I didn't mention the issues with loading Custom games, the frustrating way that you have to follow someone to get their files, and other frustrations (very restrictive customization options) which would hurt the multiplayer score, so I think we should count our blessings. :P
Plus, Like I said, Theater is an extremely important part of the Halo series for me (and many others, namely the machinima crowd), so its shortcomings are worth noting.

: One thing I would point out is UI, as I
: absolutely LOVE the main menu, but find the details like 'Collection',
: 'Commendations' and even 'Service Record' too involved and cumbersome to
: navigate in a timely fashion. I don't find the in-game HUD as flashy or
: distracting as I thought I would after as much playtime as I have either.
: Would love to hear your thoughts on UI though.

UI is interesting. Halo 5 has several menus, each accessible at different stages, and with a different button press, which is a bit of a mess. One thing that I hate is things hidden in submenus, especially scattered around (such as the Spartan Customization setting being designed more like a web than a menu), and Halo 5 has this, but only once you get further than two menus in. On the surface levels, it's pretty easy to navigate through the menus, and you're usually where you want to be fairly quickly. There is a bit of lag, I've noticed (especially when opening REQ packs), so going through the menus between matches can be a bit slower than one would like (especially since the time between matches is so short), but overall it's easy to remember where most of the stuff is.

One big problem is that if you're not actively connected to 343's server, you're flat-out locked out of a number of the menus and UI choices. On the main screen, you can only click on Solo Campaign. No theater access, no Forge, no Custom game menu to set up future gametypes or mess with your maps/ files. A weird design choice, but tied to the fact that most of the content is server-side (likely to counter the modding and modded content that was around in Reach).

I don't know how they could really work to improve the UI, but (and I hate that I keep bringing this game up, but it does so many things so well) Black Ops 3 pulled this off with a unified menu setup: Campaign, Multiplayer, Zombies, and Extras (Dead Ops 2, Freerun, Nightmares) are all at the forefront. Clicking on something like Multiplayer takes you to all of the multiplayer options, which include custom games, League, matchmaking, Theater, and characters. Since you're always tethered to the same connection, there is no delay, and you can carry your entire team through all of the menus unimpeded (Sammy and I once played Multiplayer, Hopped into some campaign missions, and from within the campaign, loaded up the Dead Ops zombie game and played a few rounds, all without a single break in our party.
Clicking Start on any of these menus opens up all of the player's content, such as customization, stats, media, and community content. Even if you don't play the game, it's definitely worth checking out for the UI alone. I'll make a video of it at some point.

As for HUD, I wasn't as bothered by it as I was during Halo 4. I've always felt that the HUD should only convey useful information, so video pop-ups, cluttered screens, pointless animations, and artistic clutter for the sake of aesthetics is really annoying to me (Titanfall is the worst offender, something like Dead Space is the best example of only showing what you need, and in an immersive manner). Halo 5 has some issues, such as visor edges on the corners, translucent blue glows all over, pop-up boxes of the person talking, and text/waypoints on your HUD, but for the most part it's easy to block them out.

I wish we had the choice to remove these effects, though. Battlefield 4 has the most freedom that I've seen in an FPS with regards to fully-customizable HUD. Generally, I like to remove as much as possible from the HUD (and even prefer to have what's there to be transparent (Heck, I play The Last of Us with no HUD at all)...

: - MacGyver10

Korny 1