Review
Played on: Xbox Series XReleased: 2021
Apart from updates, recently to the Halo Master Chief Collection, there really hasn't been a new mainline Halo release since Halo 5: Guardians, back in in 2015. While I felt H5 was a fine release, it did feel as if the franchise needed to reinvent itself in a new direction. 2020 saw the delay of Halo Infinite, delaying its sport as a launch title for the new Xbox Series X/S.
Clearly the extra year with polish seems to have made the end product really shine. Much like how Gears 5 ventured into some large sandbox areas, to renew itself, Halo Infinite takes this open approach even further and goes completely open world.
A bold move, especially in a gaming market crowded with open world titles. Halo Infinite though, walks a path of both familiarity and innovation, neatly entangled for an excellent result that feels like quality has been prioritised over quantity. A smart move is the first hour of play, going from an elegantly presented cutscene explaining the background story, then easing the player into familiar Halo gameplay.
However, Halo Infinite doesn't throw the player into the open world just yet. Instead, it warms you back into the Halo combat in a linear corridor like fashion. Perfect for newcomers to the series too. Allowing you to try out a few weapons and get comfortable with the old-school style of corridor shooters, with hip firing and manoeuvring about to avoid oncoming fire.
A bold move, especially in a gaming market crowded with open world titles. Halo Infinite though, walks a path of both familiarity and innovation, neatly entangled for an excellent result that feels like quality has been prioritised over quantity. A smart move is the first hour of play, going from an elegantly presented cutscene explaining the background story, then easing the player into familiar Halo gameplay.
However, Halo Infinite doesn't throw the player into the open world just yet. Instead, it warms you back into the Halo combat in a linear corridor like fashion. Perfect for newcomers to the series too. Allowing you to try out a few weapons and get comfortable with the old-school style of corridor shooters, with hip firing and manoeuvring about to avoid oncoming fire.
Halo Infinite then holds back it’s much showcased open world, from its pre-release trailers, even further. Building up the suspense for a real draw dropping moment for Halo fans and newcomers alike. So, when you finally reach the surface of the Halo ring, a hangar door opens and in front of you and in a moment of awe the beautiful vista of a typical Halo landscape is laid out in front of you.
Even here, it eases you in, you get to walk within an enemy base freely. After this partially open, but restricted battle area, you're escorted in a spaceship to another part of the ring. This is where, finally, the player is left to their own demise in a completely open world.
It's an absolutely brilliant way of gradually opening the worlde up for the player. Add to this, that Halo Infinite never drowns the player with tons of side missions or cluttered map screens. It’s probably one of the best open world games to begin with for anybody interested in first person shooters.
What a view Halo Infinite is! Sure, we have been used to some large-scale battles from Halo 3, but this takes it to a whole new level altogether and it never suited the series better. Halo always has been about this shift between indoor, corridor styled gunfights, to large outdoors battlefield areas. Halo Infinite caters perfectly for both, being even more ambitious with its free-to-roam world.
Just standing in a grassy field, surrounded by pine forests, mountains and looking up at the massive Halo ring stretching above you as the sun is setting, is incredible. No longer are the vehicles just fun distractions, but also necessary to get around the map quicker.
Even here, it eases you in, you get to walk within an enemy base freely. After this partially open, but restricted battle area, you're escorted in a spaceship to another part of the ring. This is where, finally, the player is left to their own demise in a completely open world.
It's an absolutely brilliant way of gradually opening the worlde up for the player. Add to this, that Halo Infinite never drowns the player with tons of side missions or cluttered map screens. It’s probably one of the best open world games to begin with for anybody interested in first person shooters.
What a view Halo Infinite is! Sure, we have been used to some large-scale battles from Halo 3, but this takes it to a whole new level altogether and it never suited the series better. Halo always has been about this shift between indoor, corridor styled gunfights, to large outdoors battlefield areas. Halo Infinite caters perfectly for both, being even more ambitious with its free-to-roam world.
Just standing in a grassy field, surrounded by pine forests, mountains and looking up at the massive Halo ring stretching above you as the sun is setting, is incredible. No longer are the vehicles just fun distractions, but also necessary to get around the map quicker.
Be it finishing main story objectives, attacking bases with resources, destroying strongholds or just saving stranded marines in the field. It feels so refreshing, for a series that was overdue for innovation.
Outside of the stunning graphics, the presentation of cutscenes is incredible. What really left an impression, was how fantastic the new and bubbly personality to Cortana was. Visually, she has been toned down in her sexuality, but her personality is turned up tenfold. From happy and enthusiastic, to sarcastic and disappointed, Cortana really delivers her best performance yet.
As usual, I feel the overall story arc of the forerunners is confusing, touching on being convoluted. But I always enjoyed the more direct plot of each game more anyway, rather than the big picture of the universe's lore. Halo Infinite tells a captivating story to help keep the whole momentum of the story.
For game length we're talking about 17-20 hours here. I think it suits the genre not to get hampered down too much with side missions and collectibles. You can add some extra hours collecting special weapons, but luckily, it’s not a massive amount and they result in more powerful weapons and vehicles at your disposal. It feels like the ideal length, never slowing down or feeling dragged out.
Gameplay feels instantly at home when it comes to that distinct Halo experience, yet it adds new, cool elements. There’s a tiny level tree, which lets you upgrade five various special abilities. One is a threat sensor, that will light up enemies in an area, the thruster ability lets you quickly boost yourself in any direction, a drop wall will defend you from oncoming fire, a shield core will give you an extra shield.
As usual, I feel the overall story arc of the forerunners is confusing, touching on being convoluted. But I always enjoyed the more direct plot of each game more anyway, rather than the big picture of the universe's lore. Halo Infinite tells a captivating story to help keep the whole momentum of the story.
For game length we're talking about 17-20 hours here. I think it suits the genre not to get hampered down too much with side missions and collectibles. You can add some extra hours collecting special weapons, but luckily, it’s not a massive amount and they result in more powerful weapons and vehicles at your disposal. It feels like the ideal length, never slowing down or feeling dragged out.
Gameplay feels instantly at home when it comes to that distinct Halo experience, yet it adds new, cool elements. There’s a tiny level tree, which lets you upgrade five various special abilities. One is a threat sensor, that will light up enemies in an area, the thruster ability lets you quickly boost yourself in any direction, a drop wall will defend you from oncoming fire, a shield core will give you an extra shield.
However, the last ability, is the most interesting. A grapple hook! Adding a whole new dimension to Halo's gameplay. Allowing Master Chief to shoot out a hook and pull himself towards it.
At first, you're using the hook simply to climb to higher ground, but after a while you start being clever with it. Shooting it at objects in front of you, to quickly manoeuvre about, or even better, shoot it at an enemy vehicle! Pulling yourself to it and then kicking the driver and occupying the vehicle yourself! It’s neat, new gameplay element, that quickly becomes second nature.
There’s also a handful of new weaponry to play around with, although I tend to keep myself to the conventional firearms. Some of the new alien energy-based weaponry have some cool looking and powerful projectiles to attack with. From captured human bases, called forward stations, you can spawn weapons or vehicles you've discovered across the map
Alongside classics like a fast quad bike or a Warthog, you can also activate a small spaceship. This vehicle is really neat as it can fly anywhere and gives you a great overlook of the massive world from above. I liked using this to traverse the Halo ring and collect hidden items that were hard to reach by foot.
Multiplayer is in top form too, my favourite being team deathmatch or slayer as Halo calls it. Combined with the 120fps mode, multiplayer plays as smooth as butter and incredibly responsive. Having a FOV option makes its gameplay incredible for competitive play. There are hours of fun to be spent in its online matches. Sadly, a campaign coop is missing, the game begs for a friend to share a Warthog with and go exploring. A coop update in 2022 is in the works, apparently.
At first, you're using the hook simply to climb to higher ground, but after a while you start being clever with it. Shooting it at objects in front of you, to quickly manoeuvre about, or even better, shoot it at an enemy vehicle! Pulling yourself to it and then kicking the driver and occupying the vehicle yourself! It’s neat, new gameplay element, that quickly becomes second nature.
Alongside classics like a fast quad bike or a Warthog, you can also activate a small spaceship. This vehicle is really neat as it can fly anywhere and gives you a great overlook of the massive world from above. I liked using this to traverse the Halo ring and collect hidden items that were hard to reach by foot.
Multiplayer is in top form too, my favourite being team deathmatch or slayer as Halo calls it. Combined with the 120fps mode, multiplayer plays as smooth as butter and incredibly responsive. Having a FOV option makes its gameplay incredible for competitive play. There are hours of fun to be spent in its online matches. Sadly, a campaign coop is missing, the game begs for a friend to share a Warthog with and go exploring. A coop update in 2022 is in the works, apparently.
Update: Coop has been added and works very well! I've had great fun in replaying the game together with friends.
Halo Infinite is about reinventing itself and putting Halo once again in the spotlight of shooters. It has done so, in an incredibly successful manner, both single- and multiplayer.
Halo Infinite is about reinventing itself and putting Halo once again in the spotlight of shooters. It has done so, in an incredibly successful manner, both single- and multiplayer.
While you could argue that the number of things to do and length of the main campaign can seem a little short compared to other open world games, I found it refreshingly well paced. It's about quality over quantity, though I must point out that the visual variation is sparse. Maybe next time we'll see more distinct areas in singleplayer, with snow and deserts added to it's world?
It’s been great to see this classic Xbox series back in such a healthy form, I can’t wait for new multiplayer maps or campaign expansions to be added down the line.
Hail the Master Chief, he’s back and better than ever!
It’s been great to see this classic Xbox series back in such a healthy form, I can’t wait for new multiplayer maps or campaign expansions to be added down the line.
Hail the Master Chief, he’s back and better than ever!
