: I think mostly the 3 and Reach armors just show how the industry and large
: has unfortunately headed towards an over-designed aesthetic because they
: have the polygons to do so. A lot of 343's own stuff would be better if
: they just simplified.

: The 3 helmets IMO look a lot better in 5 than they do in the original game
: just because the armor in H3 multiplayer had a toy-like plasticity to it.

: I'm still 75K RP away from swapping my Mk IV for Mk V, though :)

I hate to use this comparison but it's the most apt I can think of right now. Bungie and 343 Industries art design, respectively, reminds me of the old Transformers cartoons versus the newer live-action CGI films. The latter is so over-complicated, canonically over-engineered, and aesthetically serves no real purpose. While the former does not have the visual clarity, or capability, that these films do, they are nonetheless the epitome of who these characters and these things are.

Building lore is great but it's kinda unnerving seeing so many wildly unmilitaristic designs with no clear utility or necessary function provide the atmosphere that this is all real within the Halo universe. This latest release shows me that we were indeed quite spoiled with Bungie's stewardship of Halo's visuals.

Fireteam Osiris had some wonderful designs and I'm never going to forget who's who. Buck and Tanaka more or less fit perfectly into a straight-up military design language favoring utility over aesthetics. While I do love Locke's and Vale's designs they could do with a little simplification. Not just for design's sake but for the believability that these are armors designed for general consumption and not exclusively for one single Spartan.

I feel like most of these designs have come a few hundred years too soon, from a UNSC whose Spartans are increasingly individualistic and thus can afford to spend money on wildly unique, intricate armor sets. Can't imagine they just have all these immensely specialized single-role armors just laying around.