: *I really liked the idea of Cortana rallying the AIs to claim the Mantle.
: It’s one of those good twists that you (or at least, I) didn’t see coming,
: but once it’s there you realize that every part of it is drawing from
: something that was already established. Well played.

: *I feel like the story would have been stronger without the last level (which
: wasn’t much fun, incidentally). The last Blue team level (forget what it
: was called) was a bit of an emotional journey, with both Chief and Cortana
: refusing to admit that they’re no longer on the same page, and the Warden
: doing his darndest to get in between them and under both their skins. And
: then it ends with Cortana betraying the Chief, herself feeling that he
: betrayed *her*. I mean seriously, damn. Right in the feels, as they say.

: That would have been a great place to end the game. Cortana is taking over
: the galaxy or whatever, AND the last, best hope for humankind is trapped
: in her clutches, in a cryptum. Not only does that leave us hanging at the
: absolute low point, but it nicely parallels Halo 2 when Cortana was
: trapped in the clutches of the Gravemind, and we had no idea what we would
: do without her. As it stands, Osiris rescuing Blue Team right away seemed
: like a cop out.

: *Thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing back English-speaking enemies.
: This is one of the big things that made Halo 2 and 3 great. The huge
: variety of situational dialogue transformed enemies from dudes to shoot
: into individuals with histories and perspectives. I’ve yet to play a game
: that accomplishes that the way Halo 2, 3, and now 5 have.

: *At the end of the credits, there’s a thank you note from 343 that ends with
: something to the effect of “We can’t wait to show you what’s next. See you
: on Sanghelios.” How much can we read into that? I’m working under the
: assumption that Halo 5: Guardians has a subtitle because 343 plans to
: release multiple games under the Halo 5 banner, presumably with the same
: engine and assets. May I be so bold as to speculate that a
: Sanghelios-heavy game is around the corner?

: Gameplay stuff

: *Multi-Warden fights are terrible and I hate them.

: *Praise where it’s due for the most explorable Halo game yet. I’ve played
: through three times, and every time I’ve discovered tons of new routes and
: locations I didn’t know existed. And nearly all of them are filled with
: some juicy lore tidbit, either through special dialogue or just the design
: of the space – it seems like every room was designed with a distinct
: history and purpose.

: *The squad mechanics work fine, but unfortunately sacrifice coolness in the
: process. In Reach, noble team wasn’t terribly useful but at least they
: looked awesome – posting up behind cover, soaking up plasma with their
: shields flickering, etc. In Halo 5, your Spartan buddies scurry around the
: battlefield, barely animated. They don’t look like weighty, armored
: supersoldiers at all when they move around. Yes, I know that long,
: expressive animations would prevent them from, say, reviving you in time.
: Dunno what the solution would be here.

: *I’m not totally on board with the revival mechanic, at least playing solo.
: Mostly because it means our unconquerable hero, Master Chief, spends a
: great deal of time rolling on the ground helplessly. In previous games,
: the “canonical” playthrough (that is, the one where you don’t die) is the
: one where the Chief spends the whole time on his feet kicking ass.

It would have been nice if for solo playthroughs, you could disable the revive command, because I'd rather just get it over with faster. As is, I'm usually just immediately reverting to the last checkpoint manually (which I guess accomplishes the same thing, so I shouldn't be so lazy.)

Ironically had the Halo campaign been more akin to previous games, the AI of Blue/Osiris would have seemed much better, but I've found that it's easy for me to use all my sweet new parkour moves to get up to a location that my AI colleagues can't handle.

I dunno about your idea of a cliffhanger. I think Halo 5's worked for me because it gave us "something". Cortana has just upset the galactic balance of power, the Infinity's on the run, and Osiris' mission basically failed—but they at least save Blue Team and regroup on Sanghelios, and we know they're working on a solution. It's a down ending, but it's not one of despair.

(Also, from the narrative perspective, I really think the time with Cortana needling Osiris was needed, because it really helped define all the characters a bit more, and Cortana's own motivations and beliefs, especially regarding Halsey's crimes, but the Spartan-IVs' inferiority.)