For me its a mix. There is a decent amount of content. Not as much as other games, but it is mostly Free to Play and live service. That should make up for it.
However, my personal problem is that it lacks a little in quantity, but suffers worse with quality. (I’m not going to discuss desync nor PC stability, but those are a valid issues)
The game released with only a few game modes. Okay. That’s fine with me, I rarely do more than that, but theoretically, with custom games you can make the game modes that the main playlists lack, which would help the community waiting for forge at least.
In practice, custom games are broken and missing many standard features for the game mode. We simply can’t make the gamemodes that aren’t in the main playlists, but 343 shows they can release such modes themselves. You can’t make your own fiesta mode with friends, you’re forced to use the playlists. When you only have the few same modes for 6 months when you previously had more options, and what few options you have are busted, then it makes the game feel more repetitive than it really is.
Then there is theater. We don’t have an in-game report option. Which is annoying, but at least we have theater to go back and catch them after a match. Except that theater is broken too. So you have to go away from your match to make note of a player cheating to report them later. When other games, and even Halo games, had this function built into the game itself.
The maps feel limited because most of them aren’t designed that well and only make the amount worse. (I’m fine with the amount, but again, quality) They look nice, but don’t offer anything spectacular. People complained about COD having only 3 lane maps, and most of Halo Infinite’s are just 3 lane maps. But I will give benefit of the doubt, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. We have grappling hooks, jumping, and repulsor jumps to help with verticality. I argue BTB offers the most versatility out of the maps, but only on foot. With the vehicle balancing already bad, and the maps themselves limiting vehicles to their roads, the maps feel too claustrophobic for already weak vehicles. Then with the random nature of vehicle spawns, that limits what players are allowed to do in BTB. Then without a longer range weapon on these maps (I argue for commando, not the BR) then you have to get close and you’re back to playing like an arena match.
Aside from the store itself limiting customization, on top of that, promotions that aren’t done through the in-game store often don’t work. If no one has seen my repeated Zeta Sky rants, find one of my posts or replies literally anywhere. My point is that 343 couldn’t get the pre-order bonus right, nor many of the other promotional coatings. Including HCS Winter. Regardless of how good or bad they look, many people who were promised to receive their items, never got theirs and 343 has offered nothing for their mess-ups. in the case of Zeta Sky, we paid early for the item. We deserve to have it.
Then co-op. I’m in a minority that I won’t play campaign until co-op is out. That’s my decision. But from what I hear, the campaign is missing many features, and the vehicle balance is so messed up it ruined a boss (don’t tell me who, I had enough spoiled) So the campaign itself isn’t up to par with others for more than enough money, and it is missing a feature that people were complaining about since Halo 5. You know, the 4 player co-op game in a couch and LAN famous franchise, with only online co-op. So the campaign, the thing we spend $60 on, is missing basic features and suffers worse from game-wide mistakes in addition to missing a delayed mode.
Yeah MCC and Halo 5 didn’t have good launches either. That’s why we expected more from 343. They said they wanted to fix all that. They appointed community members that were very critical of their games as forerunners so they could see how the community reacts. They claim they saw our issues. Yet here we are with an incomplete game.
Why should we be happy that this launch is comparatively worse? Since Halo 4, 343 has only stripped away or replaced features at launch more than they added. Adding more later should be a bonus, not an excuse to release a game before it is ready. co-op and forge isn’t a bonus. It is delayed launch content. They said that themselves. Being “live service” isn’t an excuse to deliver less than the bare minimum. We can argue if this is 343’s fault, or Microsoft, or invstors, or whatever. It doesn’t change that this is the game we have. Even if it eventually becomes the best Halo game in the series, we won’t have the bare minimum of functional content until at least 6 months after launch. Probably longer.
Halo Infinite, to me, doesn’t reach the bare minimum of quality, and is just shy of the bare minimum of quantity.