What a treat to finally have Halo back. What a joy to report: it’s been worth the wait. That’s at least the takeaway from our first few hours with its new single-player campaign. Halo Infinite’s rocky road to release will be familiar if you’re a gamer, but to those not in the know: a massive, unexpected 12-month delay signaled a game in trouble. 343 Industries, the developer behind Xbox’s now 20-year-old flagship first-person shooter series, inherited the franchise from creator Bungie around ten years ago. And since then there has been a pretty big question mark hanging over 343’s head: can it mimic the same magic of Halo’s first three entries?
Previous efforts suggested ‘sort of’. 2012’s Halo 4 was a decent first attempt. 2015’s Halo 5 was a mess, sidelining the iconic Master Chief in favor of some no-mark I forget the name of, and telling a story that just missed the mark of what makes Halo great. And so, as the years dragged on, pressure ramped up for Infinite. This is a game that not only needs to impress new players on Xbox’s next-generation consoles, but promises to completely reimagine what a Halo game can be.
The results, so far, differ. In Infinite, players get the chance to explore a portion of a ringworld hanging in space. It’s a drastic shake-up from the strictly linear levels of the original games. While they had elements of sandbox fun with large-scale vehicular battles and spectacular set pieces, Infinite is orders of magnitude bigger in scope. And as an effort to recapture the soul and feel of the original Halo games, it seems to be a pretty triumphant success.
While the scale is much larger this time around, there’s a real muscle memory to the combat. The way Chief moves. The dynamism and frenetic chaos of firefights. The smart and aggressive movement and tactics of enemies. It’s clear that 343 Industries has gone to ground on absolutely nailing what it means to be an 8-foot super soldier slugging it out against a horde of angry aliens. There are familiar weapons, vehicles and enemies, plus new ones, and it’s all retooled and updated for a modern release in such a smart way that you feel like you’re playing the old games, even if one trip down the backward compatibility lane will show you that this is much more enjoyable to play by 2021’s standards.
It’s not all nostalgic fan service, though. And it’s in its big structural change that Infinite offers the most meaningful evolution the series has seen since its inception. By blasting open the floodgates into a mini open world, Infinite gives you the option of chasing the main missions in sequence or running off and finding your own path. There are mini outposts to overtake, upgrades to find, mini-bosses to decimate and sights to see. Being able to watch the sun rise and set on the surface of a Halo does not get old. Players expecting something as broad as Skyrim should settle down, though: this is still a focused first-person shooter. The things you do reflect your role in the world, so don’t expect puzzles or endless stretches of conversation in these side activities. The game is aware that you’re a trigger-happy monster, so the activities and objectives are simply a rudimentary backdrop to keep you shooting guns and experimenting with combat in the open environments.
It’s that freeform approach to combat that is so moreish. By overtaking optional forward operating bases (FOBs) and other points of interest in the world, you earn valor which allows you to call in reinforcements and equipment. While you could simply rattle through the main mandatory quests and missions (the ones of which we’ve played are strong, with a more compelling story than Halo 5) the game encourages you to stick around in its less essential tasks by rewarding you with better guns and tools. 343 Industries knows that you’re going to want to bring in that Scorpion tank to aid your fight, so you’ll earn the Valor to do it. 343 Industries knows you want to upgrade one of Master Chief’s several new abilities – like the traversal-enabling grapple shot – so you’ll trek into unknown territory to find the Spartan Cores needed to unlock them. It’s a simple but effective system, and is at the core just an excuse to keep fighting more of the enemy Banished.
Infinite’s other task – impressing on new hardware – is less surmountable. It’s plain to say that this isn’t the next generation showstopper it may have been expected to be. It’s by no means an unattractive game, but compared to last month’s Forza Horizon 5 the quality in some of Infinite’s visual presentation leaves a little to be desired. Flat lighting and some pretty bad pop-in make for a lackluster final finish. It can sometimes, occasionally, dazzle. Especially in its main missions, and during those aforementioned mornings and evenings. But this is a game relying on great art direction over technical prowess. It’s a shame that it doesn’t take advantage of the power of the Xbox Series X console.
But, while not perfect, we’d prefer it this way around. It’s not a graphical showcase, but Halo Infinite nails the feeling of a Halo game better than any since Bungie left post. It’s been a long wait to see Master Chief being an unbridled badass once again, and the early indications here are for a campaign that focuses entirely on him, while also giving you even more ways to utilize his special set of skills. Less-than-astonishing looks can’t stop that from being incredibly exciting.
Written by Sam White on behalf of GLHF.
