Respectfully this reveal did nothing to showcase what Infinite is capable of and as a first hands on gameplay reveal is completely lacklustre from a Halo fan standpoint wanting to play the game. Here’s why -
- The focus was not on the Chief but squarely split on Brohammer and The Banished leader guy #xxxxx. Look at Halo 2 reveal = Chief being a hero. Halo 3 reveal = Chief being a hero. The historic “classic” reveals were not focused on the sidekicks nor the antagonist. You missed the mark of returning fans back to a Chief focus, again. - The AI does not showcase next gen gameplay nor does it highlight what the XSX CPU or Azure cloud is capable of. This was your big reveal and it was the most mundane elementary level Halo gameplay we’ve all seen a thousand times before. You could have showcased Halo 5’s firefight with Azure cloud enemies and vehicles remastered in 4K/60fps and beaten out the gameplay shown off in this reveal. - The polish was far less than the initial reveal of the wildlife, environment and lighting; generally speaking the level of immersion and feel. A huge drop in quality, not from an art standpoint either, literally a technical downgrade of output. - Ray Tracing is confirmed for post launch. Why? This is a flagship title for XSX and Halo with 5 years of development and hundreds of staff. RT is baked right into the new XSX hardware and its completely absent from Infinite’s reveal? - Physics, where is any innovations in the power of XSX or features of your new game engine to deliver a living and breathing Halo ring in this gameplay reveal? Why does none of the geometry animate, shapeshift, alter the terrain, get jettisoned or generally take any creative innovation to keep classic art and lore but deliver unique elements to this game and reveal? Given the basic looking nature of the ring foundational elements they were perfect for dynamic level design and visual interest through animation and change of time. Something innovative for next gen and a reveal. - There’s simpler elements that objectively disappoint too e.g. tires on the warthog do not take any environment into account; such as getting dusty or muddy or leaving a trace in the actual geometry or textures it has traversed. - Where is the expansion to the Brute sandbox? For example there are no weapons such as bruteshot or vehicles like the chopper. The armour even looks like it came out of a human lego factory. Oops sorry megablocks. Brutes should have been more animalistic and scary, not cartoon characters. - Where was a bombastic cornerstone Halo moment in this reveal? No Scarab from H3, no three factions fighting from H2 and no flood horror reveal from HCE. There was a million more ways you could have gone with the gameplay reveal and this was objectively the most simplistic Halo gameplay in any reveal. - The grapple is very linear, take a look at Apex Legends character Pathfinder, the grapple requires arc, momentum, swing and basic elements that make it fun. A straight point and shoot Halo Infinite grapple is very linear by design and looks clunky in game. - The mechanics of campaign were not detailed in any way. Literally 2-5 extra minutes spent on detailing in game what upgrades are, how the ones shown fit in, what the exploration is like to obtain or even simply how the main story vs side quests works that was discussed behind closed doors with gaming press. As a gamer we have no clue how this campaign works. - Are there any other gameplay elements e.g. PvE content like strikes or raids from Destiny? - Are there any other progression elements e.g. loot, customisation such as Destiny or abilitles and skins such as Jedi Fallen Order? - Are there any innovative elements e.g. look at hero shooters and character specific mechanics, an example of gameplay reveal would be Chief swapping armour during the game to gain differing mechanics such as Valorant skills or Apex Legends abilities. There was little innovative gameplay shown in the reveal.When you look at this gameplay reveal for a 5 years developed game, a new engine and a new console you come up short with what was actually revealed. It’s lacklustre as a Halo fan and leaves me disappointed. It’s become a common feeling for 343 and Halo game launch e.g. MCC (not working), Halo 5 (lack of content).
I’ll also leave a side note for this thread as I know this wasn’t a multiplayer reveal but clearly a beta phase is not intrinsic to the game design or direction or major iterations due to the timing from now to game release this year and the fact no beta details are given yet.