It's the Smash 4 of Halo: faster gameplay with several improvements, but is still very defensive. Both being held back by design choices.
A couple small changes and this game could be so much better. Played some TMCC again and sprint is still unnecessary if they'd increase base speed. It's depressing sometimes to know* Halo could be so much better if they made some of these changes and accepted that Halo 5 is going to sell millions regardless of motion tracker being changed to sound/health-based or sprint being replaced with faster base speed and the shield recharge mechanic being shifted to the thrusters -- I'm starting to think that would be the best option seeing as how thrusters are more helpful than sprint when escaping fights.
I've basically accepted the fact that no matter how vocal we are, the only thing we can do is vote with our wallets. Publishers don't care about how the fans enjoy the game, they want to see sales numbers. The last good solid FPS that was original, innovative, and brought something fresh to the shooter space was Shadowrun for Xbox 360, however, due to poor sales, MSFT canned FASA Studios and shut them down...which is really unfortunate.
I used to have a buddy who worked for Kaos Studios, the guys who made Frontlines Fuel of War, published by THQ, he and I talked all the time about what the game industry is like...and while we can bitch and moan on the forums all we want, it doesn't make much difference. There's a design plan and no forum pro is going to deter the design plan of a game.
My buddy told me that after Frontlines Fuel of War came out, their sales were bad, I don't even think they broke more than 300K copies sold. They were allowed a sequel by THQ...thus they didn't make a sequel to Frontlines per say, instead, Homefront came out.
Through the development of Homefront, he told me how closely they were studying Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. Hell, their lead producer had a blog with short videos analyzing how they designed aim down the sights for COD and the deadzones on the controller, how quickly the ADS came up the moment you pulled the trigger, etc. He said they were determined to make the game as enjoyable as COD...this is where they already failed before the game even came out.
Homefront comes out...it's got a snazzy marketing campaign to it, and people bought it...but then what happens? The game sucks. The same did better sales than Frontlines but still not enough to satisfy THQ, so as a result, THQ shuts down Kaos Studios. The game simply was horrible. They focused so much on trying to copy COD, that the game ended up being bad, really bad. It was sad too because my buddy didn't know what was going to happen with his job. He told me that's just the way the video game industry is. No amount of forum banter to their lead producer telling them to STOP COPYING COD mattered either.
So...for me personally, this trend isn't going to stop. Right now we have COD AW, Titanfall, and Halo 5, all similar. They all have thruster packs, aim down the sights, futuristic themes to them, ground pounding, full-auto spray weapons with little challenge to them, etc. Battlefield franchise is the only one not going that route...yet. Hardline comes out in spring this year...cops and robbers...whooopty dooo, it's probably going to be really bad. Then we have Star Wars Battlefront...hopefully that's good, then Titanfall 2, then Rainbow Six Siege...finally returning to their roots so Ubisoft says.
The outlook of FPS games being original and innovative and sticking to their original brand/core is scarce...but I think a few franchises are willing to do it. The others will just continue the race of trying to copy one another and be the best of whatever the latest FPS trends are.
I've pretty much given up on the Battlefield franchise, I think they dropped the ball big time, and while I love modern-day military shooters, I think the next actual Battlefield game, which will be Battlefield 5, is just going to be a spin-off of the futuristic theme going on in shooters today. It's sad because Battlefield can be a good game if they just stop trying to copy the trends in the industry and just be themselves.
What I don't understand is, why do publishers/devs think they can't stand on their own with their own unique designs and concepts? Why do they think they have to cater/design elements of their game to fit or make familiar to someone who's played COD?
Since when did COD define what an FPS needs to be? I just don't get it. I understand COD4 sold a shit ton of copies...but do publishers/devs actually think they're going to be the next "big" thing in gaming by continuously copying what they do year after year?
Sorry for the novel of a post, but sometimes I can't stop once I start thinking about this stuff and I love reading industry news/trends. Helps me understand why shit is the way it is...e.g., ADS in Halo 5.
EDIT: Also, when the one 343 guy said on Beyond Entertainment forums that sprint is in Halo 5 because it's what players today expect....who determined that? Where's the research? So what if it's what players expect...do what Halo expects of itself.
I'm willing to bet that the next Halo game is going to probably go straight-up ADS COD-style...because by that time, we're all gonna expect it right?
so I'm working my way up from silver. I don't have any huge issue with the way the system works for now.