Halo 5’s competitive Arena Mode is as good as Halo gets

Halo has always been known for its multiplayer mode, far more so than it has for its campaign, and in Halo 5: Guardians, there has been a complete revamp of the system.

I sat down to play some Arena mode, and at first it was intimidating, but having played the beta as far back as last year, the changes made were noticeable enough to knock me out of my anxiety.

The new suit mechanics, for example, have given the multiplayer a much needed boost in pace, granting the already frenetic game a lot less downtime.

Some might argue that it was fine as it was, but fine just isn’t quite good enough for 343 Industries, and you’ll soon adapt to the improved pace.

As someone who spent half of his life playing Destiny, the air dash and boost jump felt pretty familiar to me, as well as the ground pound of course.

And for those naysayers accusing the newfound mechanics of making Halo 5: Guardians into Call of Duty, you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s unmistakably Halo, right to its core.

Try not to forget that for the most part a single shot, even to the head, will not put you out of commission; there’s a shield between you and the bullets after all.

Halo 5: Guarians, like in games past, is much more about sustained, albeit brief, firefights.Twitch shooting is vital, but far from the only thing that counts.

It’s that facet of Halo that produces a much more tactical game where positioning is just as important as, if not more so than, accuracy.

For those concerned, Halo 5 still manages to maintain a balance between guns, grenades and melee attacks. It does a great job at keeping all players equal at all times, well in Arena mode anyway.

As long as you can come to terms with the adjusted button layout, which is now defaulted to a scheme similar to that of Call of Duty or Battlefield.

You are, however, more than welcome to use a more traditional Halo layout scheme; the game isn’t too fussy about what you use to play and is far more concerned with how you play.

One of the most noticeable improvements made is SmartScope, which allows for any gun to zoom in using the HUD’s display.

Different guns zoom in with varying levels of intensity, but they can all do it. But make no mistake, 343 Industries is taking balance into consideration, so weapons that previous couldn’t zoom in will have very limited zoom functionality.

This is probably to combat the game moving in the “traditional FPS” direction, and keeping it true to the game’s history of combat.

It never felt like I had to zoom in to be more accurate. Somehow 343 Industries has kept the same old mechanics possible for anyone with or without adapting to the new zooming in feature.

Adapting to Halo 5’s new combat took a match or two, but once I was clued up with all of the new controller layouts and features, everything started to come naturally.

Following up a slide after a sprint came smoothly, ground pounding when jumping off a ledge onto an enemy never felt so good.

I played a traditional capture the flag match at the event in London, and there is really not much to it.

I did’t get to use many of the new movement mechanics as the map was tiny, and by the time you even get to the flag, my teammates already destroyed the other team.

The nice thing about the match was that every time you reset the match, everyone was equal in terms of gear. This gave you a fresh new start to approach the situation differently.

Gear differentiation is what took away a lot of the competitive balance from Halo 4 and 343 Industries has, thankfully, amended it.

The guns are also very much the same as before and I have no complaints with them. The only real changes made is a few critical balances that bring once irrelevant weapons back into the spotlight.

Just try not to forget that while all weapons are equal, some are a lot more equal than others. Halo 5, like in any Halo game, hosts a number of weapons that are far more effective in multiplayer than others.

The reason it works in Halo is that they’re drops, or ground pickups, so what’s good for you is also good for your opponents. Saying that, you will automatically attach yourself to one gun and always find yourself on the lookout for it as you play through a match.

In a nutshell, there are some major changes to the way you approach Halo 5: Guardians, but once you have adapted to all of them you will be a pro.

There is evidence in spades that 343 Industries has borrowed inspiration from a great many franchises, but it has only served to improve the experience of Halo 5.

If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again; this is Halo to its core. Suffice it to say, you’re in for one helluva multiplayer experience with Halo 5: Guardians.