I know this is kinda late, but I figured that I'd go ahead and post my first impressions of the Halo 5:G Beta.
-The new movement options are fun and satisfying. Thrusters are awesome, Clamber is so-so, I guess, it's not something that I hate but at the same time it doesn't always work as easily as I thought it would so that's definitely good.
-Charge and GP are both bad. They don't really feel that satisfying to use and the risk is much higher than the reward. After a few matches I barely saw them being used so I guess it balanced itself out.
-Sprint felt really good, especially with this mechanic. I too was one who was against it's inclusion but if it has to stay, this is the best way to do it.
-Smart Scope works very well, I found it to serve pretty much the same purpose it did before, but that I use it now because of where it's mapped to.
-The weapons were hit or miss for me, the auto weapons were too OP in my opinion and often was out gunned by an AR at medium range while I was using the BR.
-I want to say it again, AR and SMG are too freaking powerful.
-The DMR's scope definitely balanced out it's range in a way I hadn't expected, by closing off that much screen real estate it was nice to not be able to dominate from every corner of the map because of the handicap.
-Sniper was a little off, I don't know what it was and sword lunging only worked about half the time for me, as did clash.
-Also, to be a bit nitpicky here, spawning with two grenades seems a bit much, I think it may be that they're a little too powerful as they were in the preview, but I'm not too sure yet.
-The sounds were much better than I expected as well, the pings when landing hits weren't as annoying as I thought they would be and became positive for me. the music is fantastic, all except for the track that plays every time you die. I got more frustrated that way because it felt like the game was rubbing it in your face that you had. It was unnecessary.
-Shield recharge sound is weird too. I don't understand why it was changed as it's change doesn't better the experience, it's just change for change sake and I didn't really like it.
-BR sounds more like a BR than I thought it would. In the videos before I got hands on it seemed off but works fine in the game.
-Spartan Chatter is cool, I think it needs to be toned down a bit as it's been said before, but it's also already been addressed. There was one instance that I didn't like it because while I was scoping with the sniper on Empire from Outside to Tower Three a spartan told me that a bad guy was spotted in Blue Outside so I descoped and searched for him instead. Idk, technically someone with a mic would do the same thing, but it felt like I was being babysat.
-The maps were a lot of fun, Truth especially was my favorite. The map flow was great and the gameplay was fun. My biggest complaint with the maps are the colors being just a tiny bit too washed out as well as the haze. The haze made some spots of the map feel like I was being punished for being in them. But thankfully, this has already been addressed.
-I also think that Empire could use different power weapons. I felt like it was too small for twin snipers. Maybe one on Tower Two and a different option on Outside.
-Dudebros need to chill. Seriously, it was funny at first and to see the different iterations with different team sizes, but it's already old.
-The only real bugs that I saw were the menu ones. If you go to the Spartan Hub to customize your Spartan after a match,wouldn't render like at all. He's essentially a big pink (and always pink, even if I change the colors) blob with a blue rendered visor.
All in all, the gameplay was super fun and satisfying, I never felt cheated out of a kill due to mechanics, only due to skill, and what all I didn't enjoy seems as though it's been addressed already. This is leaps and bounds better than Halo 4 was ever and I am super excited to play non-AR starts when the full beta goes live and on some new maps, and the final product next fall.
I love Halo 5 y'all. Smart scope is cool, autos are OP and thrusters are godly. #WeBack
