Halo 5: Guardians

Last updated

Halo 5: Guardians
Halo Guardians.png
Cover art featuring Spartan Locke (left) and Master Chief (right), with a Guardian rising in the background
Developer(s) 343 Industries
Publisher(s) Microsoft Studios
Director(s)
Producer(s) Chris Lee
Designer(s) Brad Welch
Programmer(s) David Berger
Artist(s)
  • Nicolas Bouvier
  • Neill Harrison
Writer(s) Brian Reed
Composer(s) Kazuma Jinnouchi
Series Halo
Platform(s) Xbox One
ReleaseOctober 27, 2015
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Halo 5: Guardians is a 2015 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries, published by Microsoft Studios, and released worldwide for the Xbox One game console on October 27, 2015. The plot follows two fireteams of human supersoldiers: Blue Team, led by Master Chief, and Fireteam Osiris, led by Spartan Locke. When Blue Team goes absent without leave to track down the artificial intelligence construct Cortana, Master Chief's loyalty is called into question and Fireteam Osiris is sent to retrieve him.

Contents

343 Industries started to plan Halo 5 shortly after the release of its predecessor, Halo 4 . In late 2012, the team set goals for the game, including larger campaign and multiplayer areas. Like Halo 4, it uses motion capture for character animation. It features new abilities and character designs, but does not feature any offline capabilities or local networking. It has a game engine that scales its resolution to maintain a frame rate of 60 frames per second.

Microsoft announced the game at E3 2013. The game sold five million units within three months and is the second-best selling game for the Xbox One. Upon release, Halo 5 received positive reviews from critics, with praise directed at its gameplay, visuals, level design and multiplayer modes. However, the game's single-player campaign met divided responses, with criticism directed at its story, writing, and ending. A sequel, Halo Infinite , was released on December 8, 2021.

Gameplay

Halo 5: Guardians gameplay Halo 5 Guardians gameplay.png
Halo 5: Guardians gameplay

Halo 5: Guardians is a first-person shooter game. [1] Players assume the role of powerful "Spartan" supersoldiers with a host of abilities, and use on a combination of guns, grenades, and melee attacks in story-based campaign and multiplayer modes. [2] [3] Players can sprint indefinitely, as opposed to the sprint limits in previous games in the series, though their damage-absorbing shield will not recharge in multiplayer; at top speed, the player character can slide across the ground or charge into an enemy. [2] [4] A thruster pack allows for a speed boost or lateral movements, and players can clamber up ledges to reach higher ground. [4] Every weapon can be aimed while zoomed in, similar to iron sights; sustaining fire will knock players out of the zoomed view. [2] [4] [5] By zooming while airborne, players briefly hover; while aloft, players can target the ground for an area-of-effect attack. [5] The game features new weapons, as well as returning ones with tweaked mechanics. [6]

The game's campaign mode casts the player in the roles of two protagonists, the Master Chief and Jameson Locke. Each character is accompanied by a persistent fireteam of non-player character Spartans—Blue Team for Chief, and Fireteam Osiris for Locke—who are present at all times. [7] During cooperative play, other human players assume control of these Spartans, who each have different loadouts and attributes. [7] Players can control computer-controlled fireteam members with simple directions via the d-pad; for example, picking up a weapon, getting into a vehicle, or prioritizing a selected enemy. [8] If any Spartan takes too much damage, they enter an incapacitated state, and can be revived by another fireteam member before dying. [5] [6] The game's difficulty scales to compensate for the number of human players. [9] [2]

Xbox Live multiplayer features a variety of competitive and cooperative game modes. Established four-versus-four arena modes like deathmatch or capture the flag return. [6] New to Halo 5 is Warzone, a 24-player game mode that pit two teams against each other. In addition to fighting the enemy team, players can earn points by capturing locations on the map or defeating computer-controlled bosses; the game ends either when one team destroys the other team's home base, or they earn 1000 points. Players earn requisition or "REQ" points over the course of a match, which can be used to summon weapons, vehicles or powerups into the map based on rewards the player has earned from REQ packs. [6] [2] These packs can be earned in-game via a progression system, or else bought with real-world currency. [9] In ranked play, players complete a series of placement matches to obtain one of seven competitive skill rank ratings, which can go up or down based on winning or losing games. [10]

Halo 5 features an editor called Forge, where players can create their own multiplayer maps. [11] The mode has a new control scheme compared to Halo 4 , and new capabilities including scripting tools that can be applied to game objects. [12] Unlike previous first-person shooters in the Halo franchise, Halo 5 does not feature any offline multiplayer capabilities, like split-screen cooperative campaign and multiplayer modes, [13] and has no local networking options. [14] The game was supported via the Halo Waypoint website with player statistics tracking and additional features such as Spartan Companies, where players could band together in groups of up to 100 players and work on completing in-game challenges to unlock cosmetic rewards. [15] [10]

Synopsis

Setting and characters

Halo 5: Guardians takes place in the year 2558, eight months after the events of Halo 4. [16] The game follows two fireteams of supersoldiers of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC). Blue Team is led by Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and is composed of his fellow Spartan-II supersoldiers: [17] Linda-058, an elite sniper; Kelly-087, a scout; and Frederic-104, a hand-to-hand combat specialist. [18] The members of Blue Team are among the last Spartan-IIs left alive. [18] Fireteam Osiris is formed from Spartan-IVs, a newer generation of Spartan supersoldiers. Osiris is led by Jameson Locke, a former assassin and tracker of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). The other members of Fireteam Osiris are Holly Tanaka, a combat technician, engineer, and a survivor of a Covenant attack on her world; Olympia Vale, a political liaison and signals intelligence agent who can speak many of the Covenant's dialects; and Edward Buck, a veteran trooper who was a main character in Halo 3: ODST . [19]

Supporting characters include the UNSC ship Infinity's commanding officer, Captain Thomas Lasky; Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer, head of operations for Spartan-IV teams on board Infinity; Roland, Infinity's shipboard AI, and Catherine Halsey, a scientist who created the SPARTAN-II program. Other returning characters include the Arbiter Thel 'Vadam, [20] who leads the Sangheili species against a Covenant faction led by Jul 'Mdama. Cortana, Master Chief's former artificial intelligence (AI) companion who was presumed dead after the events of Halo 4, also returns. [21]

Plot

Fireteam Osiris is deployed to the planet Kamchatka, occupied by Jul 'Mdama's faction, to retrieve Halsey amidst a battle between Covenant forces and Forerunner Prometheans. Halsey claims to have information on a series of devastating attacks on several human worlds. The team kills 'Mdama and retrieves Halsey. Elsewhere, the Master Chief leads Blue Team on a mission to secure a derelict research station; the arrival of a Covenant fleet prompts Blue Team to scuttle the station instead. The Chief receives a cryptic message from Cortana, directing him to Meridian, a Human colony world. John-117 is ordered to return to Infinity, but he and Blue Team disobey orders and set out after Cortana.

Captain Lasky declares Blue Team AWOL; Halsey believes that Cortana's survival through the use of Forerunner technology makes her unpredictable and untrustworthy. Fireteam Osiris is sent to Meridian to bring in Blue Team. On the planet, they find the colonists under attack by Promethean forces. Following Blue Team's trail, they encounter the Warden Eternal, a Promethean serving as Cortana's enforcer. After temporarily defeating the Warden, Osiris catches up to Blue Team, ordering them to stand down. Chief bests Locke in hand-to-hand combat and Blue Team boards a Guardian, a colossal Forerunner construct built as planetary enforcers. Osiris barely escape the colony's collapse as the Guardian activates and teleports away to the Forerunner planet Genesis, where John and Cortana reunite. Cortana says that her terminal condition was cured by the same Forerunner technology that had saved her.

Osiris is deployed to the Sangheili homeworld of Sanghelios, where they plan to use an inert Guardian buried there to follow Blue Team. Sanghelios is embroiled in a civil war between the Arbiter's forces and the remains of 'Mdama's army; Osiris helps Arbiter assault the Covenant's last stronghold and board the Guardian before it disappears.

On Genesis, Osiris encounters the planet's caretaker, the AI 031 Exuberant Witness, who allies with them to stop Cortana. Osiris catches up to Blue Team, who reveal that Cortana is planning on using the Guardians to achieve galactic peace through forcible disarmament. Master Chief, aware of the devastation that Cortana's plan will cause, attempts to convince Cortana to stand down. She refuses and confines Blue Team in a Forerunner prison to prevent them from interfering with her plan. Osiris manages to transfer control of Genesis back to Exuberant, who frees Blue Team before Cortana leaves the planet.

AIs across the galaxy begin swearing allegiance to Cortana and her plans. Cortana locates Infinity and prepares to disable it, but Lasky has the ship retreat until they can develop a way to combat Cortana. With Blue Team recovered, Osiris returns to Sanghelios to reunite the Spartans with the injured Commander Palmer, Arbiter, and Halsey.

In a post-credits scene, unlocked via completing the campaign on the highest difficulty, a Forerunner Halo installation powers up while Cortana hums.

Development

Before Halo 4's release in November 2012, 343 Industries creative director Josh Holmes began looking for his replacement for the next Halo title. Tim Longo joined as creative director in late 2012, with Halo 5 a few months into preproduction. [22] General manager Bonnie Ross recalled that after Halo 4 the team spent a lot of time discussing where they wanted to take the Halo series, reflecting on feedback from fans about what they did and did not like. Longo and game leads David Berger and Chris Lee laid out the studio's vision for the next game from a creative and technical standpoint, setting key goals to focus on: utilizing the Xbox One's hardware and Microsoft's cloud infrastructure for larger campaign and multiplayer spaces, deeper player investment systems, and a 60 frames per second (FPS) frame rate. [23]

One of the main goals for Halo 5 was to expand the universe with new and returning characters and settings. [24] Longo was a fan of squad-based gameplay experiences, and the team wanted to introduce more main characters besides Master Chief, and explore the character through other perspectives. "One of the early thoughts was kind of throwing the Chief paradigm a little bit on its head, to have some mystery enshrouding him and what his motivations are, like we'd not seen before," Longo recalled, setting up the idea of a hunt for Master Chief across multiple locations, with alternating viewpoints similar to Halo 2 . [22] [24] The studio wanted to contrast Master Chief and Blue Team with another team of characters. [24] 343 Industries initially considered making this group Fireteam Majestic, characters from the Halo 4 episodic series Spartan Ops. When Longo joined as creative director and the rest of the story developed, the developers decided to create a new fireteam, initially composed of three Spartans dubbed "Smith", "Jones", and "Brown", with Halo 4 characters Gabriel Thorne and Sarah Palmer also considered as part of the team. The narrative team decided Smith would be a former intelligence agent, a cross of James Bond and Lara Croft, while the still-unnamed Jones (later Vesper) would be an expert in alien languages. [25] Once part of the story became set on the planet Meridian, the narrative team decided that one of the Spartans should have grown up outside the UNSC and survived the destruction of her home planet to act as a conduit for understanding Meridian; now known as Spartan Song, this character replaced Palmer. When Thorne's voice actor, Ethan Peck, was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts, 343 Industries decided to replace his character on the team roster rather than recast the role. Other suggestions included an entirely new Spartan or another member of Blue Team, but the developers decided on fan favorite Buck after Nathan Fillion became available. Smith became Locke, Vesper and Song became Vale and Tanaka, and Fireteam Osiris took shape after more than two years of changes. [25] [22]

In contrast to the push for larger set pieces, 343 Industries wanted characterization to remain important, with the difference between the veteran Blue Team and newly-formed Osiris provide a contrast. [26] Speaking about Cortana's fate in Halo 4, O'Connor stated that Halo 4's story was focused on the effect that Cortana's sacrifice and loss would have on the Master Chief. [27] He also noted that this effect would be reflected in Halo 5: Guardians, with a story that explores how the Master Chief copes with loss and memories. [27]

On the departure from the Xbox 360 hardware, Ross noted that the Xbox One allowed 343 Industries to broaden the game's scope, as its matchmaking and four-player online campaign co-op modes utilize the console's dedicated server support. [28] Franchise development director Frank O'Connor explained that Halo 4 pushed its game engine to the limit, such that moving on to the Xbox One called for the development of a new engine. [29] The co-op player count prompted the studio to work at increasing the number of enemies and sense of scale. [26] To support the drop-in/drop-out co-op, 343 Industries built a dynamic AI system for the fireteam companions to assist the player when a session is played alone. [24] The focus on performance meant that split-screen play, which had been in all previous Halo games, was dropped. [30]

To maintain a 60 FPS frame rate, Halo 5's engine dynamically lowers the resolution at which the game is rendered during graphically intensive scenes, which are then upscaled back to the game's native resolution of 1080p. [31] To help achieve this, 343 Industries made extensive use of Havok software. [32] [33] Eager to take advantage of the hardware, the art team built fully animated cacti that responded to gunfire, blanketing the campaign maps with the succulents. Ultimately, they proved to be the largest single technical problem in the game and had to be removed. [34]

Art

Halo 4's art director, Kenneth Scott, stepped down from his role in January 2014. He was succeeded by Nicolas "Sparth" Bouvier, [35] a concept artist who joined Microsoft in 2009. Bouvier described the early stages of developing artistic concepts as akin to sculpting from marble: "[we] start with a very loose idea that has trickled down from the writers or studio creative director and begin chipping away at the problem." Concept artist Kory Lynn Hubbell recalled that the game's art had to be justified. "If there's no plausible story behind something, it shouldn't be there," he said, recalling that an original plan for a fountain on the mining world of Meridian was changed to a holographic tree, to reflect the desire to simulate nature in the barren landscape. [36]

343's artist and designers focused on differentiating the members of each Spartan fireteam through their design. As Locke's mission is to find Master Chief, Bouvier recalled "he reflects that visually. The design of his armor is very nonintrusive. He doesn't have any bright tones. He's gray and dark to amplify the very nondisruptive nature of his armor." In comparison, Vale's armor was sleeker to reflect her agility, and painted magenta to imply nervousness and aggression. [36] As with the previous game, Halo 5 used motion capture to animate characters. To record the performances, 343 Industries used a 5,000-square-foot stage and fifty cameras, along with a 3D tracking system called OptiTrack. [37] [38]

Audio

Sataro Tojima was the audio director for Halo 5: Guardians, [39] with Japanese composer Kazuma Jinnouchi composing the original score. [39] The music was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London and the choir was recorded at the Rudolfinum in Prague. [39] [40] Jinnouchi wanted to reintroduce the original Halo theme in Halo 5: Guardians, so he composed his own interpretation of the piece. [39] A larger emphasis was placed on the use of a choir in Halo 5: Guardians' music compared to Halo 4's. [39]

For the first time in Halo's multiplayer, teammates can make voiced callouts. [40] Jul's Covenant faction have conversations. [40] The audio team worked closely with the AI and narrative departments when developing the Blue Team and Team Osiris in the campaign. [40]

The game's soundtrack was released on October 30, 2015, in four editions: a digital release, physical compact disc, vinyl, and limited edition featuring double compact discs, vinyl, and extra multimedia content. [41]

Multiplayer

Holmes stated that the development team wanted Halo 5's multiplayer to provide gameplay variety and support different play styles. [42] In the game's Arena mode, 343 Industries decided to exclude a loadout system so they could encourage the concept of a level playing field that was present in earlier Halo games. [24] [42] The mode was inspired by older multiplayer shooters such as Quake . [43] Warzone, one of the new multiplayer modes, was originally conceived in 2012 with a small demo set up as a four-versus-four player match with AI controlled enemies defending an objective. [44] Initially, the studio wanted to implement such a mode with Halo 4 on the Xbox 360 but they were unable to achieve their vision. [44]

Promotion

Halo 5: Guardians demo booths at PAX Australia 2015 Playing Halo 5 - PAXAUS 2015 (22016381103).jpg
Halo 5: Guardians demo booths at PAX Australia 2015

At Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2013, Microsoft announced a new, untitled addition to the Halo series with a trailer showing Master Chief. [45] After E3, Xbox executive Phil Spencer said the previously announced "Reclaimer Trilogy", of which Halo 4 had been the first entry, had been expanded into a larger saga, explaining that the developers did not want to limit the story to just three games. [46] The title and 2015 release date were confirmed in May 2014 as an Xbox One exclusive. [47] [48] Live-action advertisements on television revealed the October 27, 2015, release date. [49]

Halo 5 had a multiplayer beta, which ran from December 29, 2014, through January 18, 2015. Players obtained access to the beta through purchasing Halo: The Master Chief Collection . [50] [51] [52] The beta was a sample of Halo 5's arena gameplay, featuring three modes, seven maps and eleven weapons. [52] The development team wanted to launch a beta as early as possible so that players could give feedback, [24] which was used to make refinements to gameplay and adjustments to maps. [42] The beta ran on dedicated servers. [53] In response to the negative coverage of The Master Chief Collection's launch, 343 insisted Halo 5 would do better. [54]

Halo 5 was also marketed in sports events: Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders FC wore jerseys with the game's ads; [55] and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jamie McMurray drove in the NASCAR competition in Halo 5-themed cars. [56]

Campaign gameplay was shown at E3 2015. [57]

A documentary series about the development of the game, The Sprint, debuted on the Xbox One's Halo Channel and was later uploaded to YouTube. [58] The first season was about the development of Halo 5's multiplayer; [59] the second season focused on the development of the Warzone game mode, and additional tweaks for the presentation at E3 2015. [60] The third season showed the development of the game's score and the use of motion capture. [61]

One fan in Australia was tapped to play the game from a helicopter while an aerial screen broadcast the gameplay from 2,000 feet up. [62]

Tie-in merchandise included Halo 5-themed Minecraft skins. [63]

Hunt the Truth

On March 22, 2015, Microsoft launched Hunt the Truth, an audioplay similar to radio series such as This American Life . The first season followed the investigations of fictional journalist and war photographer Benjamin Giraud (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), who investigates the Master Chief's background. [64] Giraud discovers that the official story of Master Chief's origins are false, and attempts to expose the coverup. [65]

The first season was highly successful, drawing an audience of 6.7 million listeners on iTunes and winning Hunt the Truth's ad agency a Clio Award. [66] A second season of the podcast began September 22, 2015, focusing upon the view point of ONI Agent Maya Sankar (Janina Gavankar), returning undercover as FERO, to investigate unidentified attacks on human colonies. [65]

Release

Halo 5 released worldwide on October 27, 2015. In the United States, it was the first shooter in the franchise to receive a Teen rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, instead of a Mature rating. [67] Microsoft executive Aaron Greenberg felt that the M ratings on previous installments were surprising given the comparative lack of graphic violence, but that the Teen rating gave Halo 5 a larger potential audience. [68] The game shipped in a standard edition, limited edition, and collector's edition. The limited edition came with a REQ bundle, dossiers on the game's characters, the Fall of Reach film, a statue of a Guardian, and a "steelbook" metal case. The collector's edition contained the limited edition extras, plus a commemorative statue of Master Chief and Agent Locke. [69] The collector's edition comes with a digital code rather than a physical disc; fan feedback led Microsoft to offer a limited-time free trade-in program so buyers could have a physical disc instead. [70]

Post-release

Halo 5 was supported by free post-release content updates that added new features, weapons, and multiplayer maps. Holmes explained that the studio did not want to segregate the player base by distributing maps as paid downloadable content. [71] [72] A Windows PC version of the game's map editing tool and multiplayer, Halo 5: Forge, was released for Windows 10 on September 8, 2016. [73]

Update nameRelease dateAdditionsRef.
Battle of Shadow and LightNovember 18, 2015Big Team Battle (BTB) game mode, new player customization options, REQs [74]
Cartographer's GiftDecember 16, 2015 Forge mode, advanced controller settings, new player customization options, maps, and REQs [75] [76]
Infinity's ArmoryJanuary 27, 2016New maps and REQs [77]
HammerstormFebruary 24, 2016New game modes, new map, new REQs [78]
Ghosts of MeridianMarch 6, 2016New maps and REQs, Forge additions, balance updates [79]
Memories of ReachMay 16, 2016Infection game mode, new REQs, matchmaking preferences customization [80]
Hog Wild (REQ Drop)May 27, 2016New REQs [81]
Warzone FirefightJune 29, 2016Campaign Score Attack and Warzone Firefight game modes, new maps and REQs, new Forge canvas [82]
Anvil's LegacySeptember 8, 2016New maps and REQs [83]
Monitor's BountyDecember 8, 2016Custom Games Browser, Observer Mode, new REQs, new Warzone Firefight maps, bug fixes, balance changes [84]
OvertimeNovember 2, 2017Enhanced for Xbox One X, Oddball game mode, Local Server, New commendations, weapon tuning [85]

Reception

Halo 5: Guardians received an aggregated score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 101 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [86] Arthur Gies, writing for Polygon , wrote that 343 Industries had much to prove with Halo 5 after Halo 4's online population "evaporated", The Master Chief Collection's woes, and Microsoft's need for a strong title to sell more Xbox One units. "343's response to that quagmire," Gies wrote, "[is] to return to the fundamentals of what made the series great in the first place. The studio has brought Halo's mechanics kicking and screaming into the modern era, while providing the most bombastic, co-op-driven campaign in Halo history." [5] GameSpot 's Mike Mahardy agreed that 343 had produced some of the best iterations of the game series' facets with Halo 5. IGN's Brian Albert opined that 343 Industries had created an even bigger game than previous entries, with "the strongest combat Halo has ever seen". [89] [6] Destructoid 's Chris Carter felt that Halo 5 failed to grab him in the same way as previous games had, "but those of you who are still content with Master Chief and his wacky adventures across the galaxy will likely walk away satisfied." [8] More critically, the reviewers of GamesTM felt that Halo 5 was "sheepish and safe" and represented a series low. [91]

Halo 5's overall gameplay and multiplayer were well received. GameSpot praised Halo 5's multiplayer experience for being in the "best shape Halo's multiplayer has ever taken", and in particular, noting the game's return to "universal" weapon loadouts and obtaining stronger weapons spawning on-map, rather than unlocking weapons as in Halo 4. The Warzone mode was considered to be one of the "best new ideas" in both the Halo franchise and the genre, praising its MOBA-like mechanics and vast environments, explaining that "as with the rest of Halo 5, there is momentum here—but this is a force that shifts from side to side with each match. Warzone isn't so much about consistency—it's about adaptability. And the team that can roll with the punches, and punch back at the right moments, will have the upper hand." [89] Albert praised the campaign for challenging enemies and environments dense with secret pathways and hidden weapons. "This kind of design makes Halo 5's campaign ripe for replaying, and well suited for the [...] co-op it's clearly made for", he wrote. [6]

The game's artificial intelligence (AI) received mixed impressions. Chris Carter found the squad controls rudimentary, but found the team chatter and their assistance welcome. [8] GamesTM pointed out flaws in enemies by criticizing overpowered bosses and saying that "the number of things that can kill you instantly—even on Normal difficulty—is exasperatingly high". Reviewers like Carter and GamesTM complained of ally teammates failing to revive players, even in instances such as when they were standing right next to the player. [8] [91]

Halo 5's campaign and story received mixed reviews. Timothy J. Seppala of Engadget felt it was the first time in years that the campaign felt like a step backward compared to its predecessor; "instead of addressing what it got wrong with [Halo 4] and doubling down on what it did right, the team fundamentally altered how a Halo campaign works to horrendous results." [96] Time 's Matt Peckham felt that in comparison to the setup in Halo 5's marketing and the Hunt the Truth series, which suggested a novel direction for the series, "What happens in Halo 5's story, by contrast, feels disappointingly by the numbers." [97] GameSpot's Mike Mahardy felt that while the plot had promise, the campaign did not effectively capitalize on its opportunities: "Cutscenes fade to black before they feel finished. Character motivations shift on a whim." [89] Forbes ' Paul Thier and GamesRadar's David Houghton complained that players did not suitably impact the story's progression, and that the game's cliffhanger ended the plot at the conclusion of the first act. [98] [99] Though he also found fault with parts of Halo 5's campaign, Albert praised Cortana's threat as "less black and white" in motives than previous antagonists, and the background chatter contributing to learning more about each character. [6]

The game's mainstream marketing received some criticism for being different from the game's plot. [100] [101] Phil Hornshaw of Digital Trends wrote that Halo 5's marketing "suggests an emotional conflict between the questionably-loyal Chief and the 'traitor-hunting' Osiris leader, Locke, but those moments are barely in the game". [102] 343 later promised that they had heard complaints about the lack of Master Chief in Halo 5, and would renew their focus on the character in the future. [103]

Sales

First-week global sales of Halo 5 software and hardware totaled more than US$400 million. With hardware included (such as the $500 Halo 5 themed Xbox One [104] ) Halo 5 was included in the biggest sales record in Xbox history, though they did not publish software sales or units alone. It was however the best-selling digital title. [105] [106] Within its first five days of release, Halo 5 was the best-selling game of October in the United States, according to NPD Group, [107] which tracks physical sales from retailers. In November, Halo 5 was the eighth best selling game according to NPD's figures. [108]

Halo 5: Guardians was the eleventh bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 7,455 physical copies. being sold. [109] In the United Kingdom, Halo 5 debuted on the top of the sales charts as measured by Chart-Track, besting the week's other new release, Assassin's Creed Syndicate . It outsold previous Halo release The Master Chief Collection by 50% in its first week. [110] [111] The following week sales decreased 78 percent, and Halo 5 was displaced from the top of the charts by Call of Duty: Black Ops III . [112] The game was the tenth best selling title of 2015 in Australia. [113]

On June 9, 2016, Frank O'Connor said that the game managed to sell 5 million copies in the first 3 months of its release. [114] Halo 5: Guardians had the lowest opening sales of a numbered Halo title in the United Kingdom. [115]

The gaming analyst Michael Pachter recounted a conversation with Microsoft regarding the success of Halo 5. Contrary to popular belief, the analyst said that Microsoft told him that the title sold "on par" with the previous four mainline Halo titles. [116]

Awards

List of awards and nominations
AwardCategoryResultRef.
The Game Awards 2015 Best MultiplayerNominated [117]
Best ShooterNominated
Best Score/SoundtrackNominated
Game Critics Awards 2015Best Action GameNominated [118]
Best Online MultiplayerNominated
Game Revolution Best of 2015 AwardsBest MultiplayerWon [119]
Best ShooterWon
Best Xbox ExclusiveNominated
Game of the YearNominated
IGN Best of 2015 AwardsBest Competitive MultiplayerHonorable mention (tie) [120]
Best ShooterNominated [121]
OXM Game of the Year Awards 2015Best InnovationWon [122]
Best Online MultiplayerWon
Ultimate Game of the YearNominated
19th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay Nominated [123]
20th Satellite Awards Outstanding Action/Adventure GameNominated [124]
12th BAFTA Games Awards Best MusicNominated [125]

Related Research Articles

<i>Halo: Combat Evolved</i> 2001 video game

Halo: Combat Evolved is a 2001 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox. It was released as a launch game for Microsoft's Xbox video game console on November 15, 2001. The game was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X in 2003. It was later released as a downloadable Xbox Original for the Xbox 360. Halo is set in the twenty-sixth century, with the player assuming the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier. The Chief is accompanied by Cortana, an artificial intelligence. Players battle aliens as they attempt to uncover the secrets of the eponymous Halo, a ring-shaped artificial world.

<i>Halo 2</i> 2004 video game

Halo 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. Halo 2 is the second installment in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved. The game features new weapons, enemies, and vehicles, another player character, and shipped with online multiplayer via Microsoft's Xbox Live service. In Halo 2's story mode, the player assumes the roles of the human Master Chief and alien Arbiter in a 26th-century conflict between the United Nations Space Command, the genocidal Covenant, and later, the parasitic Flood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">343 Guilty Spark</span> Fictional character from the Halo video game series

343 Guilty Spark, also known as just Spark, is a character in the military science fiction Halo franchise. 343 Guilty Spark plays a major role in the storyline of the original Halo video game trilogy: the character appears in Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3, as well as the remakes of the first two games, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Halo 2: Anniversary. 343 Guilty Spark is voiced by actor Tim Dadabo in all media.

<i>Halo: The Fall of Reach</i> 2001 novel by Eric Nylund

Halo: The Fall of Reach is a military science fiction novel by Eric Nylund, set in the Halo universe, and acts as a prelude to Halo: Combat Evolved, the first game in the series. The book was released in October 2001 and is the first Halo novel. It takes place in the 26th century across several planets and locations. The novel details the events which led up to the game and explains the origins of the SPARTAN-II supersoldiers, narrating the story of the series protagonist, the Master Chief.

Cortana (<i>Halo</i>) Fictional video game character

Cortana is a fictional artificially intelligent character in the Halo video game series. Voiced by Jen Taylor, she appears in Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequels, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite. She also briefly appears in the prequel Halo: Reach, as well as in several of the franchise's novels, comics, and merchandise. During gameplay, Cortana provides backstory and tactical information to the player, who often assumes the role of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. In the story, she is instrumental in preventing the activation of the Halo installations, which would have destroyed all sentient life in the galaxy.

Master Chief (<i>Halo</i>) Fictional protagonist in the Halo video game series

Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, colloquially known as Master Chief, is the protagonist of the Halo video game series and its spin-off media. The character first appeared in the 2001 video game Halo: Combat Evolved, a science fiction first-person shooter that became a long-running franchise. The character also appears in spin-off Halo media such as the 2012 film Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn, the 2022 Halo television series, and several graphic novels and books.

<i>Halo 3</i> 2007 video game

Halo 3 is a 2007 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the Halo franchise following Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) and Halo 2 (2004), the game's story centers on the interstellar war between 26th-century humanity, a collection of alien races known as the Covenant, and the alien parasite known as the Flood. The player assumes the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced supersoldier, as he battles the Covenant and the Flood. In cooperative play, other human players assume the role of allied alien soldiers. The game features vehicles, weapons, and gameplay elements familiar and new to the series, as well as the addition of saved gameplay films, file sharing, and the Forge map editor—a utility which allows the player to perform modifications to multiplayer levels.

Halo is a military science fiction video game series and media franchise, originally developed and created by Bungie and currently managed and developed by 343 Industries, part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios. The series launched in 2001 with the first-person shooter video game Halo: Combat Evolved and its tie-in novel, The Fall of Reach. The latest main game, Halo Infinite, was released in late 2021.

<i>Halo 4</i> 2012 video game

Halo 4 is a 2012 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. Halo 4's story follows a genetically enhanced human supersoldier, Master Chief, and his artificial intelligence construct Cortana, as they encounter unknown threats while exploring an ancient civilization's planet. The player assumes the role of Master Chief who battles against a new faction that splintered off from remnants of the Covenant, a former military alliance of alien races, as well as a new enemy: mechanical warriors of the Forerunner empire known as the Prometheans. The game features a new selection of weapons, enemies, and game modes not present in previous titles of the series.

<i>Halo: Reach</i> 2010 video game

Halo: Reach is a 2010 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios, originally for the Xbox 360. The sixth installment in the Halo series and a direct prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved, Reach was released worldwide in September 2010. The game takes place in the year 2552, where humanity is locked in a war with an alien theocracy known as the Covenant, which seeks to exterminate humanity. Players play as Noble Six, a member of an elite squad of supersoldiers, known as Noble Team, attempting to stage a defense of the human world known as Reach, which falls under Covenant attack. The game was the last in the series to be developed by Bungie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">343 Industries</span> American video game developer

343 Industries is an American video game developer located in Redmond, Washington, part of Xbox Game Studios. Headed by Pierre Hintze, the studio is responsible for the Halo series of military science fiction games, originally created and produced by Bungie, and is the developer of the Slipspace Engine. Named after the Halo character 343 Guilty Spark, the studio was established in 2007 after the departure of Bungie after the release of Halo 3.

<i>Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary</i> 2011 video game remaster

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a 2011 first-person shooter video game developed by 343 Industries, Saber Interactive, and Certain Affinity. It is a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), developed by Bungie. Publisher Microsoft announced Anniversary alongside Halo 4 at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo. It was released in November 2011, the 10th anniversary of the original Halo, for the Xbox 360 console, and re-released as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One in November 2014. A Windows version was released in March 2020.

<i>Halo: Spartan Assault</i> 2013 video game

Halo: Spartan Assault is a twin stick shooter video game developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games. Part of the Halo media franchise, the game was released on July 18, 2013, for Microsoft's Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 platforms. The game subsequently released on Xbox 360, Xbox One, Steam, and iOS. Halo: Spartan Assault is set between the events of Halo 3 and Halo 4. Players control the human soldiers Sarah Palmer and Edward Davis as they fight a new splinter faction of the alien Covenant. The game launched with 25 single-player missions; an additional campaign released as downloadable content. The console versions also feature an exclusive cooperative horde mode.

<i>Halo: The Master Chief Collection</i> Video game compilation

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a compilation of first-person shooter video games in the Halo series. The collection was released in November 2014 for the Xbox One, and later ported to Microsoft Windows and the Xbox Series X/S. The collection was developed by 343 Industries in partnership with other studios and was published by Xbox Game Studios. The collection includes Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, and Halo 4.

<i>Halo: Spartan Strike</i> 2015 video game

Halo: Spartan Strike is a twin-stick shooter video game set in the military science fiction Halo universe. The successor to Halo: Spartan Assault, the game was developed by 343 Industries and Vanguard Games. It was released for iOS, Windows, and Windows Phone on April 16, 2015. During gameplay, players assume the role of human supersoldiers known as Spartans in a series of war games simulating historical events. Players use new weapons, armor abilities, and vehicles in a campaign mode of 30 missions.

Bonnie Ross is an American video game developer. She served as Corporate Vice President at Xbox Game Studios, and was the head of 343 Industries, the subsidiary studio that manages the Halo video game franchise. Ross studied technical writing and computer science in college, and worked at IBM before getting a job at Microsoft. She worked on a number of PC and Xbox games, becoming a general manager at Xbox Game Studios.

<i>Halo Wars 2</i> 2017 real-time strategy video game

Halo Wars 2 is a real-time strategy video game developed by 343 Industries and Creative Assembly. It was published by Microsoft Studios and released in February 2017 on Windows and Xbox One. The game is set in the science fiction universe of the Halo franchise in 2559. It is a sequel to Halo Wars (2009). The story follows the crew of Spirit of Fire, a United Nations Space Command (UNSC) ship. Spirit of Fire arrives at the Ark, a Forerunner installation responsible for constructing and remotely controlling the titular Halo rings. Conflict breaks out between the UNSC forces and an alien faction known as the Banished over control of the Ark.

<i>Halo Infinite</i> 2021 video game

Halo Infinite is a 2021 first-person shooter game developed by 343 Industries and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is the sixth mainline installment in the Halo series, following Halo 5: Guardians (2015). The game's campaign follows the human supersoldier Master Chief and his fight against a mercenary organization, known as the Banished, on the Forerunner ringworld Zeta Halo. Unlike previous mainline entries in the series, the multiplayer portion of the game is free-to-play.

References

  1. 1 2 Takahashi, Dean (October 25, 2015). "Updated: Halo 5: Guardians takes Master Chief and his pursuer down a very strange path". VentureBeat . Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Espineli, Matt (October 24, 2015). "Everything New in Halo 5: Guardians". GameSpot . Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  3. ↑ Gach, Ethan (August 16, 2018). "Halo 5: The Kotaku Re-Review". Kotaku . Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 O'Brien, Lucy (November 10, 2014). "7 New Abilities Coming to Halo 5". IGN . Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Gies, Arthur (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians review". Polygon . Archived from the original on October 26, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Albert, Brian (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians Review". IGN . Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  7. 1 2 Pereira, Chris (June 9, 2015). "In Halo 5's Campaign, You'll Always Have Three Companions". GameSpot . Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Carter, Chris (October 26, 2015). "Review: Halo 5: Guardians". Destructoid . Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 Miller, Matt (October 28, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians". Game Informer . Archived from the original on October 30, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Makuch, Eddie (October 18, 2015). "Halo 5 Multiplayer Bans, Skill Ranking System, Medals, and More Outlined". GameSpot . Retrieved July 6, 2024.
  11. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (October 6, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians will have a new Forge editor for user-created maps". VentureBeat . Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  12. ↑ Gies, Arthur (October 6, 2015). "Halo 5's Forge is ridiculously large". Polygon . Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  13. ↑ Osborn, Alex (August 17, 2015). "343 Industries Responds to Complaints Over Halo 5: Guardians' Lack of Split-Screen". IGN . Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  14. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (June 10, 2015). "Halo 5: There's good news and bad news". Eurogamer . Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  15. ↑ Osborn, Alex (October 19, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians Spartan Companies Revealed". IGN . Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  16. ↑ Scott-Jones, Richard (June 9, 2019). "Halo Infinite is a "spiritual reboot" set at least three years after Halo 5". PCGamesN . Retrieved September 5, 2023.
  17. ↑ Statt, Nick (September 23, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians' story shows Master Chief at his most vulnerable". The Verge . Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  18. 1 2 Reeves, Ben (June 11, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians – The Spartans Tough Enough To Work With Master Chief". Game Informer . Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  19. ↑ Reeves, Ben (June 11, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians – Unmasking The Fireteam Hunting Master Chief". Game Informer . Archived from the original on June 13, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  20. ↑ Skrebels, Joe (March 30, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians out on October 27 – watch the new footage now". GamesRadar . Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  21. ↑ Shea, Brian (September 23, 2015). "A Look At The Voices Behind Gaming's Iconic Characters". Game Informer . Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2016.
  22. 1 2 3 Haske, Steven (May 30, 2017). "The Complete, Untold History of Halo". Vice . Archived from the original on March 15, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  23. ↑ Ross, Bonnie (October 23, 2015). "The Halo 5 Journey". Halo Waypoint. Microsoft. Archived from the original on October 26, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wojcik, Wade (June 10, 2015). "Evolved Combat: How Halo 5: Guardians Is Breaking Tradition". Game Informer . Archived from the original on June 12, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  25. 1 2 Easterling, Jeff (November 16, 2015). "Canon Fodder #50: Fifty Caliber". Halo Waypoint. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  26. 1 2 Mahardy, Mike (September 23, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians Introduces Huge Missions, and Intimate Stories". GameSpot . Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  27. 1 2 Wojcik, Wade (June 22, 2015). "Revealing The Story Of Halo 5: Guardians' Campaign". Game Informer . Archived from the original on June 24, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  28. ↑ Ross, Bonnie (May 16, 2014). "The Halo Journey". Xbox Wire. Microsoft. Archived from the original on May 18, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  29. ↑ Karmali, Luke (May 16, 2014). "Halo 5: Guardians Receives First Piece of Concept Art". IGN . Archived from the original on May 31, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  30. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (July 27, 2015). "Why Halo 5 Has No Split-Screen at All". GameSpot . Retrieved August 28, 2024.
  31. ↑ Tach, Dave (September 15, 2015). "The Halo 5 tech that scales resolution to ensure 60fps and 'large-scale destruction'". Polygon . Archived from the original on September 15, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  32. ↑ Palumbo, Alessio (November 10, 2015). "Havok Technology Helped 343i's 60 FPS Goal In Halo 5: Guardians". Wccftech. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  33. ↑ Sinha, Ravi (November 11, 2015). "Halo 5 Guardians Relied on Havok's "Efficient Toolset" for 60 FPS Gameplay". Gamingbolt. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  34. ↑ Brustein, Joshua (October 22, 2015). "Can the Woman Behind Halo 5 Save the Xbox?". Bloomberg.com . Archived from the original on October 23, 2015. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  35. ↑ Dyer, Mitch (January 8, 2014). "Halo 4 Art Director Steps Down at 343 Industries". IGN . Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  36. 1 2 The Art of Halo 5. Insight Editions. 2015. ISBN   9781608876495.
  37. ↑ Jarvis, Matthew (December 8, 2015). "OptiTrack motion capture tech used in Halo 5: Guardians". MCV/Develop . Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  38. ↑ "Microsoft's 343 Industries Deploys Mocap for 'Halo 5: Guardians'" . Retrieved July 10, 2017.
  39. 1 2 3 4 5 Vore, Bryan (June 12, 2015). "The Halo 5: Guardians Cover Story". Game Informer . p. 2. Archived from the original on June 28, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  40. 1 2 3 4 Wojcik, Wade (July 1, 2015). "An Epic Return: The Music And Sound Of Halo 5". Game Informer . Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  41. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (October 20, 2015). "Halo 5 Soundtrack Limited Edition, Vinyl Version Revealed". GameSpot . Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  42. 1 2 3 Vore, Bryan (June 12, 2015). "The Halo 5: Guardians Cover Story". Game Informer . p. 4. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  43. ↑ Reeves, Ben (June 26, 2015). "A Guided Tour Of Halo 5: Guardians' Newest Map, Fathom". Game Informer . p. 1. Archived from the original on June 27, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  44. 1 2 Reeves, Ben (June 15, 2015). "Exclusive First Hands-On With Halo 5: Guardian's New 24-Player Mode, Warzone". Game Informer . Archived from the original on June 16, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  45. ↑ Drake, Audrey (June 10, 2013). "E3 2013: New Halo Coming in 2014". IGN . Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  46. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (June 21, 2013). "Microsoft: New Halo for Xbox One is "legitimate"". GameSpot . Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  47. ↑ Sliva, Marty (May 16, 2014). "Halo 5: Guardians Announced". IGN . Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  48. ↑ Peckham, Matt (May 16, 2014). "Halo 5 Guardians Will Be the Xbox One's Maiden Halo". Time . Archived from the original on May 18, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  49. ↑ Crecente, Brian (March 29, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians launches Oct. 27, see the new live-action trailers". Polygon . Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  50. ↑ Keith, Stuart (June 10, 2014). "E3 2014: Halo Master Chief Collection announced for Xbox One". The Guardian . Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  51. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (December 29, 2014). "Halo 5 Multiplayer Beta Available Today". GameSpot . Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  52. 1 2 Welsh, Oli (August 12, 2014). "Halo 5: Guardians beta runs three weeks from December 29th". Eurogamer . Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  53. ↑ Vore, Bryan (June 12, 2015). "The Halo 5: Guardians Cover Story". Game Informer . p. 1–4. Archived from the original on June 13, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  54. ↑ Hussain, Tamoor (May 8, 2015). "Halo: The Master Chief Collection Is "Black Eye For Us," Franchise Director Says". GameSpot . Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
  55. ↑ "Sounders FC to wear Halo 5: Guardians-themed jerseys for nationally televised match vs. LA Galaxy". September 29, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  56. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (October 8, 2015). "Halo 5 Sponsoring NASCAR Event Next Weekend". GameSpot . Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  57. ↑ Nunnenly, Stephany (June 15, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians – E3 2015 campaign and Warzone multiplayer demos". VG247 . Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  58. ↑ Saed, Sherif (February 10, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians documentary The Sprint is now available on YouTube". VG247 . Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  59. ↑ Staff (December 18, 2014). "The Sprint Gives You an Inside Look at the Making of Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta". Xbox Wire. Microsoft . Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  60. ↑ "The Sprint - Season 2". Halo Waypoint. Microsoft. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  61. ↑ "Watch The Sprint Season 3 to learn about motion-capture and score of Halo 5: Guardians". AR12Gaming.com. October 6, 2015. Archived from the original on April 15, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  62. ↑ Te, Zorine (October 21, 2015). "Halo 5 to Be Played on World's Biggest Aerial Screen While Flown Above Sydney". GameSpot . Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  63. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (October 19, 2015). "Halo 5 Gets Minecraft Xbox DLC Skins". GameSpot . Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  64. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (March 23, 2015). "Halo 5 ARG includes Serial-style fictional podcast exposé on Master Chief". Eurogamer . Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  65. 1 2 Peckham, Matt (September 21, 2015). "Listen to an Exclusive Preview of Halo 5's 'Hunt the Truth' Season Two". Time . Retrieved January 24, 2016.
  66. ↑ "Leo Burnett, R/GA, Droga5 Win Gold as Clio Awards Unveil OOH, Audio and PR Winners". Adweek . September 16, 2015.
  67. ↑ Pereira, Chris (August 7, 2015). "Unlike Every Past Halo FPS, Halo 5 Earns a Teen ESRB Rating". GameSpot . Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  68. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (October 30, 2015). "Halo 5's Teen Rating Will Improve Sales, Xbox Exec Says". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 12, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  69. ↑ Saed, Sherif (June 17, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians – limited and collector's edition content confirmed". VG247 . Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  70. ↑ Gies, Arthur (October 5, 2015). "Here's how your $249.99 digital copy of Halo 5 can become a physical disc". Polygon . Retrieved January 12, 2023.
  71. ↑ Stein, Zack (June 9, 2015). "All Halo 5: Guardians DLC Maps Will Be Free". IGN . Archived from the original on August 21, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  72. ↑ Hussain, Tamoor (October 29, 2015). "No Halo 5 Campaign DLC Planned, Says Dev". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  73. ↑ French, Tom (August 24, 2016). "Halo 5: Forge for Windows 10 PC Release Date Revealed". Xbox Wire. Microsoft . Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  74. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (November 12, 2015). "Halo 5 Update Adds Big Team Battle, New Maps, Ninja-Themed Armor Next Week". GameSpot . Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  75. ↑ Hillier, Brenna (December 16, 2015). "Forge arrives in Halo 5 with Cartographer's Gift update". VG247 . Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  76. ↑ Nunneley, Stephany (December 12, 2015). "Halo 5 Cartographer's Gift maps set on Andesia, Forge items include a whale and pig". VG247 . Archived from the original on December 18, 2015. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  77. ↑ Skrebels, Joe (January 27, 2016). "Halo 5's free January update is out - here's everything you get". Games Radar. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  78. ↑ Gies, Arthur (February 24, 2016). "Halo 5 adds Hammer Storm — and teases the return of Firefight". Polygon .
  79. ↑ "Halo 5 Content, Ghosts Of Meridian, Available Today". Major Nelson. April 6, 2016.
  80. ↑ Mäki, Jonas (May 10, 2016). "Everything you need to know about Halo 5: Memories of Reach". Gamereactor . Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  81. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (May 28, 2015). "Halo 5 "Hog Wild" Free DLC: All the Reqs, Release Date, and More Revealed". GameSpot . Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  82. ↑ Moser, AJ (June 23, 2016). "Warzone Firefight Update For Halo 5: Guardians Lands On June 29". Game Informer . Archived from the original on June 26, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
  83. ↑ Makuch, Eddie. "Halo 5: New Xbox One Expansion Out Now, as Free Forge Tools Hit PC". GameSpot . Retrieved September 9, 2016.
  84. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (December 7, 2016). "Halo 5 update finally adds custom game browser". Eurogamer . Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  85. ↑ Mejia, Ozzie (November 2, 2017). "Halo 5 Works Overtime with November Update Today". Shacknews . Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  86. 1 2 "Halo 5: Guardians for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved December 10, 2015.
  87. ↑ Landa, Jeff (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians review". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Archived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  88. ↑ Paras, Peter (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians Review". Game Revolution . Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  89. 1 2 3 4 Mahardy, Mike (October 27, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians Review". GameSpot . Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  90. ↑ Houghton, David (October 29, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians - Final review". GamesRadar . Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  91. 1 2 3 Staff (December 6, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians review". GamesTM . Archived from the original on December 12, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  92. ↑ Moore, Ben (October 27, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians - Review". GameTrailers . Archived from the original on October 29, 2015. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  93. ↑ Gerstmann, Jeff (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians Review". Giant Bomb . Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  94. ↑ Dale, Alex (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians Campaign review (OXM)". Official Xbox Magazine . Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  95. ↑ Orry, Tom (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians Review". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  96. ↑ Seppala, Timothy J. (October 29, 2015). "I played through 'Halo 5: Guardians' solo and hated it". Engadget . Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  97. ↑ Peckham, Matt (October 26, 2015). "Halo 5 Balances Its Mediocre Story With Smart Multiplayer". Time . Retrieved November 8, 2015.
  98. ↑ Thier, David (November 2, 2015). "Why Halo 5: Guardians' Ending Was So Controversial". Forbes . Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  99. ↑ Houghton, David (October 30, 2015). "Why Halo 5's Story Fails Completely". GamesRadar . Archived from the original on November 2, 2015. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  100. ↑ Makuch, Eddie. "Halo 5 Dev Acknowledges "Disconnect" Between Marketing And Actual Game". GameSpot . Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  101. ↑ Dyer, Mitch (October 26, 2015). "Opinion: Halo 5's Ads Lied to You". IGN . Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  102. ↑ Hornshaw, Phil (October 27, 2015). "Halo 5: Guardians review". Digital Trends . Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  103. ↑ Good, Owen (April 26, 2017). "Halo 6 will be all about Master Chief, no new playable characters". Polygon . Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  104. ↑ Peckham, Matt (August 6, 2015). "Check Out the New Halo 5-Themed Xbox One". Time . Archived from the original on August 6, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2023.
  105. ↑ "Halo 5: Guardians Smashes Record with Biggest Halo Launch in History". Xbox Wire. Microsoft. November 4, 2015. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2015.
  106. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (November 4, 2015). "Halo 5 Reaches $400 Million in Sales to Become Biggest Halo Launch Ever". GameSpot . Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  107. ↑ Macy, Seth G. (November 12, 2015). "The Best Selling Games for October Announced". IGN . Archived from the original on November 13, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  108. ↑ Grubb, Jeff (December 10, 2015). "November 2015 NPD: Call of Duty outsells Fallout 4 as PlayStation 4 takes November". VentureBeat . Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  109. ↑ Romano, Sal (November 4, 2015). "Media Create Sales: 10/26/15 – 11/1/15". Gematsu. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  110. ↑ Martin, Matt (November 2, 2015). "Halo 5 outsells Master Chief Collection by 50% in first week". VG247 . Retrieved November 2, 2015.
  111. ↑ Phillips, Tom (November 2, 2015). "Halo 5 tops chart, outsells Assassin's Creed Syndicate launch by 50%". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on November 7, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  112. ↑ Staff (November 9, 2015). "Black Ops Friday". Chart-Track . Archived from the original on November 12, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  113. ↑ Van Daal, Joel (January 11, 2016). "The 2015 Australia & New Zealand IGEA Top Ten Charts powered by NPD". MCV Pacific. Archived from the original on January 14, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
  114. ↑ Sinha, Ravi. "Halo 5 Sold Five Million Copies in Three Months". GamingBolt. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  115. ↑ Leack, Jonathan (November 2, 2015). "Halo 5 is the least selling halo game in Uk history". GameRevolution . Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  116. ↑ "Microsoft says Halo 5 sold on par with previous entries like Halo 1-4". MSPoweruser. May 10, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  117. ↑ "Nominees". The Game Awards . 2015. Archived from the original on November 14, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  118. ↑ Walker, Austin (July 7, 2015). "'Best of E3 2015' Game Critics Awards Announced". Giant Bomb . Archived from the original on May 21, 2023. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  119. ↑ GR Staff (January 1, 2016). "Best of 2015 Awards". Game Revolution . Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  120. ↑ "Best Competitive Multiplayer". IGN. January 9, 2016. Archived from the original on January 9, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  121. ↑ "Best Shooter". IGN. January 9, 2016. Archived from the original on January 9, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  122. ↑ Official Xbox Magazine (January 1, 2016). "The OXM Game of the Year Awards 2015". GamesRadar . Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  123. ↑ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Halo 5: Guardians". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences . Retrieved September 12, 2023.
  124. ↑ "Satellite Awards (2015)". International Press Academy . IPA. December 2, 2015. pressacademy.com. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  125. ↑ Skrebels, Joe (March 10, 2016). "BAFTA Games Awards 2016 Nominees Revealed". IGN . Archived from the original on June 17, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2017.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.