Halo's just about the only FPS series I genuinely like. Part of it is nostalgia and familiarity of course (each new entry is always very similar to all the others) but I like its methodical pace, restricted weapon choice and little combat arenas. I'm not hugely into the storyline or lore but the setting is distinctive and the music is always atmospheric. It's a good series.
I tried playing Titanfall 2 which everyone says is the best thing ever and after a level of getting used to the surprisingly complex controls and feeling like it secretly actually wanted to be a platform game, it stuck me into a big boring robot and made me stomp around really slowly for an entire level. Not my thing at all.
Halo's just about the only FPS series I genuinely like.
I'm genuinely surprised you don't like Half-Life. Thinking back, the last FPS I remember playing to completion and actually liking was Half-Life 2. After that, I honestly can't remember the last FPS I played, let alone enjoyed…
I'm not that keen on Half-Life, actually - too linear for me. Feels like you're being dragged through the story by the nose rather than actually ever really playing it. Plus the first game feels like you're on rollerskates, with no head bob and a ridiculously fast "walking" speed.
But they are old games now - and I appreciate how important they were at the time - I just didn't enjoy them all that much even back then, and have no real desire to revisit them now.
Halo basically revolutionised console FPSs, didn't it? I've just had a quick google, and Combat Evolved came out twelve months after Perfect Dark. That's absolutely insane.
We live in an age now where any FPS can be translated perfectly to console, but at the time it was huge. (And linear or not, Half Life 2 is still on another level to Combat Evolved.)
I tried playing Titanfall 2 which everyone says is the best thing ever and after a level of getting used to the surprisingly complex controls and feeling like it secretly actually wanted to be a platform game, it stuck me into a big boring robot and made me stomp around really slowly for an entire level. Not my thing at all.
I actually wasn't the biggest fan of the campaign. It's good, and inventive, but the multiplayer was brilliant.
Halo basically revolutionised console FPSs, didn't it? I've just had a quick google, and Combat Evolved came out twelve months after Perfect Dark. That's absolutely insane.
I still have a massive soft spot for GoldenEye for proving that you could do an FPS on console at all, but its aggressive auto-aim really betrays the control(ler) limitations. There's no doubt that the move to dual-analogue sticks was a huge paradigm shift – and not just because it opened the doors to the Invert-Axis wars.
Goldeneye (and Turok) completely screwed me over for years by having the movement controls on the right hand (which was the C-buttons on the N64 controller) and look on the left hand (i.e. the stick). In other words the complete opposite to how things work these days.
This became completely hard-wired into my brain for years and I stuck with it pretty much all of the way through the Xbox 360 generation. It was only towards the end of that gen that games simply stopped offering the option to swap the sticks over and I had to force myself to relearn controls the "proper" way. Took me ages, and a copy of XBLA Doom that didn't have up/down look to confuse me.
I'll never lose the instinct to invert, though.
I still have a massive soft spot for GoldenEye for proving that you could do an FPS on console at all, but its aggressive auto-aim really betrays the control(ler) limitations.
IIRC (it has been a while) Halo avoided the need for aim assist by giving their weapons either massive bullet spread (assault rifle), homing (needler) or sights (pistol, sniper, rocket). On top of that I think the aliens had big hit boxes from their shields. All of which give the benefits of aiming assist without feeling like you've got aiming assist on.
I tried playing Titanfall 2 which everyone says is the best thing ever and after a level of getting used to the surprisingly complex controls and feeling like it secretly actually wanted to be a platform game, it stuck me into a big boring robot and made me stomp around really slowly for an entire level. Not my thing at all.
I actually wasn't the biggest fan of the campaign. It's good, and inventive, but the multiplayer was brilliant.
Yep. Still remains the best arena style shooter. Absolutely brilliant game design, from the traversal, to the arenas to the sound design. The campaign isn't perhaps quite as good, but does become one of most wildly inventive shooter campaigns ever.
Halo has aim assist, indeed nearly all shooters have it to a greater or lesser extent. One of the great things about Apex is that it's one of the few games where everything is so finely balanced that pro comp teams are always a blend of mouse keys and controller players. Halo's aim assist isn't as strong as Apex, and I think mk has a big advantage - especially if fights occur at longer ranges.
On Half Life 2, anyone remember the Xbox port? That was wild for the time. It loads every room, but it was still an amazing accomplishment.
Would have probably still not played HL2 if it weren't for that port, a miracle. The fact that the 360 got the Orange Box was fucking amazing, although TF2 took the hit I guess which didn't stop me from having fun with it.
Orange box on the 360 was incredible. A value proposition like no other.
Oh yes, another Play - is it Gar who loves AC Odyssey? I played a bit of it on this month's "journey through bland Ubi games" and holy shit, I think we have a winner. It obviously suffers next to Ghost of Tsushima (which is the same game, only about 4 times as good), but the entire experience is so magnificently vanilla it's almost an art piece.
I have to stop this now. From Wildlands, to WatchDogs to this. I am at breaking point.
Well I've kind of gone full Stockholm Syndrome with the entire Assassin's Creed franchise but yes, I'd say Odyssey is probably my favourite. It's got a great recreation of Ancient Greece, the best protagonist in the series (as long as you choose Kassandra, please tell me you chose Kassandra), and it's the most satisfying RPGish one of the lot. It takes a few hours for all the systems to kick in but after a while you're tracking down mercenaries purely so you can set them on fire and kick them off of cliffs and, trust me, it's great.
Valhalla is far blander: the map is bigger but emptier, the story and acting is much worse, and it doesn't do the side quests thing or loot in the same way. It has its strengths, but it's far more of a generic Ubigame than Odyssey ever was.
Next Space Rebels is a great game that more people should play.
Well I've kind of gone full Stockholm Syndrome with the entire Assassin's Creed franchise but yes, I'd say Odyssey is probably my favourite. It's got a great recreation of Ancient Greece, the best protagonist in the series (as long as you choose Kassandra, please tell me you chose Kassandra), and it's the most satisfying RPGish one of the lot. It takes a few hours for all the systems to kick in but after a while you're tracking down mercenaries purely so you can set them on fire and kick them off of cliffs and, trust me, it's great.
Valhalla is far blander: the map is bigger but emptier, the story and acting is much worse, and it doesn't do the side quests thing or loot in the same way. It has its strengths, but it's far more of a generic Ubigame than Odyssey ever was.
I did pick the bloke. I hate him and his stupid face. I'd like to restart as the woman, but I can't face the fucking tutorial again with the Spartans.
For some reason my total lack of focus on any single game was making me go slightly mad, so on a whim I've decided I'm going to try to finish Last of Us. I got about halfway through before, and I think I'm approaching that now. It's quite weird, and old fashioned, but I've slapped it on Easy and I'm enjoying hitting zombies in the face with bricks. Also I installed the second one and it takes up 225Gb. I'm curious to at least finish 1 and start it, as how the fuck can any game that takes up a quarter of a terabyte of disk space be bad?! (mmm)
The Eurogamer (I think) Returnal review is also spoiling my enjoyment of that game. The twat who reviewed it complained they only died 25 times by the time they finished it and each gameplay loop is way too long because it's too difficult to die. I don't know what he was playing, but holy fuck. I die about 25 times in one play session. I'm too old for this shit.
Also I installed the second one and it takes up 225Gb. I'm curious to at least finish 1 and start it, as how the fuck can any game that takes up a quarter of a terabyte of disk space be bad?! (mmm)
The Last of Us Part II is very, very good, but it's also understandably divisive. I've been on record here before as saying that my personal view didn't align with the game's at the end of part I, and I had much the same experience with about half of part II.
Having said that, though, it's important to note that the characters are very well-drawn, and their behaviour is entirely consistent - I just didn't agree with their decisions, to the extent that more than once I was pleading with the game (sometimes out loud, at 2 am) not to make me do what it was asking.
About 2 weeks after I finished The Last of Us Part II, I put the soundtrack on, and it hollowed me out all over again. I can't remember the last time I found the narrative in a game quite so affecting.
I think I've managed to avoid the spoiler on the end of Last of Us pt 1 for so many years I almost feel obliged to finish the fucking thing now just so I can find out what happens.
I think I've managed to avoid the spoiler on the end of Last of Us pt 1 for so many years I almost feel obliged to finish the fucking thing now just so I can find out what happens.
They all live happily ever after.
Cav, I'm pretty sure you can swap to Kassandra at any point in the menu. She's infinitely better.
I had to stop playing Last of Us Pt 2. I get what it was doing, and I'm sure the narrative pay-off is huge, but jesus it's just so bleak. Even the most harrowing films only make you sit through it for a couple hours; this was 35 hours of unremitting awfulness.
Cav, I'm pretty sure you can swap to Kassandra at any point in the menu. She's infinitely better.
I think that might just be Valhalla. The default option for that game has you playing as female Eivor for most of the game, and male Eivor for the Asgard/Jotenheim sections. In this case I think male Eivor has the edge. But you can choose at any point via the Animus.
Valhalla also makes it abundantly clear that Kassandra was the canon choice for Odyssey - she's referenced very early on and the events of the Odyssey DLC are clearly going to be signficant for the series going forward.
I had to stop playing Last of Us Pt 2. I get what it was doing, and I'm sure the narrative pay-off is huge, but jesus it's just so bleak. Even the most harrowing films only make you sit through it for a couple hours; this was 35 hours of unremitting awfulness.
This is an entirely valid and justified decision.
Out of curiosity, how far did you get? There is a chunk in the middle that's a bit more positive, though Spoiler - click to showthe positivity is undercut a bit by the structure, meaning you know what's going to happen…
Spoiler - click to showI got to the people who hunt you in the long grass, with their bows and whistling. It was, to its credit, just as stressful as I imagine being hunted is in real life.
…yeah, as good a piece of storytelling it is, it's definitely not the most fun I've ever had in a game.
OK, I restarted AC Odyssey, played through the fucking tutorial again and the game restarts and…. it's the same story! You're just a woman not a bloke. I mean, it's a lot better than the bloke, don't get me wrong, but what's the point more generally - why not offer to be able to switch on the fly?
Because
Spoiler - click to showthe character you don’t choose becomes your nemesis in the game. It wouldn’t make any sense for them both to keep switching back and forth.
Valhalla doesn’t have this and in that game you can switch on the fly whenever you like.
Oh. I clicked the spoiler. It genuinely was a spoiler!
I mean, I suppose that's cool an all. At least I won't have to play a dick.
Finished Halo: Combat Evolved last night, it still kinda' help up as a fun game until the Flood arrived then the 'Golden Triangle' of Gun/Melee/Grenades thing and weaving in and out of cover and shit goes out the window to fight these enemies that while cool story wise are really boring gameplay wise. The last ride out of the Ark on the Warthog is classic.
What a really short game too.
Halo 2
Meh, not as good as CE. Arbiter's levels fucking sucked, dual wielding fucking sucks, the return of the Flood fucking sucked and I personally thought the drawn out Vehicle sections fucking sucked too. (The first time you get to ride a Ghost down that stretch of tunnel is reallllllllly long, also they fucking just…throw vehicles at you, I actually really got tired of the cool ass Tank sections due to this.
Master Chief's levels are okay, the run of missions up until you kill Regret is excellent and probably my favourite part of the game. Too bad he also ends up fighting the Flood who shit up each game every time they appear. He doesn't even get to close out the game, that honour goes to the Arbiter who to be fair I do like as a character.
I started Halo 3 a bit early and it's already a better game, Sierra 117 is a fantastic opener, particularly the area you free the Marines from. I will say though, Halo 2 Anniversary edition looks so nice that there hardly feels like a massive jump from this to 3 at all, really well done remaster.
Finished Halo 3, was the best Halo game ever until it wasn't. Despite that, the flood sections were the least offensive to me, but they still inevitably bring down the game regardless. Why Bungie were three games in and knowing people fucking hated the Flood but still persisted in taking their 'sandbox' fps combat and flushing it down the toilet partway through each game. The last driving section felt like a callback to CE but with wider areas to drive in which is kinda undone by how the Warthog will fly into orbit for hitting a pebble at full speed…but it was okay if a bit of a flat ending to the trilogy.
Me: I'm about halfway through Last of Us
Alastor: "I finished all the Halos"
[24 hours pass]
"I started and finished World of Warcraft"
[24 hours pass]
"I've finished the entire library of games for the N64"
[24 hours pass]
"I played every game released since 2002"
[A week passes]
Me: "I'm about two thirds of the way through Last of Us"
I am as surprised as anyone at how short the Halo games are!
Finished Halo: Combat Evolved last night, it still kinda' help up as a fun game until the Flood arrived then the 'Golden Triangle' of Gun/Melee/Grenades thing and weaving in and out of cover and shit goes out the window to fight these enemies that while cool story wise are really boring gameplay wise. The last ride out of the Ark on the Warthog is classic.
What a really short game too.
Halo 2
Meh, not as good as CE. Arbiter's levels fucking sucked, dual wielding fucking sucks, the return of the Flood fucking sucked and I personally thought the drawn out Vehicle sections fucking sucked too. (The first time you get to ride a Ghost down that stretch of tunnel is reallllllllly long, also they fucking just…throw vehicles at you, I actually really got tired of the cool ass Tank sections due to this.
Master Chief's levels are okay, the run of missions up until you kill Regret is excellent and probably my favourite part of the game. Too bad he also ends up fighting the Flood who shit up each game every time they appear. He doesn't even get to close out the game, that honour goes to the Arbiter who to be fair I do like as a character.
I started Halo 3 a bit early and it's already a better game, Sierra 117 is a fantastic opener, particularly the area you free the Marines from. I will say though, Halo 2 Anniversary edition looks so nice that there hardly feels like a massive jump from this to 3 at all, really well done remaster.
Finished Halo 3, was the best Halo game ever until it wasn't. Despite that, the flood sections were the least offensive to me, but they still inevitably bring down the game regardless. Why Bungie were three games in and knowing people fucking hated the Flood but still persisted in taking their 'sandbox' fps combat and flushing it down the toilet partway through each game. The last driving section felt like a callback to CE but with wider areas to drive in which is kinda undone by how the Warthog will fly into orbit for hitting a pebble at full speed…but it was okay if a bit of a flat ending to the trilogy.
Halo ODST
Neat little game, I really didn't like it at first because searching through Mombasa as the Rookie is somewhat a lifeless and flat experience, I see what they were going for but it didn't really work and I think the game is better off without it. The individual points of view are fun enough little missions and the story was decent for what it was, does the relationship between Nathan Fillion's character and his commander go anywhere in future games? Just felt a bit…weird.
I never felt like I was significantly weaker than a Spartan either, but whatever. Is that important? I was expecting differentcombat feel, but whatever.
Halo ODST is my favourite, I love the sombre feel of being the rookie and the Noir style feel to it.
Only a few games in but been playing Valorant, which is the Riot f2p FPS, it's good, the lazy description seems to be it's Overwatch Counter Strike, but it has a feel of the Shadowrun FPS and maybe an earlier Rainbow Six as you absolutely cannot be trying to run around firing, you need to stop and aim your shots.
Anyway it feels really good, trying to launch and eSports team at work and so having a dabble on the games that are available for it.
Finished Halo: Combat Evolved last night, it still kinda' help up as a fun game until the Flood arrived then the 'Golden Triangle' of Gun/Melee/Grenades thing and weaving in and out of cover and shit goes out the window to fight these enemies that while cool story wise are really boring gameplay wise. The last ride out of the Ark on the Warthog is classic.
What a really short game too.
Halo 2
Meh, not as good as CE. Arbiter's levels fucking sucked, dual wielding fucking sucks, the return of the Flood fucking sucked and I personally thought the drawn out Vehicle sections fucking sucked too. (The first time you get to ride a Ghost down that stretch of tunnel is reallllllllly long, also they fucking just…throw vehicles at you, I actually really got tired of the cool ass Tank sections due to this.
Master Chief's levels are okay, the run of missions up until you kill Regret is excellent and probably my favourite part of the game. Too bad he also ends up fighting the Flood who shit up each game every time they appear. He doesn't even get to close out the game, that honour goes to the Arbiter who to be fair I do like as a character.
I started Halo 3 a bit early and it's already a better game, Sierra 117 is a fantastic opener, particularly the area you free the Marines from. I will say though, Halo 2 Anniversary edition looks so nice that there hardly feels like a massive jump from this to 3 at all, really well done remaster.
Finished Halo 3, was the best Halo game ever until it wasn't. Despite that, the flood sections were the least offensive to me, but they still inevitably bring down the game regardless. Why Bungie were three games in and knowing people fucking hated the Flood but still persisted in taking their 'sandbox' fps combat and flushing it down the toilet partway through each game. The last driving section felt like a callback to CE but with wider areas to drive in which is kinda undone by how the Warthog will fly into orbit for hitting a pebble at full speed…but it was okay if a bit of a flat ending to the trilogy.
Halo ODST
Neat little game, I really didn't like it at first because searching through Mombasa as the Rookie is somewhat a lifeless and flat experience, I see what they were going for but it didn't really work and I think the game is better off without it. The individual points of view are fun enough little missions and the story was decent for what it was, does the relationship between Nathan Fillion's character and his commander go anywhere in future games? Just felt a bit…weird.
I never felt like I was significantly weaker than a Spartan either, but whatever. Is that important? I was expecting differentcombat feel, but whatever.
Halo Reach
Probably the most consistent campaign of the MCC yet…but it's 'merely' consistently pretty good but it doesn't have the Silent Cartographer/Sierra 117 moment for me despite some good firefights and a little creativity involving the suit powers. The main plus for me in this is how satisfying it just feels to play, I could shoot a Jackal in the side of the face and watch as its head snaps back from the impact all day. It's really like they nailed the combat all the way back in the first game and every game since is just rounding and polishing of the edges, we've come a long way anyway.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN HALO 5 CAME OUT 6 FUCKING YEARS AGO????????????????????????
Finished Halo: Combat Evolved last night, it still kinda' help up as a fun game until the Flood arrived then the 'Golden Triangle' of Gun/Melee/Grenades thing and weaving in and out of cover and shit goes out the window to fight these enemies that while cool story wise are really boring gameplay wise. The last ride out of the Ark on the Warthog is classic.
What a really short game too.
Halo 2
Meh, not as good as CE. Arbiter's levels fucking sucked, dual wielding fucking sucks, the return of the Flood fucking sucked and I personally thought the drawn out Vehicle sections fucking sucked too. (The first time you get to ride a Ghost down that stretch of tunnel is reallllllllly long, also they fucking just…throw vehicles at you, I actually really got tired of the cool ass Tank sections due to this.
Master Chief's levels are okay, the run of missions up until you kill Regret is excellent and probably my favourite part of the game. Too bad he also ends up fighting the Flood who shit up each game every time they appear. He doesn't even get to close out the game, that honour goes to the Arbiter who to be fair I do like as a character.
I started Halo 3 a bit early and it's already a better game, Sierra 117 is a fantastic opener, particularly the area you free the Marines from. I will say though, Halo 2 Anniversary edition looks so nice that there hardly feels like a massive jump from this to 3 at all, really well done remaster.
Finished Halo 3, was the best Halo game ever until it wasn't. Despite that, the flood sections were the least offensive to me, but they still inevitably bring down the game regardless. Why Bungie were three games in and knowing people fucking hated the Flood but still persisted in taking their 'sandbox' fps combat and flushing it down the toilet partway through each game. The last driving section felt like a callback to CE but with wider areas to drive in which is kinda undone by how the Warthog will fly into orbit for hitting a pebble at full speed…but it was okay if a bit of a flat ending to the trilogy.
Halo ODST
Neat little game, I really didn't like it at first because searching through Mombasa as the Rookie is somewhat a lifeless and flat experience, I see what they were going for but it didn't really work and I think the game is better off without it. The individual points of view are fun enough little missions and the story was decent for what it was, does the relationship between Nathan Fillion's character and his commander go anywhere in future games? Just felt a bit…weird.
I never felt like I was significantly weaker than a Spartan either, but whatever. Is that important? I was expecting differentcombat feel, but whatever.
Halo Reach
Probably the most consistent campaign of the MCC yet…but it's 'merely' consistently pretty good but it doesn't have the Silent Cartographer/Sierra 117 moment for me despite some good firefights and a little creativity involving the suit powers. The main plus for me in this is how satisfying it just feels to play, I could shoot a Jackal in the side of the face and watch as its head snaps back from the impact all day. It's really like they nailed the combat all the way back in the first game and every game since is just rounding and polishing of the edges, we've come a long way anyway.
Halo 4
It gives me no joy in saying this but this is easily the worst game in the series by some distance. It's not that it's a bad game, it's just not a great Halo game. It looks so beautiful that I still can't believe it's a 360 game, and yet this seemingly came at the price of much more narrow combat areas which effectively made Halo feel like your average corridoor shooter which is like, Anti-Halo. Worse still, it's the prettiest bland in the series, with most of the game feeling it takes place on the same two locations: spaceship and Forerunner base, punctuated with some pretty boring vehicle sections and set pieces.
If the shooting didn't feel like Halo this could be a Space Call of Duty. 
Permit me one more section to add to this Halo Pyramid please. 
EDIT - story was absolute bobbins BUT I was so invested in Master Chief's quest to save his Waifu, Cortana, from virtually degenerating into insanity of old age. She's easily the best character in the series and her dynamic with chief is great, so I latched onto that arc and not whatever the new villain was up to.
I've played the first couple of levels of Halo 4, I wasn't say it was bad exactly but there wasn't anything about it that was particularly grabbing me. It very much feels like a cover version, you can tell it's not the same developers somehow even though it's doing all the right things in the right order. It's also the one where Cortana looks like a stripper for no reason, and calling her degeneration "rampancy" is just… ugh.
EDIT: yep. Look at this shit.
It definitely took me a minute to get used to her Halo 4 look, yeah, and she's probably going to change again for 5.
Also, the first couple of levels is probably further than you think, this game is super short and doesn't really make the most of it in terms of actually going places.
Finished Halo: Combat Evolved last night, it still kinda' help up as a fun game until the Flood arrived then the 'Golden Triangle' of Gun/Melee/Grenades thing and weaving in and out of cover and shit goes out the window to fight these enemies that while cool story wise are really boring gameplay wise. The last ride out of the Ark on the Warthog is classic.
What a really short game too.
Halo 2
Meh, not as good as CE. Arbiter's levels fucking sucked, dual wielding fucking sucks, the return of the Flood fucking sucked and I personally thought the drawn out Vehicle sections fucking sucked too. (The first time you get to ride a Ghost down that stretch of tunnel is reallllllllly long, also they fucking just…throw vehicles at you, I actually really got tired of the cool ass Tank sections due to this.
Master Chief's levels are okay, the run of missions up until you kill Regret is excellent and probably my favourite part of the game. Too bad he also ends up fighting the Flood who shit up each game every time they appear. He doesn't even get to close out the game, that honour goes to the Arbiter who to be fair I do like as a character.
I started Halo 3 a bit early and it's already a better game, Sierra 117 is a fantastic opener, particularly the area you free the Marines from. I will say though, Halo 2 Anniversary edition looks so nice that there hardly feels like a massive jump from this to 3 at all, really well done remaster.
Finished Halo 3, was the best Halo game ever until it wasn't. Despite that, the flood sections were the least offensive to me, but they still inevitably bring down the game regardless. Why Bungie were three games in and knowing people fucking hated the Flood but still persisted in taking their 'sandbox' fps combat and flushing it down the toilet partway through each game. The last driving section felt like a callback to CE but with wider areas to drive in which is kinda undone by how the Warthog will fly into orbit for hitting a pebble at full speed…but it was okay if a bit of a flat ending to the trilogy.
Halo ODST
Neat little game, I really didn't like it at first because searching through Mombasa as the Rookie is somewhat a lifeless and flat experience, I see what they were going for but it didn't really work and I think the game is better off without it. The individual points of view are fun enough little missions and the story was decent for what it was, does the relationship between Nathan Fillion's character and his commander go anywhere in future games? Just felt a bit…weird.
I never felt like I was significantly weaker than a Spartan either, but whatever. Is that important? I was expecting differentcombat feel, but whatever.
Halo Reach
Probably the most consistent campaign of the MCC yet…but it's 'merely' consistently pretty good but it doesn't have the Silent Cartographer/Sierra 117 moment for me despite some good firefights and a little creativity involving the suit powers. The main plus for me in this is how satisfying it just feels to play, I could shoot a Jackal in the side of the face and watch as its head snaps back from the impact all day. It's really like they nailed the combat all the way back in the first game and every game since is just rounding and polishing of the edges, we've come a long way anyway.
Halo 4
It gives me no joy in saying this but this is easily the worst game in the series by some distance. It's not that it's a bad game, it's just not a great Halo game. It looks so beautiful that I still can't believe it's a 360 game, and yet this seemingly came at the price of much more narrow combat areas which effectively made Halo feel like your average corridoor shooter which is like, Anti-Halo. Worse still, it's the prettiest bland in the series, with most of the game feeling it takes place on the same two locations: spaceship and Forerunner base, punctuated with some pretty boring vehicle sections and set pieces.
If the shooting didn't feel like Halo this could be a Space Call of Duty.
Permit me one more section to add to this Halo Pyramid please.
EDIT - story was absolute bobbins BUT I was so invested in Master Chief's quest to save his Waifu, Cortana, from virtually degenerating into insanity of old age. She's easily the best character in the series and her dynamic with chief is great, so I latched onto that arc and not whatever the new villain was up to.
Halo 5: Guardians
Much better than Halo 4 imo but still worse than the rest for ultimately the same reasons. Strangely enough, in many ways this is further from what I like about Halo than ever, we go deep into some kind of Destiny/CoD hybrid now with Spartan abilities like bull charges and aerial ground slams and teams on deck to always revive you so you never die…it just manages to be better than Halo 4 by having better level design, mostly.
Also, this and Halo 4 have the shittiest ending ever, like Halo CE/3 have an epic escape sequence, Halo 2 has that infamous cliffhanger but Halo 4 ends with you kicking the villain off a bridge like some goon and Halo 5 ends in a scripted sequence of you crawling to a metal sphere and opening it. If Halo Infinite wasn't open world I don't think I'd look forward to it at all.
Anyway….I'm done now! But there's always Halo Wars right? Ha ha just kidding…unless? 
You’ve played 70 levels of Halo back-to-back in a week. If I did that I’d be hallucinating I actually was Master Chief.
I love Master Chief, so if only 
.
But seriously though they are honestly not very long games, it all sorta' whizzed by me, and a combination of them being really fun and Halo 4/5 not really going anywhere makes them feel like one big instance.
I think we're long past analysing how Alastor even fits in toilet breaks, let alone work and sleep around his gaming throughput.
The answer is literally just don't sleep much at all.
