To Start with Halo Infinite’s Campaign has been an absolute blast.
That being said however I must try to amend and make sure that some of my experiences in the campaign as well as with the game’s future cooperative scene are noted and at least in a place where 343 and the community can see if they agree or not. This isn’t me elaborating on several issues I have found or anything. This is just focused solely on what I hope to see in cooperative campaign in the future.
1. Spartan Survivors
Your Spartans in Halo Infinite. While the game promised us customization and the initial option counts would back that up, despite the negative backlash from how it was executed, campaign cooperative should have only a single Master Chief. He is after all the pinnacle and iconic story driving force. Have players 2-4 control their multiplayer customized Spartans. Rather than four Master Chiefs walking around like in Halo 4 go back to the old days like Reach with our custom Noble 6 characters or what you did with squads in Halo 5. This will allow people to gravitate to the story, feel more involved, and allow quick identification at range. While I would love to see cutscene integration, such as Spartans besides the Chief appearing the background, cameo shots of them moving or milling about would require an extensive effort on 343’s part; though I think the community would adore the chance to see them given Halo Infinite’s theme.
2. Marine Nameplates
Back in Reach we had the ability to call Marines into a Fireteam in some missions, such as the defense of Sword Base or the Assault in the Package, which gave them a bit of humanity. While Marines in Infinite require a little work as their pathfinding is good but not incredible and they have some engagement issues on hostiles who are clearly firing on the Chief they are still Marines. The Chief clearly cares deeply about them and seeing their names on the Mjolnir HUD not only would give them a bit more life but also glance back to the lore and literature where Spartans see Friendly IFF tags and details about them.
3. Bring Back ODSTs
ODSTs were mentioned in the game and referenced in some HVT biographies. Marines are capable fighters but a squad of Helljumpers would be astounding to see. They were the original survivors and would have no issue lore wise surviving on Zeta Halo for months before the appearance of the Chief. They could be high-tier unlocks in the Valor shop for Chief or only can be found when out roaming the open world; but man would it be great to see 343 go back towards the original ODST armor from Halo 2-3. While Reach had their rendition and I did like it very much I would not like to see the return of Halo 2 Anniversary’s ODST armor. The Halo 2 Anniversary Marine armor? On point. Loved it. The ODST Armor… that one was a miss in my opinion.
4. Scorpion Track Pod Seats
I can somewhat understand why. The new design clearly has exposed portions of the track pods where a seating would probably not be advisable but even if the track pods allow you to field two on the front plus the MMG gunner in the hull that would be more preferable. Also please for the love of all that is sweet and holy give the Scorpion NEUTRAL STEERING. You have no idea how infuriating it is to want to turn the tank’s hull a direction and have to four-point turn the bloody thing. Seats and steering please.
5. Bring back the Gauss
How I would love in cooperative to find Gauss Hogs among the open world or have them as a high-tier Valor item like the Rocket Hog. High precision and armor penetrating they would help a lot towards the more dangerous foes of Infinite such as the Chieftains and offer a more appropriate counter to Brute Snipers with their crazy Skewer accuracy or an attempt to diffuse Shock Rifle troops at range without showering the entire area in rocket fire (while fun sure too often do you get shot before you actually get them especially on Legendary).
6. Not too many of us left…
Do not increase the Fireteam size. Chief rallies five Marines to assist him in the campaign. Even with cooperative keep that at five Marines centered around the Chief. With Spartan allies however allow the squad to spread out a little among them, for example if you have Chief and two Spartan allies, they take two Warthogs and a Mongoose, have the Marines spread out in the Fireteam and fill in the empty seats. I so loved Halo 3’s Tsavo Highway mission with the massive rolling convoys of you and like… twenty Marines. But in Infinite there isn’t many survivors and it would tie in better to the story to make it so that while Chief has allies and now more Spartans that they are still just a squad. If every Spartan had a fireteam of five Marines with them that is a HUGE force and probably would be one-sided in combat. Not to mention the resources on screen tracking and pathfinding that massive of a group. Although I think it would be humorous to allow a customizable setting for the Campaign that would allow such things, for players that want to have an easier or loonier side of things, because I can imagine the shenanigans that could occur and clips made of players ramping four fully laden Razorbacks into a Banished camp.
7. Banished Bosses
Banished bosses should appropriately scale with Spartan allies present. Even if we don’t get to see the Chief and up to three allies square up against a boss in the cutscenes that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be amplified for difficulty. Four Spartans are a force to be absolutely reckoned with and imagine a team of four of these Spartans with full Mjolnir upgrades squaring off against bosses like Jega ‘Rdomnai (who I gunned down with a M247 HMG in one go before he even touched me) or Adjutant Resolution (No offense to the Forerunners is a floating target practice stand).
8. AMBUSH!
Banished forces need to be far more aggressive and active than we currently have them. Many open world titles do this where you drive around the map, doing side objectives, stomping through main missions; and yet the enemy doesn’t really do anything about it. Games like Ghost Recon Wildlands and Breakpoint for example are things that this makes sense since you’re a highly trained operator who specializes in stealth operations. But this is Halo! No offense to the Marines and while some Spartans of all generations excelled in stealth most of the forces the UNSC has aren’t trained in such activities and while 6 months of isolation on the ring is quite the teacher they still will have a field presence. Sure they have garrisons and shoot at you when you attack but the Banished are supposed to represent the best of the best. They gave the Spirit of Fire and Captain Cutter absolute Hell on the Ark and here on Zeta Halo are supposed to be so powerful that they took the Infinity down in minutes and even manhandle Forerunner systems. In the campaign they are stagnant, patrols are lacking, and overall do not seem to hunt the Master Chief in the slightest. Have Banished attacks on FOBs, random patrols that hit the Chief on roads or near objectives or structures of importance, and hit him at random when he finds stuff like Audio Logs or Armor Lockers.
9. Disallow Spartans without Valor the Augmented Weapons
Let me be specific. From weapon lockers players at each FOB can unlock weapons like the Flexfire Sniper Rifle and the Impact Commando. These are unlocked using Valor. DO NOT allow Spartan allies without the appropriate Valor to equip these if tracked independently. For example if you have someone with almost every point in Valor and can field every augmented weapon, do not allow them to start a new campaign with a few friends and they as a guest and then give everyone those weapons. This is easily solved by tying it to the host, who unlocks them through Valor as they gain it and complete the objectives.
10. Expand the Open World
There are some areas, like North of Outpost Tremonius and the area where you attack at the end of the game that are minimally populated, have very little in ways of interaction, and otherwise are not places you would really ever go. Whether through DLC (like I assume you will be doing with what the campaign leaves off on) or by free updates that place new Banished camps and patrols around you should really do you best to expand the open world a bit and give players even more to do and explore. Now that I am done with the campaign I would adore seeing that and finding the little Easter Eggs and secrets you can hide among them.
That’s all. But before I go.
Compliments to 343 for giving us Infinite. After the multiplayer release, debacle, and various growing pains you are and will be experiencing with Infinite I do want to say that this game has found a deep love in my heart and will be a game I play probably as countless of times as I have played every Halo game before this. While not a fan of Halo 4, a bit conflicted about 5, and mostly playing the MCC titles; I will say Infinite now probably ranks up there in my top 3.
Happy Hunting.