/2015 12:33:23 pm

I generally agree with this although I do like the 'feel' of Halo, I have never found the universe engaging, the story compelling or the art direction interesting.

I am totally with you on the Covenant designs; the writers seem to strive for this earnest, weighty tone (admittedly they fall far short; at this stage I'd settle for competently entertaining TBH) but all that is undermined instantly by those little mutant Ewoks running about screaming like Jawas (I wonder where they get all those crazy ideas?!) and the general cartoon wackiness and exaggeration of the enemy animations and 'chatter'.

I hate the overtly US militaristic, 'Hoo-Rah!' aesthetic of the UNSC, and Masterchief looking like Trials man on steroids...it's all so superficial, bland, uninspired and dare I say 'American' feeling; like Starship Troopers as an actual recruitment video, minus the irony and with nothing to say.

As for the story? Well, much like Assassins Creed (or whatever), I literally have no idea what is going on and have no desire to find out. As you say, I don't know why they bother at all really; generally speaking, big budget games' treatment of narrative considerations only serve to galvanise my opinion that games (especially those that rely on cutscenes to do their dirty work) are an awful storytelling medium.

Sigh. It's hard not to be negative, but it does feel like games are in a real rut these days.

Kelvin Green link

28/10/2015 07:19:59 pm

So it scores three burps. Is that an inverse scale, so the more burps the duller the game?

MR BIFFO PLAYS... HALO 5: GUARDIANS

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