Halo Infinite

[David cgc]

After a month-long beta/preview of the free-to-play multiplayer, the Halo Infinite campaign releases tomorrow for Windows and Xbox. Picking up after the events of Halo 5 (and Halo Wars 2), which left the Master Chief on the run in a galaxy under the total control of his former AI companion, Cortana, the campaign will see the Chief all but alone on a Halo Ring, his allies scattered, and the installation under the control of the Banished, a powerful and brutal faction of pirates and outlaws from the Covenant.

I've been playing the multiplayer pretty regularly, and it's been a lot of fun. It feels like it's recapturing a lot of the classic Halo action (and, not for nothing, the art-style, after the change-for-change's-sake revamp of Halos 4 and 5), with some modern touches with new equipment, such as the stupid-fun grappling hook. The campaign itself is supposed to be less linear than earlier games, no longer having specific levels, but more of an open-world setting with side-missions and exploration in addition to the core story missions. Infinite has also been discussed as being an ongoing platform, so it's likely additional single-player content is planned down the line, possibly tying in with the multiplayer, which includes a narrative tutorial with you playing as newly recruited Spartan supersoldier.

Multiplayer Intro Cinematic:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Live-Action Campaign Trailer (Long Version):

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Live-Action Campaign Trailer (Short Version):

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Campaign Launch Trailer:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I was thinking about downloading this off Game Pass and trying it out. Full disclosure, the only Halo I've played is Reach, which I really liked. I went back and tried to play Halo 1 on the Master Chief Collection, and just couldn't get into it. Is this something I can play after skipping 1-5?

 

[David cgc]

I was thinking about downloading this off Game Pass and trying it out. Full disclosure, the only Halo I've played is Reach, which I really liked. I went back and tried to play Halo 1 on the Master Chief Collection, and just couldn't get into it. Is this something I can play after skipping 1-5?

Having played the campaign... kind of? The general nuts and bolts of the gameplay doesn't require you to understand the context in a lot of detail, and while the plotline does draw a lot on the history of the prior games, one of the main characters is a blank slate with little understanding of the wider context, so stuff does get reiterated in broad strokes, though I doubt a lot of the emotional moments, allusions, and reveals will land fully.

 

[thribs]

I’m enjoying the game. I was dying a lot so I put it to easy and now it’s more fun. You actually feel like a badass.
The story is weird though. It feels like there is a game missing in between this and Guardians. I thought MC was a renegade at the end of 5.

 

[matthunter]

I’m enjoying the game. I was dying a lot so I put it to easy and now it’s more fun. You actually feel like a badass.
The story is weird though. It feels like there is a game missing in between this and Guardians. I thought MC was a renegade at the end of 5.

Nope, you just forgot the last missions of 5. Chief and Blue Team are back in the fold, having become aware of the fact that:

Spoiler

Cortana has become the villain and was only reaching out to Chief in the hope he'd support her, then tried to put him in stasis hoping he'd come around AFTER she'd carried out her plan for galactic domination

I've enjoyed the game for the most part - especially after upgrading my graphics card so I can play on Ultra quality. I'm going for a Heroic playthrough right now but the boss fights are VERY annoying on that setting.... Legendary must be a nightmare. Not looking forward to the Escharum fight. I had to die a lot to the two Spartan Killer brutes before realising there was a Warthog in one of the wrecked UNSC ships - you can hop on the chaingun and as long as they aren't already out in front of it, they'll take long enough to open up with their scrap cannons (I'd already destroyed the chopper one was riding) that you can down their shields and take a big chunk off their health, forcing them to retreat - rinse/repeat.

The Wasp is a deathtrap on Heroic - after it becomes available, two Banshees will often spawn when flying and they can take it down quite quickly. If you CAN get it where you want to go, it's good for airborne assaults on HVTs and FOBs, but nothing beats using the weapon stations at FOBs to load up a squad of marines with heavy weapons/arcane sentinel beams and packing five of them into a Razorback troop transport.

It does feel a LOT like Halo: Far Cry Evolved with the open world stuff, but at least you don't have to hunt Legendary Rhinos.