There was no reason to mess with Halo’s controls, and the only notable difference between what you’ll find here versus Halo 3 is the addition of armour abilities (introduced in Halo: Reach). Gunplay is tight as a drum, allowing for precision aiming whether zoomed or firing from the hip. Vehicles handle exactly how you remember from the cumbersome Scorpion to the fishtailing Warthog — speaking of which, the game seems to assume you’ve played before as there were no instructions (at least on higher difficulty settings).

There are a handful of vehicular sequences as well, which handle pretty well but also suffer from a limited viewable area since you drive cars from the first-person perspective. It’s a decent setup that takes its lumps in those moments when the game veers away from traditional FPS fare.

Seated atop the list is the use of the Vita’s rear camera. Periodically you’ll be asked to point the lens at a “bright light” and then rotate an object on the touch screen to reveal a hidden location, which will then move the story forward. It’s absolutely broken. I took my Vita outside and pointed the rear camera at the sun (THE SUN!) and it didn’t register as a bright enough object. Eventually I found that if I moved the Vita around for a while something would trigger the event and I’d be able to move forward.

Once you switch to the action menu you’ll be able to use your squad’s abilities and target enemies as well as take up defensive positions or reload your weapon. Here d-pad shuffles through your available actions, and once you take aim the bumpers let you check out your targeting options (complete with hit and critical percentage breakdowns). Every once in a while you might inadvertently move to a grid that you did not intend and wish there was a cancel function, but outside of that it’s nearly flawless.

Outside of the shooting there are a couple of rudimentary driving sequences and an odd collection of melee encounters that are part QTE (Quick Time Event), part analog boxing. While the latter is fine as the occasional change of pace, it’s overused and creates some of the least interesting boss fights you’re likely to find in a game.