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REVIEW: HALO 5 GUARDIANS (Xbox One)

29/10/2015

23 Comments

 
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Let's get this out of the way now: I think the Halo series is one of the most overrated in the history of gaming.

Though the original did a lot right - the opening moments, even if they did borrow heavily from Unreal, were an epic and powerful start - I've found the franchise to be a series of diminishing returns.

I get that much of what Halo did has been adopted by the rest of the genre. I get that the lore and backstory of the universe is much loved, but for whatever reason, it has never chimed with me. None of it. 

​I don't like the Halo aesthetic, the design of its alien worlds, or the enemies, or flimsiness of its weaponry. I don't like the handling of the vehicles. I find Master Chief to be a bland protagonist, who hasn't earned his status as a gaming icon. And I don't like what feels like the laziness of the levels: repetitive shooting galleries, which enemies are simply teleported into in a way that feels like padding, rather than design.

​And yet... I've played all of the Halo games at length. I've finished them all. I've embarked on more multiplayer matches than you might care to estimate. Why? Because I want to play these amazing games that everyone else goes on about. 

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IT'S ABOUT BRAINWASHING IN GAMES JOURNALISM
I'm left so bewildered by how out of sync I am with the rest of the games media when it comes to Halo, that I end up entertaining absurd conspiracy theories about everyone being in the pockets of Microsoft. I don't believe that for a moment, but I can't shake the notion that, on some subconscious level, we're all buying into the myth that Halo is great. That we've all been brainwashed by its contrived efforts to feel epic.

​"Look at the size of those levels! Listen to that lovely orchestral score! Only a great game would feel so expensive!".

You might think, therefore, that I've approached Halo 5 expecting to dislike it. On the contrary, I'm almost as brainwashed as anyone - every single one of these games I've played expecting to love it. Every single time I've come away scratching my head as to why I didn't. It's with the heaviest of shoulders that I report Halo 5 is no different.

WHAT IS DIFFERENT?
Here's what's new this time around: the campaign is slanted towards co-op gameplay. You're part of a team of four Spartans - led by Master Chief in a handful of levels, or by Spartan Locke in the majority of the game.

Obviously, you can play offline, but that's clearly not where Halo 5's priorities reside. Your character has a number of new abilities - a shoulder charge that can take down enemy shields or break through barriers, you can climb up low-hanging ledges, you've a Mario-style ground pound, and a general feeling that you're faster and more powerful than before. Plus your allies can revive you should you fall. Oh - and the guns do have more kick to them.

Clearly, these elements are in the campaign because they need to be in the multiplayer. It's here where 343 Studios has invested most of its energy: as well as all the traditional modes, Halo 5 boasts the brand new Warzone competitions.

​These drop you into huge maps, where your opponents are both other players and Xbox-controlled bots. Powerful weapons pop up mid-game, while you can request more equipment, vehicles and perks from consoles - depending on how flush you are with "requisition cards".

I've seen Warzone being talked about like it's a brand new epoch in multiplayer gaming, and the saving grace of Halo 5. It's solid, it's enjoyable, but I don't see it. I honestly don't. And that once again puts me out of step with almost every other review I've read of this game.

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ADMITTEDLY WHAT?
Admittedly this: most of the reviews of Halo 5 have called the campaign underwhelming - but underwhelming barely even covers it.

​It lacks any stand-out moments, only a couple of set-pieces, and manages to upstage itself with cut-scenes that are more exciting than the levels.

The story is bland and slaved to the convoluted Halo lore, and the new characters every bit as dull as Master Chief. Worse still, this is a return to the repetition that crippled parts of the original couple of games.


Many reviews seem to have appended the criticism by praising the graphics - at least one describing this as the best looking Xbox One game to date. God knows what they're seeing, because it isn't. Not by a long way.

In fact, Halo 5 looks disappointingly last-gen, and rarely feels as pretty as the last few instalments in the series. I don't know whether they've sacrificed detail to achieve 60 frames per second, but there are sloppy textures throughout, a sense of distant objects being plonked into the level without any depth of field. For what is supposed to be a flagship game, it doesn't feel like one beyond the marketing and hype, which goes to great lengths to insist that it is.

When it comes to the multiplayer portion, Guardians has received universal acclaim. I mean, it's fine. Warzone is epic, though I'm inevitably out of my depth, and cannon fodder for most of the other players. That always serves to temper my enjoyment of online play - and surely given the lack of focus on single-player, I can't be the only one who finds this disappointing? Unfortunately, there's no chance of me ever playing the game with my similarly skill-lacking mates at home: there's no local multiplayer, for some reason.


Thing is... I'm not a massive fan of Destiny, but even I can see that Halo 5 feels tired next to it. You can see why Bungie wanted to work on something new - Destiny feels fresh, where Halo 5 feels old, stuck in a rut. In fact, it almost feels like a backwards step given how it really doesn't capitalise on the power of the current generation of hardware. Unless you really, really, really need to play all your games at 60fps. Which maybe you do if you're into your online gaming.

DUNNO
​So... I dunno. I don't like writing this sort of review, because I don't want it to come across like I'm being contrary just for the sake of it. I really don't like bringing the work of other reviewers into it, but it's only because I'm striving to get my head around why I'm not towing the party line.

When I'm well aware that my opinion sits so far outside the rest of the industry, so far beyond the 'official version of events', I fear it looks like I'm being deliberately iconoclastic and obtuse. Rest assured, I'm not. I honestly don't think Halo 5 is a great game. It isn't a disaster, but the campaign is weak and bland, the graphics underwhelming, and multiplayer striving to play catch-up next to Destiny. But it isn't the sort of quality you expect from what's being positioned as a flagship title.

The best I can say is that it's possible that this just doesn't gel with my own tastes, and that whatever it is that other people love about Halo 5, and Halo in general, just isn't for me. 


SUMMARY: Halo, I must be going...
SCORE: 3.43 out of 11.7
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
REVIEW: ASSASSIN'S CREED SYNDICATE (PS4/Xbox One/PC - PS4 version tested)
REVIEW: 80 DAYS (PC/Mac - Mac version tested)
REVIEW: UNCHARTED - THE NATHAN DRAKE COLLECTION (PS4)
23 Comments
Darren link
29/10/2015 12:40:59 pm

There's only so many times you can shoot someone in the head...

And Destiny was a pile of crap too.

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88h88
29/10/2015 12:49:57 pm

All games on this generation of console should be at the very least 1080p and 60fps, At this point it should be a bare minimum.

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Mr Biffo
29/10/2015 12:51:33 pm

Yeah, but if that's going to make them look crap in other ways... y'know.

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Ed_Comment
29/10/2015 08:19:05 pm

The eternal march of the PR machine convinced everyone we'd be playing in the superfast, super powered 1080P 60FPS future back in 2013. They just forgot to mention the compromises. Or the fact that neither of the big two were really any cop at the whole power thing. So people bang on about it forever and ever in the eternal "Sad gits that have no genitals or life" debate chamber that is console wars. Unfortunately because said sad gits also lay out a lot of money to pledge their unceasing corporate loyalty, we get games like Halo and now Uncharted compromising some graphical ability to please the boring brigade at neogaf.

Now I like my 1080P 60FPS. GTA V on the PC I simply can't go back to 30FPS because it's obscenely fluid. 60FPS is simply better. But an arse game at 1080P 60FPS is still an arse game no matter what the tech specs and the people measuring their games by the technical bits and bobs makes them the modern day Amiga owners desperate to claim that tech trumps all.

Unarguably the best game of last generation, Super Mario Galaxy ran at 480P with frequent framerate hitches despite 60FPS most of the time. No one gave a toss because it was a bloody well magical experience that Nintendo have desperately tried to recapture over the past near decade. All the resolutions, polygons and framerates are negligable if your game is as memorable as a Spice Girl's solo career.

Mind you, I'm enjoying Halo 5 multiplayer immensely. So I'm one of those weird folk who seem to be enjoying it. ZUT ALORS! LE MISTER CHEF L'EXCELLENT HON HON HON!

PeskyFletch
1/11/2015 03:00:19 pm

I'd argue about whether it was the best game of last generation. Good points otherwise though.

combat_honey
29/10/2015 12:52:51 pm

This is exactly how I feel about the Halo series, and about Halo 5 specifically having seen it in action. I was actually considering buying the Master Chief Collection when it drops in price to see what the fuss is all about - even after having been left cold by the series previously - just because it's so difficult to ignore the thronging masses praising the series to the skies. But apparently all my shrivelled sense of self needed to finally allow me to trust my own opinion was to see a review written by someone else repeating my suspicions about the series back at me. Thank you, Biffo!

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Mr Biffo
29/10/2015 12:55:02 pm

Huzzah! I am not alone!

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Chinny Hill
29/10/2015 01:54:14 pm

I own two Halo games for the Amstrad Xbox 360. While multiplayer death matches with chums are great fun, the single player mode is a turgid load of old donkey balls.

But then again I said the same about Doom and Quake. And despite owning two Halo games I still don't have a clue what is going on or who the Master Chief is.

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PeskyFletch
29/10/2015 03:36:29 pm

It is reviews like this that originally caused me to fall in love with teletext digi. Thanks Mr Biffo

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Picston Shottle
29/10/2015 03:44:36 pm

You're not alone, Biffo. You're spot on.

The first Halo was good, but that was because it was somewhat original (yes, original if you hadn't played Unreal); it was a great game. And then...then it went all multiplayer. And, frankly, I don't want to be called a "nigger", "fag", "queer", "bitch", "homo" or whatever other clever epithet some sweaty teenager in Des Moines can think up. Halo became about online multiplayer only with scant regard for an actual campaign that lasted more than 15 minutes.

Destiny...I kinda hated Destiny, but then I got over the fact that I have no friends (I have one Xbox friend, and I don't know who he is or where he came from and I am pretty sure I have never played a game of anything with him) so can't do the raids, and I can pretty much totally ignore the Crucible and the racism/homophobia/sexism/bullshit which comes with it (I may be wrong, there may be none of this in Destiny, but I wouldn't know because I totally avoid competitive multiplayer (I'm also shit at competitive multiplayer, so there's that too)) leaving me to just dick about doing strikes and patrols. And it doesn't matter that there isn't much of a story because the game is gorgeous, and, finally, plays really, really well. Destiny is the game that Halo should have become, and did become, just with a new name.

Do you see?

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RichT
29/10/2015 04:16:32 pm

Halo never lets me have FUN! It never lets me PLAY! I can do all the things that it wants me to do to progress, and do well enough in multiplayer that I'm not quite the stinkiest stinker-upper on the scoreboard. But I've never been able to enjoy discovering my own play style, or have the delight of an unexpected event occur in my favour, or do anything that brings my personality to the game.

It's an extremely closed, rigid system, and the only way to gain satisfaction is to become more proficient at that system than all the other players.

And the single player enemies are choreographed no better than a Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit coverdisk freebie. So... Nurrrrrrrr. Not again, Master Geoff. Not this time.

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Kelvin Green link
29/10/2015 06:39:45 pm

You are not alone Biffo; I've never seen what the fuss was about with Halo either and it did seem a bit weird -- creepy even -- how magazines fell over themselves praising the games, and everyone started asking when Sony would come out with a "Halo-beater".

The moment I gave up on Edge was when they gave Halo 2 10 out of 10 for no apparent reason. If even Edge could be swept up in the hype, there was no hope.

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Kelvin Green link
29/10/2015 06:41:55 pm

It was Halo 3, sorry.

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Mr Biffo
29/10/2015 08:53:48 pm

Well, it's heartwarming to realise I'm not the only one with Halo issues... the mystery deepens...

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Bruce Flagpole
29/10/2015 09:05:55 pm

Fuck Halo, right in his stupid helmet!

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Penyrolewen
29/10/2015 10:01:45 pm

I don't know either. I was late to the halo party, I never had an Xbox so my cherry got popped by halo 3. I loved it. I loved the massive set pieces, the open sections, the bottle necks, even the vehicles felt designed to be an integral part (and optional at that) of the game rather than the jarring, pointless add-ins that so many vehicle sections feel like. But that was it. I played all the rest, ODST, reach, 4, and never got more than an hour or two in. They just felt 'meh'. I'd done it all once, why bother again. And 5 looks like the same. Again. This, we know, is a recurring them in this site. Nothing new, just looks a bit better (not even much of that here). I thought it was just me. Less time, more responsibilities, can't get into it, maybe I've played too many games etc, but no, it seems I'm not alone. But they sell this stuff by the million, so maybe it's just that all of us who feel like that found our way here? So what shall we do? Cone on Nintendo, save us!

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Super Bad Advice
30/10/2015 09:23:49 am

I've also played every Halo game bar this one (I don't have an xbone), and similarly think they're nowhere near the hype. The library levels from 1 and 2 still stick in my mind as some of the dullest, most blatant padding in an alleged AAA title I can remember. The thing I've never got though is how everything is supposed to fit - the serious story yet with robotits your designed-for-horny-teenage-boys assistant and comedy grungy aliens. Oh, and advanced alien civilisations who inexplicably spent all their time making corridors with no function leading to open area with no function. It's all a weird mishmash - like if Uncharted was exactly as it is, but Nathan Drake was actually a duck.

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CdrJameson
30/10/2015 09:39:07 am

I always assumed the Halo hype was because it was the first playable FPS that console-only gamers had seen*. Even at the time of the first one there were much better FPSes available on PC (Half Life, Unreal, System Shock, er, Dark Forces).

Incidentally, I'd forgotten how much more fun and accessible Dark Forces was simply because there was very little up/down head tilt. Headshots (mostly missing them, in my case) just weren't a thing, because your sights were at roughly the right height all the time and it was a massive pain to adjust them.

*Assuming they hadn't seen Goldeneye

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lilock3
30/10/2015 01:59:49 pm

My first (and only) Halo experience was playing the PC version of the original. As someone who is primarily a PC and Nintendo gamer, I would characterise that experience as "meh".

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Kirby
30/10/2015 02:11:41 pm

100% agree. I remember picking up the first (and second) Halo expecting an amazing, or at least fun, game. But it never clicked with me... the gameplay, the aesthetic, none of it.

I think the thing I always hated most was just how many hits from my gun it took to kill the annoying little aliens. I may be exaggerating, but it felt like it took about 50 hits before they actually popped their clogs.

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ChorltonWheelie
30/10/2015 06:42:08 pm

'Twas always bobbins.

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Alan
31/10/2015 09:09:19 am

Thought the first gam was ok,nothing spectacular though my sons at the time of release thought it was utterly brilliant,i thought them wrong and i've never changed my mind on the series,i've given them all a go but i lose interest after the first few levels and I pass on finishing them.

To me though this game really is just a cash grab(arent they all i suppose)but when Bungie walked away surely what ever story was done and seres should have been laid to rest,but like most of gaming in the last 2 generations sequels are pumped out and gaming becomes ever more diluted in my view.

Still I hope people enjoy it,me i just dont get the series nor its popularity.

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Ren
4/11/2015 08:45:26 pm

Halo has always suffered from the "Vertical Slice" phenomenon. I remember way back watching a press conference, where the devs in question were championing the vertical slice, and claiming that if you could get that perfect 30 seconds of gameplay, and repeat it, you were golden. The quote: Jaime Griesemer: "In Halo 1, there was maybe 30 seconds of fun that happened over and over and over again, so if you can get 30 seconds of fun, you can pretty much stretch that out to be an entire game."

And that's what every Halo campaign since has been like, the same, over & over until the end. The only time Halo has ever surprised me was when The Flood turned up.

I watched the cutscenes wondering why I couldn't play out what was happening...

Still; I bought a boxed copy & sold it the same week it was released, so the whole experience cost me a tenner, but even then it feels like lentils - culinary filler, not a main dish.

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