Halo Infinite - Campaign - Review

12 months later than expected and six years since the last game, Halo Infinite has finally arrived, with such a long wait though between releases, the question is, was the wait worth it?

Halo Infinite tells a complex story and unless you have played through all the previous mainline games recently, you are going to be confused, it really needed a ‘Previously on Halo’ opening, but even without the 20 years of history behind it, the story is one that is worth exploring. The game starts out with Master Chief getting owned by Atriox and summarily thrown out into space, fast forward six months later and he is found by a lone survivor, who has been hiding inside a Pelican ship. Not one to waste time on words Chief jumps back into the fight, specifically by sourcing a weapon capable of helping him defeat the Banished and after pushing through countless waves of Banished soldiers, he finds an AI, who for the sake of expediency we shall call Not-Cortana. Powered up with an AI assistant, Chief begins his push to discover what the Banished are doing on this new Halo and the best way to stop them.

On the other side, Escharum who is leading the ground forces of the Banished, is working to access hidden parts of the Halo’s core, as part of a partnership with an unnamed individual. With a significant lead on his side and an entire military to support him, he is hunkered down all over the ring and refuses to make things easy for the Chief. The time between when Chief was thrown into space and the main part of the game is told through audio logs mostly, but while the battle in space was lost easily by the UNSC, the battle on the ring was waged for almost that entire time. My issue is now, I can’t say anything more about the story, simply because it will give things away, the story does have some extremely predictable beats, but there are also some nice turns as well. As someone who has played all the Halo games, I can say that long-time fans won’t be disappointed, but those coming in new, will be confused.

The other issue with the story is that how Halo 5: Guardians ends and how Halo Infinite begins do not align, which means anything you might remember going in, is of no consequence here. There are some lines of dialogue that call back to events from earlier games, but that is it, characters that you will have spent time getting to know in Halo 5 are gone and while the new characters are entertaining, they are throw into roles and you don’t get a chance to learn more about them, given Chief’s inability to hold a conversation. Similarly, there is no explanation as to why Chief was on the ship he was, or how he got there after his last mission and while they do explain part of the mission he was on, there is still nothing connecting it back to past games. If you are someone who reads all the books, comics and watches all the shorts, this may not be an issue for you, but if you are like me and stick with the games, it feels like there is about a dozen hours of story missing.

Thankfully, the gameplay here is authentic Halo and straight forward as a modern-day shooter can get, or at least as modern as Halo can get, because while they have taken some massive steps forward in a lot of things, there is still a massive anchor around a few elements. The big change is easy to see once you get outside for the first time, the world, and once you are out, you can go just about anywhere that you want to, there are no limits to it. Scattered around the place are a host of UNSC FOB’s or Forward Operating Bases, which if you have played any Ubisoft open world game, reveal nearby things to discover once you take control of them. These discoveries can be large in scope, like Banished facilities or small, like a UNSC team struggling to survive on their own, with the biggest thing being that you can tackle these in any order you want or ignore them completely.

Some of the objectives you will discover can reward you with new weapons, while most will provide you with Valor, but regardless of the rewards, most of them are fun and interesting. Banished facilities can be the most challenging of course, given that its usually a few levels of chaos, contained with a maze of buildings, walls and objects, but taking the time to clear them, can be so satisfying. As I said before, you can choose to ignore them completely and just go right for the story beats and some of those will have you getting close to these side objectives and clearing them off the list is better in the long run. The only ones that you really need to ensure you tackle are the FOB’s, because with each one you clear, you gain a new fast travel point and the ability to resupply yourself with guns, grenades and gehicles vehicles, you will also find UNSC members around to give you a hand. If I had to call it something in one line, it would be Breath of the Wild meets Far Cry and even then, it wouldn’t be totally accurate.

Sadly, for all the fun and new changes that are present, the game has refused to upgrade some elements to match it, things like the vehicle controls are still the same, but as they were never broken, there was no need to fix them, but Chief on the other hand, he needs to evolve. The first thing that is weird is that the two-gun rule still applies and while I can understand why, given that he now has a grapple attachment (such an incredible addition) and can source other suit enhancements, which can all be upgraded, this feels stupid. I would have loved to have seen the game allow for an upgrade for a permanent side arm, in addition to two other weapons, but no, you can carry a rocket launcher and a pistol or two massive machine guns, but never a third weapon. The other issue with Chief is that he is more muted than ever, not to say he doesn’t speak, he does, but there are countless times when he will be asked questions and he gives a grunt of an answer and while that was charming 20 years ago, given how much the story telling has evolved in this game, it feels cheap to keep him so quiet.

Something we do need to address is just how incredible the game looks, at least running on Xbox Series X, it is stunning, from the sheer scale of the Halo to the complexity of its substructure, there is a lot to see an enjoy. Of course, Chief looks amazing, though he is in dire need of new armour, as this one is scuffed, broken, faded and just about ready to fall apart, in all the cutscenes you can see all that detail you wouldn’t normally see, but it was around three quarters through the main story, that I noticed that even one of his gloves has a worn mark on it, which was quite the surprise. Not-Cortana and the Pelican pilot also look great, though it would have been nicer if Not-Cortana was a little more transparent. Even the Banished, from Escharum down, all look amazing, more so when you start shooting pieces of their armour off and there are a few new enemies to take on as well, though I won’t spoil those here.

The world itself is a starring character, yes, we have been on a Halo ring before, the series started on one after all, but it isn’t just another ring, this one is destroyed, ruined by events that you discover, which means that while there are green trees around, there are also other things to discover. From almost any direction, you can see a mix of space and sky, trees, encampments and the ring falling apart and venturing out to explore it will reward you with even more spectacular vistas to enjoy. While there is a massive open world, you will get some load issues, nothing major like bridges failing to load, but just pop in of grass and trees, especially if you are zipping around in a Warthog all the time, apart from that, there really weren’t any visual issues I encountered.

On the sound side, things are a little sparse, but that works to the games favour, the sounds are all here, from the shield recharge, or the blasting of the pistol, it all sounds wonderful. While Chief is mostly silent, the Banished more than make up for it, with even the lowliest Grunt having things to say - all the time and even the UNSC soldiers that join you will call out the enemies. The cutscenes are fully voiced and there is a lot of emotion in them, especially from the Pelican pilot and while Escharum and his fellow Jiralhanae all have that out of breath sound, it still comes across as terrifying when it needs to. The music is where things are a little weird, when it plays, it is wonderful – especially the iconic score, but there are times when there is no music to be heard, just letting you enjoy the sounds of the world around you. I really came to like this, simply because it felt right and again brings up a Breath of the Wild comparison, rather than forcing music to play, it is used to highlight important moments and I think the team did a great job here.

I did encounter an issue where the sound died out, not cut out, but died out over time, first it was sputterings of noise and then large crackles and finally, no audio at all. A restart of the game did fix that, but outside of it, I really can’t recall any issues with the audio side of the game, which joins the visuals, to make for one amazing presentation.

Halo Infinite’s campaign is interesting, on one hand, it is continuing to tell a story that has been 20 years in the making, but on the other hand, it has jumped forward so much since the last game and explains very little about what happened in between. The gameplay has evolved, with suit upgrades, grapple attachment - again being a spectacular highlight and choice for your direction of travel, but there is still a massive anchor around it, with two guns at a time and other old school design choices. If you are someone coming in new to the Halo series, you shouldn’t feel left out in experiencing a wonderful story and incredible gameplay, for those returning for one more chance at finishing the fight, this truly feels like Halo has finally evolved and now I can’t wait to see where the series goes next.

The Score

9.5

Review code provided by Xbox Game Studios

The Pros

+World design gives you freedom to do almost anything you want

+Finally feels like Halo is stepping into the modern gaming landscape…

The Cons

-… a few issues of old school Halo design are still present, which hold things back

-The occasional issue with loading in of elements can be an issue at times