No Split Screen in Halo 5

Reserved for modern gaming discussions.
Steve
Posts: 101
Joined: May 12th, 2015, 5:34 pm

Re: No Split Screen in Halo 5

Postby Steve » November 1st, 2015, 6:05 pm

I took this survey and answered honestly. I don't play any couch co-op games and only a few times/month for online multiplayer. It's timing as a survey is an obvious reaction to the Halo 5 backlash. Personally, I don't care if it comes back since I don't play it but I still think it is a shame that an otherwise well-received game is still taking so much heat. I'd be curious to know if there are any other games that have not implemented functionality that was in previous versions and took even 50% of the backlash. Has anyone noticed the reviews for this game on Amazon? Primarily 1 star. That's just ridiculous and seems unjustly biased.

I also find it interesting that at least one person on these forums that had previously stated they won't buy this game due to the lack of split-screen has it in their profile. Perhaps I'm assuming and it could be a rental but either way, I was amused to see it. ;)

User avatar
ActRaiser
Posts: 1544
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:38 pm

Re: No Split Screen in Halo 5

Postby ActRaiser » November 1st, 2015, 6:59 pm

Hmm, I wonder if you can see it on my profile? My ubber awesome wife bought it for me on Tuesday. I took it to Best Buy on Wednesday over lunch and swapped it (unopened) for Super Mario Maker. I'm sticking to my guns on this one and will not give MS any money for this game. I'll pick it up used at Gamespot to play through the campaign.

And I did rate the game 1 star on Amazon. :)

The game is averaging out to a three star rating. The problem is that people who bought the game without knowing anything about it did so with the false understanding that it would support split screen based on the last 14 years of Halo supporting split screen.

One could argue it's their fault for not doing research; however, I'd argue there's been a concerted effort in advertising to make one believe that it's there.

1. 343 for months redirects and closes all open topics to a single thread. That's not a good way to let people know about it.
2. A TV show "SHIELD" aired two weeks before Halo 5's release that showed two people playing split screen in Halo 5.
3. All this talk about 4 person co-op campaign and really building the campaign for co-op up.
4. They only announced that Halo 5 lost split screen via a tweet right before a holiday weekend hoping it would get lost in the shuffle.
5. No announcement at E3 that splitscreen was pulled even though it was announced a few months before as being included (2 person vs 4 person).
6. The excuses presented have been equally asinine on every level.
"60 FPS is tied to the physics" - no one does that as it's idiotic on so many levels, plus the E3 demo ran fine at 40 FPS
"It would compromise the vision of 60 FPS and 1080p" - now, the vision is only 60 FPS
"The levels are too large" - funny Halo: Reach's Forge World's canvas is far larger than anything as a level in Halo 5

Halo 5 is half a game.

No LAN, no split screen co-op, no split screen multiplayer, no forge, no big team battle, no fire fight or Spartan Ops.

What's included

So-so campaign with drop-in drop out online co-op only (with no matchmaking)
Arena style multiplayer
Warzone - smash together big team battle with Titanfall grunts and a few bosses and then add in pay to win microtransactions.

In theory Forge is coming in December but as with most things from 343 this will slip.

In my humble opinion the game is worth a buy at $30 as it's missing most of the features that were in past games.

Tron
Posts: 870
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 8:02 pm

Re: No Split Screen in Halo 5

Postby Tron » November 1st, 2015, 7:38 pm

Perhaps the backlash seems harsh, but if it got mediocre grades would Microsoft pay attention? I think it takes an EXTREME backlash to get Microsoft's attention. Maybe next time they'll take gamer's views on this game into consideration.

User avatar
ptdebate
Posts: 1072
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 8:39 pm

Re: No Split Screen in Halo 5

Postby ptdebate » November 1st, 2015, 7:52 pm

Very salient points ActRaiser and your frustration with this product is keenly felt. My brother works for Microsoft so I get a 50% discount on 1st-party games--that's the only reason I bought it new. I haven't played it yet, but will relay my impressions when I do. I never engaged in much split-screen campaigning but I can only imagine the disappointment of those who were expecting this feature based on the reasons you state. I'm hoping for a decent campaign and some multiplayer fun with my brother who lives an hour away. Hopefully it will deliver.

Steve
Posts: 101
Joined: May 12th, 2015, 5:34 pm

Re: No Split Screen in Halo 5

Postby Steve » November 1st, 2015, 8:40 pm

Actraiser, it was not you who I noted had Halo 5 in their profile :) However, I must express some disappointment that you posted a 1 star review on Amazon without playing/owning the game. Given the recent incident with fake Rock Band 4 reviews posted by Harmonix employees, it just proves, or at least reinforces, that reviews on there can't be trusted. I didn't have a lot of faith in them before because it wasn't really a secret that people were posting fake reviews whether they be from employees or people on an agenda. Can you imagine if our respected host on this board posted reviews based on solely on features and not on playing the game?

I would also disagree about there being a specific effort to mislead people into thinking split screen was available for a few reasons. Primarily, anyone that noticed some of the details you did, whether it be in a forum, or in advertising, probably already knew it would not be included. I may be wrong on that but it's a feeling I have from reading these forums. More importantly, why would they purposely mislead people? I can agree that they would not promote split-screen and promote other features (Warzone) but to imply deliberate deception doesn't make sense to me. Am I too trusting? Perhaps.

Anyway, as I have said before, I can respect someone who won't buy something because it doesn't have the features they want but posting a review without actually playing/owning the game doesn't seem ethical to me. It would have made more sense to post something in the Amazon Halo 5 forum as a warning to the uneducated that it doesn't include a long time beloved feature. I'll withhold my opinion of the game until I buy it during the inevitable Black Friday discounts.

User avatar
ActRaiser
Posts: 1544
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:38 pm

Re: No Split Screen in Halo 5

Postby ActRaiser » November 2nd, 2015, 8:44 am

Steve wrote:Anyway, as I have said before, I can respect someone who won't buy something because it doesn't have the features they want but posting a review without actually playing/owning the game doesn't seem ethical to me. It would have made more sense to post something in the Amazon Halo 5 forum as a warning to the uneducated that it doesn't include a long time beloved feature. I'll withhold my opinion of the game until I buy it during the inevitable Black Friday discounts.


Great points. However, as stated I did own it. My wife bought it off of Amazon. Therefore, I believe I have an ethical obligation to share on the Amazon website that the game does not support split screen? How else would others know that? If the game does not say it explicitly does not support split screen then the only way others will know is via customer feedback.

I didn't open it, because I knew it and have been vocal about it on the Halo forums. Which...doesn't mean anything as you'll get banned and your threads shut down unless you post in a non-stickied thread about the subject. It's as much as a tacit point to hide information about it as there can be.

User avatar
ActRaiser
Posts: 1544
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:38 pm

Re: No Split Screen in Halo 5

Postby ActRaiser » November 2nd, 2015, 9:02 am

Tron wrote:Perhaps the backlash seems harsh, but if it got mediocre grades would Microsoft pay attention? I think it takes an EXTREME backlash to get Microsoft's attention. Maybe next time they'll take gamer's views on this game into consideration.



I agree. Playing nice makes no difference. The only way they'll change is if it affects their bottom dollar. A ton of crappy reviews will cost them sales, which is the only way they'll fix it.

They've intentionally put their heads in the sand hoping no one will notice.

ESauce
Posts: 449
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:20 pm

Re: No Split Screen in Halo 5

Postby ESauce » November 2nd, 2015, 10:51 pm

Steve wrote:I also find it interesting that at least one person on these forums that had previously stated they won't buy this game due to the lack of split-screen has it in their profile. Perhaps I'm assuming and it could be a rental but either way, I was amused to see it. ;)


Yeah I ended up buying it. I had $50 of credit left from when I bought the xbox, and my brother who lives in another state wanted to play it together. So I basically saw it as a $10 purchase and swallowed my pride. I'm pretty impressed with the single player, but still really disappointed that my wife and I have to take turns instead of playing together. I think I might go post my own amazon review; it will not be nice about the lack of split screen.

Shapur
Posts: 277
Joined: July 31st, 2015, 8:10 pm

Re: No Split Screen in Halo 5

Postby Shapur » November 3rd, 2015, 5:11 pm

ActRaiser wrote:No LAN, no split screen co-op, no split screen multiplayer, no forge, no big team battle, no fire fight or Spartan Ops.
.


Wait it doesn't even have split screen multiplayer? Geez, it totally does deserve those bad ratings. If I don't play online I have to play all by myself all the time? That's pretty bad.


Return to “Modern Gaming”