Last week, I dropped a new preview of Halo Infinite, focusing on the first few missions and the first couple of hours of Master Chief’s latest adventure. My conclusion was that while some people might be disappointed that the game’s year-long delay hasn’t led to a huge graphical uplift, this is a return to form for the Halo series – and I was having the most fun with it I’ve had with a Halo game since the Halo 3 and ODST, a pairing which I somewhat consider a golden age.
I still can’t talk about anything beyond that first little chunk of the game, but even after I was done with the preview, I carried on tooling around Zeta Halo, the modestly-sized open world that’s used to string the story missions and optional side content together. The more I played, the more acutely I began to understand the rules of this open world… and I started the campaign over a couple of times to experience those first few missions and early moments as the world unfurls before you again.
I did this over the course of the weekend, after publishing my preview, until yesterday morning. At that point, Microsoft did something that is pretty common with early builds like this: they revoked access to it, so the team at 343 Industries can push final tweaks and changes before critics return for the ‘review’ phase of things. Usually when this happens I’m just bemused: I go off and play something else. But to Halo Infinite’s credit… something is different this time out.
