Here we are: we have finished the Halo Infinite campaign and we are ready to share with you, in this more than lengthy review, our detailed opinions on the return of the Master Chief
How many times does it happen that, following a troubled, complex and difficult development, a controversial game is born and below expectations, at least given the initial premises? The most striking case that comes to mind, of recent origin, is certainly Cyberpunk 2077, but the title there CD Projekt Red is certainly not the only one in the industry, on the contrary. Who remembers Aliens: Colonial Marines? Or Fallout 76? Or, even more recently, the hotly contested Battlefield 2042? “Either you die young enough, or you live long enough to become a disappointment”, seems to be the motto of many AAA productions that fall under the weight of their own ambitions. And Halo?
Halo Infinite, the latest iteration of the 343 Industries saga, recently arrived on current and last generation Microsoft PCs and consoles. A title that belongs to the aforementioned category, that of “troubled development”, and that has kept fans in suspense for too much, too long. The first gameplay video shown made so much noise that it forced the developers to postpone the game, good times that were. And today we are here. We took our time to thoroughly analyze the Halo Infinite campaign, exploring every narrative and physical nook and cranny, in order to finally be able to bring you this review. Follow us: Master Chief is back.
The Banished
As in all of our reviews, also in this case we do not want to go into the detail of the script of the Halo Infinite campaign and we reserve the possibility to dissect its contents in a dedicated article that, who knows, will arrive in the future. Master Chief finds, in front of him, the immense surface of Zeta Halo. Attacked by endless ranks of Outcasts, who have hoarded resources and destroyed everything in their path, humanity is decimated and enslaved. John wakes up from a stasis, which lasted who knows how long, which led him to “navigate” in deep space at the mercy of debris and total frost. Its mission? The revenge.
For this reason, Chief is accompanied by the pilot of the Pelican who saves him from stasis at first a recover Arma, the Artificial Intelligence that should replace Cortana in the course of the adventurea, but that will turn out to be much more, and then into war. A war against the forces of Atriox, a war against the Exiles and against… who knows who. A narrative that is interesting and exciting, with some truly dramatic moments, but which generally remains on the light and, by the way, funny line that characterized the first Halo trilogy.
Foundations | Halo Infinite Campaign Review
As it goes without saying, the script of Halo Infinite is strongly linked to the previous chapters, especially to Halo 5, although 343 Industries has given this new chapter the imprint of a new era for the brand. However, it is inevitable that there are strong references to the past, especially in the definition of the relationship between Master Chief and Cortana and on the origins of the Spartan 117. First-hair gamers may find themselves decidedly disoriented in the face of the amount of information that Halo Infinite tries to throw into the field from the first hours of the game, also trying to accommodate those who are approaching the saga for the first time. However, it is difficult to understand how effective it can be: the narrative lines that remained open were different, and a brief summary in the prologue is definitely not enough to do them justice.
Let’s leave the narrative aside, and continue this review by delving into what has done so much talk about the Halo Infinite campaign: the gameplay and its open world component. The pace of play of this iteration of 343 Industries made us feel very much at home: frenetic, fast, precise and never banal. The continuous alternation of weapons, made necessary by the ever constant scarcity of ammunition and grenades, makes it all exciting, exciting and stimulating. Although there are crates of ammunition that allow you to reload various types of bullets (classic, plasma and so on), the truth is that you will often end up with empty and completely useless weapons in your hands. And so on, we change.
The Weapon | Halo Infinite Campaign Review
A gunplay devoted to adrenaline and the constant inactivity of the viewfinder, useful only with weapons purely devoted to distance such as sniper rifles of various kinds, as well as to player’s alertness, which often finds itself surrounded by hordes of more or less lethal enemies. Enemies that could target you from afar, or throw themselves at you like kamikaze with bombs leveled, or plot in the shadows and camouflaged in the environment to kill you with a single blow of the blade. And what do you do when the situation really gets too complex to handle? Grapple!
The grappling hook is by far the most useful tool that Master Chief has equipped with the entire Halo Infinite. In all the hours of gameplay that we spent in the single player campaign, we used the others (Sensors, Covers and Thrusters) once or twice and just for testing. For the rest, any Spartan core found around was used solely for upgrading John’s Grapple and Shield, rendering the Spartan 117’s upgrade system almost completely useless. The hook in his possession will not only be useful for escaping the clashes, but also in some phases of “platforming” a bit ‘botched, that’s for sure, and to explore more quickly and quickly the Open World of Halo Infinite. Oh, finally there it is.
Scattered, Hunted, Defeated | Review Campagna Halo Infinite
The focal point and what practically everyone cares about reading this review of the Halo Infinite Campaign is him and him alone: Open World. It works? No, and why is soon said. 343 Industries knew to skilfully alternate linear phases with those of exploration of the open world, and the ones that shine the most both for advancement times and for the level of general emotion are definitely the first. The various boss fights that intertwine the narrative are all very well made and managed, as well as different from each other even in mechanics. Of course, if you play on Normal difficulty you will find very few walls to obstruct you and the base enemies of the bosses will be more challenging.
When you find yourself immersed in the Open World, after the first sensation of wonder, you immediately move on to a fundamental question: but why? Why should I get involved in all the sub-tasks on the map if I can continue through the main campaign and truly experience Halo Infinite? The game map of the title is dotted with secondary assignments of various kinds, some more complex and articulated than the others, but the feeling of being more is constant. A filler that will allow you to unlock new vehicles and weapons in conquered outposts, to find some more Spartan cores and some audio logs that will immerse you a little more in the game world.
The fact is that once the campaign was over, we never took over the game again. We will probably do it once the co-op component is officially included, and maybe not even: by now we have gutted what we wanted with John. There is therefore no doubt that 343 Industries he should have found a more interesting and engaging expedient to keep gamers in “his” open world, which takes with both hands from those created by Ubisoft, despite being less dispersive and less saturated, but which traces the bases too much.
Nexus | Halo Infinite Campaign Review
Another focal point of this review of the Halo Infinite campaign is definitely its technical component. What 343 Industries showed in July 2020 not only turned the noses of all the fans and industry insiders upside down, but threw a panic bomb inside the company that found itself forced to postpone the project. The product that we finally found in our hands is definitely satisfactory, although it suffers from the cross-gen nature of development and the comparison with other noteworthy Microsoft productions that have done much better in terms of visual impact (right, Forza Horizon 5?).
However, the new game engine has managed to make Zeta Halo a vivid and interesting world, with glimpses often that take your breath away, although it is still not very varied and practically always the same, if not literally empty. Furthermore, Halo Infinite’s external map gets lost in various pop-ups and little cleanup. Often, walking or even worse using the grappling hook to move faster, Master Chief will see shadows appear that were not there before, as well as textures not yet fully loaded. A different story for the interiors, where lighting and visual impact reach excellent levels, different both in the atmosphere and in terms of details. Also in this case, when 343 Industries is downsized and re-enters its field, it manages to give the best of itself.
Obviously present the two classic game modes, one devoted to Performance and one to Graphic Quality. As always, in these cases, we preferred the former for two reasons. The first is that the change in terms of Graphic Quality is very minimal and has little impact in terms of mere experience. The second is that the frame rate in Performance quality is truly rock-solid, steady and unwavering. A bit like our hope that from this Halo Infinite 343 Industries she will be able to take the best elements and transform them, once again, as only she can do.
What Makes Us Humans
We conclude the review of the Halo Infinite campaign by admitting that it is really difficult to rate this production. On the one hand we have the classic soul of Halo that 343 Industries has been able to bring to excellent levels, with more linear sequences and devoted to the conclusion of some of the narrative lines left suspended from previous chapters. On the other hand, the mix with Open World elements and a still not fully satisfactory technical sector undermine the Halo Infinite campaign from the podium of the single-player FPS currently on the market. The desire to make this chapter a new beginning for the saga is however very evident and we admit it: it excites us. It exalts us and how.
We remind you that Halo Infinite is currently available on PC, Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One. Let us know what you think below in the comments, we will continue to keep you updated with all the news, guides and reviews on videogame and tech! And if you are interested in game keys at advantageous prices, we recommend that you take a look at the InstantGaming catalog!
Points in favor
- Fast-paced, fast-paced and precise gameplay
- Convincing and exciting linear sections
- Excellent level narrative component, although not suitable for newbies
Points against
- The technical component suffers too much from the cross-gen nature
- Open World too empty and poorly implemented
- System of…