However…
…they still released an incomplete game, without Forge and without Coop (even though they quite literally promised the game would launch with splitscreen).
…they still have a customization system riddled with Microtransactions, the only difference is how they try to leech our money.
…they still force mechanics into the game that the fanbase has pushed back against for over a decade by now.
…they even brought back horrendous mechanics like weapon bloom, even though literally the very first thing they did as a company was remove it from Reach multiplayer.
For every mistake you name that they learned from, I can name one that they refuse to, as if they intentionally don’t want to admit they were wrong: “No, we tell you what you want in Halo, we know what’s best for you, and you will like it!”
Infinite doesn’t have King of the Hill, Doubles, etc. Who cares how many maps released at launch, when the game doesn’t have basic game modes that have been part of Halo for decades.
There’s no guaruntee Brian didn’t just leave himself.
And I don’t see how they cut ties when Infinite’s campaign constantly talks about the fallout of h5, right up to its final level. We effectively got the halo 5 sequal, its just it takes place in none of the cool locations a proper sequal to 5 would have gotten, while keeping all the terrible plot points that follow from it.
I suppose you’re right, I was talking a little broadly, one might consider the lifts on either side of guardian to be a “lane” of sorts, I wouldn’t, but I wanted to leave some wiggle room in my terminology, rather than getting lost in the weeds. Snowbound, Construct, and Epitaph have varying degrees of intersection among different vertical positions, those were the examples I was thinking of. Whereas the majority of Infinite’s maps are rather obviously classic 3 lane designs, the OT games + Reach are not so simple to pin down.
As a long BTB main, I think this comment is just completely false. I am absolutely in LOVE with the 3 BTB maps we got, and I think long term they’ll end up on most people’s “Top X BTB maps of all time” lists.
I’m very excited for the next bundle of maps we get, I’m really happy with Infinite’s launch map pool.
I also am a long time BTB main, and I think your comment is completely false. Infinite’s BTB maps are awful. No room for vehicles, cover everywhere, AR starts are lame. Continues the awful trend 343 started in Halo 5 of making BTB play the same as 4v4, but bigger. No longer really feels like a distinct game mode like it did in Halo 1-4.
Jesus Christ I hate this talking point. You have no idea how much of that was pre-production/prototyping. You have no idea when the environment art team started working on multiplayer maps in full development mode.
Literally anyone who uses the 6 year talking point has no idea what they’re talking about.
I was thinking about Narrows as I was typing up my post funnily enough. Can it really be considered a three lane map? There’s an impassable chasm on one side, and a lift that launches you over the other chasm. The layout is more like two three lane bases connected by a large middle lane.
I saw a comment after Cyberpunk released and I honestly agree with the statement. I’ll change it so it fits Halo. “We waited 6 years for a game that has no life or soul. As gamers, as consumers, as fans. WE DESERVE BETTER.”
This Halo is the most soulless cash cow on the market atm. I would buy store items. If they weren’t the price of a 1/3 of a game.
To be fair, I’m the one who encourage more critical discussion
It’s a perfect coincidence that someone brought up Narrows in this thread as well, considering it a three lane map, which I don’t. I wrote my post with the understanding that such views are the norm. Even treating Narrows as a “three lane” map, it’s design is much more complicated than any of Infinite’s maps.
Yeah I wouldn’t agree with the description of Narrows as a 3 lane map. It doesn’t flow anything like maps such as Streets or Live Fire which are fairly traditional 3-lane maps.
Yes. Those games came out 2 and 3 generations of consoles ago. No reason this game should have so few. 343 needs to get over themselves and rerelease some fan favorites. Easy win. JUST TAKE THE EASY WIN 343!
On top of that Infinite development was also in a unique situation compared to most previous Halo titles.
Platform switch between H5 and HI. (XBO->XB Series consoles, Xbox->PC)
Largest ever Halo engine refresh
Global pandemic for 33% of the games development time.
Considering those, I’m not surprised or upset that Infinite took 6 years, especially since H5 had 2 years of post launch support. Infinite’s future is a very very bright one at this moment as long as it can survive Quinn leaving without losing direction.
Can we all just thank our lucky stripes we’ve got 343’s handling of Infinite for our community and not DICE/ BF2042 or Activision/CoD? Activision and DICE shops are both just about the same level of predatory practices in addition to their communities just really disliking the new games. Go listen to any main content creators from either of those other two franchises and I think it will give some people perspective.
No. "It’s bad, but it could be worse" doesn’t really cause me to “thank my lucky stripes”.
Modern AAA game development is a festering sewer of greed and incompetence. I’m thankful that 343 has made a good game that has potential, and a game which is better than their previous efforts, but it’s also true that 343 needs to do better at fixing obvious problems and actually providing live service to their live service game.
