So, a few of the big takeaways that I had;
- Aim assist especially when using ADS seems kind of off and not smooth enough. Playing on controller, I found myself frequently overcompensating to hit targets like there wasn’t enough aim assist. This seemed particularly noticeable for the Sidekick, Sniper, Commando and Skewer, all of which I just found myself avoiding the use of ADS on altogether as it was too unreliable. Going from older Halo games on MCC to Infinite, aiming feels completely different, and not in a good way. I’ve noticed others talking about this change on the Waypoint forums, Reddit and -Yoink!-, so I know I’m not the only one. I think there’s a lack of aim slow down. Don’t know how it works in Infinite, but I know in older Halo games and some other FPS titles, there’s 2 (sometimes more) aim assist ‘bubbles’ around players, one that slows your aim slightly that’s wider and sticks further out from the target and a second one that’s basically right on their hitbox and is where the really sticky aim assist comes from. I feel like that first, larger aim assist bubble isn’t there. Keyboard and Mouse feels like it has too much of an advantage currently, especially with that magnetism feature (coming from someone who has played with both types of inputs). On it’s own, less aim assist wouldn’t be too bad, but as so many guns have moderate to heavy amounts of recoil and slight bloom, it all adds up and makes the controller experience for the game feel subpar and not as smooth as older Halo titles.
- Deadzones for controller are also broken in the game. Evidence of that here; Halo infinite's awful aiming issues. (comparison with apex legends aiming) - YouTube
- Optimization on PC seems kind of rough in general. Even on a decent rig like mine, which is at the recommended specs, frame rates didn’t exceed 80fps on medium settings. Know a fair few people who spent ridiculous amounts of money on their PC’s with RTX 3080TI’s/3090’s, Ryzen 5900x’s in their rigs, who were struggling to hit 60fps on High-Ultra settings.
- I don’t think the motion tracker does a good job showing where enemies are in terms of their elevation, whether they’re below or above you. In general I just don’t particularly like it and don’t see the point in it if it only shows targets who are shooting or sprinting. Sprinting is already pretty underpowered in this game, there doesn’t need to be yet another reason to not utilize it. I think the classic motion tracker would work fine as opposed to this new radar mechanic. Maybe some more playtesting with two different options to see which one people prefer wouldn’t be a bad idea?
- The Heatwave needs a buff. The slow rate of fire, reload time and damage, coupled with this game’s inconsistent aim assist don’t make it a reliable option in my opinion. Would rather the Bulldog every time.
- The Pulse Carbine tracking also felt inconsistent. Sometimes it’d absolutely beam people (even dealing damage when the target was around a corner) and strip shields ridiculously fast and other times despite keeping a red reticle on target and leading my shots in the direction the enemy was moving, the shots wouldn’t track properly and would miss. The bots are somehow gods with it though.
- The loading screen (black, with the three white dots) is boring and not particularly insightful to how much my game has or hasn’t loaded. Halo has always done loadscreens well in my opinion, but this ain’t it chief. Even if it was just a concept art slideshow, I’d be fine with it. Just something to look at other than 3 dots.
- You can punch people in the game and send them flying, but the grav hammer seemingly does nothing? I kind of miss the crazy physics altering capabilities that it used to have.