The original Halo trilogy understood the importance of simplicity. Everything about it worked within the confines of classic shooter design and a formula Bungie managed to master with three exemplary games throughout the noughties. When the time came for 343 Industries to pick up the mantle and innovate, it made changes that complicated perfection, diluting the golden triangle of gunplay, melee, and grenades with needless new abilities and game modes that forgot exactly why Halo worked in the first place. I still have a soft spot in my heart for Halo 4 and Halo 5, mostly due to nostalgia, but it’s impossible to deny that they made more than a few dodgy decisions in favour of ill-advised progress.
Halo Infinite strikes a satisfying middle ground, or at least I think it does from the hours I spent with the technical test this past weekend. 343 Industries has recognised the shortcomings of its output thus far while also keeping in the meaningful steps forward it managed to take. Sprinting remains, ensuring the game feels like a modern shooter as opposed to trudging through a paddling pool full of custard, while weapons like the assault rifle, battle rifle, and plasma pistol control exactly as they did two decades ago. Time to kill is shorter, with a single clip of your rifle enough to whittle down an opponent’s shields before charging in for a lethal melee attack. Enemies now go flying, marking the return of a comedic slapstick edge that was sorely missing in Guardians. Obviously I still have concerns, but right now, I’m all in on Halo Infinite – I just pray the campaign doesn’t suck.
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Reaction to the technical test across my friends and colleagues has been mixed, and I understand all of their perspectives. Some are hungry for the Halo of old, a back-to-basics approach to movement and gunplay that does away with any and all fanciful extras in favour of an experience that demands skill and nothing more. Others seem pretty happy with 343’s soft reboot, recognising how it remains faithful to the classics while not completely abandoning the reputation it began to build with The Reclaimer Trilogy.
I’m in the latter camp, since I feel delivering a Halo experience akin to the first three games in 2021 wouldn’t work for the audience Xbox is trying to capitalise upon. Infinite is clearly trying to compete with Fortnite and Warzone by going free-to-play with its multiplayer, so it needs to deliver moment-to-moment gunplay that is fast, frenetic, and offers enough for newcomers and veterans to remain invested. While longtime fans would love the vanilla formula to make a comeback, I’m not sure it would last in today’s landscape, but I can absolutely see 343 introducing classic playlists and events that purposely fold in this legacy.
We see this new identity in every aspect of Halo Infinite, although I’m being careful not to draw conclusions because the technical test is such a minute offering. We saw three different maps, all of which were on the small side and favoured close-quarters firefights. Each one had three distinct sections with a focus on distinct verticality. You can clamber upon ledges for the advantage, or opt for tunnels beneath the battlefield to navigate the map in search of weapons and resources without stirring the hornet’s nest. Sight lines are clear, while there’s enough cover to play around with and escape a firefight if you need to restore your shields or don’t feel confident in dealing the final blow. However, I will admit that bots hinder experimentation right now, given they don’t act like real people and pull off headshots like nobody’s business.
343 is keen to keep things strict and lacking in ambition while it works out all the kinks, but I hope future tests provide a glimpse at vehicles, other game modes, and a greater emphasis on PvP action. A public beta is more than likely ahead of the rumoured November release, but right now the studio is keen to keep the majority of its cards hidden unless something goes awry. Well, someone left files detailing the entire campaign inside so that’s already gone out the window, but I have to admire its honesty in dealing with these problems with such transparency.
To make a more established comparison for this article, I went back and dabbled with multiplayer in Halo 3 and Halo 5: Guardians to see how different both games really are – and the answer is very. Guardians is an awfully fast game with a weird emphasis on obtuse game modes and aerial movement, while Halo 3 is a finely tuned shooter classic that knew exactly where to pull its punches. One game is clearly superior, yet both have their merits, and Halo Infinite is fully aware of the fact that these qualities must be combined if they hope to move forward without hopelessly relying on the past.
As I said before, Infinite feels like the ideal combination of both while taking modern sensibilities into account. Halo can’t stomach another failure, and 343 is keenly aware that it must strike a balance that keeps the property relevant while striving to adopt fans who couldn’t tell their Sangheili from their Mjolnir. With Xbox Game Pass acting as the landing platform for Halo Infinite, it stands a chance at being Master Chief’s biggest adventure yet.
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