Lawrence Metten is leaving Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries. Metten was the lead multiplayer designer on Halo 5: Guardians and was employed at 343 for five years. He announced his leaving in a tweet today.
Metten graduated from the Vancouver Film School with a game design diploma in 2009. He was hired by Microsoft’s BigPark later that year, and there he helped ship Kinect Joy Ride. He moved on from BigPark in September 2013 to join the team at 343 Industries. Metten was a senior multiplayer designer on Halo 5, and was involved in designing the Warzone, and Breakout modes.
Warzone is a 24-player mode that features two teams of 12, and AI-controlled enemies on expansive maps. Warzone relies upon the microtransaction-influenced Requisition system that allows players to purchase weapons and vehicles in-game. A team wins Warzone by destroying the other team’s base or by earning 1000 points.
Breakout is new to Halo 5 and is a single flag elimination mode that requires a lot of teamwork and engagement to win. Classic modes like Slayer returned to Halo 5 but with new information like weapon-spawn timers that alter the flow of the game. Halo 5‘s biggest mix-up for the series was bringing true aim down sights (ADS) gunplay to the game, which altered the flow and maneuverability of gameplay.
We thought Halo 5: Guardians was a great game in the franchise. In our review we praised Warzone and the smaller Arena for catering to different sects of the Halo community. The story didn’t fully land for us, although we liked the gameplay mechanics and variety of the campaign. The Halo community was more divided by the game, some loved the new direction while others derided it.
There has been backlash to the Requisition system since the game’s release. 343 Industries push for Halo 5 to be a 60 fps title made the game more responsive, and made the multiplayer a more competitively viable experience. 343 Industries is currently developing Halo Infinite and revealed that game at E3 2018.
