I agree with Skill Up’s review and that the Pilot was too worried. The Master Cheif never loses when we’re playing as him and the best character, Johnson, knew that. Also, I feel the campaign missions lacked set piece moments, I would have loved to see a scrab fight or large battles with Marines. I also feel the cutscenes lacked depth and mystery like the original trilogy, every cutscene directly moved the plot forward. Just think back two Halo 2’s first Arbiter mission when the Shipmaster is giving his speech and all the Elites are saying it, the Grunts aren’t paying attention and the Arbiter is silent, that’s so much depth with basically zero plot being shoved down your throat. The first mission with the Pilot had that, but the rest of the game lacks it. Other than the story and missions, the open world is perfect, it sits in the sweet spot of TC,GR, Wild Lands where there’s too much, but also not leaving you wanting more. The sandbox is also 10/10, everything feels useable. I’m excited for what the future holds!.
The most badass Halo campaign of my lifetime, truly. It was a joy to play and a treasure to keep. Whenever they drop the level selector or its equivalent, I’ll have to go back for the stuff I might’ve missed.
Oh man its open world? Ok I will try it.
i would have to go through and actually count, but the majority of the cutscenes seemed to be either
- you activated some terminal and a hologram is monologuing at you
or - you activated a terminal/ ride an elevator and both the chief and the weapon see/hear/experience dialog or memories or what have you simultaneously viaremnants of cortana’s code/memory? i guess
i know they offered something like an explanation for how that is but it was shallow fanfiction nonsense
neither of those are great ways of storytelling regardless of how weak the writing that went into them.
infinites story suffers similar issues. all tell, no show. and even if there are odds why should i have any investment when 343 has already shown they’re perfectly happy to dismiss anything thats established off screen?
I think it would have been a mistake to continue Halo 5’s story, rather it was best the gave it closure even if it was minimal. Infinites story isn’t about Cortana or the Guardians. It’s the start of a new story with the Banished having taken over the ring and Atriox seeking power.
Atriox is cool.
No one is ready for him
This is my favorite point in infinite
i dont want to imply i think that the odds set in 5 were wise. the same for 4 with the creation of the infinity, spartan 4s, and having so many on said ship. but ultimately, they were decisions that 343 made presumably to tell a story. originally things were structured for a second trilogy. instead of finishing the story they decide to “start a new one” and give some horrible half put together explanation for the trilogy they got bored with. why should i take
seriously when they are going to just memory hole it and do something else next time?
I cant stand the banished, all they are is AWOL covenant soldiers and a pathetic attempt to make halo wars cannon in the main line shooter. On a side note I’m going to turn atriox and eschram into a throw rug.
I’m sorry to say H4 had a better story, campaign and sandbox, Tho I do really like the dynamic between MC and the weapon.
Hard to have cool set pieces when everything is crammed into a small, generic forest loaded with copy-paste Banished and Forerunner structures. Hardly any vehicle play, either.
Wait till after the digsite, the game doesn’t really change from there. Just cycles through the same things a few times then ends. The ‘first 4 hours’ they gave the reviewers is really all the game has to offer.
CE’s campaign is far superior.
Preach on, without the open world stuff and spongy boss and mini-boss fights that make Alduin look weak, this campaign is close to just four hours long on heroic.
I’ve left the digsite, and already it’s changed significantly.
“Big mystery structure is (shocker) a super-weapon, let’s stop the Covenant from controlling it. Oh, it’s meant to kill everything to stop Space Zombies; let’s blow it up.” That is the plot of Halo: CE.
Already for Infinite (so far as I know) we have The Banished attack the Infinity, seemingly killing everyone onboard, and both Banished and UNSC survivors of the battle are transported with a broken Installation 07 to somewhere. Among the numerous mysteries on the Oldest Halo Ring (including stasis pods for many species prior to the Ring’s firing) the Banished uncover and release The Harbinger, a member of the Endless species that the Forerunners apparently feared more than the Flood. Meanwhile Cortana is missing as well, and The Weapon - who was supposed to be deleted if Cortana was contained - is still around, leading to another mystery as to why.
There is infinitely (pun intended) more plot going on in this game alone than all of Halo: CE, and I’m only 47% of the way through it. Also do bear in mind people who are still playing the game, and use the Spoiler tags; it’d be much appreciated.
That’s nice champ. I grew up on Halo 4, loved the hell out of it, beat it on legendary, but Halo Infinite’s campaign (and possibly future ones) take the cake this round.
Majority of the Halo community hated 5, so 343 had no choice but to cut the story.
Consider 4/5 a forerunner saga instead of a trilogy.
Maybe, can’t really say that for sure
Absolutely an opinion and definitely untrue.
More going on sure. but none of it is told effectively or remotely as well. for CE look at the mission 343 guilty spark, actual storytelling. the way the story is communicated in Infinite you might as well have someone read you the wiki while they’re distracted
Responding to my past self: it was not worth it.
The 3rd act starts to pick up, but then it just dropped off. This is MGS V: Ground Zeroes all over again: full price for a prologue. The open-world fails, as I always thought it would because Halo doesn’t fit open-world, and the story is so barebones it’s almost funny. So much is ignored from Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2, and so much introduced into this game is unexplained. There’s barely a memorable part from any of the missions, which certainly isn’t helped by the fact they all look the same. The two exceptions happen from a mission predominantly filled with flashback data echos, and the other is when you get a Scorpion and the Halo theme is playing.
I genuinely feel ripped off, and it’s only worth playing now if you have Game Pass. I wouldn’t at all recommend buying the game as itself.
Absolutely I can say majority of the community hated 5. If Halo 4 was the game that divided fans, Halo 5 signed the divorce papers lmao. As a day 1 Halo fan I can’t even defend 5 and I’ve taken 343’s side on a lot of choices they’ve made.
For all it’s faults (and there were many, I know), Halo 5 at least shook up the setting’s status quo, and set the stage for a new dynamic in the story. I could respect 343i for doing that, even if the execution was… lacking, to say the least.
Infinite resolving its plot threads offscreen and essentially resetting the series to where it was in Halo: CE, however, has put me on the verge of losing interest in the franchise entirely. After all, what’s the point in getting invested in the plot if anything interesting that happens will just be undone, regardless of any potential it may have had?
What they should have done is have the Banished/Created conflict still be ongoing in the background, with the game set in a part of the galaxy where the former is dominant. You get the advantages of having the Banished as the primary enemies, without closing off the possibilities brought up in the Reclaimer duology.
It would also resolve one of the game’s major plot holes: If the Banished are enough of a threat that the Created were unable to defeat them, and they now have uncontested control of the galaxy, why don’t they just flatten the Chief’s attempt to rebuild the UNSC? Having the Created still be a threat that the Banished must commit the majority of their forces to would resolve that.
As it stands, I’m genuinely not sure if I’m going to bother following the series going forward, if it’s plot is just going to keep resetting because of community backlash. The Endless might be interesting, depending on how they are handled (though I really think they should have been a resurgent faction of Forerunner-Era San Shyuum), but I will forever have that niggling doubt in the back of my mind, that 343i are just one backlash away from abandoning their stories.
I grew up on CE 2 and 3 so me saying that H4 was better carries far more weight. The more I play the more I realize that 90% of this game is playtime padding like the disruptor pistol being able hit/shock my wasp out of the air from almost 200 meters away and that’s just on heroic and its only there to make the fight last longer same with the shock rifle. The damn boss fights add nothing to halo and break immersion when they can take four direct hit rockets (i think it takes three to kill a scorpion in the older games) and not even have half of their health taken away.