We’re barrelling toward some kind of ur-shooter with these franchises, but the decision to add these particular mechanics to Halo feels almost cynical. Those mechanical changes, as big as they are, are merely changes that bring this game in line with another franchise. You can now aim down your sights with all weapons, which the game calls Smart-linking for some reason, but if you get shot you’re pulled out of it. You can jump and climb onto something, which adds a bit more strategy to the experience of play. You can do some boosting, which feels much like Advanced Warfare’s exo suit boosting. The things that are different are merely parasitical developments from other massive first-person shooter games of the contemporary period. There’s no reason to play this over Halo 3, Reach, or any other Spartan-based game of your choosing from the past decade. ![]() It’s stagnant, static, from both a story perspective and a mechanical one. The problem with Halo 5: Guardians is that there isn’t any invigoration. After all, ODST and Reach were both “invigoration” of the series, and they’re amazing. I think that change is good, and that the talented hands and minds at a new studio devoted to the franchise could absolutely invigorate the Halo series as it charges into the future of infinite and unavoidable sequels. I’m not one to pine for the past, and I’m certainly not in the pack of people who lament that Bungie passed Halo over to the current developers, 343 Industries. They feel like they were picked through with a comb in order to generate a very particular feeling through their unique narratives. Those games, and the other Halo games that series originator Bungie created, feel considered. ODST forced you to sneak around a great many enemies to avoid being crushed to dust Reach had you fighting battles that were massively pitched against you. Those games are top-to-bottom committed to those concepts, from the narrative construction to the nitty-gritty mechanical experience of the game. Halo: Reach took the franchise into canonical history and imagined a nihilistic Saving Private Ryan-style story within the science fiction framework of the Halo universe. ![]() Halo: ODST turned the series on its head by depowering the player character, forcing them to be mere humans who have to deal with the creatures that series protagonist Master Chief plows through by the dozens. I like the Halo games at their most experimental. I tried to write an introduction that beat around the bush a little before delivering the bad news, but it was too much effort for too little art. Halo 5: Guardians is one of the most disappointing games that I have played in the past year. A separate piece late this week will discuss the multi-player elements. This review only considers Halo 5 ’s single-player campaign.
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