Every Halo game has had a pretty unique tone. Combat Evolved was a space marines game, Halo 2 was a grand space opera, Halo 3 was a fantasy epic, Halo ODST was an eight-mission saxophone solo, Reach was a gritty war story, Halo 4 was a personal story, and Halo 5 was basically a superhero movie. Of all the different tones each game has, the question remains; what do we want in Infinite?
In terms of tone, personally Halo 3 was my favourite (the second half of it at least) followed closely by the more emotional and doomed feel of Reach and ODST, and I would like something akin to this in Infinite. Something that gives us a grand and almost mythical setting and scale, but still acknowledges the human side to war.
Reach and ODST had a much more grand tone. You feel like you represent the last of the world. The odds are stacked against you. I believe that is a much more interesting tone to play any game. The accomplishment you feel after beating the game is incredible. The emotion you feel after watching Noble 6 get brutally murdered is painful. That’s why they are some of the most memorable games in my opinion.
I’d like to see a return to the CE kind of tone, where it’s less dark and gritty and more ominous and foreboding without going into full-on horror (at least at first).
Something like a mix of Halo 2, Halo 3, and maybe Halo: ODST with a touch of Reach? Or maybe nix Reach and ODST and just go with a tone akin to Halo 4. I want something that grabs my attention as a lover of sci-fi but gives me a terrifying thrill of the unknown while having a slightly foreboding outcome. If that makes any sense at all.
Definitely a CE/3 mix from me. CE made you feel like you were on the run; though not so much as Reach, which prevented CE from being somber (which is good, somber is a Reach thing). Halo 3 really felt like a come together type thing, that it was humanity’s final push to defeat the Covenant and save the Galaxy from a constant and unpredictable threat. Reach and ODST are too somber and make you feel too hopeless; Infinite puts you in the shoes of the Master Chief and if he’s never really been one to show emotion (as in fearful emotions; not that stupid love story from 4), then why would he have anything to fear or grieve about now? Halo 2 is my favorite game, but an integral part of it’s feeling was Covenant politics; something we may never get to see again. Halo 4 ruined Master Chief’s character in my opinion, so no to that, and Halo 5 made me feel nothing (except disappointment), so no.
Well for my opinion on what is being presented for Infinite is that it is not merely a game, but more of a launching platform for all sorts of Halo games much like how the Master Chief Collection is a platform for all the remasters of past Halo games. Otherwise why make a game called anything other than Halo 6? Now I’m going to be very upfront, I am not a fan of the live service model for video games. In the recent history of this new trend these games have been middling at best and inexcusably exploitative at worst. Very few have made a satisfactory service/product using this model, heck even Bungie stumbled at it. Now truth be told 343’s games have not convinced me that they are capable of succeeding where Bungie failed, it is their additional development to what would have been a failed project that has me speculating that this will land on the former spectrum of value and quality instead of the latter.
That being said I do think that Halo Infinite will be packaged with a game and that game will of course be the 6th installment of the Master Chief (aka John 117) in Halo games. However I also believe it will set some room for other spin-off games similar to ODST to be released through Halo Infinite. We could see more flight-style games like the Saber chapter in Halo Reach only with a lot more starfighter selection and customization so that it could be considered its own game. Or we could see another Alien perspective game where you play as a Brute in H3 Power Armor (which is why I insist on them being a playable character). Now how much content are in these follow-up spin-off games and how much 343 is asking or what other monitization plans for this game is up for question. For the spin-off games I would prefer a lump sum DLC price instead of a subscription model with additional cosmetic monotization. What ever model they go for with Halo Infinite no doubt 343 has two things to get perfect or else this game platform will suffer just as horribly as MCC, and that is the content delivery, and the monotization model.
I could never have put my dislike for the tone of Halo 5 as conscisely as that it’s “basically a superhero movie”. This is not to say that I have anything against superhero movies, but that’s the last thing I’m looking for in a Halo game.
My attitude to questions like this is that I wouldn’t want to restrict anyone to do a particular thing. I would’ve never thought to ask for a Halo game like ODST, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. So I think the tone is something where there’s reason to not be too specific.
The two things I believe are important at least for the tone mainline Halo games are that they should offer plenty of calm moments, and should not take themselves too seriously. The first wish is mainly a comment on Halo 5 which tried to be far too action packed. Other games in the series have paced themselves fairly appropriately. The second is something I always valued in the original trilogy. It could be very seriuous when needed, but the moments of humor gave it some emotional depth, and crucially helped to keep the tone of the games hopeful. The tone of Reach I was always fine with, because it was a spin off and I understood that the story necessitated a more serious tone. However, Halo 4 and 5 went astray trying to be too serious, because I think certain lack of seriousness is an important characteristic of the main series that I value very much.
If it’s anything like halo 3 i’m in story wise that is. I liked how we were always engaged in the fight, you know with a constant flow of enemies and music!
Definitely something like Reach. Gritty and dark, unafraid to force you to watch important or cool characters die in your eyes or hands.
However, seeing as this war isn’t about annihilation like the Covenant intended, I’m sure it’s going to take a personal touch seeing the connection between Chief and Cortana. Chief will want to bring her back and Cortana will want to continue her conquest.
Moreover, I’d also want the more emotional, melancholic and quite hopeless touch of Halo 3. When you make your way to High Charity, you have these melancholic violins and voices playing, as you’re supposed to feel saddened over what became of the station, going from a glorious and beautiful city full of life to a dead, crumbling grave. That same song, No More Dead Heroes, even has Prologue from Halo 2 faintly playing in the background as metal grinds from the decay. It’s all part of the song and not background SFX from the game.
CE for its sense of feeling small in an alien world. The mystery present in that game.
H2 for its storytelling, odds are against you but you’re starting to turn the tables. Discovering the deeper layers to the story.
Reach for the sci-fi-War vibes. I think Halo needs a bit more of that. Sacrifice, heroism, a bit of grit.
And, something we often forget to mention, but important to early Halo: the occasional scared as hell Marine. Let’s face it: they’ve just become cocky and act as if Humanity was easily kicking Covie but since forever. In CE they often were scared of the enemy, not knowing if they’ll make it with Chief’s presence inspiring hope. That’s something Halo lost along the way and needs to regain.
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> Every Halo game has had a pretty unique tone. Combat Evolved was a space marines game, Halo 2 was a grand space opera, Halo 3 was a fantasy epic, Halo ODST was an eight-mission saxophone solo, Reach was a gritty war story, Halo 4 was a personal story, and Halo 5 was basically a superhero movie. Of all the different tones each game has, the question remains; what do we want in Infinite?
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> In terms of tone, personally Halo 3 was my favourite (the second half of it at least) followed closely by the more emotional and doomed feel of Reach and ODST, and I would like something akin to this in Infinite. Something that gives us a grand and almost mythical setting and scale, but still acknowledges the human side to war.
Hopefully it goes back to being a space marines toned game that is more grounded. I still remember the ridiculous intro with Spartan Locke for Halo 5 where they had that sprinting down the hill combat scene. It was cringy as hell and reminded me of COD.
We need more memorable and likeable characters like Captain Keys, Miranda Keys, SGT Johnson etc. Not Palmer or Locke who are very annoying characters.
Speaking of tone. The flood levels in Halo CE had a really spooky atmosphere that was well implemented. The last few Halo games have not had that tone.