Halo 5: Guardians launched in October of last year to some great fanfare in terms of its multiplayer. The single player was a little lacking, but I enjoyed it from a fan perspective. However, one thing was missing when the game launched. Firefight, the mode made famous in Halo 3: ODST was missing. 343 Industries said that if demand was strong then they would see about putting the mode into the game. Needless to say that the demand was high for the game mode and 343 held true to their promise. Enter Warzone Firefight. This mode combines both the new Warzone and the fan favorite Firefight mode. The open beta for the mode is happening this weekend, but how is it? Let’s take a look and find out.
The one thing that makes Warzone Firefight stand out is the ability for players to use the weapons and vehicles gained by the REQ pack system. Be warned that the same rules of Warzone apply here. If you only have one of a certain type of legendary weapon and vehicle that you select, you have to wait to unlock that item again. I see this mode helping people that are unable to use some of these variants that they normally can’t in a typical Warzone match. The energy also recharges fast enough in one game to be able to use multiple items. After the matches are over, I hardly got less than 2,000 REQ points. I have begun to unlock items that I didn’t have before thanks to Warzone Firefight.
The Firefight portion of the mode is obviously the heart. However, the mode doesn’t work in the same way that previous iterations did. There are five rounds in total that are five minutes each. Each round has a certain objective that must be met before the five minutes are over. If players fail to complete the objective, the game is over. The enemies also get progressively harder with each round. In the last round, players have to take on “Mythic” level difficulties. The best way to explain the difficulty is to think of the same way as the campaign difficulty. Enemies that have a gray triangle is the equivalent of Heroic, gold is Legendary, and red is Mythic. When the Mythic enemies come out to play, bring out the big guns in your arsenal. One scenario in this Firefight has players fighting three different Wardens. Two of the wardens are gold level and one is red. As somebody who has run across this scenario multiple times, I always bring out my Scorpion tank to fight them.
Some of the objectives can get a little repetitive. Objectives like “kill X amount of enemies” is here, but there is a defense objective that can be impossible to pass. Players have to kill 100 enemies while fighting off the Prometheans. It’s a lot tougher than some think since the Knights have been upgraded from Halo 4. Teamwork is definitely essential when it comes to Warzone Firefight since it can be impossible to lone wolf it for most players.
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If I’m being completely honest, I have to say that I think that Warzone Firefight should have been in Halo 5: Guardians to begin with. Even though the current version is in open beta and the final version should be arriving this summer, there should have been an option for those that want to take a break from the PvP multiplayer. This doesn’t change my opinion of the game since I still enjoy the game. Overall, I’m enjoying Warzone Firefight since it is allowing me to unlock items and use the different variants of weapons and vehicles that I have yet to use. Honestly, I get tired of doing straight PvP all the time (which actually gives me an idea). Warzone Firefight and Halo 5 make a great match. I only wish that it would have come sooner.
What are you waiting for? Fire up Halo 5 and join in the open beta under the Warzone menu option. You have until this Tuesday to play. See you on the battlefield.
