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Got around to playing this first Beta for Halo 5 today, and I have to say I'm very impressed. Graphically, it's as great as can be expected, easily on par with Halo 4. To try and sum up the changes for those who haven't got it:

- The big thing is the controls being reworked. Now, it's Left Trigger to Zoom/Scope, RB to melee, LB to to Grenade, click RS to crouch, click LS to Sprint, B to boost/evade. In other words, it's a fair bit closer to CoD and BF now, at least control-wise.

- Mechanically, it seems to play a lot faster. With unlimited Sprint and the fast-recharging boost (think Evade from Reach) getting around and staying mobile is a lot easier. You can also Boost while jumping for a kind of mini-jump pack, and jumping while near an obstacle allows you to Vault over it, which is pretty cool. There's animations to go with all this, so it's more a person moving rather than just a gun on legs. The few maps there are also seem to play to this, there seems to be a lot more tight corners and vertical movement.

- Most weapons have had an aesthetic overhaul but function just the same, with the only differences I can detect being faster firing Magnums and less scatter/recoil in general. They also have on-HUD scopes no, so you don't so much look down the sites when scoping as actually zoom in your display, which is pretty cool. There is at least one new gun, but I haven't been able to grab one yet. I think it's called the Hydra, and is a kind of multiple Missile/Grenade launcher.

- One small but fun thing is the introduction of automated inter-team dialogue. When you are nearby, your teammate's characters will warn you about incoming enemies, tell you they're throwing a grenade, commend you on good shooting ect. This is very immersive, and again goes more towards actual characters rather than walking assault rifles.

- The new game type, Breakout, is quite fun too. 1 life per player per round, no respawns, last team standing wins. The map for this one is much more like a paintball arena than a battlefield, and team coordination and awareness seem a lot more important.

So far I am liking most of the changes, gameplay feels smoother and more fluid than previous Halo multiplayer. Anyone else played this and have any thoughts?

Meh. I got bored of Halo after Reach.

I would find it kinda weird playing a Halo Game with that kinda chatter from the Player Characters. It's cool in Battlefield 4 (i think bad company 2 kinda trialblazed the feature) but i like to think of my Spartans as terse Rock'em Sock'em Robots who make little noise bar a few grunts when they expire.

I thought Halo 4's 4v4 game was pretty good, i'd say as good as Reach, (although Reach's idiotic community seemed to prefer the interminably dull SWAT game type, so i didn't get to play nearly enough) but it's larger battles were atrocious. Total chaos and completely unbalanced whereas Reach's bigger matches were the best, imo, of the series.

This looks like more of the same and i don't actually see the new features changing a great deal.

I really like the new audio cues. Along with the squad dialogue, the grenades make a more distinct noise when they hit the ground and your HUD chimes every time you score a hit.

I also like the new maneuvering system. Took me awhile to figure out I could tackle and ground pound as well.

 Mr Nobody wrote:


I also like the new maneuvering system. Took me awhile to figure out I could tackle and ground pound as well.

Yeah, I took a while to work out that 'jumping' while already in the air and near an obstacle allows you to pull yourself up and climb, and that you could boost in midair to jump about 15 feet. For the first time, Spartans here actually feel superhuman rather than just a slightly tougher normal guy. Once you get the hang of it, you realise just how easily these guys can get around the battlefield.

What do you mean by 'tackle and group pound'? Are you just referring to the new animation for sprinting assassinations, where you tackle the guy then knife him, or is there another new feature?

 Paradigm wrote:

 Mr Nobody wrote:


I also like the new maneuvering system. Took me awhile to figure out I could tackle and ground pound as well.

Yeah, I took a while to work out that 'jumping' while already in the air and near an obstacle allows you to pull yourself up and climb, and that you could boost in midair to jump about 15 feet. For the first time, Spartans here actually feel superhuman rather than just a slightly tougher normal guy. Once you get the hang of it, you realise just how easily these guys can get around the battlefield.

What do you mean by 'tackle and group pound'? Are you just referring to the new animation for sprinting assassinations, where you tackle the guy then knife him, or is there another new feature?

If you're sprinting and hit the melee button, you'll boost forward and perform shoulder check animation. If you jump in the air (preferably off a platform) and hold the crouch button, a circle will be highlighted on the ground below you. Let go of the crouch button and you will rocket into the ground, squishing whoever you land on. Similar to destiny's titans.

 Mr Nobody wrote:

If you're sprinting and hit the melee button, you'll boost forward and perform shoulder check animation. If you jump in the air (preferably off a platform) and hold the crouch button, a circle will be highlighted on the ground below you. Let go of the crouch button and you will rocket into the ground, squishing whoever you land on. Similar to destiny's titans.

Now this I NEED to try! Thanks for pointing it out.

I do rather like the sound of that control scheme, being a on-off X360 Battlefield player.

But as much as I loved Halo (and still love it, for the campaigns/storyline and universe at least), I'm not getting a CrapBox One for one game. (I've made the leap to PC and now I'm playing Planetside 2 and Red Orchestra).

Guess I'll have to content myself with watching the Halo 5 Youtube Movie...