For those of you that feel the game didn’t live up to your expectations, I resonate with you and understand.
I was raised, through years of disappointment, to temper my expectations for a game; to always come in expecting the bare minimum if my goal is to be pleasantly surprised by any form of product. This was the case for movies, games, toys, shows, and even people. Honestly, I feel the lessons have served me well and that, since the many years past since I’ve adopted this way of thinking, it has ultimately resulted in me enjoying and trying new things that I previously wouldn’t have.
I thoroughly enjoyed the multiplayer for Halo 4, consider I was only twelve, but I really couldn’t agree with the campaign. I didn’t really like the look of the aliens and I thought most of the game levels looked ugly. Really, this disappointment marked the first issue I had with 343 and the way they make Halo. I played the Beta for Halo 5 and the game looked beautiful in all the 720p glory with the amazing lighting and then the game released looking many times worse than it did the year before its release. That was the second issue that immediately struck with me.
Along with the copious other issues with Halo 5, beyond the graphical peeve I had, that disappointment marked the moment that I’d stop expecting more than the bare minimum for all games/entertainment. I’ve enjoyed many games since then as a result.
When I saw that 343 was finally finding that visual identity and gameplay identity that Halo has normally thrived with, I had assumed that the rest of the bare minimum would be reached. Nothing could have prepared me for how far below the bare minimum 343 developed for Halo Infinite. The delay was an amazing decision and most people thought, “This is a great idea! Don’t be like Cyberpunk 2077. Take all the time you need. The game is nearly content complete, anyway.” Little did we know that the only thing they had “content complete” was the gameplay, ignoring desync, and well-rounded story, ignoring the lazy cutscenes, lazy enemy encounters, and lazy level creation.
I find it very hard to believe that Halo Infinite released with the bare minimum requirements that a Halo game needs, let alone any other game. Here lies the main issue. What should I have expected from Halo Infinite to not be disappointed if the answer wasn’t to only expect the bare minimum? How can anyone be blamed for expecting more than what they delivered if what they delivered wasn’t acceptable? For example, Elden Ring is releasing with a world-class Halo feature, co-op. I’ve never been the type of person to think that co-op is a make-or-break feature, but how exactly is Elden Ring, a game of similar, if not greater, scope as Halo Infinite, releasing with co-op and Halo Infinite not? With this being known, the issue can’t lie with the virus or any other extraneous issues other than the people directly involved with its creation considering other studios are able to deliver much more. (I am assuming Elden Ring will deliver more than Halo Infinite, so if that’s untrue, retract this comparison).
I refuse to believe the devs at 343 are incompetent. This begs the question of why/how/what caused Halo Infinite to objectively be delivered below the bare minimum and fail to build up to that level over the past three months. The only thing I’m after is honesty. We know what happened with Halo 5, so now we need to be told what’s behind Halo Infinite.