Halo 5: Guardians will ship on October 27, 2015 with all-new story and a mix of classic and modern gameplay. Early review copies of Guardians were sent to a few choice gaming journalists and gaming websites. The game reviews trickling in were mostly positive as of press time.
Halo is a much beloved franchise that popularized the stereotypical "bro" culture in gaming. Inspite of the big misstep with the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Halo is still one of the most popular shooters for the Xbox One. The release of Guardians will only help Halo's status as the premiere FPS for the platform.
One gameplay improvement in Guardians is the use of two protagonists - Master Chief of the Blue Team and Spartan Agent Jameson Locke for the Fireteam Osiris. With this development, the game can be played cooperatively with up to four players.
Multiplayer maps will be larger which will make combat much more exciting.
Gamespot's Matt Espinelli reported that Guardians will feature an innovative gameplay called Requisition or REQ system for short. "The REQ system rewards players for spending time in multiplayer. As you complete matches, you're given points, which can be used to purchase packs containing REQ cards that come in the form of unlockable weapons, armors, vehicles, ability improvements, points boosts, etc. There are over a thousand different REQ cards available to collect."
Polygon reviews editor Arthur Gies observed that Guardians Warzone (24-player game mode) seems to be picking up some tricks from MOBA with its balancing of the combat Arena. He said that the game is veering away from unfair player progression and thus making it feel like an even playing field for all players. "That's not the only way Halo 5 is borrowing from the MOBA field. Halo 5's new progression system is based around credits, which can be used to buy Requisition Packs, which contain special armor and weapon modifications and skins that are strictly cosmetic in Arena (and 343 has promised that Req packs will never have an effect on gameplay in Arena)." He said.
Gies, also of Rebel FM fame, publicly lambasted previously released "Halo: The Master Chief Collection" in the podcast, but is fairly positive on Guardians. He concluded in his piece that Guardians is competitive, balanced, and fun.
Halo 5: Guardians is an Xbox One exclusive developed by 343 Studios and published by Microsoft.
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