I want to start out on a positive note, I know Infinite has a long way to go, but I generally do love every Halo game in existence and have been playing since I was four years old. With that out of the way, I am terribly saddened by how the campaign feels like such a grind. I loved finding the terminals, skulls, and hilarious easter eggs over the years, but now I feel like I have to find every single audio log or I’m losing valuable aspects of the story. Which in reality is not really the case, some logs are short and tell what we’ve already figured out, Chief is the only Spartan left on the ring after the others were hunted down and killed (from what we know currently). I am also very disheartened by the fact that you can’t start over if you want to find all of the logs, grunt propaganda towers, FOB’s, squads, etc. It really prevents you from starting up a whole new campaign, and you can’t go back to your favorite level, you have to replay the entirety. If you’ve ever played Sunset Overdrive, the grind feels identical to that, but that game had AMAZING (and free) cosmetics to make up for finding every single shoe hanging off the telephone lines. I know this is something 343 is going to fix, but there’s no date for the level replays in current load games. Combine that with the fact that you can’t play it multiplayer for another 6 months really lowers the tier of the game, and it feels less and less like Halo. The MCC doesn’t even have cross platform campaign yet, and most of the time if you don’t play locally, it bugs out and all parties are booted mid-level. To be honest I’m nervous, and I’ve had the sinking feeling of Halo being milked for every penny it has from a solid and loving community for these games.
I’m not gonna rant about multiplayer, cosmetics are optional, I have chosen not to pay if someone else does great, your choice. However, previous skins, I’m looking at you Reach team, SHOULD NOT be something we as a community should pay for. I liked the aspect of finding cosmetics in the open campaign world, but a majority of it, is the same ashy red color just for different items. Why couldn’t it have been the other dead Spartan’s armor? that would have been awesome to have Stone, Makovich, or Griffen’s armor sets unlocked, not only is this awesome campaign progression, but it gives you something to look forward to in multiplayer. Again, not gonna go further, as many others have expressed their anger and frustration and I know they have better responses to it than I could.
This is just another coin toss of a release from 343, ever since Halo 4 I’ve learned to lower my expectations, even though 4 was not bad per say, it was just different. Halo 5 campaign was not something I enjoyed replaying, I finished it and moved on. I have high hopes that the campaign is going to be really fun with an open world multiplayer, I also hope they give the option of starting a mission without your partner so you can instantly spawn in together, so you don’t have to wait while they travel 2,000 km to your position.