343 doesn't want to introduce overpowered abilities

Dec 15, 2014 12:57 GMT  ·  By

In between working hard to fix the various issues encountered by Halo: The Master Chief Collection, developer 343 Industries explains how the different Spartan abilities from the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians have a balanced place in the experience.

343 Industries took over the reins of the Halo franchise a few years ago, after Bungie got out from under Microsoft's corporate umbrella and partnered with Activision. Since then, the new studio saw the release of Halo 4 and worked on the recent Halo: The Master Chief Collection, which included Halo 1, 2, 3, and 4.

While the special collection was plagued by issues with its matchmaking systems, the studio kept on working on the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians, which promises to introduce a lot of major changes into the first-person shooter franchise.

Spartan abilities play bigger roles

One such change is the bigger emphasis on Spartan abilities, which can be used by players across modes and include special powers like Ground Pound, Charge, Clamber, or Thruster, but also the highly debated Sprint.

After seeing how big of a controversy was sparked around this aspect of the upcoming game, 343 Industries' Josh Holmes went on the TeamBeyond forums to shed a bit more light on how the design process went.

According to Holmes, the Sprint ability should feel natural in combat and must be used both offensively and defensively, while being easy to counter by players who also have it equipped.

"Sprint is an action that feels natural in the context of combat, it makes sense as an action that all Spartans are capable of, it creates opportunities on offense and defense when handled well, it is being carefully balanced, it’s something that most Halo players expect, and it’s something that we want to keep consistent with other modes where it plays an even more prominent role," he explains.

Sprint can be used offensively and defensively

The developer also fleshes out a bit more the offensive and defensive situations in which Sprint can work, as well as the different tradeoffs that exist when activating the ability.

"On offense you can commit to an aggressive push or flank at a slight cost to weapon readiness. On defense, you can try for a rapid retreat but it carries the trade-off of stalling your shield recharge. The key for us has been to balance the potential escapability of sprint with mechanics like shield recharge and sprint ramp-up, while maintaining a sprint mechanic that feels good," he adds.

Halo 5: Guardians launches next year, and you can bet that plenty of ideas will be explored and tested in the upcoming beta stage that launches later this month on the Xbox One.

Halo 5: Guardians Screenshots (6 Images)

Halo 5: Guardians has focus on abilities
Cover teammatesCapture bases
+3more