First a bit of background, I am a fan of FPS games, from early Quake, Wolfenstein ET, Unreal Tournament, to Counter Strike, and more recently Apex, Warzone, PUBG, and Battlefront, COD.
I never really played Halo except with my friend’s Xbox together in local multiplayer back in the Xbox days, and some great campaign. I had my eyes on Halo Infinite for a while, as I considered this game would be the flagship carrier of Xbox for this new gen.
I will list the topics that have disappointed me or left me doubtful:
- The graphics. I know this is a flight, but I am quite shocked by how ugly the game sometimes gets, its almost like an early Xbox One looking game. I don’t play FPS for the graphics, but still I am honestly surprised the game looks that bad. Some textures look horribly ugly, the lighting feels very plastic, the foliage and trees are just awful. Only the Spartan look great.
- The aim: I don’t know what happened here, but sometimes definitely feels wrong sometimes.
- The fun: I am not having that much fun. I’ve listed a lot of the FPS that I have played, and I just feel like there are very little “Wow” moments in my plays. Maybe its just because Im bad or not familiar enough with the mechanics. Except for a few grapple punch kills, or grapple car hijack.
- Everything feels rather bland. I consider myself a real FPS player, and I am surprised at how uninterested I am in Halo Infinite after having played it. Perhaps the game has a too oldschool approach, and despite its effort to include more modern mechanics for movement it still feels very much like a 2000s game made 20 years later. And maybe that’s where I get it all wrong, because that what’s the game supposed to be about? What did I miss here, to be honest I am not sure. Besides, I have a lot of friends that usually game a lot of FPS together, and its the first time I see them so uninterested in a big new FPS franchise entry.
Now I’m going to list the goods, otherwise it wouldnt be fair.
- Great gunplay: the guns feel great to use. They are impactful, diverse in gameplay.
- The maps: so far its good. There are several ways to tackle an encounter, places to take cover. And the weapons are always smartly placed so you can use them at your advantage as soon as you pick them up.
- The spartans: they look awesome and cool, a joy to customize.
- The vehicles: just as fun as they were in my memory.
- The sound design: great sound design through and through, nothing to complain about it. Really top quality work.
My suggestions:
- Graphics: the lighting is off in many ways, for the rest I am not sure how feasible it would be to change all these ugly assets for foliage and trees.
- Customization: the shoulder pads and knee pads are a great idea of customization, but I feel like the changes are so minimal they dont really change your look. More important: let players pick first and secondary colors.
Overall:
Graphic: there seem to be a desire to drift towards a more cartoonish style for the graphics, to get closer to BR trendy market, but at the same time everything is very realistic. I think a more gritty and realistic look (perhaps the overall colors and lighting) would make the game more appealing and have more edge.
Gameplay: The grappling hook, the thingy that ejects people away from you, the crazy weapons mechanics, and iconic vehicles, I think this is where the game shines and brings the “WOW” moments.
I am not convinced by this build, and I feel like the game should be a bit bolder its in design choices (both graphics and gameplay) to really shine.