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| Halo 5: Guardians | |
|---|---|
 Cover art featuring Spartan Locke (left) andMaster Chief (right), with a Guardian rising in the background | |
| Developer(s) | 343 Industries |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Studios |
| Director(s) | Tim Longo |
| Producer(s) | Josh Holmes |
| Designer(s) | Chris Haluke |
| Artist(s) | Nicolas Bouvier |
| Writer(s) | Brian Reed[1] |
| Composer(s) | Kazuma Jinnouchi |
| Series | Halo |
| Platform(s) | Xbox One |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Halo 5: Guardians is a first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox One home video game console. Part of the Halo series, the game was released on October 27, 2015.[2] Halo 5 's plot follows two fireteams of human supersoldiers; when Blue Team, led by Master Chief, goes absent without leave to track down the artificial intelligence construct Cortana, Jameson Locke and Fireteam Osiris are sent to retrieve him.
343 Industries started to formulate concepts and objectives for Halo 5 shortly after the release of its predecessor. In late 2012, the team set out goals for the game, including larger campaign and multiplayer areas. Microsoftannounced the new Halo title for the Xbox One at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Halo 5 features a new game engine that dynamically scales its resolution in order to maintain a frame rate of 60 frames per second.
According to Microsoft, Halo 5: Guardians grossed over US$400 million in its first twenty-four hours and US$500 million in its first week, though this figure includes revenue from both the game and game-related hardware.[3]The game received mostly positive reviews from critics, with its gameplay and multiplayer component praised, but responses to its story were mixed. 343 Industries supports the game post-launch with additional downloadable content (DLC).
Contents
[hide]Gameplay[edit]
Halo 5: Guardians is a first-person shooter, with players experiencing most gameplay through the eyes of a playable character. The camera switches to a third-person view for some cinematics and gameplay sequences.
The game preserves many of the core features of the Halo franchise's gameplay experience. However, new features such as being able to aim down sights on all weapons and "ground pounds" have been added. Players step into the MJOLNIR (Mjölnir) powered armor of a Spartan designed after Norse mythology (either John-117 or Jameson Locke) and control that character's actions. MJOLNIR armor provides deflector shields, which diminish whilst protecting the wearer from weapons fire but recharge after a short period. Spartans may only carry two projectile weapons at a time, but may swap them out at any time for any other weapon, including those dropped by slain enemies. Spartans may also throw grenades and use their weapons for pistol-whipping or buttstroking. Finally, if vehicles are present, the Spartan may climb into it at any time, without pausing for a loading screen or mechanical adjustment.
New to the series are "Spartan Abilities," replacing the Armor Abilities of previous games. In-universe, the characters' MJOLNIR armor has been upgraded with various thrusters that allow them increased mobility options in all three axes of movement. They are context-dependent and can be used both for evasion and attack.
Though previous games in the franchise have featured segments where the player character is accompanied by United Nations Space Command (UNSC) Marines, and occasionally even other Spartans, Halo 5 takes it one step further by equipping the player with a persistent fireteam of non-player character Spartans, who accompany the player character at all times. The player may give them limited orders using the Xbox controller. If played during the cooperative mode, other players assume control of these Spartans, with each Spartan having different gameplay attributes. If any Spartan, player-controlled or not, takes too much damage, they enter an incapacitated state, and a teammate must rush over and revive them.
Unlike previous first-person shooters in the Halo franchise, Halo 5: Guardians does not feature any offline capabilities, including split-screen cooperative campaign and multiplayer modes; it also does not have any local networking options.[4] Microsoft Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer commented on the lack of split-screen, stating "We see the robustness of what Xbox Live is today and where people are playing across Xbox Live—you at your house, me at our house. We know that's the vast majority of the co-op play. WithHalo 5, the team really wanted to focus on making that experience great, both visually on the screen that you're looking at, and all the systems in place."[5]
Synopsis[edit]
Setting and characters[edit]
Halo 5: Guardians takes place in the year 2558, and is set eight months after the events of Halo 4. The game follows the human fireteams Blue Team and Osiris.[6] Blue Team is led by Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and is composed of the Spartan-II teammates he fought alongside in the timeframe before Halo: Combat Evolved:[7] Linda-058, an elite sniper; Kelly-087, a scout known for her incredible speed and John's closest friend; and Frederic-104, who is technically Blue Team's highest-ranking officer, but defers to Master Chief.[8] The members of Blue Team are all Spartan-IIs, augmented super soldiers who were abducted and trained as children; they are among the last Spartan-IIs left alive.[9] Fireteam Osiris comprises Spartan-IVs, a newer generation of Spartans who joined the program as adult members of the military. Osiris is led by Jameson Locke, a former agent of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) and skilled tracker. The other members of Osiris are: Holly Tanaka, a survivor of a Covenant attack on her world; Olympia Vale, who can speak many of the Covenant's dialects; and Edward Buck, a veteran former Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who was previously a main character in Halo 3: ODST.[10]
Supporting characters include Infinity 's commanding officer, Captain Thomas Lasky; Commander Sarah Palmer, head of operations for all Spartan IV teams on board Infinity; and Roland, Infinity]] 's shipboard AI. Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey also returns, having defected back to the UNSC to assist Fireteam Osiris in locating Blue Team. Another returning character is the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam, now leading the Sangheili species against the Covenant remnants under banner called Swords of Sanghelios. He aids Fireteam Osiris during their travel to Sanghelios.
Cortana, John's former AI companion, returns as the game's main antagonist, having been corrupted after being saved from rampancy by the Domain. She is assisted by the Warden Eternal, a Promethean charged with finding the Guardians.
Plot[edit]
Fireteam Osiris—Locke (Ike Amadi), Buck (Nathan Fillion), Vale (Laura Bailey) and Tanaka (Cynthia McWilliams)—is deployed to the Covenant-controlled planet Kamchatka to extract the rogue Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey (Jen Taylor), who claims to have information on a series of devastating attacks on several human worlds. While the team is successful in retrieving Halsey and eliminating the Covenant leader Jul 'Mdama (Travis Willingham), Halsey informs them that a new threat is about to emerge.
Elsewhere, the Master Chief (Steve Downes), still grieving over the loss of Cortana (Jen Taylor), leads Blue Team—Kelly (Michelle Lukes), Fred (Travis Willingham) and Linda (Brittany Uomoleale)—on a mission to secure a derelict ONI research station, Argent Moon. However, while advancing through the station, a Covenant fleet arrives, forcing Blue Team to scuttle the station. During the sabotage, the Chief receives a cryptic message from Cortana, directing him to the planet Meridian. John is ordered to return to Infinity upon destroying Argent Moon, but he and Blue Team disobey orders and set out after Cortana, forcing Captain Lasky (Darren O'Hare) to list the rogue Spartans as AWOL. This causes consternation aboard the Infinity, as Halsey believes that Cortana's survival through the use of Forerunner technology makes her unpredictable and untrustworthy.
Lasky gives Fireteam Osiris the objective of finding and capturing Blue Team. Osiris is deployed to Meridian in order to pursue Blue Team, where they find a human colony under attack by Promethean forces. During their pursuit, they encounter the Warden Eternal (Dan Donohue), a Promethean serving as Cortana's enforcer. After temporarily defeating the Warden, Osiris catches up to Blue Team, ordering them to stand down and return to Infinity. Blue Team, instead, board one of the eponymous Guardians: large Forerunner constructs capable of devastating colonies. Osiris themselves barely escape the colony's collapse as the Guardian activates and disappears. The Guardian emerges on the Forerunner planet Genesis, where John and Cortana reunite. Cortana says her rampancy was cured by the same Forerunner technology that saved her. Since rampancy, a form of insanity brought on by increasing self-awareness, usually causes AIs to self-destruct after less than a decade, Cortana is now effectively immortal.
Using data picked up from Meridian, Osiris is deployed to the Sangheili homeworld Sanghelios: a dormant Guardian resides there, and can be used to hitch a ride to Blue Team's location. However, the planet is still engulfed in civil war; the remainder of the Covenant have chosen to make their last stand there. To expedite their mission, Osiris joins forces with the Arbiter (Keith David) and help him strike a crucial blow at the Covenant remnant. The Arbiter secures victory for his forces while Osiris successfully boards a Guardian with the help of Commander Palmer (Jennifer Hale).
Upon reaching Genesis, Osiris encounters the planet's caretaker, the artificial intelligence 031 Exuberant Witness (Melanie Minichino), who allies with them to stop Cortana. Osiris catches up to Blue Team, who have since become aware of Cortana's unpredictable nature. They explain that Cortana is planning on using the Guardians to achieve galactic peace through forcible disarmament, up to and including the wholesale slaughter of those who resist her. Master Chief, aware of the devastation Cortana's plan will cause, attempts to convince Cortana to stand down. Cortana freezes up Blue Team in a Cryptum[clarification needed] to prevent them from interfering with her plan. However, Osiris manages to transfer control back to Exuberant, who promptly depowers the Cryptum and sends Cortana away.
Artificial intelligences across the galaxy swear allegiance to Cortana and her plans, as the Guardians unleash devastating electromagnetic pulses that disable Earth and other colonies across the galaxy. Cortana locates Infinity and prepares to disable it, but Lasky has AI Roland, who is still loyal to infinity, to slipspace away and commit to random slipspace jumps until they can develop a way to combat Cortana. With Blue Team recovered, Osiris returns to Sanghelios to reunite the SPARTAN-IIs with an injured Commander Palmer, The Arbiter, and Dr. Halsey. If the player completes the game on Legendary difficulty, an extra cutscene shows an unknown Halo installation powering up before cutting to black.
Development[edit]
343 Industries general manager Bonnie Ross recalled that after Halo 4, the team spent a lot of time discussing where they wanted to take the Halo series, reflecting on feedback from fans about what they did and did not like, especially regarding the title's multiplayer mode. In late 2012, Tim Longo, David Berger, and Chris Lee laid out the studio's vision for the next game from a creative and technical standpoint, setting key goals to focus on: utilizing the Xbox One's hardware and Microsoft's cloud infrastructure for larger campaign and multiplayer spaces, deeper player investment systems, and a frame rate of 60 frames per second (FPS).[11] 343 Industries reportedly chose a storyline about Master Chief to showcase the aforesaid technological assets.[12]
At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2013 (E3), Microsoft announced a new, then-untitled addition to the Halo series, along with a trailer appearing to depict a post-Halo 4 Master Chief.[13] After E3, Phil Spencer said the "Reclaimer Trilogy" had been expanded into a longer series of games, explaining that the developers "[didn't] want to limit the Reclaimer story within a trilogy."[14] Ross confirmed the game's title and 2015 release date in a May 2014 blog post.[15] The game is exclusive to the Xbox One.[16]
On the departure from the Xbox 360 hardware, Ross noted that the Xbox One allows 343 Industries to broaden the game's scope, as its matchmaking and four-player online campaign co-op modes utilize the console's dedicated-server support.[17] Franchise development director Frank O'Connor explained that Halo 4 pushed its game engine to the limit, such that moving on to the Xbox One called for the development of a new engine.[18] Producer Josh Holmes stated Halo 5: Guardians ' engine employs a "new progressive resolutionsystem that allows us to dynamically scale the resolution at which we render the game" to guarantee it maintains a frame rate of 60 FPS; this is achieved by decreasing its resolution from 1080p during periods of intensive gameplay.[19]
Eager to take advantage of the hardware, the art team built fully animated cacti that responded to gunfire, blanketing the campaign maps with the succulents. Ultimately, they proved to be the largest single technical problem in the game and had to be removed.[12]
Halo: The Master Chief Collection gave players exclusive access to the Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta,[20] which began December 29, 2014, and ran through January 18, 2015.[21] In response to the negative coverage of The Master Chief Collection 's broken launch, O'Connor announced that Guardians would not be broken at launch.[22]
Narrative designer Morgan Lockhart described the co-op nature of the campaign as the most difficult element of the game.[23]
In developing the characters of Fireteam Osiris, 343 Industries initially considered making the team Fireteam Majestic, using the same characters from the Halo 4 episodic series Spartan Ops. When Tim Longo joined as creative director and the rest of the story developed, the developers decided that Majestic was the wrong team to use and set out to create a new fireteam with different characters.[24]
The unnamed fireteam comprised three Spartans: "Smith", "Jones", and "Brown". Initially, none of these characters' traits—not even their genders—were determined. The narrative team decided Smith (later Locke) would be a former ONI agent, a cross of James Bondand Lara Croft. Brian Reed recalled that at one point they had added Fireteam Majestic member Thorne, as well as Spartan leader Palmer, and a still-unnamed Jones, who would be an expert in alien languages. Spartan Jones turned into Spartan Vesper, and her character matured from a child prodigy to someone more serious who retained some of her innocence.[24]
Once part of the story became set on the planet Meridian, the narrative team decided that one of the Spartans should have grown up outside the UNSC and survived the destruction of her home planet to act as a conduit for understanding Meridian; this character, now known as Spartan Song, replaced Palmer. When Thorne's voice actor, Ethan Peck, was unavailable, 343 Industries decided to replace his character on the team roster rather than recast the role. Other suggestions included an entirely new Spartan or a member of Blue Team, but the developers decided on fan favorite Buck after Nathan Fillion became available. Spartan Smith became Spartan Locke, Vesper and Song became Vale and Tanaka, and Fireteam Osiris took shape after more than two years of changes.[24]
Art[edit]
Halo 4 's art director, Kenneth Scott, stepped down from his role in January 2014. He was succeeded by Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier,[25] a concept artist who joined Microsoft in 2009. Bouvier described the early stages of developing artistic concepts as akin to sculpting from marble: "[we] start with a very loose idea that has trickled down from the writers or studio creative director and begin chipping away at the problem."[26]
Marketing[edit]
During The Walking Dead 's fifth season finale, two different advertisements aired, revealing the October 27, 2015, release date of Halo 5: Guardians. In its June 2015 cover story featuring the title, Game Informer revealed that the campaign would feature four-player cooperative gameplay, and that its story would center on Blue Team, led by Master Chief, and Fireteam Osiris, led by Spartan Locke. The magazine also revealed that Fireteam Osiris would include Holly Tanaka, a new character named Olympia Vale, and fan favorite Edward Buck from Halo 3: ODST. On the multiplayer side, it was revealed that there would be a new map called Fathom and that there would be changes to Empire, a map playable in the beta. A new mode that would combine all of the sandbox (later revealed as Warzone at E3 2015) was hinted at, and it was revealed that the game would feature 20 maps at launch, and 15 downloadable maps would be added later for free. At E3 2015, a new campaign trailer featuring Fireteam Osiris and a trailer for the new Warzone multiplayer mode were shown. The game is played by Benji Dunn in the film Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.[citation needed]
Hunt the Truth[edit]
On March 22, 2015, Microsoft launched Hunt the Truth, a podcast similar to radio series such as This American Life. The first season followed the investigations of fictional journalist and war photographer Benjamin Giraud (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), who investigates the Master Chief's background.[27] Giraud discovers that the official story of Master Chief's origins are false, and attempts to expose the coverup.[28]
The first season was highly successful, drawing an audience of 6.7 million listeners on iTunes and winning Hunt the Truth 's ad agency a Clio Award.[29] A second season of the podcast began September 22, 2015, focusing on the view point of ONI agent Maya Sankar (Janina Gavankar), returning undercover as Fero, to investigate unidentified attacks on human colonies. The second season concluded October 26.
E3 2015[edit]
Microsoft began its E3 2015 press conference with gameplay from the campaign of Halo 5: Guardians. This gameplay was from a mission known as "The Battle of Sunaion" and featured Fireteam Osiris. A new multiplayer mode known as "Warzone" was also shown off at E3.
Release[edit]
Halo 5 is the first main installment in the Halo franchise to receive a "Teen" rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), rather than the "Mature" rating.[30] Microsoft Xbox division executive Aaron Greenberg felt that the M ratings on previous installments were surprising, "given the style of the game and the lack of real graphic violence and things like that", but that the "Teen" rating would theoretically enable Halo 5 to reach a broader audience of younger players who would have otherwise been unable to obtain the game.[31]
Sales[edit]
First-week global sales of Halo 5 software and hardware totaled more than US$400 million, making it the fastest-selling Xbox One exclusive. Halo 5 made the biggest sales record in Xbox history, and was the best-selling digital title.[32] Within its first five days of release,Halo 5 was the best-selling game of October in the United States, according to NPD Group.[33]
In the United Kingdom, Halo 5 debuted on the top of the sales charts as measured by Chart-Track, besting the week's other new release, Assassin's Creed Syndicate. It outsold previous Halo release The Master Chief Collection by 50% in its first week.[34][35] The following week sales decreased 78 percent, and Halo 5 was displaced from the top of the charts by Call of Duty: Black Ops III.[36]
Post-release content[edit]
Halo 5 is supported by post-release content updates; in particular, 343 Industries stated that fifteen additional multiplayer maps would be added to the game at no extra charge through June 2016. 343 head Josh Holmes explained that the studio did not want to segregate the player base by distributing maps as paid downloadable content, a goal he felt was "really important to having a great multiplayer ecosystem."[37] These updates will focus exclusively on multiplayer; there are no plans for additional single-player content.[38]
The first update, Battle of Shadow and Light, re-introduces the 8-on-8 "Big Team Battle" mode on four new maps, and adds new REQ cards and player customization options.[39]
Professional competition[edit]
Previous Halo games were featured in eSports tournaments held by Major League Gaming and other organizations, with Halo 3 being considered the best competitive game for its gameplay and balance.[40]
In 2014, Microsoft announced the "Halo Championship Series", its own tournament. Prior to Halo 5: Guardians 's release, Microsoft announced a competition with a US$1 million prize pool, and a focus on developing the game with competition in mind.[41] A portion of the proceeds from REQ packs bought with real currency contributes to prize pools; by November 4 REQ proceeds had added $500,000 to the pool,[42] which climbed to $700,000 by November 19.[43]
The Halo World Championship will begin on December 6, 2015, with the finals scheduled for March 2016.[43]
Reception[edit]
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Halo 5: Guardians received positive reviews, with critics praising its graphics, gameplay, audio, competitive multiplayer, and new "Warzone" mode. However, the campaign's disjointed story was criticized. Despite criticism directed towards the game's lack of a split-screen functionality, its online co-op campaign mode received praise. It received aggregating scores of 84.67% on GameRankings based on 61 reviews[44] and 84/100 on Metacriticbased on 93 reviews.[45]
Halo 5 's campaign and story received mixed reviews. Timothy J. Seppala of Engadget felt that the game's campaign was the first time in years that the campaign felt like a step backward compared to its predecessor; "instead of addressing what it got wrong with [Halo 4] and doubling down on what it did right, the team fundamentally altered how a Halo campaign works to horrendous results."[58] Time 's Matt Peckham felt that in comparison to the setup in Halo 5 's marketing and the Hunt the Truth series, which suggested a novel direction for the series, "What happens in Halo 5 's story, by contrast, feels disappointingly by the numbers."[59] Forbes ' Paul Thier andGamesRadar's David Houghton complained that players did not suitably impact the story's progression, and that the game's cliffhanger ended the plot at the conclusion of the first act.[60][61]
The multiplayer modes of Halo 5 received critical acclaim; GameSpot praised Halo 5 's multiplayer experience for being in the "best shape Halo 's multiplayer has ever taken", and in particular, noting the game's return to "universal" weapon loadouts and obtaining stronger weapons spawning on-map, rather than unlocking weapons as in Halo 4. The Warzone mode was considered to be one of the "best new ideas" in both the Halo franchise and the genre, praising its MOBA-like mechanics and vast environments, explaining that "as with the rest of Halo 5, there is momentum here—but this is a force that shifts from side to side with each match. Warzone isn't so much about consistency—it's about adaptability. And the team that can roll with the punches, and punch back at the right moments, will have the upper hand."[50]
