Pros:
-The guns felt satisfying when they hit. The sound from each bullet, recoil and visual effects made them feel good to shoot.
-The bots were surprisingly smart. They performed far better than I expected them to. The spartan level bots feel at a great level to be able to almost fill the void for a player, but not of a great player.
-The movement felt very clean after a few days in. At first the sprint felt laggy and robotic but they seemed to fix something to make it feel smoother by the end of the flight. The sliding might be a little too quick and let you travel too far but it feels like it combines well with the sprinting and jumping as a whole.
-No loadouts in the multiplayer is good and bad. Good because everyone is on equal footing and having to fight to get a weapon from the ground or wall is exactly what halo is known for and part of what makes it great. It’s bad, however, because it can be frustrating for those that don’t enjoy the default weapons to get used to them instead of being able to pick a loadout with a weapon they’re more comfortable with.
-The new weapons feel great for the most part. The heatwave feels like a more refined scattershot and it fits in well with the other guns. The newest shotgun feels good as a semi-auto shotgun but it doesn’t pack the oomph that the halo shotgun is known for. The ravager and the spike launcher felt sort of out of place but I’m sure the campaign will make them fit more when we see them in the hands of brutes. The pistol and assault rifle feel very clean and are fun to use. It would be nice to have an alternative pistol like the old halo pistol too but if that doesn’t happen it wouldn’t be the end of the world. The commando is phenomenal and very rewarding to use.
Cons:
-Even on a 3090 on medium settings I was only getting between 85-110 fps which I feel is too low. On high/ultra I never pushed passed 90 fps it seemed and while that is perfectly good for campaign or single player experiences I feel that for multiplayer that is pretty low. (I know that is a technical/optimization problem but it was one that really bugged me.)
-I don’t enjoy the camo system that infinite has. I would much rather be able to customize the colors myself. Only 2 of the camos that you could earn form the battle-pass looked cool and I get a sense that when the game releases there may only be one or two camos I stick with which would be unfortunate.
-The sprint is extremely slow. You barely gain any ground over a person that is just walking behind you. It doesn’t need to be as quick as halo 5 but it should definitely be sped up.
-It’s a little disappointing that some of the fan favorite weapons didn’t make it into the game. The needle rifle, dmr, older shotgun and pistol, brute shot, beam rifle, carbine, fuel rod cannon, beam rifle, spartan laser, railgun, smg, etc. are all such great weapons and it would be great to have a wider selection of weapons to choose from. It might create a feeling of emptiness not having more weapons available and that can lead to some really negative feedback.
Overall:
Halo Infinite seems to be shaping up to be exactly what fans want it to be; a comeback for the halo franchise. While I appreciate the new things halo 4 and 5 tried to do, they never felt right when standing next to their predecessors. Halo Infinite seems to bridge that gap whilst also bringing some freshness as well which is to be expected from a new title. Hopefully the feedback from myself and others helps in your development. I look forward to playing the finish product very much.