Halo Infinite Review
In 2001, one of the most important videogames of all time, Halo: Combat Evolved, was released with Microsoft's new console, the Xbox. Halo revolutionized the gaming industry by introducing different, better controls and good level design. Twenty years later, the 7th fps title was added to its roster.
Halo Infinite was announced in 2018 during E3, with a lot of positive reactions to it. On June 9th, 2019, a cinematic trailer was released showcasing the Master Chief and a new character, Echo-216, or The Pilot. On July 20th, 2020, an 8 minute video demo for the campaign was released, with mixed reception, causing the game to be delayed until the 2020 holiday season when it was delayed a second time. In 2021, multiple beta testing flights were released from July to October. Then, on Combat Evolved’s birthday, the Multiplayer was released for Xbox and PC. After all the delays and the multiplayer reveal, the full campaign was released on December 8th, 2021. After almost 2 months of its arrival, how does its multiplayer and campaign stack up against its predecessors?
The Halo Infinite Multiplayer had an early “beta” that was playable on November 15th, 2021. The multiplayer overall is very good, as there are many weapons at your disposal, and the addition of equipment that will give you special abilities like a grappling hook, or the ability to go invisible for a little while. There are also many vehicles that you can pilot, such as the Wasp, a UNSC aircraft or the Warthog, a jeep-like car that has multiple seats for 3 people and a machine gun in the back. But it was also controversial, because of the absurd microtransactions and lack of recognizable game modes. After about a week of its release, a new event, “Fractures: Tenrai,” was released to a lot of backlash. Firstly, it was advertised as a free 30 tier event where you can earn samurai armor just by playing the game. But most of the items they advertised weren’t in the first week of the event and other items were paid. Secondly, you could only earn 7 tiers a month, so you would have to wait a long time before being able to earn more rewards. This was fixed in January when the event came back with a more positive reception. But the event was still flawed, and the next return will come with more changes. Even so, the campaign is revolutionary for the Halo franchise.
Halo campaigns are simple by story mode standards. You finish each level one by one by defeating enemies and going through cutscenes. After completing the campaign, you can replay the levels in any order you’d like. In Halo Infinite, the campaign is very different from the classic Halo format. In Halo Infinite you play as the Master Chief again as the UNSC finds Zeta Halo, a superweapon with many secrets, and are attacked by The Banished, a new foe. As you explore the ring, you learn more about its dark secrets, including The Endless, an ancient race of aliens that aren’t affected by the effects of the ring’s power. The campaign has an open world, allowing you to travel and explore the Halo ring’s surface. There are also FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) that allow you to use quick travel and acquire power weapons like the Rocket Launcher, or a vehicle, like the Scorpion tank. Also, friendly Marines will spawn at FOBs. Most levels or missions are completed by going to objectives on the map and completing them. You can also kill Banished mini bosses that grant you a strong weapon variant, and as an extra bonus, you can find armor lockers across the map to unlock multiplayer cosmetics. While the campaign is fun, it lacks an incentive to replay it after completing it once, which was a staple of the other Halo campaigns. You don’t even have the choice to replay missions after completing them all because of the open world aspect. After you complete all of the side bosses, there isn’t a point in fighting enemies because there are no more missions to complete for weapons or collectibles. In my opinion, the campaign is the best that Halo has been since Halo: Reach. But it lacks some of the core aspects of what made most of the other campaigns successful.
Halo Infinite is a welcome addition to the line of games in the franchise, after a dip in popularity due to the failures of Halo 4 and Halo 5. It isn’t perfect, but in my opinion, it is a return to form for the game franchise once considered the best ever.