Welcome to Halo 5: Guardians. It’s been 8 months since the events of Halo 4. There are many questions to be answered – is Halsey really going to seek revenge on the UNSC? What is ‘mdama going to do now that he has half of the “Janus Key”? This iteration of in the Halo series will reveal startling responses that will blow your mind!
Platform: Xbox One
Genre: First-person shooter
Game mode: single player; multiplayer
The game picks up in the year 2558 – 8 months after the events in Halo 4. It follows the journey of 2 fireteams: Osiris and Blue; the latter is led by Master Chief John-117.
Osiris is deployed to Kamchatka – a Covenant-controlled planet – to find Halsey, who has sworn revenge on UNSC; she also has half of the Janus Key. Halsey is recovered and Covenant leader, Jul Mdama, is killed.
Meanwhile, Blue fireteam, led by Master Chief John-117, has been sent to Argent Moon to secure an ONI station. They are ambushed by Covenant forces and while this is happening, John receives messages from his companion Cortana, to travel to planet Meridian – by doing this; he is disobeying direct orders and Blue team is declared AWOL.
Spartan Locke Avatar
Osiris is sent to capture Blue team and after clashes with Promethean forces, they find them. They are told to stand down, but disobey again by boarding a Guardian (a massive Forerunner construct) and head to planet Genesis.
Once they reach Genesis, John and Cortana are united once again; you get the feeling that everything has been accomplished, but once you meet the planet’s caretaker, 031 Exuberant Witness, the AI explains that Cortana plans to use Guardians to form peace throughout the galaxy.
Is this what is meant to happen? You’re going to have to do some soul-searching and decide what is right. Good luck!
You can expect the same gameplay found in previous iterations: first-person shooter that switches to third-person view.
There have been upgrades to the armour, which includes thrusters and all weapons are now able to be aimed by looking down the iron sight. Interestingly, there is unfortunately no offline capability, including an absence of split-screen.
So, barring these omissions, it cannot be denied that this is a Halo-fan must-have.
Verdict: 9/10
