(SPOILERS)
I only bought the Xbox X and Halo Infinite for the campaign and boy was I disappointed. When I started playing it was really enjoyable, the abilities you pick up, the open world and the graphics. It was overwhelming.
However, as I continued the story I became let down by major chunks that were missing and by the ending I was left on the sofa shrugging my shoulders saying is that it. There are a number reasons why I felt this way which I’ll get into shortly, the only really decent thing about the game other than the superb graphics is the grappler. Time and time I’ve zipped into areas that would of normally been fenced off by graphic barriers or climbed on things you never could on previous Halos. This really was the biggest and best game changer for me. Unfortunately there are too many let downs to say it was amazing overall. Back in the naughties Bungie devs used to say that “a game should be fun before being pretty” and this always seems to be overlooked.
- The biggest disappointment for me was the fact that there were no ODST troopers. I appreciate that they can’t drop in, however after hearing the audio log I expected to bump into a few that might of been scattered about. It’s just marine after marine. We saw so many crashed ships and pelicans but not even one drop pod.
- That leads to the marines themselves, who seem pretty useless. I was expecting to be able to command them like in the classic Star Wars Battlefront 1, telling them to mount up, follow, disperse or stop. They don’t even drive vehicles sitting about on the map. Yes I know they follow you like lost puppies but you can’t even transport them all unless you use the troop hog.
- On a similar note marines are not able to sit on the Scorpion Tank anymore. This is a ridiculous feature to remove when you could do with the extra firepower or bantha fodder.
- The rockets on the wasp are so weak that it’s pointless even having them.
- We don’t seen a single Spartan alive (or well) or find out what happened to those on the ring other than the corpses that we found and left.
- The story was a big jump from cruising with Blue Team in H5 to being on your own again and with chief not even being bothered if they were okay.
- Weapon is boring and predictable with her constant “oh nos” and soppy grin.
- Quotes from the old Bungie games were over the top. The amount used from Halo 3 was tedious, cringy and left me eye rolling several times.
- The “X requires a power seed” was overused which almost felt like H4 with the “protect X whilst X opens this door or hacks X” again.
- The ring has no weather cycle, although it goes dark and the shadows move there’s no rain or wind etc.
- Lack of large wild animals on the ring. Whilst we see small little things that run or fly away quickly there’s nothing else unlike Halo Reach for example.
- The Scorpion Tank is awful up small hills and climbing over tiny banks/logs. It’s a tank not a car. Modern tanks today can do these things with ease yet hundreds of years in the future they get stuck by a dead hollow log?
- There was no one to save in the 2 prison block missions inside the facilities other than a dead Spartan and the pilot. How are were there no marines to save inside these areas?
- There was artwork of the chief carrying a marine over his shoulder for this game, yet you can hardly interact with the marines let alone carry one.
- The last island (5) is not reachable after completing the story which leaves a large chunk of the map locked out even when you’ve just been there on the final mission.
- The story would of been more enjoyable in Co-Op, but this is delayed. How can a Halo game be shipped without Co-Op? It’s not a Halo without it.
- There’s also no ‘revert to last checkpoint’ option.
- The story of having chief manage to do and kill everything on his own yet tens of Spartans together failing and dying seems ridiculous to me.
As I said, I love the graphics and some of the gameplay, the art teams etc have done really well in creating a beautiful world with such strong Halo 1 and 2 vibes. It’s a pity that the story didn’t get as much thought. I hope with future DLC that the story gets better with more of the above worked on. It’s a shame though as I feel that DLC should be for extra add on missions or expanded storylines like HW2 did and not for adding content or story that should of been shipped on day 1. It’s boring with cut content everywhere and an open map with the same enemies to kill over and over.
All in all, this is 343’s best Halo game so far (for story), but it doesn’t even begin to compare to the games by Bungie back in their hey day. Sadly they aren’t what they were either now. I think I’ll stick to replaying the old games on the MCC and won’t even bother with the Call of Duty multiplayer. What I will say is that Halo 3 multiplayer was enjoyed by millions and that had basic customisation. I think for a lot of gamers and myself It’s not about having coloured guns or silly death animations, Halo was never about that, it was about sitting down with friends and family have having a laugh and a good time. That spirit, for several years now, has been lost as far as I’m concerned.