‘Halo 5′ Multiplayer Footage Debuts with New Spartan Abilities

In celebration of Halo: The Master Chief Collection‘s launch on November 11th, Microsoft played host to a massive livestream event they dubbed Halo Fest. The event was said to feature closer looks at The Master Chief Collection and interviews with the developers working on said game, along with fans’ first look at the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta, which we now know goes live on December 29th.

While Microsoft could have easily gotten away with showing a small slice of Halo 5, they actually had quite a bit of content to show. Developer 343 Industries walked players through the new Spartan Abilities for the game and showed off several full multiplayer matches in order to give fans a sense of how Halo 5 will play online. Check out a small slice of the footage above.

If there is one element that will certainly polarize the Halo fan base it’s the new Spartan Abilities. Although these are, in practice, nothing new, 343′s implementation of them appears to significantly shake-up combat. With these new abilities, players are faster and more agile, and capable of getting into and out of combat encounters with only the press of a button.

While Halo 4 and Halo: Reach introduced singular abilities, Halo 5 gives a full suite of abilities to every player. They can boost dodge, boost jump, slide, camber (climb up ledges), and boost slam while in active combat or even while traversing the battlefield. There’s also a sprint ability, but using it will halt a player’s shield recharge.

At a glance, these abilities appear to add a faster pace to Halo 5‘s multiplayer, giving players better mobility and some new tools to play around with. It’s a splash of Titanfall, a little COD: Advanced Warfare, and a healthy dose of Halo 4 all mixed together.

Alongside those movement changes/abilities, Halo 5 will offer ADS (aiming down sights) for all weapons through its smart scope feature. There was some confusion (and some controversy) when footage of Halo 5 leaked featuring sprinting and ADS, and although 343 tried to calm fan fears this new footage likely exacerbated them.

Luckily, 343 is keeping things traditional and not giving players any advantage when aiming down the sights. Guns will still be just as accurate while firing from the hip – a benefit of the Spartan armor – it’s simply that now the option to aim will be there for those who want it.

Pulling that altogether, it’s hard to say that what 343 had to show looked like the Halo of old, but rather a mishmash of modern shooter tropes with some Halo components thrown in. There’s no denying that this game looks faster than any Halo before it and as a result it will surely split the fan base. Many were put off by Halo 4‘s decidedly more contemporary mechanics and had hoped Halo 5 would go back to that, but instead it appears 343 has leaned even harder into those ideas explored in the last game.

There are  still some elements that are innately Halo (the weapons, the art, the presentation), but not necessarily the older Halos, which is odd considering the only way (as far as we know) to enter the Halo 5 beta is to purchase Halo: The Master Chief Collection. But, having not played Halo 5 for ourselves we’re reserving judgment until the beta goes live on December 29th with 3 different modes and seven different maps. It will be interesting to see how fans respond to the game’s new features and whether 343 changes their direction before Halo 5 hits in fall 2015.

What do you think of the Halo 5: Guardians footage that was shown? Are you excited in disappointed in 343′s direction?

The Halo 5: Guardians beta begins December 29, 2014 and runs for three weeks.

‘Halo 5′ Multiplayer Footage Debuts with New Spartan Abilities