14 DAY TRIAL // Halo 5: Guardians is a complex video game that delivers a lot of cool experiences for fans of the series, but in the long-term the popularity of the installment will be linked to the appeal of the Arena competitive multiplayer experience.
343 industries has already tested the core mechanics in the multiplayer beta that took place earlier in the year, and the studio explains that it has since tweaked the core mechanics based on the information offered by gamers and the data it has gathered.
In a new official site update, Quinn DelHoyo, a multiplayer designer working on Halo 5: Guardians, explains that the company has chosen to make the Magnum the starting weapon for all Spartans in the Arena mode in order to make sure that when a match starts, gamers can try to take each other out in a variety of situations rather than sprint directly to pick up a more powerful weapon.
The development team has also chosen to take down the range of the radar that Spartans are using to just 18 meters, down from the 30 in the beta, so that gamers do not need to rely as much on its presence.
DelHoyo adds, "The radar has now become less of a motion tracker that sees through multiple rooms and is now more of a combat tracker that promotes engagement. If someone shows up on your radar, they are REALLY close, and a fight is about to go down. This is something that we feel is in line with our equal starts philosophy where everyone at all skill levels and competition will be playing the same game."
Spartan abilities will be crucial in Halo 5: Guardians
The development team is also offering a five-minute video that offers an advanced look at the way gamers will be able to combine new moves like ground pounding, sprinting, stabilized jumping and more to gain a competitive advantage over their enemies.
The complex Spartan powers can be used both in Arena and in the other multiplayer modes and caused a lot of controversy among the player base when they were first revealed, with some longtime fans saying that they made the Halo experience unrecognizable.
343 Industries says that their addition will add more dynamism to the action in Halo 5: Guardians and will make the game a competitor for the eSports space.
Microsoft is planning to hold a major tournament that will use the Arena mode during the coming winter, with the funds for the prize pool in part offered by the community via the purchase of the REQ packs.
These contain cards that gamers can use in Arena but mostly in Warzone, and both in-game currency and real world money can be employed to obtain them.
Halo 5: Guardians also features an extensive single-player campaign, focused on Master Chief and Agent Locke, which will feature non-combat sequences for the first time in the series, as well as four-player cooperative mechanics.
The shooter arrives only on the Xbox One on October 27.
