A first impression of Halo 5: Guardians’ campaign rocked our socks

Features

September 23, 2015

UPDATED:

We’ve added the opening cinematic for the mission “Blue Team”, as well as a few new gameplay videos. First up, the cinematic:

Now that’s an entrance.

And now for a little “Blue Team” gameplay:

Even if “Blue Team” isn’t the largest environment, something you’d expect when it’s based on a space station, it does offer some of the largest environments of its type from any game in the franchise. That is to say, space craft levels have rarely been this large.

There are also a few uses of suit abilities, 4-player co-op and the improvements made to enemy AI demonstrated.

For a better idea of the new and improved environments, a look at some of the prettiest Halo visuals yet and much more, this next video demonstration is for you.

It’s from another level, “Enemy Lines”.

See what I meant about larger environments and varying routes, although it’s still very much a Halo experience.

Original Story:

As the first Halo title to release exclusively to the Xbox One, there’s an awful lot of expectation Halo 5: Guardians has to fill.

It’s safe to say then that 343 Industries had quite a challenge ahead of them, but if what I’ve played thus far has anything to say, they’re certainly up for the challenge.

I was fortunate enough to have spent an entire day with Halo 5 in London, playing the campaign, arena and the brand new Warzone modes, and I’m happy to report that the game could easily be one of the best in the series.

Thanks for the trip Microsoft; I had a blast.

Starting off with the campaign, Halo 5: Guardians has, sadly, scrapped split-screen co-op and have instead opted in for a brand new 4-player campaign mode that makes up for the loss of a friend sitting next to you on the couch.

The addition of two more players adds a whole new depth to Halo 5’s campaign, offering a number of play styles, especially given the much larger environments this time round.

So that you might coordinate with your fellow spartans, you can issue commands to other players by means of the D-Pad. Commands range from shouting for a revive, to requesting your teammates move up to a position or engage with a specific enemy.

Perhaps the best news of all is that having played through the available section of campaign with other players as well as with AI teammates, the AI will more than suffice and offers a fairly authentic experience.

There was the odd issue or two with the AI correctly following orders, but that’s about what I’d expect from AI.

And let’s be honest, players are hardly going come through for you 100% of the time anyway.

What three additional players does do is add a whole lot more oomph to the campaign.

During the “Blue Team” campaign mission, for example, you’re instructed to hop into a banshee and destroy a number of generators.

Throw in three more players and a serious amount of bullet hell and you get a really quite tense Halo battlefield that I couldn’t help but love.

Talking about battlefields, almost every area in the game is around 40% larger than Halo 4, which means that exploration, enemy count and vehicle combat have all been given a re-look into how it all integrates into the game’s general design.

When it all comes together, 343 Industries has created one hell of an experience, whether on foot, in the air or while ramming grunts by the dozen in ol’ faithful, the Warthog.

As I’ve said, exploration is a must this time round. Instead of the linear mission structure that we saw in previous titles, you can now take different routes and approach situations in a number of ways, a feature that is reiterated through the addition of 3 additional players.

A strong example of that was made during the mission “Enemy Lines”. My team and I were tasked with overwhelming a shield generator’s defences and ultimately bringing down a shield.

The environment and enemy layout provided a number of options, more so than either guns blazing or completely stealthy.

Two players might cause a ruckus while the other two are able to sneak by a good portion of the enemies guarding the shield generator and drop it without serious complication.

Another fantastic addition introduced by Halo 5, in part, due to the larger maps are suit powers.

Jumping in the air and boosting, for example, gives you a brief push forward (a jump dash or double jump if you will) enabling you to reach platforms across an otherwise insurmountable gap.

You can also sprint by clicking in R3, and when you’ve gained momentum, you can bash into enemies with an over-powered melee attack.

Although this all adds faster way to get around, I feel like it could have been just a little bit more powerful.

The boost in the air could also use a bit more momentum to it, and the ground slam could certainly be more powerful. They both seem weak compared to the charged melee attack.

That said, I’m really just nitpicking as they’re still enjoyable new ways to approach combat and map traversal.

Another improvement made is that every weapon in Halo 5: Guardians has been given an aim down sight function, which has been incorporated into your helmet rather than your gun.

The new gunplay feature means an improved perspective, experience and accuracy for those who want it, but needn’t be used by old-school Halo fans who prefer a more classic experience.

There are also a couple of new guns added into the mix, along with the old ones. These all feel great, even though ammo is as scarce as before.

A benefit of ammo scarcity is that you’re kept on your toes, having to continuously switch out your weapons, adapt on the fly and encourages you to wield every weapon type.

For me, however, there was nothing worse than seeing that both weapons were out of ammo, knowing full well I was about to encounter a massive Covenant wave.

Suffice it to say, having loved every second of what was on offer and two fairly large missions down, I fell in love with Halo 5: Guardians.

The game runs beautifully on the Xbox One; the campaign looks like a solid entry with a number of plot twists that I dare not mention; and the added suit mechanics are a welcome entry into the franchise.

Stay tuned to MyGaming as we uncover more on Halo 5: Guardians with the Arena mode and the Warzone mode coming soon.