First, I want to clarify that this is my honest opinion as a Halo player who started playing during the Halo 3 era and enjoyed almost every Halo game. I didn’t know that the feedback thread would close so early, so here I am making my own… sorry, but I wanted to give my feedback.
During the first day of the preview, it was clear that the servers weren’t ready for the number of players trying to, not only enter the game, but also Halo Waypoint. Luckily, the connection improved during the following days of the preview.
Now to the matter at hand: the core gameplay. This game felt like the bridge between older Halos, more oriented to Halo 3 and Halo Reach, and the newer Halos, specifically Halo 5. One thing I found that summarized the feeling of the game is being Heavy and Sturdy, just as a Spartan should be.
Sprinting felt balanced, faster than normal walking but not fast enough to break the game if you are not used to it, trading more speed for unreadiness in battle. I’m not a fan of the slide, but it makes sense, and it doesn’t seem to give any big advantage whatsoever.
Overall, the weapons felt sturdy and very well done, but some of them had a few problems. The Needler was strong during Halo 3 days, but in this preview, it was amped even more, with faster fire rate and even stronger homing. I think it would be wise to tune it down a bit. The S7 Sniper Also had a problem, which was the way enemies shoot at you and cancel your scope, making it impossible to aim with the weapon. Of course, this was also in older games, but this time felt wrong. The Commando was strong but unreliable for me. Finally, the Bulldog shotgun was very strange. Shooting point blank to an enemy didn’t cause as much damage as I expected, while shooting at close to mid-range seemed just as effective. I hope the other shotgun – if there is another – can one-shot at point blank. Also, I would like to see the DMR, as it’s one of the jewels of Halo Reach.
Equipment is great right now, everything that I thought would be broken at first, just like the grappling hook, was balanced thanks to it being a limited equipment which anyone could pick up. I can’t wait to see more and different equipment. Being able to save the powerups for later also seems like a good idea.
Regarding map design and game flow, I think the three maps were okay. I don’t exactly feel attached to any of them, but they do their job. Bazaar was a bit convoluted but had a great atmosphere. Also, it was hard to verify if the maps were fair, as both bots and players always started in the same spots.
Talking about Bots, 343 did a great job with their AI, and the difficulty was just right. Playing against bots in “Marine” difficulty was easy, as expected, usually winning by 30-40 points. Bots in “ODST” difficulty were notably harder, but still easily winning by 25-30 points. I couldn’t try “Spartan” difficulty but the other two were on point.
Weapon Drills are very useful, you can get a grip on the weapon before entering the battlefield, but they dismiss an important point about weapons: positioning. I can’t get to higher ground to get advantage with the S7 Sniper or get truly up close to an enemy using the Bulldog Shotgun. For those cases it would be better to enter a custom match against bots. Also, I’m intrigued to see what you will do about Weapon Drills for melee weapons like the gravity hammer or the energy sword.
The design of the Menus was okay, rather simple, but enough for a reduced version of the game. I liked the cinematic approach to the idle character and weapons and loved the amount of customization in every setting menu. The implementation on the other hand was a whole different world. Trying to load the “Customization” menu was painful, usually ending up in glitched backgrounds. There were a lot of overlays that led to confusing inputs, usually showing to press a button to enter somewhere but ending up in a different menu. I think a solution would be to take out the image of the input required if you have an overlay overwriting it. Finally, what appeared to be the Achilles heel of the game: the button for switching grenades. I don’t understand what happened, but every time I tried to configure it to a different button, the game crashed.
Crashing menus aside, I absolutely loved the new way of showing enemies and allies through outlines. It may be controversial, but the positives heavily outweigh the negatives.
The Battle pass was something I was expecting but never wanted. Based on the preview it seemed to be closer to a normal game battle pass – Like Apex Legends – rather than what 343 said, but as it’s just a preview I still have faith. Halo: MCC’s Battle pass was a great and almost wholesome idea, so I hope Halo Infinite’s Battle Pass goes in that direction.
One last thing I wanted to write about is the helmets and customization parts. I haven’t found a single good helmet since Halo Reach, specifically the “Operator”. And from the helmets I’ve seen in this preview I’m afraid it will become another Halo where I can’t find a decent looking one. I hope 343 adds helmets that are closer to Halo Reach’s “Operator”, “Eva” or “Aviator”, rather than the disgusting looking “Seeker” or “Ranger” from Halo 5.
Of course, in this feedback I focused on the negative parts or things that I felt that needed to be changed. You may take everything that I didn’t mention here as a good job.