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Halo 5 Review Thread

Adaren

Member
Should you really be reading ANY review then? Even reviews marked as containg no spoilers? It sounds like you dont ant ANY story elements revealed (and its understandable). So dont read reviews, its risky business.

The reviewer explicitly said that he's "not delving into any big spoiler material" and then casually dropped that mid-review. It's perhaps the biggest point of speculation that fans had going into the game. He's not annoyed that someone spoiled something minor; he's annoyed that a review that clearly advertised itself as spoiler-free revealed one of the most speculated spoilers in the game.
 
Not enough variety in the levels I also read. That would be a shame cause there can be done so much with this universe. Ok, now I'll really quit worrying.
 
So it's like MGS2 on a way?

I'm not complaining! I think this is the only series where I couldn't give a fuck about NOT playing as the main character. There is really not character there. I like Chief because of his abilities, weapons, and armor, etc., which Locke has.
 
Warzone is a freaking blast and I didn't think I'd enjoy it. It plays just as smooth as SP. I think I'm going to wait until I have my elite controller to jump into the arena.
Warzone looks amazing but Arena is where it's at. 4vs4 goodness with an Elite controller... omg
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
Which outlier didn't justify it?

At the moment, no idea. I haven't read through them all.

I'm not speaking strictly of the reviews that have released, but ones that will be released too.

For example, Giant Bombs ridiculous 2/5 for Gears which dragged it's metacritic right down. I'd expect something similar for Halo 5. If you read that Gears review from GB it's the dumbest 2/5 review you'll ever read.
 

Zyae

Member
"forum selection bias", now where have we heard that one before.

Geez keep coping Frankie.


Except he's 100% right. You see it in every review thread. Someone will find a choice quote from a review, post it and proclaim I KNEW THIS GAME WOULD BE X
 

Cheech

Member
Hmmm alot of "who gives a shit about the story" posts in here..surely destiny plays just as well and we know how that turned out.

But anyway glad to see its reviewing well! Picking up an xbox this holiday season.

I've always found Halo's story to be incomprehensible at best.

Really, though, who cares. It's a shooter.
 
Campaign reviews are mixed, not negative; there's plenty of positive ones too. You may like it, you may not.

I suspect some of them might have blown through (or not cared for) the exploration bits, which would sour their impressions.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
"forum selection bias", now where have we heard that one before.

Geez keep coping Frankie.

I'm actually ecstatic about the review scores. I was answering a question. If I was "coping" sending him to read reviews for himself wouldn't really help me with my existential distress.


I bought the Limited Edition just for this. And now it's free. Lol oh well. I don't see the point in making a selling point in the Limited Edition if it was just going to go up on The Halo Channel for free anyway though. Tricky bastards.


It's up for folks who have the LEs or enabled versions. I believe you can't see the whole thing unless you're logged in with an account connected to that purchase. It's not free.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Is it true that this game doesn't have endlessly spawning bad guys that force you to constantly push forward!? Thank fuck.
 

TheOddOne

Member
What exploration? "The rest of the larger maps featuring vehicles still force players down corridors — just wider, vehicle-sized corridors than the rest of the game." If 343i made a game with a whole stack of exploration and sandbox openness then I'd be all about it. I specifically mentioned that. "...the grandest set-pieces of the series often took place in massive maps, and they featured multiple waves of enemies that players fought against using vehicles. In these moments, killing every single enemy is a joy as you spend as much time as you can careening through a massive map in a tank or an alien dogfighter, and it was in these battles that the essence of Halo was generated."

Halo 5 doesn't have that. It has one level which is sort of like that, but otherwise your SOL. If 343i want to make a corridor shooter then they shouldn't adhere to kill chamber design -- that's what I'm saying.
Here is what you wrote:
The other major reason for the kill chamber design in Halo is supposed to be tied to the large battlefields
No, it isn't and hasn't been the case since Halo CE. Much of the sandbox design was all over the game, from small, mid to large encounters. That is what made it cohesive and fun. Adding a timer or “urgency” to any of those encounters is un-Halo, it’s very much the product of modern game design—flashy but undermines everything about the game from encounter to level design. Every CoD since 4 has become less memorable and soulless because it takes so much control away from the player by rushing the player to the finish line. It looks and feel hectic, but by the end none of it becomes memorable—it just becomes something that has to be finished and be done with. That is my biggest problem with your piece for advocating that that should be prevalent design philosophy. We need less FPS games that stick to one design philosophy because it’s easier to digest.
 

Euron

Member
Hmmm alot of "who gives a shit about the story" posts in here..surely destiny plays just as well and we know how that turned out.

But anyway glad to see its reviewing well! Picking up an xbox this holiday season.
Apples and Oranges. Destiny at launch had no story and a garbage competitive multiplayer. I haven't played the campaign yet so I can't exactly see where it goes wrong but not even Halo 4 can be compared to Destiny.
 
Nice to see the game reviewing so well!

I just have to laugh at my luck. Found out this week that my out of province work trip was put down for today to Thursday - guess I'll be waiting a couple days longer to play Guardians (and try out the Elite controller).

Were it so easy.
 

Madness

Member
confirmation bias.

Destructoid review fucking sucks.

There's always one. Last time it was EGM which gave lower scores because Halo didn't have iron sights and wasn't 'modern' enough.

This is a mature series, almost 15 years in, if they don't change Halo, they get that it's stayed the same and too old fashioned, if they change too much, they piss off those who liked the older games.

From what I'm hearing, the story is polarizing as opposed to being bad, and the actual campaign game play is fun.
 

Deku Tree

Member
I have read every single review and the folks amplifying that idea are not representative of all the reviews. I suggest you pick a few at random and not get involved in forum selection bias. This happens in every review thread. Not just Halo.

Someone finds an negative aspect or element that confirms what they suspected about the game and repeats it for pages and pages. There's probably a word for it, or a psychology paper waiting to be written.

So again, pick some reviews at random and see what consensus you find.

I looked at two random reviews (well from cites where I usually watch reviews, IGN and Gamtrailers) and both of them gave me that Halo 2 horrible story all over again vibe.
 

zsynqx

Member
Hmmm alot of "who gives a shit about the story" posts in here..surely destiny plays just as well and we know how that turned out.

But anyway glad to see its reviewing well! Picking up an xbox this holiday season.

The story was just a slice of Destiny's problems at launch, so not really comparable

There's only one review that really matters, my own. :)

I imagine it was already a 10 before before the game was even announced right? ;)
 

Guerrilla

Member
I'm actually ecstatic about the review scores. I was answering a question. If I was "coping" sending him to read reviews for himself wouldn't really help me with my existential distress.

Btw. congrats on the great reception! Can't wait to play tomorrow finally! Got a day off and just went out and bought some junk food. Soooo loking forward to this...
 
I have read every single review and the folks amplifying that idea are not representative of all the reviews. I suggest you pick a few at random and not get involved in forum selection bias. This happens in every review thread. Not just Halo.

Someone finds an negative aspect or element that confirms what they suspected about the game and repeats it for pages and pages. There's probably a word for it, or a psychology paper waiting to be written.

So again, pick some reviews at random and see what consensus you find.

You have a good point. I read some mad tweet and completely lost all interest in the campaign, but after watching 2 other reviews I think it is still worth playing. Personally a bummer that Chief is only in 3 missions, but I'll definitely give it a shot
 
I looked at two random reviews (well from cites where I usually watch reviews, IGN and Gamtrailers) and both of them gave me that Halo 2 horrible story all over again vibe.

Halo 2 has the best story in the series, barring maybe Reach, or 4 if you're up to date with the EU.

What?
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
I looked at two random reviews (well from cites where I usually watch reviews, IGN and Gamtrailers) and both of them gave me that Halo 2 horrible story all over again vibe.

That's still a better way to find out about the game than reading reactions about reactions.
 

nOoblet16

Member
The problem I had with the story, apart from the theme and the characters they use to tell this story, was that it finishes when you think it's getting started. The last level for instance, didn't feel anything like a climax...and for that reason it felt very anti climatic.
 

Amneisac

Member
I've always found Halo's story to be incomprehensible at best.

Really, though, who cares. It's a shooter.

I will always maintain that Halo CE is one of the best stories in any game. Not only is it easy to understand, it is compelling and told in a way that the gameplay of each level is directly tied to a story event. So many games today have you running bullshit errands for a hundred NPCs as a way of adding filler to a barebones narrative. Halo CE did it right, Halo 2 was also good but more difficult to understand the story and then it kind of went downhill from there.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
The problem I had with the story, apart from the theme and the characters they use to tell this story, was that it finishes when you think it's getting started. The last level for instance, didn't feel anything like a climax...and for that reason it felt very anti climatic.

I wonder if it will be like halo 2, where the ending was so abrupt that it kind of ruined my experience for quite a while but after plenty of time I can appreciate the story and how it was told as my favorite in the series. Not to mention the arbiter Locke connection.
 
Not liking a lot of reviews saying the Campaign is disappointing, as that is my reason for wanting to play the game.

I will probably still enjoy it but was wanting something big from the story and the Master Chief vs Locke angle, that has been on all the marketing for this game, but it sounds like it go's down with more of a whimper rather than a big bang. :(
 
I think my view on the story would go down to me like the execution or not. In the past Halo games we had one massive cut cliffhanger, one that is a little bit convoluted, one massively retconned a lot of established lore, and one relying too much on extended universe, yet the majority of them stand the test of time because they have beautiful gameplay and level design and they together with other games in the series set up a great fictional universe, I wouldn't mind that much if Halo 5 at least became an interesting part of the overall story arc.
 
You know this has been bugging me for awhile, I don't quite understand why in review threads yall include reviews by sites that sound unprofessional by their name alone and give everything 9+ scores. Everyone gets hyped and then bigger websites come in and the scores are lower.
 

nOoblet16

Member
Hmmm alot of "who gives a shit about the story" posts in here..surely destiny plays just as well and we know how that turned out.

But anyway glad to see its reviewing well! Picking up an xbox this holiday season.
Destiny is a game where story is truly more or less useless..and the main complaints of that game were not story, whereas people do play Halo for story. TTK received great review but even that didn't really have much of a story, all it had was something that was more cohesive than the original, the positive reaction was also down to the rest of the changes made to the game.
 

Vinc

Member
Destiny is a game where story is truly more or less useless..and the main complaints of that game were not story, whereas people do play Halo for story. TTK received great review but even that didn't really have much of a story, all it had was something that was more cohesive than the original, the positive reaction was also down to the rest of the changes made to the game.

Story was definitely a main complaint for Destiny, it's the one I kept seeing the most around release.
 
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