Halo 5: Guardians – PAX East 2015 Hands On

<p>As an admitted avid <em>Halo<&sol;em> fan since the original <em>Halo&colon; Combat Evolved<&sol;em>&comma; I have been just as guilty as the rest of the internet when it came to worrying that <em>Halo<&sol;em> would turn into a <em>Call of Duty<&sol;em> clone &lpar;especially after the popularity of Activision’s annual franchise shot through the roof with <em>Advanced Warfare&rpar;<&sol;em>&period; This worry also shot to a fever pitch after seeing that 343 Industries added an &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;aiming down the sights” mechanic&comma; much like <em>COD<&sol;em>&period; However&comma; after playing it this morning at PAX East&comma; I’m relieved to say that playing <em>Halo 5<&sol;em> is like slipping on a comfortable old glove&period; It’s still <em>Halo<&sol;em>&comma; and it’s still fun&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For my demo&comma; I played a standard&comma; 4v4 Team Deathmatch in a remake of the classic <em>Halo 2<&sol;em> map&comma; Midship&period; The level itself feels larger than the original midship&comma; which was assumedly intended to allow players to take advantage of their spartans’ new mobility&period; Getting around in <em>Halo 5<&sol;em> is not a problem&comma; especially with the boost ability&comma; mapped to the B button&period; It not only helped scoot out around corners quickly to get that last headshot on an escaping target with no shields&comma; but it came in especially handy when trying to escape hairy situations while taking incoming fire from an unknown direction&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;03&sol;halo5midship&period;png"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-78866" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;03&sol;halo5midship&period;png" alt&equals;"halo5midship" width&equals;"852" height&equals;"361" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But let’s talk about one of the biggest changes&colon; ADS&period; To aim down the sights of whatever gun you are holding&comma; much like other shooters&comma; you pull the left trigger&comma; which is typically mapped to grenade tosses&comma; a vital part of the <em>Halo<&sol;em> experience&period; The ADS mode of <em>Halo 5<&sol;em> feels very akin to simply aiming via the scope of the DMR or BR from previous <em>Halo<&sol;em> titles&period; It’s not necessary&comma; and I only used it when targets were far away&period; Plus&comma; mapping it to the left trigger also made moving in and out of the sights more seamless&comma; doing away with that all to familiar situation of accidentally entering the scope mode by clicking in the left stick during a hectic firefight&period; Also&comma; grenades are now mapped to the left bumper&comma; which can literally be pressed without taking your finger off of the left trigger&period; While it did feel noticeably different&comma; it was not uncomfortable at all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;03&sol;smart-scoping-with-halo-5-guardians-multiplayer-beta-1415626002011&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-78867" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;03&sol;smart-scoping-with-halo-5-guardians-multiplayer-beta-1415626002011&period;jpg" alt&equals;"smart-scoping-with-halo-5-guardians-multiplayer-beta-1415626002011" width&equals;"2929" height&equals;"1948" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During our match &lpar;which we sadly lost by only 9 kills&rpar; I spawned with the assault rifle and the BR&comma; both of which felt very familiar&period; I also managed to get my hands on a DMR&comma; which also seemed effective for long range kills&comma; but I preferred the 3-round burst of the BR&period; I also didn’t notice the DMR’s reticle &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;bloom” as it used to&period; I briefly got my hands on a sword&comma; which got me a few satisfying kills before I was mowed down for getting too greedy&comma; and a single SMG&period; While I only got to use the SMG once&comma; it’s extremely high rate of fire was a lot of fun to dish out on close range enemies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All in all&comma; I must say that even though my love for the <em>Halo<&sol;em> series has waned since <em>Halo 2<&sol;em>&comma; I am excited to see what <em>Halo 5<&sol;em> has in store&period;<em>Halo 5&colon; Guardians<&sol;em> is tentatively scheduled for release fall of this year&period; For the full review&comma; check back here this fall&period; <em>Halo 5<&sol;em> has the familiarity of previous games and it looks like it could bring new life to the series&comma; be on the look out for more <em>Halo 5<&sol;em> news right here at <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com">BagoGames<&sol;a>&period; <span style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;">For more PAX East 2015 coverage&comma; keep your eyes glued here&comma; or for live coverage check our <&sol;span><a style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;instagram&period;com&sol;bagogames&sol;">Instagram<&sol;a><span style&equals;"line-height&colon; 1&period;5&semi;"> feed&excl;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;