Even if someone has spent heaps of money and has a stack of tanks they still need to play well to earn enough points to deploy them.Īnd a portion of the money made from them goes into a new prize pool. But you'll earn plenty of them for free, and you get a decent supply of in game points to buy them with so they're easier to get your hands on.īut most importantly they don't unbalance the game at all. These unlock stuff like cosmetic gear as well as the weapons and vehicles you call in during Warzone matches. Basically you can cough up a few real life dollars to buy requisition packs. Booo!īoo! Boooo! No, you're right, they're pretty inoffensive. But it does lead us to the big elephant in the room, or the micro elephant, Halo 5 has micro-transactions. It's definitely the most epic Halo multiplayer mode yet. So towards the end of a match you often end up with a crazy amount of tanks and banshees all just battling it out. Having that many Spartans running around with AI units feels really new and special doesn't it? I love change!Īs matches go on you'll earn REQ points which lets you call in more powerful weapons and vehicles. It's a great mode though, isn't it? The maps are big and exciting, and I love how everyone flies in on pelicans and pours out into their bases to clear them out at the start of a match. And if you can get your hands on all 3 control points then you'll expose the enemy's core, which nets you an instant win if you can destroy it. But throughout a match AI bosses spawn, and they're worth loads of points and can completely turn the tide of battle. Each match is basically a race to a 1000 points, which are earned through kills and controlling points. Oh, it's so good Hex! It's silky smooth! Argh! Arggghhh! It's, it's like butter in my eyes! Also, now there are multiplayer dedicated servers, and that's great to see! Let's talk about Warzone. And can I just mention again how great it is that this is running at 60 frames per second?! It's such a speedier game now with all that stuff. So it's all about who plays better and who controls the map, and that's what Halo multiplayer should be.Īnd all the extra mobility options like mantling and thruster pack manoeuvres add in more tactical options than ever, and fit really well into the sandbox. Also power weapons and abilities now have big countdown timers and markers for when and where they'll spawn in. Everything is so well balanced now that they've removed armour abilities and load outs so everyone spawns with the exact same gear. Yes, hopefully! But I will say they have done a great job of making the moment to moment action better than ever. But again, you know, maybe we'll see more of those modes drop in the future. But it is a shame, isn't it? There's just no middle ground between the epic Warzone and small Arena. Well, I guess they wanted to keep the vehicles in Warzone and then make the Arena a more pure competitive space. Those maps were my favourites! I don't like change Hex! They've completely removed those mid-sized four vs four maps with vehicles like Zanzibar and Blood Gulch. I didn't like how none of the Arena maps were made for vehicles. So hopefully they'll add in things like Oddball, and King of the Hill soon. It didn't seem like there were as many classic modes as I was expecting, with only Capture the Flag, Swat and Slayer available. Maybe a few other remakes wouldn't have hurt! The closest we get to classic Halo-quality design is probably the Midship remake. There's certainly nothing here that's going to rank in the greatest Halo maps of all time, which is a shame. Yeah, there's the china town one, and that one with a whale. They're functionally fine and designed well, but they just needed a little bit more pizzazz. Yeah, that was a nice touch, but I thought the Arena maps were a tad forgettable. But I did love how everyone man-cannons into the arena at the start of the round. I didn't like the look of the maps though, that whole futuristic paintball course style doesn't have much personality. It definitely makes good team work and cautious play essential.
On one side you have the more traditional Arena, which is full of your competitive 4 v 4 modes like Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag.Īnd on the other side you have the brand new Warzone, which takes twenty four players and mixes in a whole bunch of AI grunts and bosses to create a sort of FPS MOBA experience.īut let's start with the Arena, and in terms of new modes, there's the pretty standard Capture the Point mode Strongholds, and Breakout where everyone has one life per round and first team to win five rounds, wins the game. This time out the multiplayer is actually split into two halves. Thanks Goose! We looked at Halo 5's campaign last week, but now it is time to dive into some multiplayer mayhem!