Personally, I hate Cortana's new. I'm glad they kept some of her fragment appearance, but she doesn't "feel" like Cortana in Halo 5. One of the things that set Cortana apart from all other A.I.s (in Halo and elsewhere) was the fact that she appeared to be nude. But nude without actually being nude. She was clearly meant to be a nude character that happens to be covered in moving code.

Back in Halo CE days, you would not have been wise to include "certain details" to make this obvious. Not if you're going for a Teen to Mature rating that is. But also because it would have just ended up coming as a gemic and a distraction. There's also the lack of detail that could have been added. For example, Cortana's feet would look very weird with drawn on lines to represent toes. As the hardware improved, so did the game's graphics. And Cortana finally had toes. Not just visually, but pose-able toes at that. Which is another clear sign that she is meant to be nude. Well, that, along with her entire form, belly button, exposed shoulders, collar bone, and hips. No one can look at Cortana in Halo 3/4 and convince me that she's not nude.

The Cortana's nude appearance have her a innocence. It helped us, as the hero, to sympathize with her and see her, possible, as our child. The child that we must protect and save. Especially in Halo 4. For other players, (and possibly the Master Chief), it allowed them to see Cortana as a possible mate for the hero. And random image search of Cortana will prove this. In the end, Cortana's relationship with Chief, her personality, and her appearance, allowed players to fall in love with her in some form. We cared for Cortana a great deal. She was the light at the end of the dark tunnel that we could ALWAYS rely on.

Halo 5 took all that and removed it. Now, Cortana is nothing more then a female version of HAL 9000. 343 Industries took the easy route in story telling and made the best friend the bad guy. And I absolutely, 100% HATE THIS! Gamers and Fans don't want to Hate Master Chief nor Cortana!! But 343i is forcing us to. I wanted to like Locke, but I hate him now. Mostly because he's the primary character in Halo5, WHEN HE SHOULDN'T BE! There is no soft side to Locke at all. He doesn't have a funny bone in his body. He's just not likable. At least not to me, with Halo 5. Why isn't Palma leading Fire Team? Why throw in a new character to lead said team that has now history with the gamers?

I'm getting off subject.
Cortana was clearly nude. She just didn't have the controversial bits. Mainly because she's a A.I. and didn't need them. Here's something to think about. EVERY Halo A.I. is nude. Including Roland. Their visual selves are only a personal representation that they use to interact with other life forms. To help the staff relate them them more. No one actually thinks Roland has a penis and testicles; do they?