: Now Halo 5 comes along and ups the complexity even further. Sprint is still a
: standard ability (and is now unlimited, while in previous games it had a
: cool-down period after a few seconds of use, barring the use of the
: Mobility perk in H4), and while armor abilities are gone "Spartan
: abilities" are now a thing. In addition to walking, turning,
: crouching, and sprinting, you have thrust strafing, hovering, sliding,
: clambering, and ground pounding (which is both a new form of movement and
: an attack), all as default forms of moving and traversing the environment.
: This is by far the most complex and maximalist Halo game ever when it
: comes to just negotiating your Spartan around the battlefield.

: These changes to have an undeniable and far-reaching effect to gameplay
: beyond simply complicating basic movement. It affects map design as the
: environments have to be designed around how the player character moves. It
: also affects the flow and pace of combat; Halo was originally a game with
: a fairly leisurely pace (as compared to FPSs of the 90s, which were often
: much zippier), but sprint speeds it up and now default thrust strafing
: speeds it up even more. Now, your mileage may vary if these changes are
: good or not. Personally, I think Halo 5's maximalist approach to player
: movement makes it feel not all that much like a Halo game. Part of the
: appeal of Halo was its simplicity and how it was still able to offer deep
: gameplay with said simplicity. Basically, Halo epitomized "easy to
: learn; hard to master" design; instead of bogging you down with
: overly complex gameplay, everything was simple, deliberate, and measured.
: It was less Radiant Silvergun and more Ikaruga. When I played the Halo 5
: beta, it felt overly complex and fast-paced. Not only was I having to deal
: with Spartans darting around the maps at breakneck speeds by Halo
: standards, I was also having to keep track of the myriad abilities at my
: disposal. It seems that modern shooter design necessitates ever more
: complex and fast-paced forms of movement, as seen in recent games like
: CoD: Advanced Warfare and Titanfall. Indeed, Spartan Abilities are mostly
: forms of movement that already existed in other shooters. This is
: ostensibly to make the player "feel" like they're actually
: playing as a supersoldier, but the end results is a game that
: "feels" very, very different from every previous Halo game.

Is how I've felt ever since post-Halo 3. =/

Depending on your definition of 'tank', Halo 1 multiplayer really made you feel like a TANK. Gameplay was slower, but boy were players tough, taking a beating relatively speaking. What happened to unloading multiple clips into an enemy hoping they didn't manage to find cover first? Now it's twitch twitch twitch and try to keep aim unloading a few powerful rounds for a kill before they dodge or blast out of the way. :P

Halo gameplay has changed - that's it. As you say, change itself isn't good or bad (else you end up debating opinions again and again).
But my preference is the 'old school'. That's what made Halo Halo.