I enjoyed the Halo 5 campaign. Though I’m afraid to admit it, this assertion also includes the storyline, not just the gameplay. I’m sure my views will upset many Halo purists, but I would like to hazard a try at explaining why I enjoyed 343’s divisive campaign. This is not an objective or definitive viewpoint of the game–I know that my opinion is most certainly going to be refuted from the start–but let’s see where this goes anyway.
Before I begin, I think it is important to preface with the fact that I am not a die-hard Halo fan. Although I’ve played all of the main series titles, the Halo universe has never really jibed with me. Apart from some general research over the years–Wikis and fan-created articles–I have never delved deep into the lore of the Halo series. It just doesn’t interest me all that much, and I feel that if I were to read all of the books and pay close attention to the entirety of the backstory, I’d be more confused than a Grunt on the battlefield.
My videogame story tastes reside in the arena of enjoying a game for its isolated plot; I don’t want to have to take a history class to understand what the heck is going on. In Halo 5 Guardian’s I felt like my surface knowledge of the universe was enough to enjoy the plot. There were absolutely times when I wanted to know more, and in that respect I agree with the general consensus that the game throws certain things at players without context. But I’m not talking about the components that make a story fully fleshed: likeable characters, consistent motives, and coherence to backstory. What I am talking about is the core story–the events that take place in Halo 5 separate from previous entries in the series. This must sound like madness to passionate fans, especially considering that the game is a sequel belonging to such a grand and beloved franchise.
The reason I can make these claims without faltering, is because I am not one of those players who actually cares all that much about the series’ backstory. For me, I was just looking for an enjoyable experience with an enjoyable standalone plot. And Halo 5 did just that.
The pacing of Halo 5 was so well handled, something that I must commend the gameplay for, that I was eager to find out what Cortana was planning throughout the duration of the adventure. Though it is disappointing that we don’t really find out what she is up to until the end of the game, this mystery kept me moving forward. I wanted to see the campaign through in only a few sitting, because I was intrigued by the Cortana’s plans for the galaxy. Every time her plans were spoken of, either by Doctor Halsey or the Warden, I was curious as to what had become of rampant AI, why she seemed to side with the forerunners, and what implications accessing the Domain had and will have.
I don’t want to have to take a history class to understand what the heck is going on.
When it comes to providing context, Halo 5 doesn’t effectively deliver–Blue Team and team Osiris are never formally introduced, and unless you know the backstory, they can be pretty generic characters. I guess this never really bothered me as I played the campaign, simply because I was so engrossed in my end goal: track down Master Chief and uncover Cortana’s undisclosed plans. Like Locke, I had a narrow vision of what I wanted to accomplish. My mission to track down Chief was set up at the beginning of the game, and all I wanted to do was catch up to him and discover whatever it was that was going on with Cortana and her Guardian chums.
When I finally did near the end of the game, I began to contemplate the power possessed by Cortana and what she could do for the galaxy. The Halo universe is so rife with competing ideologies and political struggles, that her plans could offer peace to all, as well as an opportunity for humans and other species to alter form–presumably as non-biological materials. Her access to the Domain has definitely shifted her thoughts about the future well-being of the galaxy; she has become a self-identified saviour. This mighty shift of focus from the driving force exerted by Chief in previous games to the infinite wisdom possessed by Cortana, fascinates me, and also does a commendable job of teasing the beginning of the final game in the reclaimer saga.
Perhaps the crux of my argument is that Halo 5 Guardians presents a compelling campaign to those who are mildly enthusiastic about the Halo universe. I have enough knowledge of the series to understand the varying races and their contempt for each other; I know a little bit about the idea of handing down the immense responsibility of mothering the galaxy, a responsibility referred to as the Mantle; I understand the affection Master Chief and Cortana have for each other, as they shared an engrossing bond across the past four titles; and I am aware of the psychological struggle of becoming a Spartan soldier.
Any less knowledge and I would agree that the high barrier of entry into the series is quite the setback for Halo 5, especially because it didn’t do much to add context to the characters and their motivations. Thus, a delicate balance between being completely clueless towards the fundamentals of the Halo franchise and being wholly engrossed in Halo’s extended universe, must be sought. Even if you are a Halo purist, I hope you can appreciate that Halo 5 did create a certain sense of urgency and introduced some fascinating future directions for the series, even if it never really explored its themes or backstory as much as it could have.
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