Halo Infinite campaign preview a spectacular return to form

Date:
Fri, 19 Nov 2021 10:02:32 +0000

Description:
The first four missions of Halo Infinite's campaign have left us incredibly impressed and eager for more.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Preview information

Time played: First four missions

Platform: Xbox Series X

Anyone familiar with Halo's Master Chief will know that the 7-foot Spartan is a man of few words. So, in the spirit of John-117, I'm going to cut right to the chase Halo Infinites campaign has the potential to be the greatest entry in the series to date.

That might sound hyperbolic, blasphemous even to those who still regard ex-developer Bungies titles as the crme de la crme of Halo campaigns. But after completing the first four missions of Halo Infinite s campaign, which releases on December 8, 2021, trust me when I say that the games
single-player experience took my admittedly cautious expectations and fired them into the stratosphere.

The ghost of Halo 5: Guardians monotonous and uninspired campaign which has loomed over developer 343 Industries like a dark and ominous cloud since 2015
has finally been exorcised. The horribly convoluted story, drawn-out gunfights, and meaningless characters are gone. In its place is a game that captures the very essence of Halo: Combat Evolved and delivers something that the original title never feasibly could genuine player freedom. Halo
Infinite price and release date What is it? A first-person shooter and the sixth mainline entry in the Halo series Release date? December 8, 2021 What can I play it on? Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC Price? $59.99 / 54.99 / $AU79.95 Brothers in arms (Image credit: Microsoft)

While I wont delve into too much of Halo Infinites main story elements
(though I will say I was hooked from the opening cutscene), I do want to talk about Halo Infinites three newest cast members: The Weapon, The Pilot, and Escharum.

Halo veterans will instantly gravitate towards the games new AI companion,
The Weapon. She oozes charisma and almost feels like a familiar face due to her similarities to Cortana. She isnt just a carbon copy, though. The Weapon is a lot more easygoing than her holographic counterpart (especially given Cortanas dramatic character shift in Halo 4 and Halo 5) and has a habit of bringing out a more playful side of Master Chief that players have rarely seen.

The new AI is noticeably more naive than Cortana ever was, too, and like you the player shes slowly trying to piece together everything thats happened since the Banished a powerful army consisting of Brutes and Covenants defeated humanitys forces, the UNSC. From her witty interjections to her thoughtful observations, it feels great to have a little voice inside Chiefs head again.

The Pilot, similarly, is also strangely likable straight away. Desperate to return home to his family, The Pilot gets embroiled in helping Chief take
down the Banished and seems like hell add some grounded perspective to the super-soldiers relentless pursuit of duty. Although the Pilot plays more of
an ancillary role early on, Im excited to find out more about how his story progresses as the game goes on.

And as for Halo Infinites antagonists, the Banished? Well, lets just say I cant remember the last time I was truly intimidated by an enemy in a Halo game. That was until the guttural, grave tones of the Banished leader
Escharum graced my presence. Hes one terrifying Brute and establishes himself as a formidable foe early on. Halo reborn (Image credit: Microsoft)

Halo Infinites story is very promising, then. But Id argue that the series lore isnt exactly the main reason why so many players fell in love with the original game 20 years ago. No, its the moment-to-moment gameplay that really cemented Bungies first-person shooter into the annals of video game history. And Im happy to report that its better than ever in Halo Infinite.

Halo Infinites campaign begins in a typically linear fashion as you mow down waves of animated Grunts, burly Brutes, and deadly Elites onboard a now-ravaged spacecraft. However, youre quickly introduced to a number of new gameplay mechanics and design decisions that have a dramatic effect on how Halo fundamentally feels and plays.

The first change seems rather insignificant, but its something that I never grew tired of during my hands on. You can now pick up various explosive canisters and lob them at enemies. Weve been blowing up red barrels and the like in video games for years, but being able to grab and throw these environmental hazards into the face of an onrushing Brute is incredibly liberating. And thankfully, theres a handy way to grab these volatile canisters from a distance, too.

The Grappleshot, which has already been rightly lauded in Halo Infinites multiplayer, is quite simply a revelation. You can pull weapons and canisters towards you; scale previously impossible heights and buildings with ease; fling yourself around corners to escape danger, and pull yourself towards enemies for a satisfying beat down.

The Grappleshot adds so much player freedom and traversal options that its hard to imagine how Master Chief and the Halo series as a whole ever coped without it. Not once does it feel shoehorned in or unnecessary. Instead, its something that never fails to evoke a sense of giddy satisfaction when you
use it to open up a new level of verticality to Halos combat that hasnt been possible before. From the vault (Image credit: Microsoft)

After a familiar introduction and getting used to Master Chiefs new toys, the games world and what you can do in it opens up. Much like that moment where Link stands atop the Great Plateau in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild , Halo Infinites Zeta Halo will likely evoke the same breathtaking reaction
in many players its yearning to be explored and is arresting in its beauty.

When you step out into the games first open-ended area and see countless enemies dotted around the environment and strewn into the distance, Halo Infinite presents its first opportunity to really flex its legendary sandbox muscles.

Youll have various weapons and Spartan abilities at your disposal to help you eliminate the enemy, but how you approach it is entirely up to you. Perhaps you want to pick off The Banished from a distance using a long-range weapon? No problem, use the Grappleshot to reach a higher vantage point and have at it.

But what about those stragglers inside those buildings? Your trusty Assault Rifle should be able to deal with them along with some well-timed melee attacks. Under fire from enemy reinforcements? Drop a shield and turn the tables on your foes. A large group of Grunts incoming? Chuck a blazing-blue plasma grenade into the mix and watch them scatter.

These constant moments of freedom offered to the player are immensely satisfying, which is facilitated by Zeta Halos massive scale and the new
tools of destruction like the Grappleshot.

This blank canvas that Halo Infinite almost gives the player unsurprisingly leads to the sort of in-game moments that you just want to share with others. A personal highlight of mine was throwing a plasma canister at a bunch of Brutes who were disembarking from an aircraft and watching it detonate upon impact. Sadly, I couldnt capture that moment on my Xbox Series X due to playing a preview build, but rest assured, I let out a few enthusiastic expletives when it happened. A walk in the woods (Image credit: Microsoft)

But how does Halos open-world work in a series that has, traditionally,
always driven the player forward in one clear direction? Well, there are
still story-focused missions to complete, but this time youll have a number
of optional side activities that you can tackle.

The most important of these side activities revolve around capturing Forward Operating Bases (FOBs). Clear a bunch of enemies from a FOB, and not only
will you reveal more areas of interest on the map, youll also be able to use your new outpost to call in vehicles, weapons, and marines to help aid you in battle. However, to call in the best equipment, you need to earn Valor.

Valor can be earned by completing various missions such as taking down high-value targets, overthrowing Banished strongholds, and rescuing captured marines. You can also find Mjolnir armor lockers that contain cosmetic items that can be used in multiplayer, datapads that expand upon the games lore,
and Spartan Cores to upgrade your abilities.

The more Valor you earn, which essentially acts as a sort of reputation
meter, the more firepower you can bring to the Banished forces. And when
youve got a Razorback full of marines and an SPNKR rocket launcher on your back, the odds can shift in your favor considerably.

Now, Ill admit, the above gameplay loop might sound all too familiar for an open-world game. But Halo Infinites focus on player freedom and sandbox gameplay is the perfect match. You dont have to do these missions, but I naturally found myself seeking out every target, stronghold, and marines in need of help because the gameplay is so expertly-tuned that every encounter felt fresh and exciting. Were not just climbing up elaborate towers and jumping into wheelbarrows full of hay here.

For the story-focused missions, the game cleverly reverts more to type and
has you moving through awe-inspiring internal structures and completing objectives as you go. Its classic Halo, then, but it feels unmistakably new
at the same time. Ambient wonder (Image credit: Microsoft)

Halo Infinites rewarding gameplay and captivating story are underpinned by truly top-class sound design. It may seem superfluous to some, but Halo Infinite sounds absolutely phenomenal. Ive always had a penchant for good audio, but its as though Halo Infinite was specifically designed to get the most out of Dolby Atmos and spatial audio. Its a heavenly listening experience.

From being able to pinpoint enemies with astonishing accuracy to hearing bullets whizz by Master Chiefs head and impact your immediate surroundings, the audio team has done a sensational job at making Halos alien universe feel more alive than I ever imagined. The games audio can sound unnervingly real
at times, too, as though youre actually embodying Master Chief himself as you walk around the rings hostile surface. In a game that wants players to feel like the super soldier himself, thats the highest compliment I could possibly give to the sound design team.

But its not just the guns and environmental effects that make you feel grounded in the world. The frequent chatter from the Banished forces is also particularly noteworthy. Youll hear Brutes, Jackals, Grunts, and Elites conversing, squabbling, and subsequently celebrating should you fall in battle. No matter how many times I died (while playing on Legendary, that happened a lot) there were countless humorous one-liners from shellshocked Grunts that made me smile. It just helps bind everything together. Out of the shadow (Image credit: Microsoft)

So Halo Infinite sounds superb, but what about those underwhelming visuals that we saw during the campaigns first reveal in August 2010? Candidly speaking, Halo Infinite isnt the graphical tour de force that some players
may be expecting, but the new Slipspace Engine that 343 Industries developed in-house is certainly no slouch.

Halo Infinite is, unquestionably, a gorgeous-looking game that also delivers rock-solid performance. Yes, some parts of the environment can look a little rough around the edges, and the infamous Brutes that birthed all those Craig memes can still look rather crude when zoomed in up close. But they honestly pale into insignificance. The lighting, textures, HDR implementation, and particle effects are all extremely pleasing to the eye, along with the games animations. It might not have the cinematic flair of Call of Duty: Vanguard , but theres more soul to the visuals and strong art direction throughout.

From a technical perspective, its worth noting that load times are
practically non-existent, framerate drops were extremely rare, and environmental pop-in when driving around the games world was also minimal during my time with the game. There was one occasion I can recall where some barricades, enemies, and incidental scenery suddenly phased into view, but that was an anomaly, not the norm. Finish the fight (Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

In 2021, there are so many games that try to make the player feel like they can do almost anything, but Halo Infinite really lets your imagination run wild. I never once felt like the game was designed to hold me back. Quite the opposite. It actively encouraged me to try outrageous things at every opportunity, all at the expense of the Banisheds forces.

Theres still more to uncover before Halo Infinites campaign release date, of course, but I cant recall the last time I felt so enthused to return to a
game Id been assigned to review. While I wont deny that I have a natural affinity for Halo which Id argue makes me an even harsher critic than those who dont theres something irrefutably special about Halo Infinite. If youve dabbled with the games multiplayer, youll already have an understanding of
why Infinite is shaping up to be something truly remarkable. Halo Infinite Season 1 : everything you need to know



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