[Author’s Note: This article acts as a follow-up to the first Impressions Log entry regarding the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta. At the time of this writing 343 has unexpectedly released the content of Week 2 early, and despite having tried it out, this entry log will solely be dedicated to updating my initial thoughts regarding the game. Additionally, I will continue to share my thoughts regarding 343 Industries’ upcoming Shooter as the Beta rolls on through January 18th, 2015.]
Well, it seems 343 is eager to share new content with its Halo 5: Guardians Beta testers as the Week 2 content is already out as of January 2. I was about to post an update regarding my initials thoughts of the game, but the new maps and the new mode had me jumping back straight into the action-packed gameplay that is Halo 5. So before taking a look at the latest additions to the Beta, which will be addressed in the next log entry, there are a few things I want to talk about regarding some criticism I previously addressed about the game.
First off, I initially called out the fact that Crouch Jumping could no longer be used in Halo 5: Guardians because of the brand new Ground Pounding Spartan ability. For a player like myself who has been used to Crouch Jumping ever since I started playing Halo, this mechanic felt very off-putting to me. However, the more I started realizing that Halo 5 is a whole new Halo experience and adapting myself to a different play style, I eventually found the small hovering time to be quite helpful when I has hitting escaping targets from a distance. That being said, Crouch Jumping is being be fixed for the full release of Halo 5: Guardians according to Quinn DelHoyo, the Lead Multiplayer Designer on the title, as he responded to the pro player from Team Evil Geniuses Eric “Snip3down” Wrona on Twitter. Although it’s great to see that Crouch Jumping will ultimately work, it is going to be another adaptation process come the game’s official release, and that – in my mind – is just tedious.
Quinny has the answer to everything
Additionally, I am really starting to like the map Empire a lot more, now that I have a better knowledge of the spawns and map control positioning. Some of my best games yet were on Empire, but I still feel like it is a little too crowded for Halo 5’s fast gameplay. On numerous occasions, I found myself hitting walls and getting stuck on various structure will Thrusting away from enemy fire.
I also mentioned that I wanted to investigate more on Halo 5’s Ranking System that was a little incomprehensible throughout my first hours with the Beta. Well, after doing some research and experiencing it hands-on, Halo 5: Guardians’ Competitive Skill Rating looks very promising. Basically, each playlist or game mode has its own Skill Rating divided into seven tiers: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Onyx, Semi-Pro and Pro. It sort of works like League of Legends’ Ranking System in which, after playing your first ten matches in the playlist, you will be placed into one of those divisions depending on how well you play. Plus, you can always make your way through other tiers and divisions depending of your performance, while also having your global Spartan Ranking gradually increase by gaining EXP. From what I’ve seen so far, matchmaking has been somewhat balanced as I was matched with players of all different kinds of divisions (I got placed in the Silver tier and I am now working my way through the second tier to reach the Gold division), but the game is still very well in Beta.
Empire is starting to grow on me
Speaking of Beta builds; I must address the fact that I encountered so many issues when I tried finding matches following the update of January 1, 2015. Constant error messages were popping up, and my Beta build was taking upwards to three minutes just to reach the title screen, not to mention the sheer annoyance of being redirected to the Main Menu every time I wanted to switch game modes. I know, I know, it is pre-release software and I should expect those kinds of things after all, but it is still very disruptive.
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.
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