Hello, Halo Waypoint. I’m KCDodger. Look up the name at your own discretion, I guess.
You’ve probably seen me around here and there, attacking and defending some myriad of talking points. I’m going to take this time to compile my thoughts about the state of Halo: Infinite as it currently stands, in a format acceptable for this forum. This thread is highly likely to get drowned out by a number of others, but c’est la vie, you do what you can, right?
So let’s dive in.
Art, Style, Visuals.
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I: Impressions, Presentation of old and new
I have often found my interest in Halo: Infinite to be tenuous. I remember its original announcement and subsequent trailers, etc, from a few years back. I remember being intrigued but not necessarily impressed, yet not necessarily let down either. When I went online I was actually surprised at the deluge of negativity. After all, 343i had just come hot off the trail of the hotly anticipated and successful Halo Wars 2, where it was demonstrated that the studio had found a cohesive art style that they were moving forward with. Something reminiscent of the days of yore, a simplified blend of Halo 3 and Reach’s principles of rugged utility and identifiable geometry and silhouettes.
I did kick myself, somewhat. I thought, “Well, we did collectively ask for the Halo Wars 2 art style, didn’t we?” - and I accepted this as far superior to the likes of Halo 4 and 5’s overly messy, greebled and unfocused direction with far too many lines within identifiable silhouettes. Drawing any fanart is a nightmare of figuring out what to abstract and what to include. An issue that Halo: Infinite won’t suffer, I don’t think. Nor will Halo as a whole, going forward.
And, related to this, it is quite evident that a lot of love went into the MK VII MJOLNIR Armor. It looks like a nice fusion, again, of 3 and Reach’s design sensibilities - the series’ two undeniable giants. Sure, Halo 2 was a titan in and of itself, but the art of Halo is reflected far more in the aforementioned titles, I feel. It is then, somewhat surprising and even strange to me, the anachronism of Reach’s Armor Core being brought straight over. With the clear love and effort put into designing the next generation of MJOLNIR Armor, is it not strange then, to see these things brought over from an older title, 1:1, when so often each game’s art style re-interprets the designs?
It isn’t really a complaint. It satisfies me that I can recreate my Spartan nearly 1:1 with who they were in those old days, yet the option surprises me.
II: Everyone’s favorite bad guys
I have no issue with the Banished design or principles. These Banished, led by Jiralhanae, are reclaiming their proud heritage, their technological prowess of yore, before they annihilated themselves, before The Covenant collared and bound them. Their technologies are brutal, efficient, advanced and ethnically flavored with Bayonets, rigid lines and bright colors. The Jiralhanae are a proud people, not the barbarians we were introduced to in Halo 2. These Brutes are still brutes, but they are not savages. I very much like this evolution - though find myself quite missing implements such as the Spiker and Brute Shot. Alas, they simply will not be in at launch it seems.
One might argue that it is strange that the Unggoy, Kig-Yar and Sangheili do not share a unified visual aesthetic with the rest of The Banished, but I like it. The Covenant was a united culture of disparate races and ways of thinking brought together under religion - a powerful uniter, and tool to control. So much of the identity of these races was formed under this Hierarchal banner that even so many years removed, they still wear many of the old patterns of equipment. Some may think it strange, but The Banished is effectively a Rebel faction that has now filled the power vacuum of The Covenant, The Storm and the reformed Covenant. It is normal that they do not have the same unified system of their predecessors. I doubt they even want it.
The Banished are interesting.
III: Screaming Eagles
I’m not the only one perturbed by how shaken up the UNSC’s aesthetic was so briefly in Halo’s history, right? Right after the war they entirely reinvent themselves, get a bunch of new gear, new logo, new everything and what, seven years after that decision we’re right back to how things once looked? It’s a very strange decision indeed. The marriage of old and new made a lot of sense in Halo Wars 2, but not so much here. Especially given how piecemeal it seems to be. Halo 2’s Battle Rifle (not identical but very similar), Halo: Reach’s Assault Rifle (again, ditto), mixed with entirely new things like the Sidekick, Bulldog - it is really odd to me, especially given the latter, the MA40.
One of the visual points of the MA40, was that it was a stripped down and skeletal version of the far more advanced MA5 series of rifles. So this whole thing is just very strange to me, decision wise - and yet, I do quite enjoy the olive tones and firm but beveled angle-lined geometry of The UNSC’s utility and vehicles in general. It is very cool to see these things as they exist now. I just wish perhaps, things were more daring and different. But we all know how that went for the last few years, don’t we?
I already mentioned the peculiar nature of the MJOLNIR Armor in the first section. But I will take the time to say that I strongly appreciate a new, proper MK VII that feels like something that truly does take from all prior generations of MJOLNIR, what does and doesn’t work. I will however, fuss that Master Chief’s armor in Infinite, has no design cues from MK V - and I consider this a significant design failure, where so much homage is paid to the 2-3 suit, that even his own Gen 2 suit has next to zero nods given to it. It seems disrespectful to a large portion of John’s career.
IV: It goes… pop, not boom? Oh.
I don’t like Infinite’s sound design. I think a lot of it is cracky, poppy, lacking in impact. Some weapons feel good, like the BR75. Some I just don’t feel enthused by at all, like… well, anything that isn’t handheld. Why are the Vehicles, in particular, so weak and unimpressive, sound wise? What’s with the warthog sounding like it’s running on a two cylinder engine? It’s a massive machine, but does not evoke the feeling of unchained power any of its predecessors succeed so thoroughly at doing. It is strange to me that The Scorpion, Banshee and Chopper, feel so lightweight - even in their weapons. At least Banished weapons sound nice, far more than their 4-5 counterparts did, and it’s nice that so many of the UNSC weapons have a distinct bang to them when they fire, instead of the strangely modulated treble ridden sound design of the last two games.
No complaints about the voicework. Everybody is doing a stellar job.
But perhaps that’s enough talk about art. What about gameplay? What this forum’s really here to talk about?