First and foremost, I would like to offer my warmest and heartfelt gratitude to 343 Industries for presenting me with the opportunity to playtest the game. The experience was enlightening, nostalgic, and most of all, fun. I absolutely cannot wait to see what more the game has in store. 343 have thus far absolutely nailed the goal with Halo Infinite, which was to create something fun for new players while still being fresh and exciting for old players. With my generation, the generation that began gaming in the late 2000s and early 2010s coming of age, there comes a demand for the resurgence of games we’ve grown up with. Minecraft, Modern Warfare, and now Classic Halo. Seeing the reaction from the Halo community, and the gaming community in general, has filled me with happiness and hope for the future. An almost unanimous agreement that Halo Infinite is a return to series roots, and will be a killer game on launch.
I could go on and on about the brilliance of the game so far, and how much it means for me to see my favorite game series returning to its throne, but I am limited by a 7500 character limit. Not nearly enough. That being said, that’s why I’ve decided to make a thread discussing my issues with the game. Upon review, I noticed a lot of my notes of downsides were nitpicks or opinionated observations. Some were not. What we played was a technical preview. There were bugs. There were balancing issues. There were rough edges. But with the game months out from launch, I hold high hopes for these issues to be patched and fixed to make Infinite the best it can be.
Bugs, Graphics, Audio, And Performance
When Halo Infinite first debuted its gameplay in 2020, reactions were mixed. I myself am not a graphics guy, but even I could admit; for a game that was touted to take “full advantage” of Xbox Series X, the game did not look good. It pleases and excites me to say that Infinite has made a full 180 turnaround on it’s visuals and graphics. . . Mostly. I playtested this build on both PC and Xbox Series X, the latter of which was beautiful. 4K, HDR, and a perfect, constant 60FPS with the power of Xbox Series X showcased what was originally promised.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the PC version of the game. Halo Infinite needs serious work on PC optimization. My PC isn’t a supercomputer, but it’s no pushover either. With a Ryzen 7 5800X, 32GB Ram @ 3000Mhz, and a Radeon 5700XT at 1080p, the game struggled to push past 70FPS even in menus, and gameplay was usually in the mid-50s. My GPU would show only around 50% usage from the game in NZXT CAM. (Do note this was with the AMD drivers that 343 recommended for Infinite’s flighting, Adrenalin 21.6.1)
Additional bugs, nitpicks, and niceties are noted below;
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- An additionally noted GRAPHICAL bug is that I noticed several flickering rainbow effects along the bottom of my screen, which appears to be a lighting glitch. An example can be seen here. - - An additionally noted GRAPHICAL bug is that Prosthetic limbs seem to visually stay on your spartan, even after unequipping them in the menu. - - An additionally noted VISUAL bug is that crouching while looking straight down can cause the camera to move in a “janky” manner… Yes, I was teabagging bots… - - An Additionally noted VISUAL bug is that Spartans only appear on the radar while Sprinting. - - An Additionally noted PHYSICS bug is that Corpse Physics tends to go crazy. On occasion, back-whacking a bot will send them flying across the map. Although humorous, this is apparently unintentional. - An Additionally noted PHYSICS bug is that Spartans take damage in intro/end screens. Also humorous. Wake me, when you need me. - - An additionally noted AUDIO bug is that THX Spatial Audio (Typically used among select Razer Kraken headsets) does not function properly at all. I would get shot from behind, but hear no gunfire, for example. - - An additionally noted AUDIO bug is that AI/Announcer Voice lines will repeat themselves several times. This bug possibly takes place after a ping/connection lag spike. - A Physics nitpick is that there is no collision with other Spartans/Players. This feature is essential for custom games and needs to return, at least as an optional setting. - A Physics/QOL nitpick is that I, and some others, wish to be able to grapple, throw, and stick grenades to the Chickens seen in the Bazaar map. #KFCGamemode - An Audio Nitpick is that some areas of the game, namely respawn timer and sniper scopes, use Halo 5: Guardians sound design. This may have been a placeholder, but it would be nice to see original audio in this regard. - An Audio Nitpick is that Spartan death sounds seem less brutal than in the MP Gameplay Trailer. The trailer showed Spartans screaming upon death, or being pulled from a Wasp. These added an element of brutality to MP, and would be cool to see returnFor the most part, graphical improvements and game optimization are just nitpicking of mine that would be nice to see considered among the team.
But if I haven’t bored you with my giant wall of text yet, there are some weapon balancing issues and observations I’d like to open for discussion.
- An additionally noted GRAPHICAL bug is that I noticed several flickering rainbow effects along the bottom of my screen, which appears to be a lighting glitch. An example can be seen here. - - An additionally noted GRAPHICAL bug is that Prosthetic limbs seem to visually stay on your spartan, even after unequipping them in the menu. - - An additionally noted VISUAL bug is that crouching while looking straight down can cause the camera to move in a “janky” manner… Yes, I was teabagging bots… - - An Additionally noted VISUAL bug is that Spartans only appear on the radar while Sprinting. - - An Additionally noted PHYSICS bug is that Corpse Physics tends to go crazy. On occasion, back-whacking a bot will send them flying across the map. Although humorous, this is apparently unintentional. - An Additionally noted PHYSICS bug is that Spartans take damage in intro/end screens. Also humorous. Wake me, when you need me. - - An additionally noted AUDIO bug is that THX Spatial Audio (Typically used among select Razer Kraken headsets) does not function properly at all. I would get shot from behind, but hear no gunfire, for example. - - An additionally noted AUDIO bug is that AI/Announcer Voice lines will repeat themselves several times. This bug possibly takes place after a ping/connection lag spike. - A Physics nitpick is that there is no collision with other Spartans/Players. This feature is essential for custom games and needs to return, at least as an optional setting. - A Physics/QOL nitpick is that I, and some others, wish to be able to grapple, throw, and stick grenades to the Chickens seen in the Bazaar map. #KFCGamemode - An Audio Nitpick is that some areas of the game, namely respawn timer and sniper scopes, use Halo 5: Guardians sound design. This may have been a placeholder, but it would be nice to see original audio in this regard. - An Audio Nitpick is that Spartan death sounds seem less brutal than in the MP Gameplay Trailer. The trailer showed Spartans screaming upon death, or being pulled from a Wasp. These added an element of brutality to MP, and would be cool to see returnFor the most part, graphical improvements and game optimization are just nitpicking of mine that would be nice to see considered among the team.
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Adding a control option for Toggle Sprint instead of just Holding. - Myself and others have noted that aiming is VERY janky. Especially with precision weapons. Whether this is a result of no aim assist or controller deadzones is up for debate, but with how many people are bringing it up, I expect it will be reviewed by the team. - The Needler Needs a Tracking Nerf. The Needles from this weapon are able to track with deadly precision and accuracy. A nerf to this aspect would be ideal. - The MA40 Assault Rifle has a Low TTK. Me personally, I feel like the assault rifle is a little TOO good for a spawning weapon. The weapon seems to have a very low TTK compared to past entries, especially with its higher ROF. This is especially prevalent when considering an unshielded target, which can be absolutely melted by the AR. I propose nerfing the weapon’s unshielded damage and drawing back it’s effective range. - The MK50 Sidekick is Overpowered. It is. The number of times I was one-tapped from across the map with no shields, or VERY quickly weakened or killed from across the map, was incredibly annoying. The number of times I was able to use it and go shot-for-shot or even outperform the BR or VK78, even at range, was deeply concerning. The MK50 seems to have a similar/faster TTK than even the Halo 5 pistol while retaining the range. I propose significantly nerfing the weapon’s effective damage range (potentially making it a 2/3 headshot kill on an unshielded Spartan at a longer range), slowing the reload slightly, zooming it out upon taking damage, and adding an increase to the bullet spread/accuracy when feathering the trigger. However, the weapon would continue to be an effective choice if it keeps its one-shotting capabilities on no-shields at a very close range. If we want to get even spicier, we could also consider taking away the Sidekick’s headshot multiplier entirely. Point being, the MK50 Sidekick was originally showcased as a CQC backup weapon, and there is no reason a CQC backup weapon should perform even remotely similar to a BR/VK78 at range.