• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Halo 5: Blue Team Off Screen Footage

people got this idea of Halo campaigns in their heads that they were all these giant Truth and Reconciliation/Assault of the Control Room style things with big vehicular combat and alternate routes and big skyboxes and shit. But in reality most of the game is like Pillar of Autumn, Truth and Reconciliation, 343 Guilty Spark, The Library, Keyes, The Maw.

And I feel you need that kind of variety, the mixture. They can't all be Tsavo Highway and the Storm. It can't be non-stop bigness at 11. You need the Crow's Nest and Nightfall stuff, too. The ship interiors, the hallways, the corridors, the close quarter encounters, the stealth/sniper sections. Series of small encounters that lead up to a pair of hunters, and the series of large encounters that lead up to Wraiths.
 
people got this idea of Halo campaigns in their heads that they were all these giant Truth and Reconciliation/Assault of the Control Room style things with big vehicular combat and alternate routes and big skyboxes and shit. But in reality most of the game is like Pillar of Autumn, Truth and Reconciliation, 343 Guilty Spark, The Library, Keyes, The Maw.

And I feel you need that kind of variety, the mixture. They can't all be Tsavo Highway and the Storm. It can't be non-stop bigness at 11. You need the Crow's Nest and Nightfall stuff, too. The ship interiors, the hallways, the corridors, the close quarter encounters, the stealth/sniper sections. Series of small encounters that lead up to a pair of hunters, and the series of large encounters that lead up to Wraiths.

Great point.

Still the best Halo campaign. It's a masterpiece regardless of that level, which if you stop and really think about it and enjoy the nostalgia on that ship, it's feels-city.

They haven't been able to recapture the magic of playing the campaign since. People will rightfully disagree with me, but I was amped from start to finish with halo 3. The last stand of the Covenant, being transported to this long gone Forerunner installation the Ark, etc. The fight was finished for me with that game.
 
They are probably doing it to trigger a loading area. I'd guess based on the size of the encounter after the smash and ground pound button that it is loading that. In some cases, it's needed, but in other cases it isn't.
Do you not remember pressing a billion fucking buttons in all the other halo games? lmao

ESPECIALLY CE.

The main difference is that H4 took away player camera control for those ~3 seconds.

I presume that co-op players are still free to move about while the player pushing the button is "forced" to watch the immersive button pressing.
 
people got this idea of Halo campaigns in their heads that they were all these giant Truth and Reconciliation/Assault of the Control Room style things with big vehicular combat and alternate routes and big skyboxes and shit. But in reality most of the game is like Pillar of Autumn, Truth and Reconciliation, 343 Guilty Spark, The Library, Keyes, The Maw.

And I feel you need that kind of variety, the mixture. They can't all be Tsavo Highway and the Storm. It can't be non-stop bigness at 11. You need the Crow's Nest and Nightfall stuff, too. The ship interiors, the hallways, the corridors, the close quarter encounters, the stealth/sniper sections. Series of small encounters that lead up to a pair of hunters, and the series of large encounters that lead up to Wraiths.


They're all sporting rose colored lenses.
 
people got this idea of Halo campaigns in their heads that they were all these giant Truth and Reconciliation/Assault of the Control Room style things with big vehicular combat and alternate routes and big skyboxes and shit. But in reality most of the game is like Pillar of Autumn, Truth and Reconciliation, 343 Guilty Spark, The Library, Keyes, The Maw.

And I feel you need that kind of variety, the mixture. They can't all be Tsavo Highway and the Storm. It can't be non-stop bigness at 11. You need the Crow's Nest and Nightfall stuff, too. The ship interiors, the hallways, the corridors, the close quarter encounters, the stealth/sniper sections. Series of small encounters that lead up to a pair of hunters, and the series of large encounters that lead up to Wraiths.

I completely agree that you need a good mixture. It's the juxtaposition that makes the big levels seem really expansive and the small levels seem claustrophobic.

My problem is specifically with Halo 4 where you have a bunch of small levels that feel really small. A bunch of linear levels that flow in a straight line, and "big" levels that offer really just the illusion of being big but contain invisible walls and scripted on-rail gameplay.

Leading up to the Halo 4 release we saw levels that looked like this Halo 5 level. My concern is that Halo 5 will repeat Halo 4's mistakes. My fear is that if they truly had big beautiful open world environments they would have shown at least one of them by now.
 
This is more than likely the second level, the Crow's Nest kinda level. We already saw how big they started with the first level with Locke's squad, running up on the Covenant on some Silent Cartagrapher ish, and probably varies in intensity throughout. Now you got the second level, with starts off small and grows and expands until they're fighting Banshees and shit in outer space. I also like how they're introducing the Hunters by building them up as a real menace. Banging on the walls foreshadowing their appearance, coming out of nowhere and knocking Chief out, that cool "form-up" sequence right before the battle.

The best Halo games have that great sense of pacing, variations of level sizes, weapons, vehicles, enemies, etc. That's why I've always respected the idea behind the level "Cortana" in Halo 3 even if the level sucks. The game slowly grows in scale from Sierra 117, to Crow's Nest, than Tsavo Highway and the Storm. There's a small break with a different flavor entirely with the Flood, then goes on to top it all with The Ark and the Covenant. They cover everything about fighting the Covenant, inside and outside, on land and in air, the Hunters, the Scorpion tank murder parades, 3 scarabs, and that last big assault on the Prophet with all the fuel rod cannons and jetpack Brutes. Where do you go after all that shit? Somewhere completely and totally different in a complex Flood chapter.
 
I completely agree that you need a good mixture. It's the juxtaposition that makes the big levels seem really expansive and the small levels seem claustrophobic.

My problem is specifically with Halo 4 where you have a bunch of small levels that feel really small. A bunch of linear levels that flow in a straight line, and "big" levels that offer really just the illusion of being big but contain invisible walls and scripted on-rail gameplay.

Leading up to the Halo 4 release we saw levels that looked like this Halo 5 level. My concern is that Halo 5 will repeat Halo 4's mistakes. My fear is that if they truly had big beautiful open world environments they would have shown at least one of them by now.

Nobody hates Halo 4 on this website more than me, but I don't think they're gonna make that mistake again. Already this "smaller" level look to have wider playspaces and more approaches to combat than say, the first level in Halo 4 ever did. And we've seen glimpses of bigger things. The desert lookin' place with the Wraith battles, covie drop ships, alternate paths, and what looks all the world like a bigger and badder version of The Scarab.

So just based what I've seen, and what 343 has said about this being the biggest Halo campaign ever("twice as long as Halo 4, more than twice as big in scale"), I'm willingly to believe that. 343 can be THAT fuckin' stupid to repeat the same mistake everybody hated in the H4, right?
 
#huntthetruth2 this month too.

It's gonna be suite.

On a scale from Sweat Suite...

8238795513_500c607986_z.jpg


To Zoot Suite...

ZootSuits.jpeg


Where we at?

Zoot Suite obviously being the highest.
 
I completely agree that you need a good mixture. It's the juxtaposition that makes the big levels seem really expansive and the small levels seem claustrophobic.

My problem is specifically with Halo 4 where you have a bunch of small levels that feel really small. A bunch of linear levels that flow in a straight line, and "big" levels that offer really just the illusion of being big but contain invisible walls and scripted on-rail gameplay.

Leading up to the Halo 4 release we saw levels that looked like this Halo 5 level. My concern is that Halo 5 will repeat Halo 4's mistakes. My fear is that if they truly had big beautiful open world environments they would have shown at least one of them by now.

Just because a level is indoors doesn't mean it is a straight linear path. You can already see the verticality in this level along with a lower or high route in that large arena because of clamber. You can also send your guys in different paths, so for instance send Blue team up top to cover your advance on the bottom floor and vice versa. The area looks already way larger than any of the smaller levels in Halo 4 in terms of playspace, amount of enemies on screen, different ways to tackle the fight, etc.

Go watch the vidoc or something and you'll see the large scale encounters in there.
 
This is more than likely the second level, the Crow's Nest kinda level. We already saw how big they started with the first level with Locke's squad, running up on the Covenant on some Silent Cartagrapher ish, and probably varies in intensity throughout. Now you got the second level, with starts off small and grows and expands until they're fighting Banshees and shit in outer space. I also like how they're introducing the Hunters by building them up as a real menace. Banging on the walls foreshadowing their appearance, coming out of nowhere and knocking Chief out, that cool "form-up" sequence right before the battle.

The best Halo games have that great sense of pacing, variations of level sizes, weapons, vehicles, enemies, etc. That's why I've always respected the idea behind the level "Cortana" in Halo 3 even if the level sucks. The game slowly grows in scale from Sierra 117, to Crow's Nest, than Tsavo Highway and the Storm. There's a small break with a different flavor entirely with the Flood, then goes on to top it all with The Ark and the Covenant. They cover everything about fighting the Covenant, inside and outside, on land and in air, the Hunters, the Scorpion tank murder parades, 3 scarabs, and that last big assault on the Prophet with all the fuel rod cannons and jetpack Brutes. Where do you go after all that shit? Somewhere completely and totally different in a complex Flood chapter.

Are you talking about the Locke's squad e3 demo or the snippet of footage from the Vidoc? The Locke's squad e3 demo looks reminiscent of an early Battlefield level in my opinion. Lots of exposition around you and in the background, but essentially just a linear map with an occasional shooting gallery and scripted events.

The Vidoc snippet looks a little bit more promising, but I'm concerned about the high valley walls on either side. My fear is that it's like the early bits of Sierra 117 where you're traversing a fairly linear path in the jungle, or even more troubling a level like Halo 4's Infinity level where you're essentially traversing a riverbed and the only direction is essentially forward.

I just think it's fair to be concerned at this point especially given 343i's track record. In past Halo games when they know they have a good campaign map you usually see snippets of it in the pre release marketing.
 
Nobody hates Halo 4 on this website more than me, but I don't think they're gonna make that mistake again. Already this "smaller" level look to have wider playspaces and more approaches to combat than say, the first level in Halo 4 ever did. And we've seen glimpses of bigger things. The desert lookin' place with the Wraith battles, covie drop ships, alternate paths, and what looks all the world like a bigger and badder version of The Scarab.

So just based what I've seen, and what 343 has said about this being the biggest Halo campaign ever("twice as long as Halo 4, more than twice as big in scale"), I'm willingly to believe that. 343 can be THAT fuckin' stupid to repeat the same mistake everybody hated in the H4, right?

I'm not convinced that any of those sequences are big. I really want to belabor on the point that there were a lot of seemingly big set pieces in Halo 4 and a lot of environments that appeared big but they were incredibly restrictive and just as linear as the smaller levels.

The desert scene at 5:32ish looks a lot like Destiny where you essentially have scripted drop ships appearing and dropping enemies in a relatively small battlefield all the while you have a pretty skybox in the part of the level that is open and doesn't contain architecture. Its expanse is an illusion... or at least that's my concern.
 
I'm not convinced that any of those sequences are big. I really want to belabor on the point that there were a lot of seemingly big set pieces in Halo 4 and a lot of environments that appeared big but they were incredibly restrictive and just as linear as the smaller levels.

The desert scene at 5:32ish looks a lot like Destiny where you essentially have scripted drop ships appearing and dropping enemies in a relatively small battlefield all the while you have a pretty skybox in the part of the level that is open and doesn't contain architecture. Its expanse is an illusion... or at least that's my concern.

I mean, ok. I'd rather not be spending all my time traversing a map either. I want medium maps, maybe one "big" one.
 
I'm not convinced that any of those sequences are big. I really want to belabor on the point that there were a lot of seemingly big set pieces in Halo 4 and a lot of environments that appeared big but they were incredibly restrictive and just as linear as the smaller levels.

The desert scene at 5:32ish looks a lot like Destiny where you essentially have scripted drop ships appearing and dropping enemies in a relatively small battlefield all the while you have a pretty skybox in the part of the level that is open and doesn't contain architecture. Its expanse is an illusion... or at least that's my concern.

It's tiny and every level is a linear tube one character wide.
 
Honestly the thing I'm most excited for in halo 5 is the music - I never thought anything would top marty but the stuff ive heard on youtube so far is fucking amazing.
 
It's tiny and every level is a linear tube one character wide.

Damn, at least now we know. Those that remained unconvinced of the open levels can raise their heads high, knowing they were right. Halo 5 will redefine the corridor shooter, it will be more corridors that feature more confined and cramped spaces then ever before!
 
If we are on this point... true openness in my mind involves multiple routes with completely different paths. There are two versions of this:

Asymmetric objective design, which we see in missions like Halo, the Silent Cartographer, ONI Sword Base and New Alexandria. You can complete the objectives in different orders and with multiple routes. Silent Cartographer is still the quintessential Halo mission for me, despite Halo 2 being my favorite campaign.

The second one involves "vacations" or out of map routes, best seen in the level Outskirts, but also seen (to a much lesser extent) in missions such as Silent Cartographer (interior drop), Sierra 117 (crossing the river in multiple ways), as well as some major skips in Delta Halo.
 
343 didn't quite hit the mark for large scale battles in 4, though it was a good attempt and there were some good ideas on display (such as sieging the airship in the desert level).

Hopefully the Promethean knights will be interesting this go around (they're worse than halo 3's brutes and have no personality/interesting characteristics).

The Composer is the best level in 4, period.
 
Game looks so amazing. Actually haven't been this hyped since pre Halo 3. Campaign wise Halo 4 resurrected my love for the series since the over done stage recycling back and forth back and forth stages of halo 3 burned me out a bit.
 
Game looks so amazing. Actually haven't been this hyped since pre Halo 3. Campaign wise Halo 4 resurrected my love for the series since the over done stage recycling back and forth back and forth stages of halo 3 burned me out a bit.
Halo 3 didn't really have much backtracking, though... Crows Nest had some and Cortana had a lot, but that's about it.
 
I'm currently listening to Hunt the Truth Season 1 for the first time. I hadn't been paying attention to any of this beforehand, it just didn't grab my attention for some reason, I think Witcher 3 came out around then and I was just totally immersed in it.

Either way, this is fucking amazing. Really engrossing, and really making me excited for the story in Halo 5... for the first time.

This is really great. Why did nobody tell me about this? Keegan Michael Key is the main character too? Shiiiiiiiiiiiit. He's good.
 
I'm a wee bit worried about the second series of HtT as I thought the first one was just an incredible example of using another medium to tell a Halo story.

They can't strike gold twice, can they?
 
Pretty much everyone that's listened to it has tried to tell everyone, everywhere... so I'm going to assume you not hearing about it is somehow your fault tbh. :P

Yeah it totally is :P

To be honest I was just being lazy, the supercut makes it really easy to listen to and it's genuinely great. I'm glad a season 2 is coming.
 
I have so much Halo shit to catch up on. When you guys start discussing the lore I get lost pretty fast. Need to replay the games, read the books and listen to Hunt the Truth. Realistically I'll probably get to 1 out of 3 of these.
 
I see it mentioned here a few times, what ever happened to HaloGAF or what is the story about it?

Blame Elzar for some stuff iirc. But I think it came down to the fact that the mods didn't like the official thread, too much off topic and whining.

And it makes me sad. I'm not a HaloGAF regular but now is the time when we need a Halo home.
 
Ok, I caved and got the Halo 5 Xbox One, despite already having one. Just wish they would extend the same courtesy of swapping the digital code with a physical disk, a steelbox without a disc just seems off.

Wondering when HTT Season 2 is going to kick in.
 
Blame Elzar for some stuff iirc. But I think it came down to the fact that the mods didn't like the official thread, too much off topic and whining.

And it makes me sad. I'm not a HaloGAF regular but now is the time when we need a Halo home.

Excuse me?

EXCUSSSSSEEE MEEEEEEEEEE

deep breath


EXCUSEEEEEEEE MEEEEEEEEEE
 
Top Bottom