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Halo 5 Review Thread

M

MrDaravon

Member
Hmm, about what I expected I guess? The story/campaign being a bit of a bummer/mixed bag along with a cliffhanger ending is disappointing, but to be frank after Halo 4 I didn't have my expectations too high. With no BTB in at launch I'd mostly be interested in Warzone, but I'm not super hot on some of what I'm reading about the REQ stuff.

At the very very least this sounds like a better package than Halo 4 and the core gunplay/multiplayer seems on the right track, so good on 343.
 
R

RoKKeR

Member
privitsan02 said:
Damn that Metacritic. I thought Halo 4 was an anomaly but the mighty sure has fallen.

Best wishes.
Click to expand...
I see we have gotten to the drive-by Metacritic score posts.

Glad to see many outlets doing in-progress reviews, especially after MCC. Thankfully though, things are looking much better for this launch.
 
G

Goldfishking

Member
Always-honest said:
You know what i mean. Don't get all autistic on me now (in a jokingly way...).
Edit: never mind. You'll be saying: no, it 's one product and that is that. Fine.
But imo it would be good to give two different scores for two very different parts of that product.
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Actually no your right in one regard. When looking at the game and giving your overall impressions it is important to separate multi player and single player into two categories, and scoring them does that very well. But for buying advice the score separation can be confusing.

But maybe people are disagreeing with me because reviews aren't used as buying advice anymore, but a critique of the game. And that's fine, but i still see reviews as trying to inform the potential customers what this game is like and in that scenario multiple scores are just weird and they make scores even more important. Which in my eyes is a bad thing.
 
Doug Heffernan

Doug Heffernan

Member
mchiodo1 said:
YES, i was about to say that, as someone who waits three years to play the story in halo, this is disappointing... 343 pay joe staten what he wants, if he wants a plane get him a new plane, cause we need him writing stories for halo again, especially since were going back to the ring world in h6
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They already employ him, but it's surprising to me that he's not involved in Halo anymore. I'd guess that he just wants to do something different than sci-fi, which is why he's involved with Scalebound and Crackdown.

Great to see the game reviewing so well. Congrats 343, well deserved!
 
D

Dangansona

Member
nOoblet16 said:
Yea true I agree with that bit.
A lot of times reviewers cannot see past their love for the game/series and hence can't point out obvious flaws.
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I didn't mean to derail the thread though. It was just kind of sad because I wanted Halo to return to past greatness (maybe it still did) yet reading the review list from top to bottom is like a Rollercoaster. It builds up to the top with Polygon and then kind of takes a dive afterwards lol.
 
S

shandy706

Member
Reading reactions throughout the thread I thought maybe the campaign was seen as not so good..

...then I went through the ACTUAL reviews and..

The campaign is top-notch, even as Master Chief shares the spotlight...
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Featuring both an excellent campaign that builds upon the mythos nicely, and a really fun take..
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The campaign is a confident, well told, galaxy spanning adventure.
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Playing the campaigns back-to-back allows the plot to flow far more smoothly and combined with the already-addictive gameplay, turned it into an easy recommendation for everyone.
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Both Chief's and Locke's stories intertwine in interesting ways.
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Halo 5 nails it all for me, making it my favorite overall Halo game to date.
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Memories, emotions, past choices and the figure of the carriers are in an intense campaign, filled with moments of great impact that culminate in a long finish several times moving.
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The campaign is one of the best ever and offers enormous replayability.
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As it stands, Halo 5 is near perfect. With slick gameplay, a fantastic campaign..
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Play Halo 5 because it’s bursting with invention, an absolute masterclass in how to craft a first-person shooter, and the best reason yet to own an Xbox One.
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..the campaign of Halo 5: Guardians has something magnetic.
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My favorite aspect of the plot in Halo 5: Guardians was the pacing.. Every new campaign mission made it exciting to play from start to finish to see what would happen next.
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I ended up really enjoying the campaign..
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As soon as you start the first mission, you’re immediately thrown into the combat and it’s all fast-paced from there on. It is engaging, it captivates the player and it interweaves correctly with what is happening with the story. There is not a single moment in the game where the gameplay feels repetitive, boring or dull.
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Every level in the game's campaign was designed with striking verticality, and it is in this verticality where I found the level of replayability to be a joy. Going through the campaign is one thing, but stepping into it again, and on a different difficulty, gave me a great challenge in approaching each objective.
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In previous Halo, the indoor levels were relatively linear. Here they are generally much larger and have many hidden passages. The overall experience offered by the campaign of Halo 5 is worthy of the license.
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... the plot puts a lot of exciting pieces in motion, and it's a blast to play through from beginning to end.
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Halo 5 boasts the best campaign since Reach, mixing enormous, beautifully detailed environments with fast-paced, exciting combat across some of the most interesting and colourful locales 343 has ever produced.
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There were roughly a dozen or so times we completely stopped whatever it was we were doing to take in a scene.
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+ Some beautiful landscapes
+ Amazing soundtrack and sound design
+ Gameplay is fun
+ Level design is top notch
+ Higher stakes as the story goes
+ We want to know what happens next!
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The campaign in Halo 5: Guardians is proof that they are more than capable of matching the very best that the series has to offer.
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Perhaps the most important thing to say about Halo 5's campaign is it's a substantial improvement on Halo 4's campaign, which I've always maintained was a decent first effort from a new developer still finding its feet. Halo 5's missions do not revolutionise the FPS genre, or even the Halo series, but they are a welcome return to form.
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Every single one of those are from a different review..lol. Seems the campaign is pretty good and a blast to play through. Had me worried as I'm more of a campaign person than multiplayer.

That's from 22 of the reviews...I can only read so much..haha

Looking forward to tomorrow.
 
S

SpotAnime

Member
I swear I could swap out Halo 5 with 4 when reading these campaign reviews. Not that it's a bad thing, as I just got done playing 4 on MCC and loved it, but this just sounds like more of the same.

Multiplayer is where it's at, and if that's greatly improved with what everyone is saying, then seems like 343i nailed this one.

Edit: Does it sound like Microsoft remade Brute Force here? ;)
 
G

Grazzt

Member
Australia still has very high ping :(
And I can't play multipler with my friends from other countries because the game doesn't let me start
 
B

Betty

Banned
level1 said:
The love H1 gets is just a huge mystery to me. I've seen a fair few people say that assault on the control room is their favourite halo level, and that's literally a whole hour of running through the same room and identical open fields over and over again. And it's pretty much the same for the rest of the game. Can someone explain what still makes H1 so appealing to them today, as I am genuinely interested to know.
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The entire game is one long adventure of discovery.

Despite the lack of constant cutscenes, you are right there with Chief exploring and learning about this mysterious world and the enemies you encounter.

Basically, it really gave the eerie sense of being on an alien planet and it was all the more wonderful for it.

It's also paced incredibly well, the co-op was mindblowing, the end chase on a Warthog was exhilirating and it had some clever encounters.

Punching out sleeping grunts never got tiring.
 
T

Tatsumi Oga

Banned
Yautja_Warrior said:
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. :(
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I'm not too worried about those things though. I just hope it has a decent length, cause that was promised to us. One thing I read in this thread I didn't like is that the game leaves you hanging and you'll be like... That's it? I was hoping for a big bang ending with a sick boss fight, but it sounds like that won't be the case.
 
G

Grisby

Member
Ah, did I read right in that you only get to play as the chief
in 3 missions out of 15?i would have expected a better balance.

Bah, I'll withhold judgement of course until I see how it's played out, but damn if that's not a bit disappointing.
 
P

privitsan02

Member
RoKKeR said:
I see we have gotten to the drive-by Metacritic score posts.

Glad to see many outlets doing in-progress reviews, especially after MCC. Thankfully though, things are looking much better for this launch.
Click to expand...

That's a good thing. MCC's Metacrtic score is a disgrace. Honestly, I'm surprised reviews are already out but it does seem like the multiplayer will likely be functional.

That being said, 86... Never thought I'd see a mainline Halo game scoring "so low".

Best wishes.
 
D

digitalrelic

Banned
nOoblet16 said:
It's 87.
Which is great considering it's very hard for games to be over 90 these days...especially big releases.
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Eh, MGS V, The Witcher 3, Bloodborne, Destiny: The Taken King, Pillars of Eternity, Super Mario Maker, Ori and the Blind Forest, Batman: Arkham Knight, Uncharted Collection, and more all ended up with a higher score than the 86 rating that Halo 5 sits at now. I don't think it's a stretch to say that these scores are at least somewhat disappointing.
 
G

Goldfishking

Member
shandy706 said:
Reading reactions throughout the thread I thought maybe the campaign was seen as not so good..

...then I went through the ACTUAL reviews and..

Every single one of those are from a different review..lol. Seems the campaign is pretty good and a blast to play through. Had me worried as I'm more of a campaign person than multiplayer.

That's from 22 of the reviews...I can only read so much..haha

Looking forward to tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I saw too. Seems like the story is bad but the actual campaign is still fun to play.
 
G

Garrett 2U

Member
privitsan02 said:
Damn that Metacritic. I thought Halo 4 was an anomaly but the mighty sure has fallen.

Best wishes.
Click to expand...

87 is the highest rating any console exclusive has earned this year.

Best wishes.

Edit: ayyy my bad, metacritic misled me with 'top new releases', not top releases

Still, 87 is up there
 
jfoul

jfoul

Member
Halo 5 seems to be getting good to great review scores, with the story being a divisive sticking point. In these situations, I usually put trust into a reviewer that I know enjoys the genre they're reviewing, or shares my common interests. This is where podcasts, and streams come in handy to get familiar with the people behind the reviews.I think Giantbomb handles this exceptionally well between their videos, and podcasts.
 
M

Majestad

Banned
Speedy Blue Dude said:
Calling a 95+ Metacritic average. Definitely gonna be the highest reviewed Xbox One/PS4 game to date. (Excluding GTA V, not sure if that counts. Since it's a late port of an incredible Xbox 360/PS3 game)

343 did the fanbase good. Incredible scores so far.

EDIT: I believed too hard. :(
Click to expand...

I liked your optimism.
 
K

Kralamoonard

Member
privitsan02 said:
That's a good thing. MCC's Metacrtic score is a disgrace. Honestly, I'm surprised reviews are already out but it does seem like the multiplayer will likely be functional.

That being said, 86... Never thought I'd see a mainline Halo game scoring "so low".

Best wishes.
Click to expand...

86 isn't low...and there are still many reviews that are not out yet. Stop with the shitposting..best wishes isn't making your comment any less stupid.

Also, although there has been some divisiveness surrounding the campaign, it's best people to play it for themselves before deciding (or confirming their preempted bias) - that's what I'll be doing before I make a final verdict.
 
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