OK, I just really want to get this out of my system, because I feel really torn about Halo right about now and I just want 343 to see this. This is sort of a rant, sort of a suggestion.

So, Halo 4 was my very first Halo game. I was like ten when it came out, and I bought it and played it. Even looking back on it now, I still think it's a very good game and it brought a lot to the table. The campaign was right up to par with anything Bungie had done, if not better. The plot development and character development was deep and interesting.

Afterwards, when it came out, I got MCC. Not for the multiplayer, but for the campaigns, as I was a little scrub with only one Halo game under my belt. So, I played through some campaigns, and got a better feeling of Halo. At this point, I would say that I was totally addicted. I bought the Fall of Reach and Contact at Harvest books, and read them (They're really great, btw). Right around that time, Halo 5 dropped. I was REALLY hyped, like I was bouncing off the walls hyped. That day, I came home from school, and bought Halo 5. I'd seen the commercials, and was expecting a killer campaign, awesome new mechanics in multiplayer, and everything to be done right.

Boy was I disappointed. I played the campaign at first, and was disappointed. The plot was meh at best, and all the depth and development of Halo 4 was sorta ignored and flushed down the crapper. Chief was barely in the campaign, and the actual campaign was nothing like the HuntTheTruth ads. I mean, Locke and Chief had a little fistfight, one cinematic's worth, and then became buddies, and went off to deactivate Chief's girlfriend. AND, that's not even talking about how lame the actual gameplay was. They put in the Arbiter, although you couldn't PLAY as him, and they had the most boring and mundane boss ever... WHO WAS THE ONLY BOSS! Warden Eternal, a real piece of work. A total bullet sponge, no unique mechanics, who also came by the dozen to fight you. Then, there was the garbage AI of your teammates, who, I swear, had the AI of Captain Keyes in Truth and Reconciliation in CE. They would run into all the hazards, and die nonstop in places where trying to get to them would mean certain death. Jolly.

Well, when I'd completed the campaign, I felt like the multiplayer would have to be good to compensate for that, right? Well, sorta. The Arena was pretty entertaining, and a rather skillful environment, but then there was Warzone. A complete and utter cash dump. It was what I thought would be the most fun in the game, but it was incredibly grindy, and there were games where I got ROFLstomped by people who had obviously spent tons of money on microtransactions, and seemed to have legendaries by Week 3.

But, I still played the game. The monthly content releases kept me happy, and the fact that 343 seemed to listen to the community. The Forge update was really great, and H5 definitely has the best Forge of any Halo, by far. I had loads of fun in custom games with friends. Eventually, I even managed to grind up to get the Mythic REQs, and my favorite armor, VENATOR. I had originally expected this armor to be the reward for the Assassination commendation, as it was in H4, but it was locked behind a paywall, like all armors. Oh well. Right around that time, I heard about Warframe from an old friend, and got addicted to it, and stopped playing Halo 5 entirely.

Well, that's the end of my impression. I'd like to say that Halo 6 could be the best Halo game by far. With features like splitscreen, playable Elites, and the classic art style, it could be very appealing, especially when compared to Halo 5. But 343, you have got to make this game really good, because I feel that the community is at a tipping point. People still have faith in 343, but if you screw up Halo 6, it'll end up like Destiny 2. It'll die and people will leave it in the dust and forget about it completely. So 343, you have to make a good campaign, a good multiplayer, and NO microtransactions. If you guys can make a solid game, without major microtransactions, and more skill-based unlocks, like commendation armor, it could be everything everyone wants. But if it doesn't, then it'll end the Halo franchise (Most likely)

TL;DR: I'm salty that 343 screwed up H5, and hope that they fix all its problems with H6, so that people will continue to love Halo, and not go play something else instead.

Also, if you read that entire wall of text, nice job! I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks on this topic!