Halo

I have to say I am trying to curtail my excitement, because as much as I enjoyed Halo 4, it did not have the same feeling as previous Halo games.

I have always played Halo multiplayer a bucket load, but Halo 4 did have the same longevity that all of the previous Halo games had. I can honestly say I was still playing the Halo predecessor’s multiplayer (and sometimes campaign) in the months leading up to a new release. Halo 4 has not given me that experience.

My experiences with Halo 4 was not anything bad, but it did not have the replayability of previous games. I hammered the multiplayer of previous Halo’s, and I don’t mean I played it a lot, I mean I coordinated teams, I arranged training sessions, held LANs, and even owned multiple copies of the games. Halo 4 was the first Halo game where this was not the case.

Partly because I wasn’t 100% into the multiplayer, partly because my friends interest waned as well, I found I was running out of friends to play with, and also running out of interest to play it myself. Another big part of it was the fact that even with my fairly decent connection, I was getting bad connection to a majority of games. Whether it was because there wasn’t a beta to accurately test the way they connected game or whether the netcode was broken, I don’t know, but losing a majority of games on factors not related to the skill of my team mates or myself is something that can take the joy out of a game.

Ultimately this has left me with a less that confident impression in 343’s ability to produce a game that is going to give me replayability.

I have been following the gameplay videos and trailers closely on this one, with the hope that the game does deliver.

The new Halo 5 does have me excited, specifically in the campaign, and I think in no small part, thanks to Nathan Fillion. There is no hiding that I am a fan of his work. From my first encounter with his villainous activities in Buffy, onto Firefly, and even Castle. I can honestly say that I am going to attempt to play as the character as much as I can.

I have invested in this game, I broke my no pre-order rule and ordered the Digital Guardians edition, I hope that it delivers.