[Author’s Note: This article acts as a follow-up to the first, second and third Impressions Log entries regarding the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta. Additionally, I will continue to share my thoughts regarding 343 Industries upcoming Shooter as the Beta rolls on through January 18th, 2015.]
The Week 3 content is finally here and, as much as I enjoy playing the Halo 5 Beta, I wasn’t quite able to play as much as I would’ve for the last couple of days (which is why there hasn’t been any additional log entries), so my gameplay was very rusty coming in to the new content. Nonetheless, 343 Industries has tweaked up the Slayer and Breakout playlists for the final week of the Beta, as well as adding in a brand new objective-based mode into the mix. This log will specifically cover the brand new gametype, so stay tuned for the following log for updates on the other playlists.
Here we go.
The new mode, titled Strongholds, is very similar to the Domination gametype we have seen time and time again in the Call of Duty titles. There are three control points required capturing on the map, and the team who controls them earns points. The only thing that is different in Halo 5 is that two strongholds must be captured to earn points – you can’t earn any of them if you only have one. This means that you always have to go for the objectives in some capacity because a single additional capture can shift the momentum of a game in an instant. The first team to 100 points wins the match.
Strongholds has potential to be an engaging gametype, but some questionable features present in its Beta form held it back for me personally. For starters, your starting loadout consists of an Assault Rifle and a Battle Rifle, which are great weapons to start the game with, but it’s the way they are handled that is sloppy. The Battle Riffle has always been the primary weapon to use in competitive Halo, but, for some odd reason, the AR is your starting weapon whenever you start a Strongholds match and every time you respawn. This means that I had to constantly press the Y button to switch weapons every time I took control of my Spartan, which was extremely annoying.
Strongholds on Regret just doesn’t work that well.
Additionally, the supported maps for Strongholds didn’t work quite well. Empire is a constant fight for the center base, while maintaining map control in Regret is nearly impossible because of the base spawns, which are where two of the control points are located. Another strange feature that occurred while playing in the Truth remix is that the opening presentation of the map was always freezing/glitched out, but this is mostly due to the Beta state of Halo 5. I did enjoy, however, the fact that the Hydra Cannon was replaced by the Rocket Launcher in the Bottom Middle portion of the map and, although it looks slightly different visually, it still deals the destructive amount of damage it did in the past. Another thing I enjoyed out of the mode in general is the fact that the pillars acting as the control points provide great cover, meaning you still have a fighting chance of winning those tense battles even though you get swarmed by the enemy team.
Truly, the highlight of my entire time playing Strongholds was when I got matched with the legendary pro Halo player David “Walshy” Walsh, who was a big name back in the Halo 1 & Halo 2 days with Final Boss. I couldn’t believe it, and I actually tweeted to Walshy with a picture of his Gamertag to confirm whether of not it was really him – it was. Though I only played a single match with the legend, it was a completely hilarious to get crushed by him, losing the game 100-5 — yes, 100-5. As much as this was a funny moment while playing Halo, I couldn’t help but question Halo 5’s Matchmaking system as, once again, I didn’t even finish my ten division placement matches and got paired against a player ranked in the Pro division. I just hope it stays consistent come the game’s full release.
@Max_Chiasson that is me!
— Dave Walsh (@Walshy) January 10, 2015
In the end, I didn’t quite enjoy playing Strongholds that much, mainly because I kept losing matches despite slaying decently. I was constantly matched with bad teammates and my individual skill could not save the games because of the constant objective hunting. Surprisingly, I got ranked in the third tier of the Gold division, so I may be inclined to grind my way up the Onyx division in the game mode, but I’ll mostly go for that status in Slayer because I know I’ll perform better in that playlist.
Once again, reminding you all to stay tuned to Gamer Headlines as this Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta Impressions Log will be continuously updated until it ends on January 18, 2015.
Have you played the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta? If so, feel free to let us know what you think of it in the comments below and, as always, stay tuned to Gamer Headlines for all things gaming.
[show_avatar email=maximechiasson@videotron.ca align=center user_link=authorpage show_name=true show_biography=true max_bio_length=500]