Author: Rich Meister
Oh, Master Chief, how long has it been. It feels like forever, I can tell you that much, but we’ve finally set foot on Halo Installation Zeta, and while I tend to hate this term in game reviews, Halo Infinite is a mixed bag. The original Halo reinvented the first-person shooter genre, and Infinite takes a lot from the original game. Some of it is the best the series has ever offered, and some are a big swing and a miss.
Halo Infinite (PC[reviewed], Xbox One, Xbox Series X)
Developer: 343 Industries
Publisher: Microsoft
Released: December 8, 2021
MSRP: $60 (Included as part of Gamepass)
Halo Infinite is mechanically the best Halo game I’ve ever played. The guns and vehicles all feel exactly how you remember them, but the one thing that sets it apart is that damn grappling hook. Have to hand it to 343 here; they make a damn fine grappling hook. Not only does it feel good to whip Chief’s body around vehicles and hijack midair Banshees, but the cooldown is so quick that you don’t ever stop using it, and it shakes up the whole flow of combat. It’s so damn fun. You’ll probably never even use Chief’s other abilities like a mobile radar and a drop shield.
It’s also worth noting that Halo Infinite is now in a semi-open world. I say “semi” because it isn’t a vast map where you can move in any direction but a smaller overworld filled with your typical copy and past enemy camp and high priority target missions that get you from one more purposefully designed level to the other. Finishing these tasks rewards you with unique weapon variants you can spawn at forward operating bases; these custom weapons are fun but can’t last long in the more thoughtfully designed missions making them a very limited use case.
This non-committal stance toward an open world results in a lack of variety in these more thoughtfully designed areas; you’re either out in the extensive forest areas or inside shiny metal corridors. Long gone are the deserts and cityscapes of Halo past. Having the entire game take place on the ringworld limits how varied these environments can be. Still, even the original game’s snowy mountains and levels like The Silent Cartographer showed these instillations had more to offer.
Enemy types are also largely lacking in variety in ways that might suprise longtime fans. Virtually every enemy is plucked right from Halo 2. Your typical Grunts, Elites, jackals, and Brutes all show up to the party, along with some of the sentinels from the ring’s defense system. Still, the Flood has no presence, and the newer forerunner enemies from 343’s other Halo titles are also gone. This wouldn’t be a huge issue if there were no enemy types to replace them, but having less variety in your encounters than even Halo 2 is a glaring problem.
While the gameplay is possibly, the best Halo has ever had, even if the environments and enemy variety big it down a bit, the biggest problem plaguing Halo Infinite is the clunky narrative. 343 wrote themselves into a corner with the weird soap opera narrative of Cortana’s heel turn in the previous two Halo titles, their big solution? Resolve it all offscreen. At Infinite’s outset, Cortana has committed some cosmic genocide but has already been wiped out by UNSC remnants, and Chief is teaming up with the AI that was sent to destroy her to take down Halo Zeta.
It’s insanely more complicated and convoluted than all that. Still, in broad strokes, they gloss over a lot and introduce a lot of characters you might not be familiar with unless you’ve played Halo Wars 2 and a few entirely new ones that are spoken about like you should know who they are. The Pelican pilot character shown in all the trailers is clearly meant to be the human character who grounds the story, but he simply comes off as a whiny character for Chief to bounce how cold he is off of. Some might find something to appreciate in this character, but it didn’t resonate much with me.
Much like back in the days of the Xbox 360, multiplayer is where Halo Infinite shines. The now free-to-play multiplayer experience does feel like stepping back to a lost era. The longer time to kill not present in most modern-day shooters feels like a breath of fresh air, even if it is a taste of the past. The weapon variety leaves a bit to be desired, but that essentially means I could just do without half the weapons in this game. I’m looking at you almost every Covenant weapon.
The biggest things missing from the campaign feel ever-present in the multiplayer maps are varied and colorful from desert bases to cityscapes; there’s something fresh for the eyes every time you load in.
Classic modes like Slayer, Oddball, and Big Team Battle are as fun now as they were ten years ago. The most significant changes come in progression. Naturally, since this is a free-to-play model, you have a season pass. While free unlocks are present, the bulk of customization options come on the ten-dollar premium pass. Season one is Heroes of Reach, and unlike a lot of online games, this pass will never expire. As long as you paid for it, you can take as much time as you like to get every unlock.
Verdict: Halo Infinite swings hard in multiple directions; the multiplayer is as impressive as ever, and at the low price of free, there’s no reason not to jump in. when it comes to the campaign Its a tougher sell. While the actual gameplay of Halo Infinite is the best the series has ever produced, it's narratively the worst game in the series by a large margin, and I don’t expect much out of Halo’s story. If you’re really itching for some single-player Halo, you’ll find plenty to love if it isn’t something you absolutely need; just enjoy that free multiplayer and wait for a sale.
Wait for a sale
[This review is based on a retail build of the game purchased by the reviewer]