Halo 5: Guardians is scheduled to release for the Xbox One on October 27. Xbox MVP Dan Hammill visited developer 343 Industries and afterwards hosted an AMA session on the Halo subreddit.
Some of the most interesting information he shared includes the following, starting on details regarding the campaign:
It felt like I was actually a Spartan. I always took the high road and climbed above my teammates with a DMR to rain hell down upon my foes below. Would play again.
Apparently enough[cutscenes], as we only played a THIRD of the mission and the start and end of that section had cutscenes. Most story is told through com chatter, though
Most memorable moment was just watching the first cutscene. I wish you guys could see it. Blue team is so badass. They don’t even flinch. They just KNOW the Covies will be sucked into space.
John’s the leader. Most discussions involve him. Like the example given, Fred asks a question, John responds “We don’t ask.”
Hammil the shares his impression onthe gameplay and the AI of Halo 5:
Enemy AI was top-notch. Dueling with a sword Elite was a challenge. NOT comparable to Noble team, they were awful. They’re smarter. They talk to each other. One grunt blew all four of us up with a plasma. It was embarrassing. The Jackals jetpack up to you and stuff, but I didn’t see anything else I don’t believe.
It looks like the new Promethean Soldiers might have thrusters, though.
Commands felt as they should: The game was made with them in mind. I wouldn’t call them a gimmick as much as “thank god they’re useful now”. Think Halo Reach and how awful they all were. GET IN MY WARTHOG! Now you can tell them to with a button.
It sucks to drop a sword in favor of a rocket, so tell you buddy to grab it.
You can send them places, make them enter vehicles or turrets, target an enemy, pick up a weapon, and come revive you faster.
Images courtesy of GameInformer
Regarding the graphics of Halo 5, he explained:
It really looked that good [as in the screenshots]. It played smooth. I didn’t see a stutter.
[Graphics improved]Quite drastically[from the beta]. As far as I’m aware I was playing at 1080p at the studio (could be wrong). Beta was 720. It just seemed very smooth.
As for music, the audio design in general seemed very polished. It was never overwhelming like Halo 4. Sounds were amazing. We had an audio demo (I actually got to play Halo 5 in the sound studio) that blew my mind. The sounds of bullets whizzing past and how the environment echoes is very impressive.
Yes! Classic grunt! It’s hilarious. We were given an audio demo which I hope everyone can see. The covies interact with each other. Example:
Grunt: “I’m gonna kill him!”
Elite: “You! Grunt! Go that way!”
Grunt: Mumbles angrily
Design Director Kevin Franklin teased a super secret multiplayer mode while speaking to GameInformer:
We also have a complementary new epic multiplayer experience which we’re really excited to show off at E3. I can’t say too much about it, but I can tell you it does incorporate all aspects of the Halo sandbox for the very first time ever. This was always a dream of ours and all of our fans to build something like this. It’s been three years of long development and an incredible amount of play testing. We can’t wait to show it off.
Microsoft promises that E3 will give players the chance "see the greatest games lineup in Xbox history".
Microsoft is expected to show off Halo 5: Guardians, Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Gears of War, and also reveal some unannounced titles "coming in 2015 and beyond". One or more titles from Rare are expected. Microsoft's E3 press conference gets underway at 5:30pm on June 15, with the show beginning one day later on June 16.
We will bring you any new information on Halo 5: Guardians, Microsoft and E3 2015 as soon as it becomes available.
