I’m back after a break for Christmas. And what a day to come back to…

For those who have been waiting patiently (and impatiently), the Halo 5 Beta is finally here!

Most of you know I got early access to the beta for two days. You can read my thoughts on it HERE.

I am VERY interested in knowing what YOU folks think of it, once you’ve played it for a day or two. This is important folks. 343 wants as much feedback as possible so they can further craft the BEST Halo 5 Guardians as possible!

To gain access, start your Halo Master Chief Collection game up. Go to the ‘Extras’ menu and click on the Halo 5 tab. This should open to a cut-scene (ooh, you are either going to LOVE it or not)… After which, you go right to the download.

Here are a few things you need to be aware of for the beta. Some are a reminders of stuff I’ve posted about over the last couple of months regarding the beta.

• The beta download is 10.2GB. It took me 45 minutes to download this. After having asked a couple of other friends who also got early access, they too have similar download times. SO expect about that long for your download too.

• 343 Halo 5 beta community playdate: From 1/5/2015 6:00 PM PST – 1/5/2015 8:00 PM PST various 343ers will be playing the beta. Once gamer tags of those playing are announced, I’ll post them on the blog too.

• Halo 5 Beta Schedule:
– Week 1 Slayer (AR starts): This week is the exact same gameplay as it was for those who got early access. You’ll get to play on both ‘Truth’ the Midship remake as well as ‘Empire’ the NEW map that shows a massive city at the outside portion of the map. Look for that sniper!
–  Week 2 Slayer (BR Starts) and Breakout (SMG starts):
For the slayer portion, you’ll play on two other remixed maps, Regret and Eden. Per Josh Holmes players will be able to vote on the power weapon on Regret. Choice or one, from two.
Breakout is the new game mode that introduces round based slayer, in which you only have ONE life per round. First team to 5 rounds won, wins the game. The maps for this are Crossfire, which you’ve seen (the one with the blue grid floor in the space arena) and Trench.
– Week 3 Stronghold: This game mode seems to be a territory-like game type. Additionally, we will also be able to vote on which maps are used during the third week of the beta.

Now…did you start your download after watching that cut-scene? Spoilers in the next sentence…
Chief has gone AWOL! And Locke is sent to bring him back!!

This has long been a theory and now has thankfully been confirmed.

Okay Spartans, you’e got your assignment. Download the beta and get to the battlefield as quickly as possible. I’ll see you there!

-Sal
GT = HaloFanForLife1