Halo 5: Guardians

I remember in the early 2000's when we'd pile around the TV and our Xbox with four controller ports and jam out a few sessions on Sidewinder, preferably Snipers. Really good times. Along with our friends, us four kids spent countless hours camping on Turf, running the wheel like hamsters on Zanzibar, and yoinking each other in Reach's multiplayer (we'd have yoink battles ­ believe me you felt sorry for those poor bastards caught in our crossfire). My brother and I we're fierce. We played so hard the other teams quit. We knew our maps. We had game.

Of course, Halo was split screen so we could do this...

Now it isn't.

My friend and I beat the campaign last night and 343 did everything right, except subtract the experience and fun an individual could have playing with their friends and siblings in the same room. For some of you, the online gaming age has changed the way you understand co­-op and multiplayer. For us, it was with a couch in the same room and loads of Cheetos and pillows.

Halo's narrative feels very much like the Two Towers. Major events take place but only in the context of knowing who the Spartans you're playing are, and what's happened beforehand. This isn't an issue for us, because we've been playing since Halo back in 2001. For some reason this was concern for modern gamers? Catch up, youngin'.

Basically put, Chief is like "What's Cortana doing?" And Locke is like, "She's our mission, screw you." Chief says, "Screw you back, she's my cool A.I." Cortana goes, "I'm my own A.I. and you're all mine." There's lots of shooting aliens and Prometheans (who could be more interesting, I think we could all agree they lack the personality of the Covenant ­ who by the way are still just as awesome as they were in the first game. Also I didn't hate the Arbiter as much this time around).

Regarding the parallel storytelling: it actually worked. Locke and Buck were just as compelling of characters as the Master Chief. Locke, rigid, obedient and stubborn was a great counterpart to the Chief, who was now flexible, disobedient yet steadfast. Buck was kind of the conscience of his team (who were hunting down the Chief and Blue Team).

The comparison of these characters and the teams they're leading was beautifully displayed through subtly. The opening cinematic features Locke and his crew running down a mountain, interweaving between Covenant drop ships, thinking they're the new Avengers, while in the following mission, the Chief and Blue Team execute their goal with patience and grace as the experienced would have. The game is about the old versus the new (in every facet you can imagine), while also being about perspective and understanding. There are two sides to every story and even though we have a goal, someone else will see what see differently, and we need to try and understand that.

Regarding game play, Halo's mechanics had a makeover when 343 took the helm and it's overwhelming agreed that they fine tuned, maybe even perfected what they were trying to do in Halo 4. They game played so smoothly I didn't know what to do with myself. I actually had to consciously slow my roll because I was moving too fast, getting too carried away (but come on the Ground Pound and infinite sprinting really make you want to kick some alien ass)! The game play was solid, and really, really fun.

Now... graphically, the game is lacking a little something-­something. Here and there you'll find a few (who are we kidding) low rez textures. The flora in the game is pretty shoddy and the UV unwrapping could still use some work e.g. we blew off a grunt's head and the blood spatter decal looked like something you'd see on the N64, broken shapes, displaced color, etc. But! What it lacks for in graphics it more than makes up for in scale. The game is huge. The set pieces are gorgeous and the large scale level design really make you feel like you're in over your head.

On multiplayer real quick: it's good. People say it feels balanced and it does. I've only played a few rounds of Capture the Flag, Swat. I'll be doing Warzone later tonight...

In the end, I had a great time playing the latest installment of the Halo franchise, and even though it's number 5 the universe still feels new, fresh and ready for exploration. It's the best of the Halo's yet (despite it's lacking split screen, occasional frame rate issues and low rez textures)

90/100