Mario Kart is still simple multiplayer fun, but with a weak SP and really no chatting online is a real downer. Cause Mario Kart without all the cursing isn't even half the fun. :-p

I agree for Mario Kart, i miss the days of Double Dash, the only episode that took real risks and made something really fun, since that one, mario kart is kinda boring, the charm is gone

Yeah, Mario Kart is a relatively simple fun game. Its a very polished product, but it doesen't offer much content and the series hasn't felt fresh since the N64. Regardless we see millions lose their shit over it... the same damn game now with 7th gen graphics.

Yet something like Halo 5 comes along and actually does unique things and offers an enjoyable campaign. But wait... no local multiplayer?!?! 5/10!

It just shows some critics create arbitrary expectations.

Yes. 5/10 is definitely underrated. And for a professional reviewer the whole content should count.

There's other things too. Halo 5 offers a great MP. Even if the campaign was bad, is it fair to rate it worse than a game with equally good MP but no campaign?

Yes, I think so. The campaign was very average with a forgettable story like most FPS games. And the multiplayer is fun but not significantly better than COD or Destiny. 

thanks for the straight answer.  What could they even do to get it back where it was? Change too much and its not Halo and you anger alot of people, keep on course and continue the slow decline.

Personally I think they should go back to the drawing board. Go all in for Halo 6. Make it the next Goldeneye, Halo 1 or CoD4 that redifines what we think a FPS should be. Its risky. But I think it needs to happen.

They can keep a lot of things they have achieved with Halo 5. Removing armour abilities we had in Reach and 4 but giving the standard sprint and the boost was one of the right things.

And it really is a mixed bag of complaints Halo 5 gets at the moment. Some don't want any real change at all, they'd rather have Halo like it was eight years ago.
Some only criticize the weak spots, ignoring the strenghts.

I think it was easy to redefine the FPS when there weren't a hundred studios making big budget FPS games. Halo 5 was a return to the basics in some ways. The level design is more simplistic and many of the abilities are now gone. What really makes Halo 5 feel fresh is the way the players can move around. Frankly, its a great balanced experience only Halo seems to offer.

If the campaign were longer and the game offered split screen there would be less to complain about. But people would still exagerate the impact micro transactions.

If you look at sales of other mega popular IPs, they have also declined. Including CoD, BF, AC, GT, etc. Mario games go up and down based on the success of the platform. Even if MS attempted something drastically different I don't think there is a guarantee is would stimulate sales in a significant or positive way. I feel Halo 4 was amazing, maybe the best in the series, but people seem to think it ruined the IP. You can't please everyone.

Some people, though pretty loud ones say Halo 4 ruined the franchise. The same ones say MP sucked and no one wants to play it. But Halo 4 isn't only still played on Xbox 360, Halo levels are often chosen by MCC players. Isn't that a bit strange if no one likes it?
About microtransactions: You don't need to pay money. And actually warzone is the only game mode where you need REQ's at all. That's actually much ado about nothing.

On the other hand there's the campaign. In some ways it's more typical Halo than Halo 4 was. In others it's not. I'm not saying it's perfect. The campaign is good but not great because of multiple reasons. But complaining about everything is outright stupid. There's enough to criticize, but not to complain about everything.
And yes, splitscreen. That one really is an issue. Because splitscreen MP and coop always was somewhat of a Halo gold standard.

I think the MP is fine, it just hasn't changed a whole lot, it simply isn't my goto mp shooter. The campaign was a snoozer in 4 and still is in 5, split screen made the campaigns for me in Halo 1 and 2, so that isn't much of a surprise. Halo solo has this innate ability to make me fall asleep these days (FWIW, so does Mario Kart, both solo and multi).