343 Industries unveiled the latest game of the Halo game series; Halo 5: Guardians in the recently held Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The game's demonstration unveiled its new features to the fans and gained mixed reviews regarding some updates and features.
The action-packed gunplay, specifically the new Warzone online mode, provided positive response and reviews from the public. Considered one of the biggest additions to Halo 5: Guardians, Warzone enables multiplayer battles, featuring a combination of player vs. player and player vs. environment in a full scale war. Softpedia described it as a set of all-out war games intended to train Spartans and expose them with any real-world situation, expanding their abilities for victory in least favourable conditions. With such mode, Bosses are color-coded for threat level identification.
However, fans were disappointed by the game's campaign mode which is limited to a four-player co-op mode, and those who wish to team up with players in the same room must need to go online, as 343 Industries has not provided a split-screen option for the game. The backtracking furthered for players who want to play split-screen versus modes.
A fan twitted a screen captured photo of Halo 5 on Xbox One which shows a list including a one-player limit for single play and a 2 to 24 player count for online multiplayer. Josh Holmes, Executive Producer of 343 Industries responded with an equivocal tweet saying: "...multiplayer modes use full screen on dedicated servers, including Co-op Campaign, Arena, and Warzone".
According to Arts Technica, fan dismay may be rooted in the long streak of the Halo franchise which features local split-screen, multiplayer mode. Recently, however, Microsoft confirmed that Halo 5: Guardians will neither feature a local split-screen multiplayer nor a LAN play. Such decision is final and is deemed necessary by the industry to release the "biggest" Halo game so far. In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson disclosed: "343's focus is to ensure that fans get the best Halo experience yet, and team felt a split-screen experience would compromise the gameplay design and the visual bar they've set".
Another dismay of fans surrounds the issue of REQ system, which appear to be a form of microtransaction which allows a player to purchase in-game for upgrades. Game Rant reported that Executive Producer Holmes addressed this concern and told fans that the feature does not encourage pay-to-win system. He further clarified that the goal of the REQ system is to merit players within the regular gameplay whenever they complete commendations or level up their Spartan Rank.
Despite fan rants, 343 Industries promised a more dramatic story in the latest series. 343 Industries' Halo 5: Guardians will be released for Xbox One on October 27, 2015.
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