Microsoft and 343 Industries has finally released Halo 5’s opening cinematic to the public audience, which unsurprisingly looks amazing as always, living up to everyone’s expectation. The cinematic trailer revolves around the Master Chief while introducing a brand new central character for Halo Universe.
According to Microsoft and 343 Industries, the whole story of Halo 5 will focus on a new central character known as “Spartan Locke”. Based from the character traits released by the game developer, Spartan Locke is tasked to rescue the scientist, Catherine Halsey, hunt the Master Chief and solve the mystery that has been threatening the whole galaxy.
Here’s the trailer, released by BuzzFeed, for your eyes to feast on:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z43ZMBVgKWg]
As you can see from the trailer, the video opens up with Spartan Locke and the rest of Fireteam Osiris being briefed inside a Pelican DropShip. One of the familiar faces you’ll see in the trailer is that of Edward Buck, played by Nathan Fillion, a former Orbital Drop Shock Trooper who appeared in Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach. Fireteam Osiris’ mission is to be inserted behind enemy lines and retrieve Halsey. During this rescue mission, they may have to deal with Convenant commander Jul ‘Mdama, who is reportedly with Halsey according to Spartan Locke. After the brief, Fireteam then leaps out of the Pelican and glides down to the battlefield. Locke’s mission will ultimately take him on a hunt for Master Chief, and perhaps eventually team up against a common foe.
Along with the trailer comes with the announcement that Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer will be focused on a group experience. According of Josh Holmes from the Halo Waypoint website, the 343 Industries has decided to not simply include co-op as a campaign add-on. Instead, the company will be creating a campaign around co-operative play. “We have committed to co-operative campaign at a fundamental level. This creative pillar has influenced many decisions throughout the game’s technology and design,” Holmes says. “While you can still expect the same great single-player experience that Halo campaigns have been known for, engaging in co-operative play gives the campaign a new level of depth and richness.”
Another thing that will change in Halo 5 is that the split screen feature will be removed. The reason for this according to Holmes is to give the best experience possible. “With Halo 5 we are delivering massive scale environments, improved AI behavior, increased visual and gameplay fidelity… something that truly takes advantage of a new platform,” says Holmes. “Many of our ambitious goals for Halo 5 would be compromised in a split-screen setting and the time spent optimizing and addressing split-screen-specific issues would take focus from building other parts of the game.”
But whatever the changes to be made, we’re sure the Halo gamers can’t wait till Fall to play Guardians in their gaming PCs. The Halo 5: Guardians release date is set for October 27 exclusively for Xbox One. Players can pre-order two special editions of the game, either the $100 limited edition or the $250 collector’s edition.