Halo Infinite review: 343’s campaign renews the series’ legacy

It’s been over 20 years since Master Chief — and Halo: Combat Evolved – debuted. In that time, the Halo series has become one of video game’s most iconic legacies, while Master Chief has become the symbol of Xbox – and console-based first-person shooters – as a whole. It’s a legacy developer 343 Industries has struggled to carry since acquiring Bungie and releasing two new games that felt like a step back from the series’ previous brilliance. Halo Infinite is intended as a course correction, described by 343 as a “spiritual reboot” of the franchise, which not only re-examines what makes something like Halo feel, but also finds ways to push those qualities further.

The new direction has paid off. For the first time in years, it feels like 343 knows where Halo is going.

Halo Infinite somehow feels completely like Halo and not at all, transplanting the traditional linear story and mission structure of the franchise into a semi-open world. It maintains the intensity of the series’ battles, while also finding the magic while exploring. Halo Infinite carries a heavy legacy on his shoulders and does so with confidence.

Halo Infinite begins with Master Chief doing something he hasn’t done much before: losing. The Banished, a group of exiled Covenant supporters, has defeated the United Nations space command and gained control of Zeta Halo, the large ring the UNSC Infinity jumped to when escaping at Cortana’s end. Halo 5: Guardians. Halo InfiniteThe main motivation is to regain control of Zeta Halo, find out what happened to Cortana, and stop the Banished from whatever evil they do. 343 Industries has said that: Halo Infinite is a good place for Halo newbies to start, but that’s not quite true. There are so many plot threads to pull on here (many of the real-time strategy spin-off) halo wars 2) that even devout Halo fans can be confused.

Accompanying Chief on this journey are the Pilot – a UNSC survivor of the Banished attack that banished the Chief – and the Weapon, an AI created to impersonate Cortana and ultimately destroy her. Though well-rounded characters in their own rights, the pilot and weapon serve as surrogates to the audience in two drastically different ways. The pilot is well versed in the myth of the Master Chief and, like us, can become annoyed when the hero renews the same habits he’s had countless times before. Unfamiliar with the Chief’s legacy, the weapon is curious and skeptical: who is this person and why has humanity come to worship him? Master Chief is usually the savior or the demon, depending on who you ask. The pilot and weapon are important prisms through which: endless questions and rethinks the myth of the Master Chief.

although Halo Infinite still tells a linear story, the structure of its world allows exploration. As you move between main missions, there’s plenty to stumble across – captured Marines to rescue, propaganda towers to destroy, valuable targets to take out – and it all encourages you to take the scenic route. (And please do: Banned propaganda towers are basically loudspeakers that essentially broadcast a Grunt podcast around how awful people are, and it’s extremely funny.)

One of the more repetitive side tasks is clearing out Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), which are small hubs filled with resources and collectibles. As I mentioned in my preview last month, there are countless ways to approach these encounters. Sometimes I decided to drive a Razorback full of Specialized Marines right through the front door. In one instance, I used a sniper rifle I discovered on a nearby cliff, right next to a voice log of the Marine who presumably died there.

Halo isn’t the first series whose developers have introduced an open-world structure later in its lifecycle – Gears 5 and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End also come to mind – but it is the most successful. 343 Industries has created a world where Halo-style gunfights happen organically, sometimes at a busy intersection and sometimes in the middle of the woods. While testing my Wasp – an aerial vehicle – I was shot out of the sky and immediately fell into a skirmish with a high-value banned target. In Halo Infinite, these emergent moments are the norm rather than the exception.

One problem with the open-world format, however, is that 343 Industries is dropping a key feature of Halo’s designer legacy: the ability to replay story missions. It’s an essential part of my own Halo experience. I love customizing skulls to create bigger explosions, add more challenges, and customize the battle in unusual ways. I’ve replayed some of my favorite Halo missions dozens of times over the years. I’ve played some of them so many times that I can run through them in my head, and I suspect given the chance, I’d get to that point again with Halo Infinite.

There are some environments in endless that become inaccessible once you complete a mission, meaning you can’t go back to search for secrets. It’s also a shame, because certain missions feel like they’re begging to be played again. One is located in a Banished training facility. UNSC weapons and vehicles are scattered among recreated scenery and crumbling towers next to beaten up tanks. It’s like a twisted museum the Banished have created to fight their most hated enemies. It feels like the epitome of Halo as a franchise: a big sandbox brimming with explosive potential.

That was the key, for example, in the years 2004 halo 2. It was not an open game: it was very linear, often choosing long, dark corridors over spacious outdoor spaces. But there was something about the design and story that made it feel huge, like there was an entire galaxy to run around in. The magic of that experience was that Bungie was able to create something that felt expansive despite the limitations of the time. Halo InfiniteSo the magic is in fully realizing that vision. not only me feeling like I have to explore an entire Halo – I really do, and can’t wait to see how that develops from here, especially with co-op along the way.

Although co-op will not come Halo Infinite until next year, the game’s free-to-play multiplayer component was released in beta nearly a month before the campaign to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original Xbox (and Halos). The staggered rollout has given 343 time to make adjustments ahead of the game’s full release, and the studio has already done that: it has made multiple adjustments to Halo Infinite‘s slow battle pass since the beta period began.

Games like Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, and appreciate now dominate the multiplayer atmosphere, and by going free-to-play, Halo aims to create its own space in the modern landscape. Aside from the glitches in progress, it’s off to a good start. Despite the new release model, the flow is moment to moment Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer matches is unabashedly Halo, the kind of experience I remember from the era of halo 3. Smaller cards make games fast and exciting, with the grappling hook adding another layer of acrobatics. It is a familiar yet exciting multiplayer experience that allows for chaotic combat as well as accurate play.

in contrast to Halo Infinite‘s campaign, the multiplayer component is doing feel welcome with newcomers. An excellent addition is the Academy, a tutorial that teaches the basics before taking on AI bots. The weapon drilling system in particular is a godsend and I can’t imagine a game without it. Drills are set up like mini-games where I test how many targets I can take out in a given period of time, and the stakes are low enough to experiment with every weapon I can.

Halo Infinite swaps gear and armor from previous games for a few new pickups, including the grappling hook, which is by far the most useful of these tools. After relying on it so much in Halo Infinite‘s campaign, it feels criminal to let it pass in multiplayer.

In some ways, the grappling hook feels like a perfect microcosm of Halo Infinite As a whole. It’s an addition that somehow shakes things up and at the same time makes it feel like it belonged the whole time. In Halo Infinite‘s design principles and its iconic characters, 343 Industries has created something that carries the weight of the Halo legacy, and it is poised to carry that weight into the future. It’s refreshing to be so excited about Halo again.