#Halo ce energy sword series#

Yet on this particular weekend, the two of us were looking for something different, something we hadnвЂ™t played together before. Ultimate, Mario Kart, Gears of War, or Call of Duty. In most instances, we play Super Smash Bros. My teenage nephew was visiting my home for five days, and whenever he stays over, we make plenty of time to play video games together via same-couch split screen co-op or multiplayer.

My Halo obsession remained shelved until just last week. As a result, I parked the Halo franchise in the back of my brain space and preoccupied myself with more groundbreaking titles like Bloodborne and Horizon Zero Dawn. Whether it was the ineffectual iron sights function or the lack of splitscreen co-op and multiplayer, Halo 5: Guardians is a monument to all of 343вЂ™s sins. 343 IndustriesвЂ™ design philosophy? Indecisive with an inability to commit to either overhauling HaloвЂ™s established formula or modernizing it. The sole new Halo title released during the Xbox One era is the franchisesвЂ™ worst outing by a slipspace jump. Halo 4 was good fun, but it felt as if 343 Industries was trying to gather its footing before developing a much grander installment with even more potential.ДЈ43 Industries unfortunately squandered that good will with 2015вЂ™s Halo 5: Guardians. 343 Industries focused on building linear yet large terrain, mayhemic vehicle sections, and Battlestar Galactica-style sci-fi melodrama rather than spicing up the formula. Unlike BungieвЂ™s 2010 swan song walk-off grand slam Halo: Reach, Halo 4 acted as a retread of the seriesвЂ™ traditional gameplay components. Master ChiefвЂ™s first post-Bungie spacefaring adventure didnвЂ™t reinvent the IP or the FPS genre like prior installments. Halo 4 was a solid, yet safe debut effort from 343 Industries.

#Halo ce energy sword series#

So what changed? Whatever happened to Halo mania? When did the series begin to plummet from the stratosphere like an ODST? Halo 4 is the most obvious answer to these questions.

More recent installments have done little to reinvigorate excitement in the blockbuster property to the point that even I, a self-avowed shrieking Master Chief cosplaying stan, have been pondering if Halo was ever that good to begin with. Ever since Bungie passed the creative reigns over to 343 Industries, fan enthusiasm for the franchise has waned. Make no mistake: I was Halo crazy.Д«ut in the last decade, Microsoft has careened HaloвЂ™s Warthog into a Blood Gulch ditch. Anticipating a new adventure featuring Master Chief and Arbiter got me into a fangirl frenzy like вЂ60s hippies catching a glimpse of John Lennon and Ringo Starr. The Halo series was essentially my virtual anchor into the video game landscape for more than a decade. I played each campaign dozens of times, spent hours immersed in online matchmaking, and fooled around with Halo 3вЂ™s map editor for more time than IвЂ™d care to admit. As a teenager and young adult, BungieвЂ™s definitive space marine first-person shooter was my favorite gaming franchise. Halo was The Beatles of my video game upbringing.