14 DAY TRIAL // Xbox One owners got a chance to try out the most anticipated exclusive of 2015, Halo 5: Guardians, over the weekend, and some gameplay videos have made their way to the Internet.
Developer 343 Industries has hit a rough patch lately, what with all the Halo: The Master Chief Collection woes, and it has been tirelessly working on fixing the game's issues and trying to make up for its shortcomings.
The game, a collection of the first four entries in the popular science fiction first-person shooter franchise, had what everyone in their right mind would consider a game-breaking issue, in the form of its multiplayer component not working for quite a while after its launch last month.
343 Industries has issued a number of fixes meant to fix matchmaking and enable a satisfying multiplayer experience for the many enthusiastic gamers that gobbled up the collection at launch, and the studio, together with Microsoft, has decided to compensate fans for their support and feedback with a range of free content.
Everyone who played the game since launch, between November 11 through December 19, will receive one month of free Xbox Live Gold access, as well as an exclusive in-game name plate and avatar, together with some free content in the future.
343i boss Bonnie Ross stated that early adopters of Halo: The Master Chief Collection would get the Halo 3: Orbital Drop Shock Troopers campaign for free, alongside the Relic map form Halo 2: Anniversary, sometime in the future.
A fine example of misdirection
The studio is also trying to shift focus from the troubles with Halo: The Master Chief Collection, bringing Halo 5: Guardians into the limelight, hoping to distract gamers with the glorious future that's in store for them.
Halo 5: Guardians is scheduled to come to the Xbox One computer entertainment system from Microsoft sometime during fall 2015, but the developer decided to offer perhaps the earliest beta ever to select Xbox owners.
Some lucky gamers already got their hands on the multiplayer portion of the highly anticipated first-person shooter as early as December 19, and the beta is set to run from December 29 until January 18, enabling those invited to rigorously test the game and get a feel for how the biggest Xbox multiplayer franchise is shaping up.
The beta doesn't include too much content, being limited to the Slayer mode and two maps, but it's enough to gauge which direction 343 Industries is heading into.
Halo 5: Guardians is getting back to the franchise's roots, doing away with fully customizable loadouts and killstreaks, and instead focusing on the core gameplay experience of the first three games, the ones which were the most well-received by the community.
