Halo 5: Guardians : campaign review

Before we get to the analysis of the new Halo campaign lets have a quick look at the usual selling points. Halo 5 is a definitely a "next-gen" game, with outstanding graphics and traditional halo multiplayer fun. Each gun has its own unique advantage and use in the game. 343 Industries have kept true the original formula of picking right combo of guns for each playstyle. Multiplayer map, (despite the lack of forge and split screen mode) still deliver good gaming experience (if servers are running of coarse). Despite some minor technical problems, Halo 5 runs well, and some problems most likely will be solved in coming patches. The biggest problem of Halo 5 can not be fixed by patches, however. It lies in the new way 343 decided to tell the story in this new chapter of much loved game.

To understand why Halo games were so successful earlier, we need to uncover the mechanics of the previous Halo storytelling.

First of all, our protagonist, Master-Chief and Cortana are always in danger. This provides the classic balance between them, as Master Chief does the brawling and fighting while Cortana protects him by advice, information and sometimes a joke. Classical stereotypes of "strong, silent type" and "damsel in distress" are filled, easily recognised by most people. In addition, each and every crisis situation our heroes are facing they meet together and react in absolutely different way, evoking whole range of emotions. Every time Cortana is worried or actually scared because the 117 is in danger, player feels that in short one liner like "I'll be fine" or "I always do" Master Chief is confident and that feeling passes to player as he shoots his way through or faces a dive into another abyss. 

they will meet again. too soon if you ask me.

Second of all the nature of problems is urgency and constant evolution of crisis player must face. Once player is used to the idea of fighting Covenant, Flood approaches, then when there is a plan of escape it turns out that threat is much greater, then Covenant actually invade Earth, and so on. Note that if you played any of the previous games, both main characters and side characters react differently, adding emotion and different layer to the main story of Master Chief and Cortana, which in turn makes rather repetitive shooting gameplay, meaningful. 


Third. Attention to story in each mission. Each story of Halo had a story within story often told or shown in small cut scenes in the middle of linear gameplay. Classic example of that may be a scene where Master Chief loads a video log before encountering Flood for the first time in original Halo. Or  a moment in Halo 4, when before defeating Didact (main Forerunner antagonist) Master Chief is thrown off the light bridge and saved by Cortana delaying action. When games actually hands control back to player, all he needs to finish the enemy and detonate the bomb. Though it robes player from the pleasure of killing the bastard, it provides enough tension before the final scene, where Cortana leaves Master Chief. Each main storyline had those moments, like Jonson's squad facing the Flood for the first time, Keyes moving her ship into the slip space portal following the Prophet of Regret. I should especially mention Halo 3:ODST, as its campaign was build around the same concept, and gave an absolutely fresh look at the Halo universe.

left to right: Val, Locke, Buck, Tanaka

Fourth: Great characterisation. Each significant character had its motives, reasons, fears and loves fleshed out and supported by dialogue, musical theme and interactions with others. For example in the infamous ending of Halo 2, Sargent Jonson is threatening the Guilty Spark, just to be stopped by Miranda Keys in a very gentle way, by tap on a shoulder. Simple gesture but shows how much care has been taken to make this scene emotionally charged.  Each significant location had similar work done, to communicate it unique feel and sense. Others, non-playable characters received similar attention. best example would be a difference between Elite and Elite Royal Gard's armour. 

These are four pillars of Halo story telling. With variety of approaches it made first trilogy, ODST, Halo: Reach and Halo 4 a great games and whats more important - great stories. Now lets look at the Halo 5: Guardians campaign, an see how well it fares. Beware, there will be spoilers in the coming text.

Halsey: if only people share information with me,
i'd solve the worlds problems.

Ever since Doctor Kathryn Halsey been introduced to the Halo universe she plays more and more important role, and Halo 5 begins with scene that drops a huge hint that she is the one who created Cortana, only later to confirm that hint. However, this goes into odds with story in Halo:Reach, where Spartans risked their lives to get Forerunners construct (Cortana) off the planet. Then without any explanation of events between Halo 4 and 5, Captain Lasky (who was just a Commander in previous game) orders fire team Osiris into the fray to save and retrieve Doctor Halsey from the Covenant. That would not be so odd, if in previous game, UNSC have not actually ordered and actively attempted to assassinate her. Yet, when Osiris brings her to Infinity, the very same Spartan who tried to kill her is assigned to protect her. I'm I the only one who finds this odd?

The focus then shifts to fire team Osiris as they leap out the Pelican, land into battle between Covenant and Forerunners, fight their way through with as much as possible noise. That's Infiltration, mind you. Another odd things is absence of Fire team Majestic, who were main protagonist in Halo 4: Spartan Ops. No mentioning or even a hint on their role and current position.    

Chiefs new armour

Then to make things even more interesting, Master Chief appears as a part of the Blue Team. If you have not seen "Forward into Dawn", TV short series this would come as huge surprise. Then according to  Locke, our new protagonist, Blue Team has the longest service record of all Spartan teams, and what's more they are a family. Yes, brothers and sisters. Surprised? Across more than 6 games Chief, was posed as a loner, and now for the justification of 4 player cooperative game they drop a bomb: Chief had a family. Some have made a quick conclusion that Blue team is a Majestic, but no name, voice or even armour design matches them. I guess we have to wait for DLC pack to uncover that mystery.

Another mystery is the way Cortana sends a message to Master Chief, and how quickly Infinity finds out about this, triggering the unusual reaction from Master Chief: to disobey an order and go searching for her. After that, game focuses on Osiris and Locke, giving players only 3 missions as Master Chief. Yes, three missions chained together, where Cortana appears only in one, the rest being just a voice over comms.

To avoid re-telling the whole storyline, lets analyse how missions are built in Halo 5. Sadly, there is only two type of mission: run and gun, and sit and fight. There are two exceptions in campaign: two maps where player can interact with NPC and just observe their behaviour. Sadly both maps have maximum 4 NPC to talk to.The mission on Meridian consist of delaying advance of Prometheans between sections barricaded by walls. It may not be obvious but Prometheans are able to teleport, so where is the point in that combat?


Run and gun is nothing new, you simply move from one pointless objective fighting through waves of enemies to another. On occasion you get a Mantis or Scorpion to support your team. Apparently to make your life difficult, enemies set up are an energy shields to block your movement. Sadly these shield can be taken out in six shots, but every time your   encounter them your veteran Spartans ask you what to do with them. Occasional flight missions are exactly same, as you fight off wave after wave in order to get the mission done. No sense of urgency whatsoever, despite the shouting in comms, as you know that until the last wave is defeated mission will not progress. Even death can't make you worry enough, as you do not die, but became incapacitated until your teammate revives you. This kills the sense of danger and urgency outright, despite being useful.

In sit and fight missions, you are locked to certain location and must repel identical waves of enemies. Yes: identical! Ever so often script spawn same groups as just killed, and only after your defeat at least 3 of them, game triggers a voice over saying: "That's last of them." Remember I've mentioned variety of enemies in combat? Halo 5 does not have it. Instead, it repeats 3 cycles of enemies. For Covenant these are: grunts with Elite, jackals with Elite leader (!), and Elite in active camouflage. In several locations it places Jackal snipers. For Forerunner's cycle is even more boring: Crawlers, Soldiers, One (!) Knight either with close combat or long range weapon. Then cycle repeats itself, over and over again.

There is another game that uses same ridiculous method: Destiny. With integrated jump packs and ability to do splash damage, Spartans act more or less same way as Guardians in Destiny. For me this is a serious downfall, but you my reader are free to make your own conclusions. However, due to this approach in mission gameplay, Halo has zero creativity on enemies, as you know how they will act and in some cases even where they will spawn. Especially frustrating that during last missions Forerunners who are protecting Cortana are fielding lots of Crawlers.

What happened to the Knights? Where are the elite warriors of Forerunners? They all look like a copy-paste. That's just lazy.


Boss battles. I'm not going to spoil anything by saying that there s only one boss in Halo 5: The Warden Eternal. He fights (or rather gets stuck) same way every time you encounter him. In addition he keeps threatening and be arrogant even after you defeat him 7 times! Yes, same boss battle 7 times with just minor variation. For example, last combat is interrupted by Cortana, almost same way as it was done in Halo 4, but with a purpose of obvious betrayal from her. Don't get me wrong, for the most of the game Cortana speaks like a apocalypse preacher from really bad movie, but everyone keep thinking that Chief can fix her somehow. So this big surprise that Cortana turns evil, is no surprise after first 5 minutes in the game. Seriously 343, it seems that you forgot how to build up a tension for a cliffhanger.

Lets summarise Halo 5 campaign in our four pillars:

1. Danger. 
At no point in the campaign none of the characters is in real danger. Despite the so-called massive civilian casualties and presence of gargantuan Guardians, no one is hurt or even endangered. All Spartans have faith and courage to fight waves of mindless enemies and listen to crap told by  NPC, Cortana and Warden. The only emotional reaction they produce is pulling the trigger.

2. Urgency. 
Do things get more and more desperate as events unfold? Sadly no. Players may take their time in beating the missions, since there is no time limit, even for events like get to Guardian. NPC keep telling us that there is destruction and horror caused by wake of the Guardians, but we never see that. The closest situation is when Osiris is leaving Meridian and we hear one woman begging for help. That's it. And there is nor reaction from the Locke or other Spartans whatsoever.


3. Attention to storyline during the missions.
I cannot express how disappointing Halo 5 is in this area. Intel you gather during the mission opens only a fraction of information about what happening. Conversation between characters are short and pointless, usually confirming target, shouting warning or commenting the obvious. Most of the Osiris mission are based on getting from point to point, more specifically to reach location of Cortana and Chief. Mindless hilarity of this process lies in simple fact, that Roland (Infinity's AI) have discovered

forget the cloak. its not in the game

the slip space coordinates by decoding the signal of teleporting Guardians. But instead of teleporting team into those coordinates, Spartans are going to Sanghelious, to board another Guardian and jump with it. As you fight through, NPC occasionally make a short remark, like "these statues are older than Egyptian pyramids", only to be cut short by Locke or others. Sadly, this is another similarity with Destiny, where NPC are pretending that they care or surprised.

The biggest disappointment here is not Locke or meaningless story. It is that after Halo 4, focus has been shifted from Master Chief! By the end of Halo 4, John 117 has suffered a first major defeat in the whole series, and suddenly realised that he is not a machine, but a human being. His story became not only heroic, but humane and emotional. His loss of Cortana was by far the most hear-breaking scene in FPS games. There was an incredible potential to develop that story, and give Chief something new, something to live and fight for. Instead we get a boring story of 4 dudes trying to get from point A to point B. Such a shame. 

4. Characterisation 
Are character detailed in Halo 5? Do they make us care for them? Lets see.

Spartan Locke has a best position since his character has been promoted in (horrendous) TV series Nightfall and he is leading the team Osiris. However the only emotions you get from him are sense of duty and politeness. That's a lot to ask from Spartan? He does try to put a good show in conversation with Buck (yes, Buck from ODST!), but that all you get from him.

Buck, has a second good position but he's character gets to crack a joke in a background, promise to buy a first round and be saved by Locke. If you loved his character in ODST, you will love him again, but he get nowhere near to the old glory.

   
Ladies of the team, Val and Tanaka are mostly out of the picture, unless the enforced show of team spirit is shown in the cut scene.  Commander Palmer, follows the same pattern, despite never participating in combat. Halsey, Lasky and Roland enjoy several minutes of bickering, and so much praised Arbiter says just several phrases in the whole game. That is another slapstick, since during the hype Arbiter was shown as a key figure in reaching to Chief. However the dramatic conversation between Locke and Arbiter take less than a minute in the game, and has no effect but show off by Cortana. No deals, no talks of trust, just "we are short on time and appreciate your cooperation". Seriously, Locke talks to his enemies as if he is a cop who catches them red-handed.

Cortana, after being our companion for so long, has went through the biggest transformation. No longer we will hear joy, empathy, compassion or even sarcasm. Cortana get a talk of world's peace and Forced Mantle, only to be dislodged in the end by Locke and another flying bulb called Exuberant Witness. The way latter appeared is similar to walking into the miners den and listening to their chat. That NPC apparently was so important that it did not need a cut scene for introduction.  

Finally Master-Chief. He does not really need an additional characterisation, but since he has got such a small time in campaign, he keeps his usual approach. But when he finally faces Cortana it is nothing we can relate to. No trust, no emotion, just "come home with me", when every bit shows that she has became a Mrs. Evil. Blue team gets its characterisation in fancy helmets and good voice over, which does not tell you anything in particular.

To say that Halo 5 campaign is a total miss, would be exaggeration. Despite being repetitive and short (only 4,5 hours) it still provides a lot of fun. and But mission structure, lack of well defined conflict and one-sided characters are definitely the worst in the whole series. If you play this game for the single player, you may want to wait until it will become cheaper. Story line fails to develop previous storyline and lean to unnecessary simplification. One of the saddest part is that musical theme of original Halo, has been replaced for a casual Hollywood epic.

Mark-Paul Severn  
06.11.15



  

The delicate magic of Halo

-Sir! I think we lost Master Chief!
-"no you didn't..."

From the day my friend told me the story about Halo: Combat Evolved until its recent incarnation at number "4" I loved this game. How original, huh? I'm definitely not the only one. Today however, after a long time I decided to take a look at what components actually made Halo series a cultural phenomena rather than just good game. Perhaps, to make my journey and your reading a bit shorter and easier I'll state them in short order:

1. Rhythm of game play
2. Well defined characters 
3. Balanced  weapon line-up
4. Varied opposition 
5. Enveloping story

1. Rhythm of game play.

Probably the most difficult to achieve in any FPS is balance of adrenaline rush, interesting story and what RPG players call "rail-roading". Second to that comes the question of how to avoid player being distracted by surrounding world of game from fighting. How Bungie and now 343 Industries approached it?

They created a perfect illusion of huge world around player but actually kept the player most of the time in confined space. In its core Halo is a corridor shooter, where we are confined by surroundings and forced to shoot our way through waves of enemies. This makes our heart beat rate goes up, adrenaline rush in, and we desperately dashing for cover. All of this is enough to make us forget to enjoy the big world around us. Not to mention that while we fight through locations, Bungie delivers a graceful views of planets, stars, huge spaceships and sunny horizon in a very delicate matter: enough to give us an impression of freedom, but not enough distract player from combat.

This line is really thin, give too much combat, and player starts to complain about "repetitive process", give too much of free world and player starts yawning because "nothing is happening" or "these huge open spaces are boring". Even when we are fighting in the open air maps, with a lot of opposition Halo manages to pass between those extremes (most of the times) by either rushing us towards objectives on limited time, so we must avoid excessive fighting, or by cutting opposition into manageable portions. A a result keeping us busy and poised for next portion of baddies.

2. Well defined characters

Here we have the classic archetypes: quiet and confident Warrior, smart, caring and emotional Girl, all-knowing Mother Halsey, animals aliens under religious leadership (big boo from out secular society), monstrous Hive mind, disgusting parasites (even bigger boo from cleaning-concerned housewives), and ever-loyal and heroic Soldiers of Democracy with cigar smoking Sergeant. Add a cyber-enhanced Forerunners with glowing light, which as we all know is a sign of superior technology.

We have seen all that in different variations from Hollywood trash to Medal of Honor. Where is the BIG difference is that in Halo all of them are forced to "make" choices as world's picture changes during the game. What is also important: they have position towards player, and we respond to that. Most complex character of entire series IMHO was Shipmaster Rtas 'Vadum, who in a matter of one campaign went through loyalist in need for redemption to human ally and major actor in Covenant's fate. Well established and played characters are believable and understandable, even if their motifs are world domination.

3. Balanced weapon layout

Less is more, and each weapon has it niche and drawbacks. Most importantly we are still restricted to our 3 weapon slots. Simple and elegant solution which denies some pleasure of hoarding loads of guns. At the same time forcing players to think and try all possible load outs even with the useless Needler. High speed of most firefights also overshadows the secondary weapons like under-slung grenade launcher or dual wielding pistols.  It does exist in real world and in Crysis but absent in the whole Halo universe. Simply put: one gun - one trigger. No time and place for fancy show-off tricks or customization. Is it comfortable? Sometimes. Is it playable? Of coarse! Is it fun? Yes.  

4. Varied opposition. 

FPS games are obviously all about killing the enemies. However, anyone will get tired of shooting the very same baddie even if given loads of different weapons and scenarios. In FPS games simulating modern conflicts this is solved by changing the scenery and mumbling about importance of the mission against the baddies. Sometimes we get to customize out gun as a game in itself. Halo is free from our politically correct world and allows us to kill anything that is bigger and does not speak our language. However the curve of difficulty is constantly  growing up: more Elites, Knights or Brutes as well increased number of hit points and resilience will make a game challenging and interesting even after first play through. Here is one of the main advantages of background work of Halo: all characters are incredibly believable and have unique "natural" behavior. Elites roar, Brutes charge in, Grunts love plasma grenades and chatter, Knights express anger by glowing orange and Flood is simply desperate for a hug.

5. Enveloping story.

Simply put from the very first game to latest one - we save the world. There is not much choice for player, except to aim and shoot those who desperately want to destroy it. The brilliant trick of Halo  is that world we are saving is not a distant propagandistic picture, on every turn of the game  this world has both personal touch and grand design properties. What is more important, those are interconnected on both logical and emotional levels. In addition every major objective takes us further on  the curve of storyline.  Let me elaborate on that. 

In Combat Evolved we started in desperate situation, where Cortana needed to be rescued. Even if she would only be an witty half-naked girl, that would be enough for male gamers to have fun. But as story progresses, saving Cortana and Earth from Covenenant invasion becomes a minor job. Now we are in charge of saving the Universe, because someone, sometime, somewhere have left a doomsday devices. Typical story of hero's job? Yes. But there is still room for saving the Captain, escape the trap filled with Flood, finding common language with AI of Halo and shooting lots of bullets. And every step of the way, there is gorgeous girl helping us. 

As series progressed stakes are even higher, the very heart and soul and reason for our heroics is trapped by Gravemind. This makes even invasion of Earth a minor problem, now player must save Universe in order to get to the girl. This is where Halo storyline get very close to Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, one of the greatest pieces of literature describing similar subject. Luckily we have a secondary points of view, a Covenant and ODST. This lets us see a bit more of the Universe and its internal struggles, without stopping for a lunch break in combat.  Following the internal logic of any conflict the main baddie must be defeated in the last sequence. Victory is hard fought, but rewarded with kiss from a damsel on distress, reunion with Cortana. Who manages to save our hero from exploding Halo thanks to her AI abilities.

Halo Reach, was an interesting side step: it revolved around what will happen with Master-Chief and Cortana and gave insight into military aspects, political unrest of UNSC, gave refreshment to old Human-Covenant conflict and generally stepped aside from formula of 3-side conflict, which fueled the previous games. It retained the formulas of speed engagements and weapon balance, but added the teamwork as main factor to the gameplay and storyline. Kat, may not be Cortana, but she is still a smart girl, who's death will be avenged many times over.   

   

Finally, Halo 4 brought us back into the boots of Savior in power armour. For more than decade Halo refined its success formulas and they all are here: 3-way conflict between Humans, Covenant and Forerunners, dramatic crashes and escapes from one conflict into another, silent and strong hero with emotional and vulnerable girl, team of super-soldiers on a mission, internal intrigues which release our hero from military routine, weird and varied aliens, doomsday weapon which was unleashed and mighty Mr. Evil who took away Cortana. In the end of all that, Master-Chief takes off his helmet and armour leaving us sad for his personal loss and defiant glory. Every high and low point of series was reinserted into the 4-th Halo and it still works pretty well. 

Halo 4 leaves us with a lot of question as well as new ways of answering them. Will the Forerunners help us or be utterly defeated? What will happen with remains of Covenant? How humanity re-take legacy of the Forerunners? Is Flood completely eradicated?  How Spartans will evolve humankind? Will Master-Chief meet Cortana again? 

The Reclaimer Saga is the answer.    

Yours,
Mark-Paul Severn @2013

Halo. Landfall by Neill Blomkamp

Neill Blomkamp.
Director.

This is compilation of 3 videos released by Bungie prior Halo 3. All those shorts were directed by Neill Blompkamp as preparation for Halo movie. The movie was cancelled, but Neill kept his pace and created District 9, almost a documentary about alien landing in Johannesburg. 

Those shorts were meant to be a promotional videos. But instead the offered different, gritty approach to usually shiny Halo universe.

I love it. I hope you to.  

Cortana.

Cortana. 

Naked beauty of AI.

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