QCF: Halo 5: Guardians

he Halo franchise is nowhere near the fever pitch that it once was, but that hasn’t stopped 343 from attempting to launch a chapter of the lore that’s worthy of the prestige that most hold the Halo dynasty of games in.

Halo 4 yielded a mixed response of sorts from the community at large, but there was a universal consensus on thing, and that was some of the bold changes that the studio took to the series in both gameplay, and narratively.

Halo 5: Guardians is no exception; I would go further as to say that 343 may have finally nailed it with this entry, and may have finally outdone what many consider to be Bungie’s (albeit underrated) Magnum Opus to the franchise that was Halo Reach.

The interstellar space marine opera has always aired on the side of hard Sci-Fi in every aspect it could, and Guardians is no exception—the core gameplay mechanics around the shooting tactics and abilities available to you have drastically changed, and it’s for the better.

The fifth entry to the brand marks the introduction of Spartan abilities, a new feature that replaces the previous armor loadouts with something much more dynamic in function and efficacy. Taking a somewhat liberal cue from Tribes Ascension, there’s more of an emphasis on fast movement and using melee attacks like it was a contact sport. Players will have access to a “Spartan Rush” that will grant players a super tackle that can be used on the ground, or in the air, and short bursts of dashes that can be used for traversal or evasion.

The ground rush can be triggered at the apex of a sprint, and can not only be used as an effective means of crowd control, but is also a means to destroy blockades or obstacles, opening up stages for exploration instead of the usual linear level design for Halo. The other attack being the superior choice for crowd control, only harder to pull off, as it’s executed from the peak of a jump in the air, propelling you down in a rocket tackle into the ground, and taking out any foe within radius of the attack.

The added moves to the Spartan repertoire make for a faster, more fluid combat experience without making it feel like a frenetic ordeal that’s difficult to keep up with. With every firefight that Halo 5 throws at you, the sense of action is not only engaging, but thoughtfully complex, and thanks to to these new abilities—players can ingratiate themselves into an intense encounter that will demand more of the player than their skills with side-arms and strafing.

Another mechanic that really adds to the campaign is a returning feature from Halo Reach; the squad commands, and the surprising efficiency that have in the battlefield.

Available tactics to assign range anywhere from focusing fire on a designated target, to cover fire, to support positions, the versatility of the dynamic and the AI behind it ultimately helps to factor in a whole new level of immersion that’s all-around enjoyable. Not to mention that this is the first venture within the series that allows for players to recover after being downed by an enemy from the assistance of a squad mate in your team. While the element itself is far from groundbreaking in terms of the genre, it definitely helps keep the level of immersion and engagement going within the campaign.

Multiplayer has always been a massive proponent to the franchise, and this is where Guardians excels the most; it creates a completive forum of play that’s both captivating, and accessible.

Eschewing the cooperative elements from previous modes like Firefight and Spartan-Ops, Guardians streamlines them into their Team Arena mode, offering dynamic change in match guidelines within a playlist format much like last year’s Master Chief Collection.

The playlist serves as both a palate cleanser, and an opportunity for acclimation at a pace that will cater any sort of skill level it needs thanks to drastically improved matchmaking system (which was one of the biggest flaws that Master Chief Collection initially faced during its release.) In addition, the new move set and focus on frenzied movement for attacking and defending is augmented by superb level design on both new maps, and returning ones; zipping and tackling a pair of reds from 10 feet of a scaffolding is just plain, stupid, fun.

The presentation of Halo 5 is just as breath taking as the previous entry, and engineered around all the strengths of the Xbox One hardware. The console has already earned a reputation for its inability to deliver consistent processing with games involving a heavy emphasis on visual performance, often scaling back frames of animation or details of resolution to balance one another, often through a faulty execution of the tactic.

Guardians embraces this quirk, and instead of being developed in contention towards it, is engineered around it, embracing it as a fundamental that ensures that the scaling shifts of exchange between 60 frames of animation and 1080P resolution are negligible at best.

When it comes to the deep narrative and story to Halo, 343 has walked a fine tightrope of consistency for the Spartan faithful, and bold departures and twists towards the direction of the series—yet the plot does admittedly struggle to establish its own identity within the trilogy, and is often serving as a launching pad to what’s coming next.

There are a few concepts here that just don’t get the progression needed to live up to the potential that they initially upon first impression of the plot’s introduction, resulting in far too many anticlimactic conclusions from what was once a promising chapter to the new trilogy.

On top of that, 343’s challenging juggle to make their version of Master Chief a compelling one, without unraveling the original appeal at the same time—the results are, mixed at best. The biggest issue is the focus on Chief’s humanity, and his relationship with Cortana being one of the last vestiges to it; it just humanizes the chief in ways that sort of drag down the stoic mysticism he has an apathetic super soldier; a minor complaint in the grand scheme of Halo 5.

In a market crowded with shooters, Halo 5; Guardians manages to blend a host of new features and dynamics with the familiar characteristics that the series is famous for, modernizing Halo in a fantastic sequel as a result. Despite some of its shortcomings, 343 proves that the Microsoft’s most prestigious video game property still has what it takes to be one of the best reasons to own an Xbox One.