One of the biggest issues around long running franchises like 'Halo' is that there's a need to stick to what works, but also a need to keep it fresh to retain/grow interest. Unfortunately, 343's attempt to do this with 'The biggest Halo ever' is a mixed bag.
Firstly, the game is absolutely beautiful to look at. When we first step on Halo Zeta I was totally floored, especially compared to Halo 5, which, while graphically amazing was a huge failure in the design of it's environments and enemies.
Additionally, the gunplay is probably the best it's ever been, especially with the addition of the grappling hook and the consistent framerate that I experienced in every minute I played on my Xbox Series X.
Where the game falls apart is in it's world and level design. It's a classic example where 'open world' means repetitive junk to artificially inflate the run time. This would be fine however if it wasn't for the more traditional level type areas being a series of similar corridors leading to open areas to shoot enemies... It's just really tiresome, to the point that whenever I died I just felt like I didn't want to expend the effort on the same areas again.
A further complaint I have is that the game feels like a sequel to something I didn't play. I haven't looked into this and it's been a long time since I played 4 and 5, but is this a direct sequel to those games? I just can't remember all of the set up for events in this game.
It's impossible to play these games without comparing them to Bungie's efforts and the difference is night and day. 343 had set the bar extremely low with 4 and 5, but I actually managed to finish those games, whereas 'The Biggest Halo Ever' will be firmly shelved.
Firstly, the game is absolutely beautiful to look at. When we first step on Halo Zeta I was totally floored, especially compared to Halo 5, which, while graphically amazing was a huge failure in the design of it's environments and enemies.
Additionally, the gunplay is probably the best it's ever been, especially with the addition of the grappling hook and the consistent framerate that I experienced in every minute I played on my Xbox Series X.
Where the game falls apart is in it's world and level design. It's a classic example where 'open world' means repetitive junk to artificially inflate the run time. This would be fine however if it wasn't for the more traditional level type areas being a series of similar corridors leading to open areas to shoot enemies... It's just really tiresome, to the point that whenever I died I just felt like I didn't want to expend the effort on the same areas again.
A further complaint I have is that the game feels like a sequel to something I didn't play. I haven't looked into this and it's been a long time since I played 4 and 5, but is this a direct sequel to those games? I just can't remember all of the set up for events in this game.
It's impossible to play these games without comparing them to Bungie's efforts and the difference is night and day. 343 had set the bar extremely low with 4 and 5, but I actually managed to finish those games, whereas 'The Biggest Halo Ever' will be firmly shelved.