Audio in Halo Infinite

Games Halo Infinite
1

I wanted to bring up something that I don’t think I’ve seen anyone talk about… Maybe I’m not looking hard enough idk lol… Anyway, I feel like the “sounds” of Halo Infinite sound muted and “plastic”… Idk if anyone understands what I mean by that… The gunshots, the melee, the explosions… They don’t sound as impactful as they did in OG Halo games… This is seriously my only complaint with the game we saw in the Tech preview…

2

I thought the audio was amazing aside from the audio drop bug…

3

> 2533274828947499;2:
> I thought the audio was amazing aside from the audio drop bug…

i thought the same thing, nothing sounded off to me

4

Audio seemed fine outside of bugs. The Needler and Plasma Pistol are the only weapons that could sound better IMO

5

I know what you mean. A lot of 343’s sound effect design has lost the “chill factor” of the older games. A lot of the sounds are trying to outdo others, which will make some sounds, sound muted. It makes their games sound uptight, and even obnoxious at times. I can explain how weapons sound plasticky and thin as well. The quieter a sound is, the less bass the human ear can perceive. So you’ll still hear the higher frequency sounds somewhat clearly, but the weight (bass) of the sound won’t be as audible. A solution is to turn the volume up, but then other sound effects will become obnoxiously loud. The volume balance between different sound effects in Infinite is strange. The real change is needed on the developer’s side of things.

I had a few real issues with creative aspects of the sound design in the Infinite flight as well. Few of them require any drastic changes from the end user’s perspective.

  1. Sound effects decrease in volume and distort too quickly over a short distance. Things that are not far away, sound much quieter than they should. Sounds that are actually made quite close to you, sound more distant than they are. These audio queues throw me off a bit.

  2. The shield recharge sound effect is a bit too loud.

  3. Plasma grenades lack something. Maybe they should have more of a distorted/staticky “splash” sound to their explosion, like in CE? I feel they need something special to their sound to stand out more, because they currently sound like a generic explosion when they go off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJdSp87XPls

  4. The hit marker sound effect on a kill is too loud.

  5. The countdown timer is too loud.

  6. The Needler just doesn’t sound right. Same with the supercombine explosion. It needs more of that shattering, somewhat squeaky, glass/crystal sound to it. And almost no explosive, generic gunfire sound to it.

  7. The Plasma Pistol standard fire sound effect doesn’t sound very good. The overcharge hum sound is great. The standard fire shouldn’t be so squeaky. The drawn out hum in the bass is also missing. There Plasma Pistol should sound more relaxed. I’m not very good at explaining it, but these videos should help everyone understand how the 343 Plasma Pistol sound lost its identity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUt_S_MfGbo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohCVHm2lwYM

Again, only a few of these would require drastic changes. Needler, Plasma Pistol standard fire, and Plasma Grenades.

6

Many members of the Halo community including myself are requesting a toggle for the hit (marker) sounds. None of the OG Halo games pre Xbone even had any hit (marker) sounds. They’re unnecessary which is why I never finished a single mission nor match of H5.