Hey folks, this one isn’t really intended to start a discussion, if people want to reply, that’s awesome, if they don’t, I get it! I just want to do my part & show my appreciation for having been invited into the Flight, by giving my considered feedback.
First off, I will start with a thank you to 343, both for having me on the Flight, the first Halo test I ever got to enjoy was Halo 3, & this bought back some beautiful memories of chaos with friends in that build. I would also like to say a thank you for the Infinite Flight experience being utterly superlative. Seriously, it was a joy, of course there were issues, that’s the point, but the game at core was a joy, Halo feels like it is going in a very positive direction to my tastes. Similarly the App Beta. I’ve said it before; that App is gorgeous. Smooth, clean, integrating in a fantastically user friendly (& visually appealing way) the various Halo games & customisation.
So, my Infinite Flight specific feedback, an an Xbox Series S user, & understanding that this is a Flight, things change, likely changed long before this older build etc:
General Stuff:
- Movement - felt really, really solid. I honestly loved it & consider it an excellent blend of old & new - its super smooth & silky, maintaining momentum beautifully. I genuinely miss the ability to boost in a direction, but that could be a power up, or it could be that it would negatively affect the gameplay, I get that - I don’t know if I have a bad word to say about movement… I’m not trying to suck up here, I honestly just think you knocked this out of the park. - General Combat - again, this just felt really, really good. Occasionally I felt like shields evaporated in an instant, but I put that down to testing & probably being team shot without realising it, though the “killed by, with assistance of” does give a clue! - Powerups/Abilities etc - I actually went into the Flight not in love with the idea of a return to pickup powerups. I am now a convert. It fits, & it balances really well. - Maps - all 3 in the flight were really well balanced I thought. I’m an avowed BTB/Firefight/Warzone Firefight sort of a guy; the days of my twitch response being comp level are long behind me (lost them somewhere after Halo 3 I think, & they ain’t coming back), so arena stuff hasn’t called to me for a long time, but these maps somehow straddled the line between the confines of a true Arena map, & the breadth of larger, more interesting maps. They felt like really good additions to the Halo universe, with loads of room to explore both Arena style play, & something bigger (obviously not BTB, but not so small that they felt claustrophobic). - Circ is a beautiful soul & I will let none hurt her crazy, cackling, murder loving little heart - Music swells & soars, it feels Halo, it promises so much. It’s great. - Very much appreciate the Shooting Range, but would love to see a non-timed mode for general weapon testing/getting used to things etc - Love that we seem to have ditched the “twenty variants of every weapon” from Halo 5. I really enjoyed the variants, but to this day I don’t understand how some of them work, also felt like these made base versions of those weapons “lesser” versions of what they once were. So ditching that is in my book, 100% the right thing to do, the Plasma Pistol, Needler etc, they get to be their brilliant selves, just as they are - AI & Announcer Callouts - never felt too much, really enjoyed them & loved hearing Circ cackle wickedly - Match start animations are really nice. Presumably, we get to define what our “stance/action” will be, & I love this. Halo 5’s “bro-down” used to really rub me the wrong way, but this feels good, much more professional Spartan super soldier, much less, guys at the bar that make me tired the instant I catch sight of them
Weapons:
- Loved the AR, I mean, how could I not? It just feels like its right in the sweet spot, like so much in the Flight, the time spent getting things right is very apparent - I do think that other weapons need a little boost, to better find their niche, as right now, while I think the AR is perfect, a lot of other weapons feel eclipsed by it somewhat, but not as a fault of the AR - The Commando was not a favourite of mine. I understand why on PC it would be a beast. On Xbox I could not get it to work for me. Where the BR was pulling headshots, this thing just felt like it was either too weak damage wise for the recoil, or the recoil was too high. I totally get the arguments against this, but honestly, I couldn’t get it to perform in-game, partly because of the descope mechanic, which the bot’s accuracy makes constant - The BR felt very good to me, though the scope suffered as a result of afore mentioned descoping - I know, descoping isn’t new, but I’ve never felt quite as abused by it as I did in the Flight! I think, again, the AR is generally so good at its all-around roll, & these maps were quite close maps generally (despite having some long sight lines), that the BR didn’t get to shine as a result of the descope flinch - All the grenades felt great, sticky kills were achievable & satisfying, the brute spike nades were very pleasing & fun (as they always have been) & the standard human grenade is everything you’d want it to be. Though, its tendency to glow when dropped but not live, was a bit upsetting, I got used to it, but instinct still screamed at me - The Hammer is really interesting, I like it a lot, though it took me a while to adjust. - Love both Shotguns, though again, took a while to wrap my head around the Heatwave - I do think they could both do with a little more range/power (I know the Heatwave has great range), as while I could really make the Bulldog work for me, the AR is so good, that it saw a lot more usage, at all ranges, just because it generally beats most things unless you’re in a very specific circumstance - The Sniper & Spiker were fine, but the range on these maps, coupled with the descope meant I rarely got to enjoy them, also felt like the sniper’s first level zoom was a bit too much - The Sidearm is brilliant. What is there to say? It feels like a really good evolution of the the Pistol, considerate to the power of the CE, but within the sandbox of Infinite, where no pistol should be a god tier ultimate killing machine (much as I loved & abused that in my own CE days)
Sandbox:
- Loved the Grapple, was concerned pre-Flight that this would be a gimmick, like so many games hoover up these days, but it feels consistent with the gameplay & doesn’t feel like its overpowered or unfair. Its also SUPER fun. - Camo/Overshield - being part of the same pickup as other abilities really works well. The Camo is really good & feels like “yeah, its a few years since CE, we actually got better at making this in universe, so now, its not quite so… limited” which is great & works really well - Drop Shield - probably my least favourite part of the Flight, & I don’t even dislike it. I just think it needs to be swifter to deploy.