My mind is torn right now in 3 separate directions:
- What we didn’t see - What was good - And what was badWhat we didn’t see:
Where is the story trailer??? Like I get we learned a lot in terms of what’s currently going on but what is the story about? Where is cortana? Is she still evil? Like I feel like we need a trailer that tells us what we’re doing and what happened between 5 and infinite.
Ummm, demo/beta please? 5 months out and there still isn’t one. I was certain that I would be playing infinite by now as they need time to change stuff and I feel there’s no better time then after the reveal to announce it! What was really a kick in the balls was that we saw a demo but we cant play it.
What was good:
This may be controversial but I really like the simplistic art style. I’m a sucker for minimalist art so I dig the art direction (art direction doesn’t mean graphics but I’ll get into that in a second).
I don’t mind sprint in infinite because from what we saw, it’s not too much of a speed increase and it doesn’t devalue vehicles as much as in 5 and 4 which was my main issue with sprint. That’s my opinion and I completely understand people who hate sprint so all I’m asking is don’t have a go at me for that part. 
I like the grapple as it doesn’t look overpowered and I think it will mainly be used as a traversal and combat assist rather then a mode of traversal which I like. I kind of hope that it can’t help you get around in multiplayer and is more of something to grap pickups or canisters but don’t mind too much if it doesn’t change between campaign and multiplayer. I hope it’s a pickup too.
Open world? Mostly like. I think it will be an interesting take on the campaign formula, plus non-linear halo? Yes please! That being said, I really hope it doesn’t degrade story telling or mission variety.
Gameplay? From the looks of it, I love it. The guns sound impactful and the physics are so good imo. The warthog though… So nice!
Bubble shield remake? Love it! Although I would like to see it get changed so that you can’t shoot through it. Especially for mp if it’s in that.
Also the energy sword and that new electric grenade look nice!
Graphics - other then in the places I’m about to mention - look nice. Chief looks amazing but other than him, just nice.
What I don’t like:
Facial graphics and a few other areas - but mainly facial graphics - suck imo. They are like right in the uncanny valley, especially the brute at the end! Brohammer looks alright, I can get used to him. It’s mainly the brute tbh.
Weapon HUD placement (the blue part)? Meh. I won’t have a fit if it’s there in the final release but I would like to see it get put back up to the top-right. It just doesn’t feel natural to look at the bottom-left, you know.
That’s about it tbh. Just a few nitpicks.
Overall, I like what I saw but wanted to see more as I think Microsoft over emphasised the amount of halo we’d see. But we seriously need a demo or beta.
Edit: Sorry if that’s an essay. Just a lot to unpack.
2nd Edit: I just realised that they discussed why we haven’t seen a beta so you can mostly disregard that point I made earlier.
I would’ve liked more details about the story as well. I felt the opposite about the faces. I thought hyperius’ looked alright but really did not like brohammer’s.
My impressions with the demo were a mixed-bag as well. Some things were good, like the cutscene graphics and the Banished/Brutes returning as enemies. But the things that really bothered me the most were the gameplay graphics: they seemed low-resolution/poorly detailed, and the weapons looked/sounded generic. I keep saying this but the gameplay’s graphics looked cartoonish.
> 2533274818575073;3:
> My impressions with the demo were a mixed-bag as well. Some things were good, like the cutscene graphics and the Banished/Brutes returning as enemies. But the things that really bothered me the most were the gameplay graphics: they seemed low-resolution/poorly detailed, and the weapons looked/sounded generic. I keep saying this but the gameplay’s graphics looked cartoonish.
Personally, I love the sound. For me, they really have the umph to each bullet that is really satisfying. I had a fairly similar opinion to you at first but then I rewatched it a few times and then I formed my current thoughts. But I can understand why you might not like the designs. Personally I am into my minimalist art which I think is why they click for me. I hope that while you may not be a huge fan of it now, you get what you’re looking for when it releases! Have a nice day!
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> I would’ve liked more details about the story as well. I felt the opposite about the faces. I thought hyperius’ looked alright but really did not like brohammer’s.
Thats fair enough. I can see why you might not like brohammer’s.
Not a bad review, I agree with most of your points.
I think you’re point about the artstyle being simplistic is interesting, it does feel that way from the stream, but looking back on the uploaded trailer I think there’s more detail that we didn’t notice the first watch.
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> Not a bad review, I agree with most of your points.
>
> I think you’re point about the artstyle being simplistic is interesting, it does feel that way from the stream, but looking back on the uploaded trailer I think there’s more detail that we didn’t notice the first watch.
Yeah I totally agree! When I rewatched it, I noticed that the graphics were better then I initially thought.
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> > 2533274818575073;3:
> > My impressions with the demo were a mixed-bag as well. Some things were good, like the cutscene graphics and the Banished/Brutes returning as enemies. But the things that really bothered me the most were the gameplay graphics: they seemed low-resolution/poorly detailed, and the weapons looked/sounded generic. I keep saying this but the gameplay’s graphics looked cartoonish.
>
> Personally, I love the sound. For me, they really have the umph to each bullet that is really satisfying. I had a fairly similar opinion to you at first but then I rewatched it a few times and then I formed my current thoughts. But I can understand why you might not like the designs. Personally I am into my minimalist art which I think is why they click for me. I hope that while you may not be a huge fan of it now, you get what you’re looking for when it releases! Have a nice day!
yeah great punchy sound that reflects weight . I think it was a good showing personally