GamingTrend 100/100
Halo 5: Guardians is a masterpiece, and quite possibly the best Halo game so far. The campaign is top-notch, even as Master Chief shares the spotlight, and the multiplayer is largely a return to everything that has made the franchise so beloved to begin with.
Gaming Age 100
It’s a well-crafted Halo experience with enough new bells and whistles to turn around even the most jaded Halo fan, and feels exactly like what you’d want a next-gen Halo game to be. There’s a hefty amount of content to explore here across the campaign and multiplayer modes, with a large map variety at launch and an enjoyable story to uncover. And it all looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous, with fantastic enemy and map designs on top of the excellent technical groundwork behind it all.
BestGamerEver 5/5
In short, Halo 5: Guardians is in my opinion at least, a real return to form for a franchise that felt like it had lost its way ever since Call of Duty took the multiplayer crown on Xbox Live. This is a game that now proudly wears its roots on its sleeve, and plays to its greatest strengths. The multiplayer is fresh and exciting with the new movement options and feels like a true evolution for the series. The campaign is a confident, well told, galaxy spanning adventure with a huge amount of replayability on a scale we’ve never seen.
Game Over Online 95/100
Halo 5 is an outstanding game and one of the finest first-person shooters ever made. Its design is versatile, and it’s the best-playing entry in the series so far.
Arcade Sushi 9.5/100
Though the story is a draw for longtime fans, most people will be stopping in to check out Halo 5's multiplayer, and it's there 343's direction really shines.
Multiplayer.it: 9.5
Italian Words
Reclaimed Hub 9/10
Everything is perfectly executed, be it Kazuma Jinnouchi’s masterful soundtrack, Sotaro Tojima’s outstanding sound design, the fun and witty banter between Locke, Tanaka, Buck, and Vale, or the fun of crushing kids in Arena multiplayer with your best friends, Halo 5 nails it all for me, making it my favorite overall Halo game to date.
EGM 9/10
The continuation of a new Master Chief saga, the refinement and additions to multiplayer for casual and pros alike, plus a gorgeous presentation made possible by current generation technology—all add up to the makings of a FPS worthy of the Halo series’ best iterations.
Gamer.no 9/10
What language is this?
Game Revolution 90/100
As a series, Halo has been the one triple-A shooter that has fans for the story as well as the multiplayer. Depending on where you are on the spectrum between story and gameplay, you can take my grade up or down a half point. If you’re looking for a frag-fest, plus all the enticements of the new Warzone mode, Halo 5 is a must-own.
Polygon 9/10
Halo 5 feels like it knows its obligations. The campaign's narrative is likely to prove controversial, though its biggest sin may be its familiarity. Otherwise, Halo 5 excels under the pressure, providing one of the most welcoming, competitive, balanced and fun games of the year — and providing my personal favorite Halo multiplayer since the series began.
Xet.be (Dutch) 9/10
Who can read dutch here?
Gadgets 360 9/10
As it stands, Halo 5 is near perfect. With slick gameplay, a fantastic campaign, and seemingly ambitious multiplayer, it gets little wrong. If you own an Xbox One or plan to buy it, this is why you're doing so.
Every Eye 8.8/10
Italian Words
Wegotthiscovered 4.5/5
Halo 5: Guardians, is, by all accounts, the total package. The gameplay is immensely satisfying and leaps and bounds ahead of previous entries, which is saying a lot. And while I wasn’t terribly engaged by the plot and felt that the campaign was slightly more underwhelming than some of the series’ other games, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have a blast playing it.
Spazio Games 8.5/10
Italian Words
Attack of The Fanboy 4.5/5
Any worry that Halo might be in the wrong hands with 343 Industries has been wiped out by Halo 5: Guardians. The campaign has some story issues, with Halo 6 promising to really deliver the goods, but the design is impeccable, and will certainly warrant multiple playthroughs.
Gaming Instinct 8.5/10
Overall, Halo 5: Guardians is a good Halo game that has the best gameplay in the series, and that is a bold thing to say for a franchise that’s been running for 14 straight years now. However, the technical sacrifices and image quality losses are a little too much this time around. It hurts me to say that Halo 5: Guardians is not a game of the year material because I know many people expected it to be.
Escapist 4.5/5
Multiplayer is really where 343 needed to prove themselves and regain some of that goodwill from Halo fans, which is fortunate, because multiplayer is where Halo 5 shines brightest. Forget everything you knew about Halo 4's multiplayer. 343 wisely went back to the drawing board and scrapped nearly everything about Halo 4's widely criticized multiplayer offerings.
Giant Bomb 4/5
There will certainly be some players who find that the specific omissions in Halo 5 are extremely disappointing, and you'll see a rough edge or two, but all in all there's a fantastic big-budget shooter in Halo 5 with lots to see and enough multiplayer options to keep you going for quite some time.
US Gamer 4/5
As a package, Halo 5: Guardians is a very solid offering. While the campaign mode has its ups and downs – and to be blunt, doesn't take particularly long to complete – it's nevertheless enjoyable, even if it can get a little relentless and repetitive at times. But its highs definitely outweigh its lows, and if you play it on the more challenging levels – and especially if you play it in co-op mode – it's entertaining enough.
Hardcore Gamer: 4/5
Halo 5: Guardians is a fine-tuned machine. It has a robust and highly addictive competitive multiplayer component, a large variety of aesthetically pleasing customizations and some of the tightest controls to ever grace a Halo title. Unfortunately, the campaign leaves much to be desired. While it features four player cooperative play through the entirety of the experience, the plot is both poorly structured and awkwardly paced.
Progress Bar 8/10
While the story of Halo 5 – Guardians may not be as solid as hardcore fans would like to see, the gameplay covers for it with impressive captivation and usage throughout the entire campaign. For the first standalone Halo title for the Xbox One, it’s certainly a worthy addition to the franchise with a long multiplayer life ahead of itself.
Examiner 80/100
Halo 5 Guardians is a beautiful, challenging and entertaining step forward for the series both on the multiplayer and campaign front, even despite the decreased role of Master Chief. Trust in 343 Industries, Halo fans.
Lazygamer 7.9/10
A short, disappointing tale makes nearly no progress in 343’s trilogy, and offers nothing that lives up to the billing of a tense showdown between Halo 5’s two protagonists. Thankfully the improved gameplay and consistently great multiplayer shine in Halo's uneven debut on the Xbox One. The multiplayer is fantastic, and the co-op is magical. Bring friends.
Rocket Chain Saw 4/5
Halo 5 Guardians is a fantastic game brimming with content, though some parts feel better than others. The story fails to live up to the franchise’s standards, due to an underdeveloped narrative, samey level design and an unnecessary focus on Locke. Nevertheless, polished gameplay, challenging AI, the superb portal of Blue Team and a mesmerising soundtrack redeem the campaign.
Press Start Australia 8/10
Halo 5: Guardians isn’t the perfect chapter in the franchise when it comes to the story, as it’s one that doesn’t always keep its priorities where it should. But even then, it only stumbles rather than fall. When it comes to gameplay and presentation, Guardians is an excellent continuation that not only builds on the strengths of its predecessors, but isn’t afraid to throw in new and balanced features into the mix that renew the tried and tested formula, providing returning fans and newcomers alike some new things to play with.
Time 3.5/5
A Mediocre Story With Terrific Multiplayer
Destructoid - 7
If it weren't for Warzone, Halo 5: Guardians would probably be somewhere on the lower end of the franchise's spectrum for me. It's still a fantastic and well-oiled machine, but the story falls flat, and the shift in gameplay mechanics result in the loss of some elements that made the series so unique in the first place. Still, if you're looking to shoot some dudes online, Guardians is your huckleberry.
Paste Magazine 6/10
But at the end of the day, there just isn’t that much here for me, even as a casual-sometimes-hardcore Halo fan. If you think Destiny could scratch the itch you have for Halo, pick it up over this game. If not, buckle in for an underwhelming mechanical retread with a so-so story framing the whole experience.
Kotaku - Impressions
Halo 5 is beautiful, at times a lot of fun, and at times disappointing. It’s also not yet officially released and is dependent on its multiplayer working well on a large scale. So we’re holding off on a review until well after the game’s October 27 launch. For now, some impressions of one of the Xbox One’s big fall exclusives.
Xboxygen Impressions
+ Le gameplay retravaillé et qui conserve toute l’âme de la série. I can read some Spanish, which I think is the same, it says the game is revolutionary and the best of the series?
IGN - RIP Review in Progress
Developer 343 Industries has engineered the strongest combat Halo has ever seen, with tons of excellent weapons, varied maps, an expansive and intense new multiplayer mode joining a host of returning greats, and some game-changing new mobility. At the same time, Guardians repeats Halo 4’s mistake of telling a story that can’t stand on its own without Halo’s expanded universe. This hurts, but doesn’t ruin, its otherwise impressive cooperative campaign.
Guide Live - Campaign Review
Halo 5 changes just enough of the Halo formula to feel fresh while not feeling like it's morphed into something else entirely. Its final moments may frustrate those who want to "finish the fight" immediately and see this story's conclusion, but the plot puts a lot of exciting pieces in motion, and it's a blast to play through from beginning to end.
God is A Geek - Review In Progress
Halo 5 boasts the best campaign since Reach, mixing enormous, beautifully detailed environments with fast-paced, exciting combat across some of the most interesting and colourful locales 343 has ever produced. While the multiplayer needs to ferment a little to bring out its true flavours and the necessities of storytelling rob the campaign of some potentially stand-out set-pieces, this is still a huge, satisfying package that ticks every box on the list.
The Verge
Don’t play Halo 5 for its story, then. Play Halo 5 because it’s bursting with invention, an absolute masterclass in how to craft a first-person shooter, and the best reason yet to own an Xbox One. For all its technical quirks and plot deficiencies, Halo is once again the best time you can have shooting aliens in the face.
GameTrailers Review in Progress (Video) (Text)
Unfortunately, the campaign doesn’t earn the same level of praise. On one hand, it’s fantastic. There were roughly a dozen or so times we completely stopped whatever it was we were doing to take in a scene. Sometimes that meant gazing upward, where ships would be dogfighting all around us. During other moments, we were hesitant to push forward because of towering entities known as guardians.