Halo 5 Spartan Abilities

Halo 5 will feature "Spartan Abilities", which are default abilities that can be accessed by all players. Despite my ranting earlier, I decided to look more deeply into gameplay footage so I can make a proper analysis, rather than blindly hating the game for Sprint/ADS without even looking at how the different features are implemented. Below I will discuss my first impressions on each of the Spartan Abilities.

Thruster Pack
Serving as a quick boost of speed in any direction, the Thruster Pack seems to work great. I never once thought it would be a bad idea to implement this as a default ability, as it enhances strafing and also allows players to dodge incoming projectiles (rather than being helpless if a rocket is coming their way).

Ground Pound
At first I detested against players being able to one-shot-kill off spawn, but this move has quite some delay to it, meaning it might not be as overpowered as one would initially think. Players actually have a good amount of time to dodge incoming ground pounds. Not only this, but apparently it takes quite a bit of accuracy to line up your ground pounds, although I'll have to play it for myself before I'm able to confirm or deny this. The attack also deals some light splash damage, presumably in a shockwave effect.

Clamber
This ability lets you climb up ledges, and I'm not a fan of it for a couple reasons. My main gripe is that it takes away the emphasis on crouch-jumping. Anyone who's ever played a well-crafted ninja map knows what I'm talking about when it comes to the elite skill of crouch jumping. Of course I am exaggerating quite a bit, but regardless, crouch jumping is way more skillful compared to automated climbing. Whereas crouch jumping requires good timing as well as a nice place to jump from, clambering is simply a matter of getting close to a ledge and allowing the game to do the work for you. As I mentioned before, this ability can make the game feel a bit automated at times, which is my second problem with this.

Sprint
Sprinting is back, and while it may be somewhat more balanced than previous iterations in the series, it's still quite game-breaking at the same time. All players now have unlimited sprint, but cannot recharge energy shields while doing so. Although I appreciate the fact that players aren't able to cheat death as easily as they could in Halo 4, I feel that it still allows them to significantly delay it, simply because if you happen to be running away, your pursuers can't keep up with you AND shoot you at the same time, rather they have to choose between one or the other. It often results in many cat-and-mouse chases, destroying the game's flow completely. It's like a chase scene from a Kung Fu movie, but on a strict budget and getting in the way of the action, rather than enhancing it. I would've liked to see it removed as Thruster Pack seems like a nice replacement.

Slide
Whenever you reach the terminal velocity of a sprint, you're able to go into a slide via the crouch button. This makes you a smaller target, and can allow to quickly close the gap with enemies for a stylish shotgun kill. However, I feel this ability is redundant and should've been combined with the Thruster Pack, considering that both can be used for the same exact function with little to no difference.

Charge
As long as it's not 1sk or comes with too much knockback, I'm fine with it, although I'd like to see it combined with Thruster Pack: initiated by meleeing during a thrust, which in turn grants extra knockback to your punch, but not enough to be considered overpowered.

Smart Scope
The last but not least. Smart Scope, also known as ADS, is the most controversial new player ability in the game. However, I change my mind on this one after watching around 20 minutes of gameplay footage. It seems to be implemented like it was in Brutal Doom, rather than the shitty modern military shooters we all seem to identify this feature with. Here it essentially acts as a reskinned zoom, with no accuracy penalty to hip firing, no movement penalty to aiming, and it also comes with descope, which is good as it balances longer range combat and is not random like flinch was in Halo 4. Any weapon has the ability to Smart Scope, although some do it better than others (for instance, zooming with a BR is better than zooming with the AR). With the AR it seems to function just like the zoom in Quake 3, which is totally fine in my eyes. Overall it doesn't seem to change gameplay at all, only being an aesthetic difference to the traditional zooming from past installments. My only problem are the way the sights look themselves, especially on the BR/SMG, although this is a minor graphical complaint and as such does not really matter all that much.

Summary
Thruster Pack = Good
Ground Pound = Good
Clamber = Shit
Sprint = Shit
Slide = Good (but Redundant)
Charge = Good (but Redundant)
Smart Scope = Good

Overall = 5/7 (Meaning about 70% of these abilities are alright)

Clan Arena is Truly Awesome

Clan Arena (CA) is a gametype in Rocket Arena 3, a modification for the Quake 3 Arena, and is also found as a default gametype in Quake Live. This team-based gametype starts each player off with all core weapons, extra ammo, and full health/armor. It takes every item off of the map, even ammo and health pickups, so there is no way to improve your condition. Each player only has one life, and self-damage is removed.

I really like this gametype. I'm usually against anything that lacks on-map resources (as it takes away the gameplay element of map control), but something feels different in this gametype. It feels...even. Even more even than the standard Duel. Most games that lack map control tend to have some feature that destroys the even playing field, usually customizable classes. In the case of Clan Arena, however, the lack of map control actually enhances the experience. While I still prefer traditional FFA or CTF compared to this, I still really like this gametype, and it's somehow equally as good for competitive play as it is for casual play. On a side note, one thing I also really like about Clan Arena is that there is no self-damage, allowing you to perform rocketjumps and plasmaclimbs without hurting yourself in the process, although there's less of an incentive to do so, mainly due to the lack of on-map items, but hey, it's still pretty cool...I guess.

I typically like to play Clan Arena for warmups. What do you guys think about this gametype? Please let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear what you guys have to say.