Halo Infinite Review: A Great Shooter, Still in Progress
Halo infinite
RRP $ 60.00
"Halo Infinite isn't going to reinvent the shooter genre, but it's a fun solo and multiplayer experience that can only get better over time."
advantages
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Classic multiplayer action
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Creative weapons
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Varied battles in single player
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Grappleshot is awesome
disadvantage
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Sometimes disappointingly safe
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Campaign is lacking in ideas
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Unfinished at startup
"Why do you keep doing this?"
"That is everything I know."
This little exchange between an Echo 216 pilot and the Master Chief in Halo Infinite's campaign is a thesis moment for the game itself. Xbox has stood for Halo for 20 years. The shooter series defined Microsoft's entire foray into gaming, with Master Chief achieving icon status. Even after the series took a downturn when 343 Industries first took the helm of Bungie, Microsoft and Xbox fans alike remained committed to the future of the franchise. It's all they knew
Halo Infinite is careful not to disappoint – perhaps too cautiously. Gone are the days when 343 experimented with groundbreaking tweaks that would polarize longtime Spartans. Instead, Infinite plays it safe in multiplayer mode, while all experiments are limited to the single-player, lower-stakes campaign.
The end result is a reliable return to form, evoking the glory days of Halo 3. A lack of signature ideas means the first person shooter genre is unlikely to advance like its best contributions, but it doesn't have to. Halo is Halo, and the formula still works.
Safe multiplayer mode
Halo Infinite's multiplayer has been in beta for a month now, which gives me the rare opportunity to criticize a live service game after actually seeing what it will look like from week to week. After spending dozens of hours partying with friends, I came to a simple conclusion: Halo Infinite is a great multiplayer game, just not a central one.
The nuclear weapon game is second to none. Rather than continuing the unpopular experiments of Halo 4 and 5, 343 Industries stuck to the basics. Infinite feels like it's been pulled out of a box labeled "Halo" – and I don't mean that. The formula works as well as it ever has here, and there's little reason to tinker with it. The games are fast but not too fast, and players are rewarded for using every tool they can. It's less about landing headshots with precision than about using everything you can to melt an opponent's shield.
The best innovation here is the game's arsenal of weapons. Classic halo weapons, like the assault rifle and pistol, have been fine-tuned here to make them feel better than ever. But some of the newer weapons stand out in particular. The Cindershot is a powerful grenade launcher with a lot of power, while the Spit is essentially a harpoon that can blow a vehicle to pieces. They're not all winners (guns like the Ravager feel useless), but players have more options than ever, and that can radically change the feel of the game.
The main problem with multiplayer is a lack of personality. While 343's decision to play it safe is understandable, I can't help but feel like Infinite has no defining properties – and the potential is there.
Players can pick up multipurpose gadgets like shield walls that add an extra layer to battles. The standout tool is the grappleshot, a grappling hook that is an absolute blast when firing. With Grappleshot, vehicle-free players can race across Big Team maps, counter an incoming warthog by clinging to the driver, or pounce on enemies for a close-range kill. It's so comfortable that I immediately felt depressed that I didn't always have it fitted. I keep it so seldom that I practically never get to use it.
Infinite feels like it was plucked from a box labeled "Halo" and I don't mean that.
I understand why 343 didn't build the gameplay around the grappleshot. Long-time fans have complained about the tool and accused the studio of ruining Halo again. But I wish 343 had more faith in his gameplay ideas here. Instead of including their own innovation in the formula, the developers just flirt with new ideas. This makes Halo Infinite feel like a fun shooter, but not one that will change the genre as significantly as its predecessors.
Spider chief
The game's single player campaign takes some bolder moves. A complete reinvention of the Halo formula, it deals in linear missions for open world fluidity. This structure goes surprisingly well with Halo. One of my favorite moments was when I abducted a banshee from the sky, flew it across the map to an outpost, rained fire on a couple of unsuspecting grunts, and then got into a dogfight with another banshee. These little moments between the missions naturally combine the Infinite campaign with the multiplayer Big Team Battle mode.
It's the simple joys that make current single player gameplay work. As in multiplayer, there is a lot of heavy lifting involved in shooting. Even in the weakest moments of the campaign, it's always fun to make waves of opponents forget with a click of the mouse. The wealth of weapons is particularly noticeable here. Every time my clip went off, I knew I could always pull a random weapon from a corpse that would completely change the pace of a fight. I barely touched weapons like the Scattershot Heatwave in multiplayer until I was able to experiment with them in single player.
Movement is the main hook that brings us back to my beloved grappleshot. Unlike multiplayer, Master Chief has always equipped everything here, and that's the best. Traversing the map is an act of joy as Chief can drive up cliffs like Spider-Man. It also adds adorable new tricks to the fight. I always enjoy snatching a distant plasma coil into my hands and throwing it at a pack of enemies. Small details like these enrich an already entertaining shooting system and make every encounter appear different.
It's the simple joys that make current single player gameplay work.
These joys mask many of the campaign's flaws – and there are many. There isn't much variety in open world design. Non-story card activities (like evacuating bases or … evacuating smaller bases) are repetitive. The actual missions usually take place in chrome corridors, which cannot be distinguished from one another. Missions overwhelm the trope of “find a battery to power a door”. Recycled assets and ideas complete the campaign and make it appear much bigger than it actually is.
My biggest annoyance is the tone of the campaign. Characters are constantly joking like Marvel heroes, which can be a scratchy thing. Even the jokes are recycled. On two separate occasions, Chiefs A.I. Companion says a line that ends with a "Wait, don't reply to" punchline. Grunts that were once delightful moments of comic relief now crack one-liners constantly during combat. It's all exhausting and robs every personality from Halo's great science fiction saga.
Despite these issues, the campaign is compact enough not to pull it down completely. While this is an open world game, it is not a maximalist one. Players can play through the story in around 10 hours, even with additional exploration. You can spend a lot more time ticking off card symbols, but the lean approach works here. Longer and the seams of the game would become clearer.
At least it's Halo
Halo Infinite is a strange game to review because it starts in an incomplete state. By introducing a live service model, 343 Industries has a lot of flexibility here. It is able to hold functions until a later date or fail now and fix it later. I described it as a great game surrounded by bad decisions. Some of the choices in the game are so startlingly strange that it feels like they have to change at some point. Some do.
Take the game's Battle Pass, for example. At launch, players were slow to gain experience points by completing daily and weekly challenges. Leveling up on the Battle Pass can take hours, which sucks the feeling of progression from the games. It didn't help that the actual Battle Pass cosmetics are generally lame too (rewards are a single shoulder pad or visor color). The progression system got so much play before it was released that 343 made several changes to fix it. It feels better now, although more tweaks are likely to be imminent.
Halo Infinite is a strange game to review because it starts in an incomplete state.
There are other quality of life issues that have not yet been addressed that are just as confusing. One of them is the fact that playlists are currently limited. Output 343 says it should be dealt with shortly after launch. Players can either jump into Quick Play, Leaderboards, or Big Team Battle, which contain a couple of modes. Currently, you can't just jump into a Team Slayer playlist if that's the only mode you like. You have to battle through objective modes like Oddball for a chance to play the mode you want.
This is especially noticeable in Big Team Battle, which features the game's absolute worst mode, Stockpile. The large-scale twist on Capture the Flag has players slowly walking energy cells to their base over and over again, placing the emphasis on the combat and mobility of the game. I hate it so much that I've largely decided against playing Big Team Battle. It's just not worth it.
It doesn't help that Halo Infinite starts with no full functionality. There's no co-op play until at least May, and the custom blacksmithing mode is even farther away. The lack of co-op at launch is especially disappointing as the campaign feels well suited for this. I want to believe this isn't a big deal. The core multiplayer is good enough that I'll be kept busy by then, but I'm also a little skeptical of the proposed schedules. Will Forge actually make it this year? Will collaboration be delayed if 343 is forced to make more fundamental changes in the quality of life? Playlist issues and weapon balance feel more urgent right now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they priority.
I can only criticize Halo Infinite with promises at this point. It's not the game it will be in five years. The question is, do I feel that it is in a good position to realize its potential? Historically, 343 is a responsive developer and I'm sure he will quickly address the more basic fan complaints based on his reaction to the Battle Pass. There's just no telling how quickly it can do that, especially given the game's already slow development cycle.
However, it is a strong foundation and one that is specially designed to deal with disasters. No matter what, Halo Infinite's problems are not fundamental. The safe approach to multiplayer means that any problem can be dismissed with an "Uh, at least Halo" answer.
Halo Infinite is a fitting name. When done right, core shooting really feels infinitely playable. The title isn't so much a great statement of the quality of the game; It's just comfort that 343 didn't rock the boat this time.
Our opinion
Halo Infinite is a worthy Halo game, pure and simple. Multiplayer doesn't do much to evolve the series or shooter genre, but the formula still works and there are some new twists here to make it feel fresh enough. The compact open-world campaign is a bit lacking in ideas, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is fun enough to make up for uninspired design. It's a shame it starts in an unfinished state and lacks key features like campaign co-op, but there's a lot to get players to log in for now.
Is there a better alternative?
Splitgate is a more creative shooter that builds on the Halo formula instead of repeating it. For a longer, more complex open-world FPS, try Far Cry 6.
How long it will take?
The campaign will likely last 15 hours for most players if they do a healthy amount of open world activity. Multiplayer will likely be supported for a good portion, if not all, of the life of the Xbox Series X.
Should you buy it?
Yes sir. Or more precisely, if you have the Xbox Game Pass, you should download the free multiplayer and try the campaign. Both aspects are very entertaining, even if they don't do much to advance the series.
Halo Infinite was verified using an early verification code from Microsoft.
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