So about that Halo Infinite Campaign...
Proper Context
I played Halo Infinite on my laptop using the Xcloud streaming service. I played in performance mode. I rushed to complete the campaign before my subscription ended. I haven’t played Halo since I was around 9 years old, but I loved the games back then. I primarily play on PlayStation, but I had to give this one a go (along with Forza).
What I liked
The gameplay mechanics are extremely refined. The weapons feel good, the movement feels like a proper evolution of old Halo, and the abilities compliment all of it. A great example is the grapple hook which is new to the series. This particular ability opens up the battlefield/arenas even more for creative plays and exciting player-driven experiences. Vehicles add another level of complexity that can easily turn the tide of a battle or get you out of a tough situation. The team built on a solid gameplay foundation and I enjoyed it.
Weapon Variety is a delight while playing Halo Infinite. There’s a plethora of weapons to experiment with. You have your staple weapons that pop up frequently and then you have your more specialized weapons that pop up less often, but are typically very exciting to use. My personal favorites were the rocket launcher, skewer, and sentinel beam.
The grunt dialogue is probably my favorite example of character building that I experienced while playing Halo Infinite. Personally, I don’t know much Halo lore, but after just hearing the grunts chatter and shout battle cries I felt like I knew exactly who I was facing. The dialogue is charming and the game would not be the same without it.
What didn’t stick with me
The side activities just didn’t resonate with me. I was doing a bit of them at the beginning, but they ended up feeling repetitive and uneventful. There were no interesting characters to meet or scenarios to unfold. I hesitate to call them side missions because they didn’t feel as such.
Abilities/Grenades selection was very clunky.
Traversing the world felt awkward. There’s a lot of vehicles in Halo Infinite that are a blast to use in battle, but when traveling around the map I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit clunky. Using the mongoose would usually end up with me stuck in some rocks or being flipped after a big jump. Trying to hover around rocky terrain in a ghost can get finicky real quick. However, the flying vehicles proved efficient. Near the end of my playthrough I ended up just getting around using the upgraded grapple hook.
What I didn’t like
The Open World felt flat and lifeless. There’s no weather system, wildlife (aside from the occasional flock of birds), or much of anything to help bring the world to life. The lack of biomes makes the world feel too similar all around.
An additional note: The game did not look pretty playing through Xcloud. A lot of low resolution textures and jarring pop-in was an issue while playing.
The quest design is unbearably repetitive. The main campaign will have you going in this process:
Travel to a point of interest (POI), enter metallic dungeon, fight enemies, activate terminals, fight boss enemy and repeat.
I understand that games have a core gameplay loop, but it wasn’t iterated upon in any meaningful way. At times it felt like sections of a dungeon were there simply to extend playtime.
The dungeons lack variety and feel the exact same. I grew tired of looking at those metallic walls very quickly.
Sometimes the game will have you do all of this, but in multiple parts. I am not a fan.
The characters are lackluster. I didn’t connect with the pilot, Echo-216 (what is his name?), and he felt annoying at times. I think the writers were trying to use the pilot to create some contrast to Master Chief’s gung-ho nature, but I don’t feel it was executed effectively. The weapon (cortana 2) is kind of quirky and interesting, but I feel like the dynamic between her and Master Chief didn’t really get to go anywhere. Maybe her character resonates with previous Halo fans since she’s connected to Cortana. The main villain Escharum is very 1 dimensional and bland. At times I forgot he even existed. At most I just wanted him to shut up (he talks a lot!).
Weapon Management was something that frustrated me a lot. This is most likely a ‘Halo’ thing, but having to constantly pick up new weapons became annoying. There were weapons I wanted to keep using, but they would quickly run out of ammo and I’d be forced to pick up something else like a needler or some other weapon I didn’t want to use.
Final Thoughts
Overall, the game was “Ok”, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t already a Halo fan.