The campaign is every bit as dynamic and often more so. Demo is a clean, easy to understand slice of a fairly linear and small part of that level.
That is good to hear but to be frank, the demo was really underwhelming. I'm just not sure what to say or what everyone at 343 is thinking. You have Halo. You are already half way there. You already have a highly recognizable golden franchise. Unlike many, you do not have to try to sell a new IP at E3 like for example, No Man's Sky, or Cuphead. You don't have to explain it, or even introduce a new game and its story and lore. That is the most challenging. You do not have to educate people on what Halo is, well perhaps a little since you're changing a lot from its art direction, squad mechanics, to changing its gameplay (no more floaty mechanics) confusing many, but not really.
To get to my point, you have to think what can I show at E3 that will steal the show? What kind of demo can I reveal that will wow everyone? I have Halo! That should be very well possible. Seriously, I should have seen Halo trending on Twitter today like other games were. It is a massive franchise! 11 hours ago, Tomb Raider, Cuphead, Beyond Eyes, EA Access were trending, and nope, not Halo. What would make it standout to other live gameplay demos, but be Halo? What will make it incredibly bold? What kind of reveal can I create that will bring back Halo chilled feelings to the audience?
And it just did not do that. Not even close. Instead you ran around as Locke, where many people do not even know who he is and were seeing these awkward robotic but not Promothean enemies, that look like they are in their own universe than the one with the covenant or the flood (I am not opposed to new enemy types but its style does not look from the same universe). Honestly, Halo could have been the talk of the show; the talk of e3. I would think showing things such as hijacking a Ghost flying away, getting into a warthog with a flag and driving off and the cap notification flashing across the screen to gain excitement from the audience, the energy sword being used on a banshee or on a promothean, more covenant enemy types that we love and charm, etc., or a short multiplayer montage explaining the various wide playlists and gametypes, some of which are just pure fun for the casual player along with the single player demo. Something along those lines to make it not only feel like epic Halo, but to bring back those Halo feels.
The demo was certainly not terrible, it was okay, but just easily forgotten. I don't see media outlets discussing Halo 5 with much attention like other games, or like Halo in the past during the week. And to me, that is a failure. I think it is telling when the Gears of War 4 gameplay, which is coming out NEXT year has more pages than Halo 5, which is only months away. Excitement should be raging like other game threads but is less.
I wish 343 had a studio head like Rod Fergusson and I encourage you to take a peek from an interview today with Geoff Keighley-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WkS9Sf2ffo&feature=youtu.be&t=1m40s
He has a lot of experience.
"Geoff: You are obviously a veteran of the Gears franchise. You have been through the history of Gears. What do you want Gears of War to stand for when moving forward?
Rod: Ah well we really want it to stand on its own. When I came over to this studio, we looked at what other things we could have done with it, but then it lost a little bit of its luster, then we looked at other successful games and thought, should we chase that or should we chase this.
One of the things is I stood in front of the team and said we don't follow. Let's really embrace what Gears is. Maybe that means a slightly smaller audience but it means we have much more deep in the passion, and you see that by asking how many more fans need tattoos. So it's the sort of feeling to embrace what Gears really is instead of chasing other people."
Do you want Halo to stand for sprint, to stand for squad mechanics, and as Rod said, lose its luster, or do you want it to stand for Halo with a strong identity? Of course it is much more complex than this but you get the point and it is quite ironic, since most people think of no sprint when they think of Halo, as its identity, and now it is standing for something different.