Halo Infinite Review

It’s hard for a series like Halo, which has been around for so many years and is so beloved by many fans, to truly reinvent itself without losing its identity. You’ll always have fans who want it to stay true to its roots and not stray too far from the formula that made this series so great in the first place. This version of Halo brings the campaign to the open world, giving players more freedom than ever and endless activities to complete. The environments aren’t incredibly varied, and the story doesn’t have quite the impact that the original trilogy did. Still, the multiplayer is as good as ever, and it feels like a return to form for the series after a lackluster effort in Halo 5. 

A New (Open) World

The transition to an open-world environment was something that I wasn’t incredibly interested in when I first dove into it in Halo: Infinite. I’ve been pretty burned out on open-world games, as I feel that they all generally feel the same. One of the things I like about Halo is the linear story that each game has. As soon as I jumped into it, I felt it was more of a natural fit for the series than I thought it would be. It helps that the world isn’t littered with points and collectibles. There are plenty of activities to complete and things to discover, but it doesn’t feel like sensory overload like some games I’ve played recently (Ubisoft, I’m looking at you).

Old and New

The game doesn’t fully occur in the Zeta Halo open world. There are a lot of indoor sections that feel more like dungeons than anything. They all felt pretty uninspired, but it was also a good change of pace from running around the same outdoor biome the whole time. The first couple of hours focus on getting the story off the ground and getting you accustomed to using the new Grappleshot (which is so fun). You might look at that as a gimmick. To me, it feels like something that Master Chief should have had since the first game. It feels incredibly organic to use and opens up numerous new combat and traversal options, rather than just running and gunning. You can pull yourself away before your health is fully depleted, grapple right up to an enemy and hit them in the face, or grapple a vehicle to steal it from an enemy. It’s crazy how much something so simple expands the gameplay. 

Boss Battles

Some of the best encounters in Halo Infinite are centered around boss battles. There’s plenty of variety here, and it can be painstakingly challenging to defeat some of them, depending on your difficulty level. Many of these battles require quick thinking, precise movement, and utilizing your Spartan Cores and gadgets to your advantage. Some bosses and mini-bosses have gravity hammers/energy swords, others have jetpacks, and some can even cloak. There’s always some weapon or ability you have to figure out how to counter while staying away from weapons that can kill you in a hit or two.

Beautiful, Not Diverse

The open world feels pretty daunting when you first set foot into it. You must navigate on foot and learn to use your Grappleshot to move around more quickly. There are tons of opportunities to get into trouble on Zeta Halo. You’ll encounter propaganda towers to destroy, UNSC Marines to rescue, Forward Operating Bases to capture, and gear/audio logs scattered all over the world. I felt pretty good with the different activities. Nothing felt like it overstayed its welcome, which was essential to me. You can’t go everywhere at first. You have to complete story missions to gain access to new areas, but none feel that different from the rest. It’s a forest and stone landscape throughout the entire game world. I don’t know if they plan on creating some expansions as this game ages, but it’s screaming for an urban, desert, or snowy area to break things up. There was never a moment that wowed me about the game world.

Story

The story is perfectly serviceable, but it didn’t grip me as I had expected it to. Master Chief, as the focal point, was a significant positive. The focus on The Banished, which was last seen in Halo Wars 2, didn’t satisfy me very much. I feel like they should have tried to explain the events of the previous games to people new to the series. Even for me, I felt lost at times because it’s been a long time since I’ve played the last few campaigns. A brief synopsis of our current canon would have done wonders for both returning and new players. There’s nothing of the sort here. I enjoyed the up-and-down relationship between Master Chief and The Weapon. Jen Taylor does a great job adding such a great personality to the weapon. Steve Downes nails the struggling Master Chief, who is more broken than we’ve seen him in past games. I enjoyed their dynamic. 

Gameplay

Capturing FOBs is the heart of the gameplay, and they’ll unlock more points of interest on the map. Finding Spartan Core points is equally important, as it allows you to upgrade your equipment in whatever order you’d like, provided you’ve found the core. Upgrading the Grappleshot proves imperative, as you can shock enemies after a few upgrades. There is also a Shield Core upgrade that allows you to take more damage, which didn’t feel like it made much of a difference, in all honesty. Thrusters will enable you to dash and eventually cloak and dash, but I didn’t use them often. There’s even a Drop Wall shield you can shoot through that became crucial as the game went on. 

Activities

As you complete open-world activities, you’ll gain Valor points, which allow you to unlock additional weapons and vehicles at FOBs. You can also earn unique weapon variants by defeating High-Value Targets scattered across the map. Having access to some of these vehicles and weapons makes many battles significantly easier. Taking a Warthog full of marines into an enemy base or taking a Wasp to the skies and taking out enemies from above is particularly satisfying. The various battles push you to use all the types of weapons and vehicles available. You’re not just stuck on the Battle Rifle. There are times when you’ll want Snipers, while other times you’ll want to rip off a turret and mow down everyone in the base. Enemies are everywhere, so you must be strategic in approaching things, or you’ll be dead in seconds. 

Academy Mode

Halo: Infinite does a great job bringing new players up to speed with its Academy mode. This mode allows players to try different weapon drills or jump into a Training session against bots with customizable match settings. It enables you to get a handle on all the mechanics before jumping into a match with humans. Training mode allows you to try out different Spartan Core items like the Grappleshot instead of trying to obtain it in a multiplayer game and promptly getting killed before you can mess with it. It also helps you get more acclimated to the maps, which I primarily used it for. 

Multiplayer

The game modes included in multiplayer are One Flag Capture The Flag, Capture The Flag, Strongholds, Oddball, and Slayer. The playlists don’t allow you to choose one specific game mode, but I think it’s only a matter of time before 343 adds that. There is nothing revolutionary here, but I don’t think that’s necessary. Halo multiplayer has always been at the top of the pack, so reinventing that wheel wasn’t vital.

Slayer is a traditional team deathmatch. Strongholds have teams fighting to control three control points on the map, and it was my personal favorite. Seeing how quickly you could jump between the control points to keep them all was fun. Oddball, you’re battling over control of a skull, and that was quickly my least favorite for how slow and useless you are with the skull. Admittedly, I’m just not good at it, but it never grew on me, no matter how much I played. Capture the Flag is probably my second-favorite match type, especially in four-on-four matches. It required a lot of coordination, and having a team that worked cohesively was so satisfying. One Flag CTF is fun, if not a bit chaotic, as one team defends while the other attacks. All the game modes are suitable in their own right, and there isn’t one in the entire bunch that I hate, even if Oddball isn’t my favorite.

Weapons

The weapons in Halo Infinite feel solid. It takes a long time to kill someone with an Assault Rifle, whereas something like the MK50 Pistol tends to be stronger. This isn’t new to Halo, but players from the more fast-paced Call of Duty and Battlefield series might have to get used to it. You’re better rewarded for precision in Infinite than just flowing bullets into someone. I avoided the Plasma Pistol and Pulse Carbine because they didn’t seem to be doing much of anything, but the Needler was fun to use in short bursts.

The power weapons like the Gravity Hammer and Energy Sword don’t last too long, but they’re fun to grab and get a few kills with before you need to swap to something else. I love that 343 has managed to keep those weapons in check. The grenade play is as fun as it’s always been, with the multiple types of grenades and many afterlife kills. The one issue I seemed to have was the inconsistent melee kills. Sometimes, I’d smack someone in the back, and nothing would happen. There were others where I’d smack someone twice, and then they’d hit me once and kill me. It’s not a huge issue, but I noticed it here and there, which ended a few of my sprees a bit prematurely. 

Final Thoughts

Halo Infinite is the return to form that the series sorely needed. I’m not sure Halo could have survived another outing like Halo 5. Infinite is a must-own for any Halo fan or Xbox owner out there. There’s tons of value in both the single-player and multiplayer. I can’t wait for the eventual release of the co-op campaign.