Halo Infinite Review: Bravely advancing towards the stars

Bloomberg author Jason Schreier published a column after the official release of Halo Unlimited. It is said that after the disastrous trailer display in July 2020, Microsoft found Joe Staten, the producer of "Halo" during the Bungie era, as the creative director. After joining 343, the first thing he did was to remind the entire development team that the history of the Halo series has always been accompanied by unstable external demonstrations.

A year and a half later, how did the tumultuous release of Halo Infinite, like Battle Evolution and Halo 2, break free from the shadows of trailers and live displays, and verify the prophecy of Joe, a meritorious veteran?

*To cater to the reading experience, Halo Infinity will be referred to as Infinity in the following text

"This is not naturally formed"

The secret to the success of the Halo series single player battles lies not only in its core battle triangle and vast world view, which still stands out to this day, but also in its open level that is different from most linear FPS. The first generation of "Silent Cartographer", the second generation of "Delta Loop", and the third generation of "Savo Expressway" are all classic levels.

What would it be like to extend the ingenuity of "Silent Cartographer" to the scale of an entire game? The single player battle in Infinity is one answer given by 343 to this question.

The Zeta Ring is grand and charming

Is an open world necessarily the best choice for changing game design conventions? This is not necessarily true. But the battle of Infinity proved that the concept of an open world can be integrated with the core battle design of Halo. On the surface, the terrain design of Zeta Ring and the gameplay that players can play on this completely open map are no different from the well-known open world games: controlling FOB=occupying strongholds, collecting Spartan cores=upgrading points, collecting audio records=collecting additional elements.

The still outstanding core combat system of Halo seamlessly connects with the open setting of freely choosing to deal with enemy strongholds and elite enemies in the wilderness. If Bungie demonstrated the basic concept of "30 second fun" through Halo, then Infinity extends the core battle puzzles of the series to the entire game map for players to play and choose for themselves. A sergeant can attack a fortress alone, or choose to upgrade his courage level and equip a group of Marines with powerful weapon variants. As a driver, he can sweep the Zeta Ring.

or fly a plane to bully a hunter

343 demonstrated rare restraint in handling open world map design and RPG elements. Most of the collected items will be marked on the map after controlling the frontline combat base or stronghold. In addition to upgrading the core required for the Thor Hammer armor of the Sergeant, there are also appearance customization items that can be used in multiplayer mode, as well as various plot items that display background stories and hide plot lines.

For players who are not particularly fond of the traditional open world (such as myself), Infinite's not overly large map size, newly added grappling hooks bring extremely enjoyable travel and exploration gameplay, and free fast travel also reduce a lot of pain points.

Prepare to walk through this blue corridor many times

But we can also see from the final product how many choices were made by 343 in the process of restructuring the campaign mode structure after Waterloo in 2020. These choices are not all positive.

The sergeant's journey is limited to a small area in the Zeta Loop, and players will only experience three types of scenery throughout the entire plot: green hills, exiled ships, and architectural complexes, as well as pioneer buildings that preserve a strong Bungie era art style. At a certain stage in the later stages of the game, players have to fight continuously in repetitive exile and pioneer buildings for several hours. The level of visual fatigue may not be as excessive as that of the first generation library, but it is not much different.

"The world will come to an end like this"

I personally do not strongly dislike the story of Halo 5, and even have a good impression of Generation 4. However, regardless of the reason, the former overall did not do a good job in promoting a series of worldviews and reasonable narratives.

In Infinity, 343 seems to be trying to resolve the awkwardness of the sequel to Halo 5 through time spans and other means, completing a character growth scale that spans 20 years, and laying a new story foundation for this new work that will continue for ten years. It should be said that 343 has done quite well in both of these aspects.

The former, the story of Sergeant and Cortana, which should have come to an end in Halo 5, was finally given a somewhat imaginative but reasonable final solution in Infinity; The latter, 343, seems to have finally written the beginning for a future storyline of Halo that truly belongs to them, even if it comes at the cost of having another one-time villain die from talking too much.

should be said to have died from more than one talkative person

In addition to the reading screen of some linear levels, the core levels of the entire campaign are presented almost in a mirror to the ground manner. The performances and character development of two new characters, the Pelican pilot E216, and the new partner of the sergeant, the intelligent AI "weapon", have many outstanding features. On the basis of giving Sergeant Sergeant more humanized aspects in Halo 4, Steve Downes and Jen Taylor contributed the best performance level of the two meritorious voice actors, especially the deep voice acting skills demonstrated by the latter's one person triad, which is truly admirable.

The play between Sergeant and his new partner is a highlight

Unfortunately, the story of Infinity has not completely escaped the problem of "the background is all outside the game" that plagued 343 generations of Halo, and even some works from the Bungie era. Did 343 explain clearly what happened between 5 and Infinity through direct storytelling in the game? half, half. Do players need to fully understand the story through supplementary materials, whether it's in-game audio recordings or novels outside of the game? Almost necessary.

would have a deeper impression on players familiar with earlier Halo series novels

However, this should not conceal the tension presented by the story told in Infinity, as well as the anticipated foundation it has laid for the future of the Halo universe. Starting from Halo 4, 343 established their own space epic and finally reached the moment of redemption in the game, which is still very exciting.

"Steak feast!"

On the morning of December 20th, the official competition of Halo, which returned to the Riley Convention and Exhibition Center in North Carolina, USA after a decade, determined the new championship Cloud9. A record breaking 572 teams have filled the open audition group for the station competition, with over 150000 Twitch viewers witnessing the historic moment of C9's victory over eU on the official live channel.

Behind this surge of enthusiasm is the unprecedented attention brought by the free opening of multiplayer mode in Infinity. On November 16th, the multiplayer mode was launched in the form of a public beta at the end of the Xbox 20th anniversary celebration.

's map this time includes modern classics such as markets and streets that shine in multiple modes

The built-in Jet Sprint and all related skills have been eliminated, and the effect of Sprint has been weakened to only trigger the Shovel. Compared to Halo 5, Infinite weapons and combat sandboxes, which further compress the effective range of initial pistols and assault rifles in fast mode, appear much more retro. But combined with the rebalanced equipment system, this core shooting combat system has achieved one of the most comfortable versions in the history of the Halo series.

The submachine gun is powerful but not destructive, the forward pistol rewards rhythmic precision shooting, the grappling hook is as satisfying as its battle version, and the shockwave device brings new gameplay... The core system of the multiplayer mode in Infinity has laid an excellent foundation for the subsequent development of the series's famous multiplayer battles, and it is only waiting for the continuously enriched game modes and long-term operations to continue its vigorous vitality.

"Truth and Harmony"

Another kind of pain appeared at this moment.

The revenue model of the multiplayer mode in Infinity is not unfamiliar to players familiar with contemporary free shooting games. Season tickets and stores selling a wide variety of appearance items make up the central elements that attract players to use real currency. Like the "Sergeant Collection", the season tickets for "Infinite" are permanent, and players don't have to worry about their season tickets expiring and not being able to obtain items after the season ends. This is a commendable innovation in the industry.

The experience of obtaining experience points after adjusting has greatly improved

But 343 still sparked a wave of hype in balancing free and paid players. The first season season season season tickets with the theme of Spartan warrior armor components in "Zhiyuan Star" have low returns for free players. Even extra rewards for paying players are occupied by consumables such as experience bonuses and challenge exchange chips, which are not considered decorations.

Yes, challenge. Infinity has eliminated performance-based game end of game experience points, and players can only obtain experience points by completing extensive or specific challenges during the game. If you haven't found the pattern you need in the quick match of random modes during the first round to complete your challenge goals, you may be empty handed except for 50 experience points, regardless of win or loss, 0.5 or 3.0 KD. This experience is certainly not good.

But fortunately, 343 quickly improved the experience of season ticket upgrades by modifying the reward and challenge system for the game, and responded to player feedback by opening up more game modes on the server side, including the Killing King mode that was lacking in the first round. The shortcomings of the initial version are certainly problematic, but the ability to quickly respond to feedback, identify errors, and make adjustments is essential for efficiently operating a long-term service-oriented game, and currently 343 is doing well.

"Returnees"

So, how did Infinity stand out from its bleak prospects 18 months ago to today among the top three FPS at the end of the year?

Don't forget, the 343 industry is ultimately composed of a group of people who love Halo, and they chose to continue making Halo largely out of love. The history of Halo 4, Halo 5, and Sergeant Collection was not smooth, but Infinity finally proved that the current 343 team understood Halo, and Joe Staten should have played a crucial role in it.

Mysterious new world, open and free exploration, interesting combat systems interacting with enemy combinations, stories that combine personal emotions and grand science fiction backgrounds, and epic music? Infinity has it. The core multiplayer battle of equal confrontation, quick response, and abundant fun? Infinity also has it.

This is the first work of the 343 series to demonstrate a high degree of integrity and consistent production direction in terms of gameplay and content. Despite being limited by the difficult reorganization and resource scarcity in the context of the epidemic, it still lacks the core elements of collaborative storyline and forging mode. However, Infinity finally laid the foundation for this legendary IP to achieve long-term success at the beginning of this generation.