i really dont post topics, or talk about halo. tbh, since halo 5s mediocre storyline, and cashgrab multiplayer, ive been largely turned off to the halo series. i used to enjoy the novels, but since you had a group of preteens take down a gaurdian in one of them, im honostly cant bring myself to get into the novels anymore. (yes, i realize s3s were all preteens when they got deployed and that made them cool, but this was a litteral afterschool daycare group with lucy, the most messed up spartan, playing team mom… like wtf? that isnt in keeping with halos spirit, or themes AT ALL).
so long story short, ive been extremely dissappointed with the direction halos been going in. it used to be a somewhat serious minded military scifi shooter, that focused on grittiness, self sacrifice (with a hint of platos republic thrown in), and a bit of the movie aliens thrown in for luck. master chief would get deployed by very intelligent people to -Yoink- things up. he was the muscle, and his commanders/cortana were the brain. everyone says master chief saves the world, and while thats true, i dont see it entirely that way. he wins battles, and if that saves humanity fukin sweet, if not, its his commanders responsibility, not his. he is very distinctly not superman, but i dont think the developers understand that. spartans are tragic and heroic figures, but most of them would happily nuke a city to get to their target (in the fall of reach, the only thing stopping chief from nuking a city with civilians in it is an order to not kill civilians, it isnt that killing civvies is morally wrong to him, its that it wasnt in his orders). so this portrayal of the master chief as a freethinking, self starter has got my jimmies ruffled something bad. hes a broken tool of a man who follows instructions, he doesnt free think. he was indoctrinated not to think freely due to the possibility that he might use his talents for the insurrection. so the portrayal of him recently by 343 as a superhero who can make dicisions outside of the chain of command (seen in halo 4 and 5) is a stretch to me, and i fear well see the premise of chiefs character stretched even further in infinite, and im scared of how far theyll take chief from what he originally was.
as for the demo, i gotta ask, wtf? i have no gripes about the gameplay beyond the grappel (ill get to that in a sec), and much of it looked really good.im not sure whats going on with most of the guns, i didnt quite recognize all of the guns i saw, but they mainly feel like a halo weapon (aside from the modern day glock chiefs rockin, what happened to the futuristic desert eagle with a scope he used to rock in halo 1-3?) so ok, points there. on top of that, points to the brute commander. he acts and sounds like a brute would, as envisioned by bungie. in fact i found him to be THE most appealing thing about the entire game. sadly i cant say the same for the pilot. brohammer comes off as a bit of a whine-er, and i had hoped to see him be… you know, a bro. hopefully im misinterpreting his character due to that being only a tiny glimpse. though the fact that he tries to argue with chief and at one point tries to grab chiefs arm and pull him back took me out of the narrative. its been stated that just shaking a spartans hand is intimidating af, so imagine trying to body block a spartan. that be like trying to bodyblock a semitruck. goodluck bucko!
i gotta mention the grappel hook and graphics in their own space. what. the. F… the grappel, i can only say that it is distinctly not halo-esque, and it seems like a straight rip off of doomguy. i get that it may have seemed like a good idea in a board room, but it doesnt fit the tone of halo at all. no one would think a 600lb spartan that can run at 50mph and leap 30ft in the air would need a grappel for getting around easier, and i dont think chief needs to be slinging things around like hes spiderman. if he wants to grab something 20 ft away from him, there isnt much stopping him from walking/running/jumping in 1 boud that distance and grabbing it. hes the freaking master chief, he can do that kinda stuff, he aint dainty little spiderman. as for the graphics, for the most part, it looks good, but omfg, those polyagonal walls in the distance are just atrocious. it looks like the forrunners used hardlight legos to build the ring but instead of installing textures they just slapped a sunlight reflecting mirror to the surfaces and called it good. that would be more at home in a disney cartoon for children, not halo.
thats just my 2cents. theres a lot in here thats good, and a lot thats making me nervous for the coming game, and a lot that is straight up bad. seeing this and 343s track record with halo since they took over, i think the devs just dont understand the franchise theyve taken custody of and that scares me the most. chief is not a super hero, he is a soldier first and foremost, operating in the grittiest version of reality imaginable. i really hope this brute character can pull his weight and then some, because he is the only reason im even planning to give halo infinite a shot.