I’m sure we are all very excited to see the return of the equipment system from Halo 3. Many of us have been asking for its comeback as it was only present in one Halo game. But is it really the same equipment system we remember from 2007?
No. Look, I get that 343i is calling it equipment and that they’re single-use items that can be picked up on the map, but that’s about where the similarities end. Halo 3’s pieces of equipment were neutral-use. Meaning that they affected everyone. Everyone can benefit or suffer from its deployment, so the only advantage its user has is choosing when to activate it. You can throw a regen to heal yourself as well as your teammates, or you can pop open a bubble shield to protect your team. If you were a noob, you could accidentally provide a bubble shield for the enemy or get power drained by your own power drain. Using an equipment item required some level of skill.
Halo Infinite’s equipment system only benefits its user, for the most part. Grapple hook and repulsor only benefits the guy using it. There doesn’t seem to be any way to help your teammates using these equipment items. Also, these pieces of equipment cannot be used by the enemy at all, so it only brings power to the player. There is no risk to using these items. If you grapple hook successfully, the enemy will not be able to catch up. Repulsor will push projectiles away from you, but the enemy has no way of using it against you. You essentially get a power-up at no cost.
If you’re wondering why does the equipment need to be neutral use like in Halo 3, let me explain my stance. Halo already has options that bring power to the player only. They’re called weapons and grenades. Having equipment act as yet another mean for benefitting just the player is a bit redundant. Halo 3’s equipment was unique as it provided benefits for everyone, so you really had to think before you used it. Your bubble shield or regen can be controlled by the enemy. The power drain can affect your teammates. Grav lift can be used by anyone. Halo 3’s equipment did a great job at shaking up the gameplay in a unique way.
If you’re now wondering how else can these cool pieces of equipment be incorporated into Infinite without ruining the neutral-use style of equipment, I got the answer. Utilize them as weapons. The grapple hook can simply be its own weapon. You’ll have to ability to traverse the map, BUT at the cost of a weapon slot. And that’s very costly, making it more fair. It could also have more uses out of it, so it would be more fun. The repulsor is very easy to implement because Halo has it already. The gravity hammer. Unfortunately, it seems like the gravity hammer is more hammer than gravity judging from the demos we’ve seen, but 343i can easily move the repulsor’s effects into the hammer. it seems like a no-brainer.
The drop wall is an excellent example of equipment. It is neutral use, so it can be used by anyone. Remember when it was a one-way shield back in the 2020 campaign demo? Imagine how broken and frustrating that would have been in multiplayer. Also, it needs to be said that the idea of having active camo and overshields as equipment isn’t a great idea. Allowing the player to choose when to activate overshields will lead to much frustration. It wouldn’t be fun shooting on someone who’s off guard only for them to whip out an overshields and easily win the fight. I am well aware the same was done with the bubble shield in Halo 3, but at the very least they couldn’t fire back on you while being protected.
So the point is, I would rather have neutral-use equipment akin to Halo 3 rather than Halo Infinite’s style of bringing power to the player. Neutral-use brought more skill into the game as it could help the enemy or hinder your allies. Also, weapons and grenades already fulfill the role of solely helping its user (unless you blow yourself up with a grenade or rocket launcher :P), so to reduce redundancy, equipment should be neutral-use to add more depth to Halo’s gameplay. The drop wall is a great example of how equipment should be designed.
Disclaimer: I am not stating that Halo 3’s equipment was perfect. It had obvious problems. I just feel like equipment was done better in Halo 3.