Editorials
5 More Things to Do Before the Halo 5 Release Date
Microsoft and 343 Industries plan on launching Halo 5: Guardians, the biggest game release all-year for Xbox One, in just a few short weeks. In the last month Microsoft has rolled out new video trailers and teasers practically once a week. It’s relentlessly trying to wet the appetites of users who have an Xbox One already or plan to purchase an Xbox One just to get their hands on a Halo title.
A few weeks ago Gotta Be Mobile listed 5 things that every Xbox One owner planning to purchase Halo 5: Guardians should do to prepare for release day. Those activities are still crucial, Halo 5 is only the second game in what 343 Industries describes as the Reclaimer Saga. You’ll be lost if you can’t remember what happened in previous games.
Read: 5 Things to Do Before the Halo 5 Release Date
For users who’ve already played the previous games and pre-ordered their copy of Halo 5: Guardians here are 5 new things to do before the Halo 5 release date on October 27th.
Watch the Halo Fall of Reach Trailer
Microsoft is a big company and 343 Industries has a lot of resources at its disposal. Games can only be so long and so big. To fill out a universe like Halo, companies need new avenues to tell stories. Only the most die-hard fans probably consume all there is to know about a universe, but plenty of people want more information about their favorite characters and the events they see on screen.
Halo 4 had Forward Unto Dawn. Halo: The Master Chief Collection had Halo Nightfall. Now Halo 5: Guardians has Fall of Reach. Microsoft says in a post on its Xbox Wire blog that Fall of Reach “explores origins of the Master Chief and Blue team.” That’s exactly what the book of the same name did for readers some years back.
Fall of Rach is an animated series that’ll be available directly through the Halo channel app when Halo 5: Guardians launches. Only users who purchase Halo 5: Guardians Digital Deluxe Edition, Halo 5 Guardians Limited Edition and Halo 5: Guardians Limited Collector’s Edition get access to the show for free.
Microsoft teases the Fall of Reach in a new trailer, out now.
Learn About the REQ System
343 Industries isn’t charging users for new map packs and content updates. Instead, it’s introducing the REQ System.
Microsoft revealed the REQ system last month. Available only in multiplayer, users earn points to use towards REQ cards. REQ cards are modifiers for almost everything in the multiplayer experience. Having the right REQ cards givers users a leg-up on the competition if the need ever rises for heavier artillery or vehicles. Some REQ cards unlock new helmets and armor.
Read: New Halo 5 Gameplay Videos & Details Arrive
If you’re heavily into multiplayer, the time to study the REQ System for Halo 5 is now. 343 Industries says that the REQ system will also apply to the eight person Arena multiplayer experience too.
Clear Some Space On Your Xbox One
This week we learned that 343 Industries had wrapped up work on Halo 5: Guardians. We don’t necessarily know how much space the game will take up in total, but already the studio has users expecting a massive content update to arrive on release day. What’s more, players will need to make room for the 18 or more maps that the 343 Industries plans on adding to the game after release day. There’ll be 21 different multiplayer maps for Halo 5: Guardians, according to this graphic made by the studio.
All of that content means that now is the time for you to start thinking about the games you want to delete or consider the console bundle that has enough storage for your needs. Xbox One owners who already find themselves short on storage should pick up an external USB hard drive that they can plug into the Xbox One’s USB 3.0 port.
Read: Hard Drives Arrive in June Xbox One Update: What You Need to Know
Watch The Halo 4 Campaign Cut Scenes on YouTube
A lot of people don’t have the time to invest in playing the last entry in the Halo series before Halo 5 arrives. Luckily, these users don’t have to miss out on the story. Video streaming website YouTube is stuffed full of videos that lump all the Halo 4 cut scenes into one video.
Know That You Won’t Get Access to Forge on Release Day
Dedicated users waited months for news about Forge. The Forge is a creation engine, a way for clever players to make their own maps and game modes without getting off their couch. This week, 343 Industries confirmed that there’s a lot of new content coming to Forge for Halo 5: Guardians.
Read: Halo 5 Release Detail is a Huge Disappointment
Problem is, Halo 5: Guardians buyers will need to wait a fairly long time to get their hands on these new tools. Forge won’t be available for Halo 5 until this December at the earliest. Like multiplayer, Microsoft says it plans to run the Forge like a free service. Users will get free feature updates on a regular basis.
There are less than 20 days left until Halo 5 release day.
George
10/14/2015 at 8:52 pm
Wtf only 8-12 hour campaign on normal?! What rip!
Melissa
10/16/2015 at 8:51 pm
George, you know that most games only have 6-8 hours, right? This is 8-12 hours on normal that you can simply walk straight through real fast with 0 issues; on higher difficulty levels such as Legendary, the amount of time can easily more than triple. Do you even realize exactly how MUCH replay value this game has? I’ve watched a few full mission campaign streams, and the answer is A LOT. There’s so much to do in it, so many places to explore, environments to look at, things to find, and paths to take, etc. That alone will take days to do. You sound ungrateful whining about 8-12 hours of normal combat and cutscenes. This game has more than enough to extend that time well beyond that, yet you still want more. You make it sound like you play the campaign once and then your completely done it.
George
10/16/2015 at 9:50 pm
Ungrateful? Last I checked professional game development was not a charity. Game development companies live and die by the quality and innovations of their products. No franchise is immune to the need for expansion. Especially with the onset of greatly improved hardware. And no 12 hours is by no means standard for large titles. ESPECIALLY the Xbox flagship.
Witcher 3 is 30 hours
Metal Gear Solid 5 is 35 hours
GTA V is 30 hours
Rise of the Tomb Raider 20 hours
Assassins Creed Black Flag 25 hours
And those last two were for last generation. and NONE of the numbers take into account replayability. So no, demanding quality is not wining or ungreatfulness when it is my time and money in question.
Melissa
10/18/2015 at 10:05 am
Yes, sounding ungrateful because your major complaint is some arbitrary estimated number of time playtests on average take players to run through the campaign, doing not much else or even doing all the side stories. Simply by the looks of H5 and the short live streams of campaign that the public have been seeing, the quality of the game and quantity of things to do in this game are above and beyond amazing for innovations for the Halo franchise. As far as overall time, you’re comparing an FPS to (some) games of other genres, which don’t compare. The only personal experience that I have of those games are GTA V and ACIV:BF. Both of those games are massive open worlds, where most/half of the time is simply traveling to destinations rather than actual story content. In GTA V, it does take me about 32 hours-ish to do just the main story. However, to finish the entire game to 100%, it has taken me a total of about 85 hours for one play though. You have a comparative bias to equate amount of time to the overall quality of a product, which is a major faux pas on your part, as you shouldn’t. It’s exactly like judging a book by its cover.