Halfway between sequel and reboot, Halo Infinite is the latest chapter in the sci-fi saga starring Master Chief. 343 Industries relaunches the franchise with an unprecedented open world formula, a story full of surprises and an enthralling multiplayer sector, creating a simply irresistible mix for fans and newcomers to the franchise.
On the shoulders of Halo Infinite rests the weight of several responsibilities. The latest iteration of the science fiction series is preparing to debut a year later than what was estimated by 343 Industries ; a year that, in theory, would have allowed developers to improve the appearance of a game heavily criticized at the time of its reveal. Infinite also has the dual task of satisfying a very demanding fanbase – burned by the most recent Halo 5: Guardian s – and of welcoming newcomers to the franchise , those players who look with genuine curiosity at the return of the shooter that has redefined the entire ski genre. -fi in the gaming world.
With these premises, it is clear that Halo Infinite represents the most important release of the Xbox Game Studios , a bet that Phil Spencer and associates cannot afford to lose. Here we are at the moment of truth: thanks to a code provided by Microsoft we wore Master Chief’s MJOLNIR armor to try the new chapter of Halo on PC , starting from the brand new open world campaign up to the ambitious multiplayer sector.
“Dust and Echoes”: the return of the Master Chief
Set 18 months after the events of Guardians , the story of Halo Infinite begins in medias res, more precisely during the assault on the UNSC Infinity led by Atriox . This old acquaintance of Halo Wars 2 players is the warchief of the Banished , a group of renegades who rallied the major alien races following the great schism of the Covenant Empire. The marines could do nothing against the unstoppable invader, not even. Master Chief himself, who succumbs to the overwhelming power of Atriox. Thrown into the cosmic void, the Spartan is rescued by the pilot of Echo 216 , a Pelican stuck near the Zeta Halo installation .
The ring, the most mysterious of the seven still intact, will soon become the setting for the Halo Infinite campaign. After the introductions, John-117 and the pilot decide to help each other: the crew’s first mission consists in recovering the Weapon, a new AI that will be able to assist Chief in the fight against the Exiles , kept in a Forerunner facility located in his time in the foundation of Zeta Halo. The Weapon takes on the role previously played by Cortana, a figure that nevertheless continues to occupy a front row seat in the Spartan’s mind, as evidenced by the ‘echoes’ that haunt the protagonist. When the unlikely trio is finally reunited, the true adventure of Infinite begins, a relentless battle against Escharum.
The general of the Banished is a character to say the least charismatic, perhaps one of the most successful of the new cast . Mentor of Atriox, he assumes the leadership of the alliance in the absence of the warchief, towards whom he feels a sincere admiration. Escharum begins a merciless hunt for UNSC survivors who have taken refuge on the ring, but the intervention of the Master Chief will force him to reconsider his plans. Reinvigorated by the appearance of the legendary Spartan, the Brute reveals his true nature and prepares to give a warm welcome to John-117: Escharum proves to be a valiant rival for our hero , as well as an incredibly tenacious leader, capable of inspiring his subjected to give their best even in the face of the Demon so feared by the Covenant.
During the battle we will take part in real boss fights with the strongest soldiers of the Exiles. Notably, the duel with blade master Jega ‘Rdomani will go down in history as one of the most memorable fights in the series , although the Elite hitman character himself doesn’t take up as much screen time. Less exciting are the encounters with the ‘Spartan-killers’, described as a great threat and finally revealed to be nothing more than yet another bump to overcome before reaching a showdown.
Against the backdrop of the war between the UNSC and the Exiles – or rather, between John-117 and Escharum – something else is shaking the foundations of Zeta Halo. The enigmatic figure of the Messenger presents himself to the Chief and his companions with a prophecy, heralding the advent of another potential cataclysm. The Spartan is therefore tossed from one side of Zeta Halo to the other, but never takes his finger off the trigger and once again gives proof of his mythological determination. The Chief may also be a man of few words, but in some moments of this adventure he manages to reveal all his humanity , albeit through simple gestures or long and heavy silences.
If it is true that Halo Infinite adopts an unprecedented open world formula, the narration proceeds in a rather linear way and does not allow itself to be contaminated by the more dilated rhythm of the campaign. There is no shortage of twists, nor moments of pure epic ‘à la Halo’ , thanks to a writing that winks at the best scripts elaborated by Bungie. First and foremost, longtime fans enjoy it, pampered by constant references to the original Master Chief trilogy and flashes of lore hidden in the audio logs and spectacular cutscenes. Newbies are catapulted into a captivating story, made up of fascinating characters – in most cases – and magnetic dialogues, seasoned with an underlying cheekiness that gives further depth to this FPS.
Nonetheless, on the narrative front the latest work by 343 Industries seems to lack courage , perhaps due to the need to create a story suitable for everyone.
Escharum and the Outcasts aren’t the only storyline in Halo Infinite, but the side events covered in the campaign fail to take off in the same way. Much of these stories – of which we cannot anticipate anything – are not sufficiently deepened and one gets the impression that 343i has postponed further explanations to a possible sequel . The infamous ‘secrets’ kept by Zeta Halo, in short, are never fully revealed.
In any case, it should be emphasized that Infinite represents the (re) starting point of a saga destined to last at least another 10 years. It is a sequel, but also a reboot and this double nature prevents it from touching the narrative peaks touched by Halo 3 and the never too praised Reach .
The beauty of Halo Infinite … and the grappling hook
The highest point reached by Halo Infinite, in our opinion, lies instead in the gameplay , a mix designed with the obvious aim of pleasing the aforementioned veterans and, at the same time, surprising new players from other first-person shooters.
The sandbox formula that has marked this franchise since the beginning finds its natural evolution in an unprecedented open world . News, the latter, which made not a few fans tremble, but which overall turned out to be less invasive than expected. The map of Zeta Halo, in which almost every moment of the campaign is spent, in fact presents macro-areas that welcome military structures and bases occupied by the Exiles. Without too many surprises, the process of capturing these outposts follows the same unmistakable pattern patented by Ubisoft for its productions and taken up by other developers in the most varied action / adventure games. Unlike the more well-known Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed, however, the exploration of the world of Halo Infinite will never be distracting and will focus on a small number of locations, in order to keep the player on track and to convey him to the missions of the main story.
However, it must be said that the secondary assignments distributed on the Zeta Halo map do not offer any kind of narrative background and, in addition to extending the longevity of the new episode, they have the sole purpose of strengthening Master Chief and his personal ‘army’ .
By conquering the aforementioned outposts, John-117 will be able to improve his loadout by acquiring the Spartan cores : passing through a skill tree, this currency can be spent on upgrades for the MJOLNIR armor and for the new gadgets we can equip ourselves with. The assassination missions are the most interesting and guide us towards the elimination of some Exiled lieutenants who wield special guns, the same that we can obtain and subsequently equip in the newly liberated outposts. Visiting the new UNSC bases we will meet the gaze of some marines willing to support the Chief in battle , climbing aboard our vehicles – also unlockable with the liberation of the outposts – and giving us their weapons.
The unlocking of infantry units and new equipment passes through a further subsystem of the open world, that of Valor points , obtainable through the aforementioned conquests and rescuing the soldiers imprisoned by the Exiled forces. It’s a small addition that delivers a welcome sense of progression, just enough to motivate the player to plumb the terraformed region of Zeta Halo and reduce the influence of the Outcasts within the ring boundaries.
In this regard, let’s focus on the peculiar setting of Halo Infinite. The business card of Zeta Halo is a setting that unequivocally recalls the scenarios of the very first chapters of the series , inserted in this case in a larger freely explorable map. The aforementioned outposts, as well as the mysterious Pinnacles raised by the Precursors, actually populate the verdant hills of the ring, but this is not enough. After a few hours you can already count several areas that are objectively ’empty’ and devoid of artificial elements, which leads to that sense of loneliness that we would always prefer to avoid in an open world.
From this point of view – also thanks to the technical system, as we will see – the internal spaces of the alien structures shine, places full of charm that sometimes give exceptional glances. Paradoxically, even in the latter we end up feeling a certain monotony, but the blame must be attributed primarily to the second section of the campaign, set mainly inside the aforementioned buildings to the point of being almost claustrophobic .
Returning to the aforementioned gadgets, Master Chief has at his disposal a limited range of tools and accessories to be used in battle or while exploring. Here there is a versatile ballistic shield , a deployable radar to reveal the presence of any enemies and even a set of thrusters that allows us to carry out dodges in full DOOM style. Each of these gadgets can be upgraded via the Spartan cores thus obtaining additional effects, but none of them can compare with the already iconic grappling hook.
The absolute protagonist of the Halo Infinite gameplay, the grappling hook becomes the only true extension of the Master Chief , a means with which to reach otherwise inaccessible places and, above all, with which to obtain a huge tactical advantage in firefights. Although the objects described above are actually useful, we could not take our eyes off this gem.
The grappling hook invites players to unleash their creativity : it allows us to climb rocky walls and heights, taking advantage of the verticality of the renewed level design, but also allows us to hook enemies, projecting the Spartan towards the unsuspecting Exiled soldiers to score. a lethal attack. As if that were not enough, with this tool we can collect weapons and objects from a distance, such as the numerous explosive containers scattered on the battlefield – another small novelty of a surprisingly varied gunplay . The grappling hook proves to be equally indispensable in the defensive phase, or in those moments in which we will have to quickly find a shelter where to recharge the energy shields of the Master Chief.
In addition to the movement system , the entire game arsenal is also renewed , which includes many new weapons borrowed from the various alien factions and revisited versions of the most iconic guns. We therefore find the classic MA40 assault rifle , as well as the famous Covenant Needle Gun and the Energy Blade wielded by Sangheili soldiers. Instead, the Schidione , a massive dart launcher used by the Exiles for the most distant targets, and the Stalker Rifle, make their debut ,a high-cadence variant of the timeless S7 Sniper Rifle. The novelties are actually very numerous and adapt to any context, with weapons particularly valid in rapid close combat and others designed for the most intense and grueling shootings.
Let’s be clear, a diverse arsenal won’t make life for would-be Spartans any easier. These will first have to deal with a difficulty curve that can become somewhat punitive for newbies and far from accommodating for veterans. The Normal level is the most suitable choice to enjoy the Halo Infinite campaign without giving up a pinch of challenge. Of course, the more daring will have to opt for the Legendary challenge level, a goal that we would dare to define unattainable for those approaching the franchise for the first time.
The training of the new recruits involves the elimination of thousands of Exiled soldiers. Grunt, Elite, Jackal and Brute, as well as the new Skimmers, will not easily succumb to the player’s provocations and, on the contrary, will return fire with fire.
Thus comes into play a visibly enhanced AI compared to the past , which manages enemies more reactive and attentive to the player’s actions. Even the behaviors are studied with great care: when we destroy a Jackal’s shield, it will flee to seek shelter; when faced in a close combat, the Elite will quickly switch from rifle to their trusty blade, becoming much more dangerous. Further added value is represented by the jokes and dynamic dialogues in which the Exiles are the protagonists, who mock the Master Chief on the rare occasions when they are the ones who prevail.
All this leads to the renewal of a rather traditionalist game formula , a gameplay that has its roots in the very origins of the Halo series and which, therefore, preserves a balanced and never exaggerated pace of play . Of course, the grappling hook and the other gadgets give the shooter an unprecedented speed, but it never gets to the point of compromising the precious balance achieved by 343 Industries after so many manic measurements.
As far as longevity is concerned, Halo Infinite is confirmed as the richest and most replayable episode of the series , inevitably. We completed the campaign in just over 13 hours , dedicating just a couple of them to capturing outposts and collecting a few collectibles – available in small numbers, anyway. Proceeding swiftly to the completion of the main story, it may take about 10 hours before reaching the credits. Dedicating instead to the in-depth exploration of Zeta Halo and to all the secondary assignments, you can easily exceed 25 hours, up to almost 30 hours of gameplay.
We couldn’t help but miss the Co-op mode , one of the big absentees at the launch of Halo Infinite on Xbox and PC. Playing with a friend, just like in the previous chapters, would have made our outings in Zeta Halo even more enjoyable and fun, but apparently we have to wait a few more months, when it will finally be introduced with one of the post-updates. launch.
From ruin to rebirth: the technical sector
Let’s move on to one of the most delicate topics of the discourse linked to the new chapter of Halo, or that technical sector that had pushed 343 Industries to a sensational turnaround. We conducted our Halo Infinite test on a PC that meets all of Microsoft’s recommended requirements, with a build based on an Intel Core i7-9700k processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 video card , coupled with 16GB of RAM and support NVMe SSD to speed up (albeit slightly) the transition from the main menu to the game screen.
Overall, the shooter succeeds in the arduous task of making us forget the catastrophic presentation of that summer of 2020, but it is not free from more or less relevant defects .
Zeta Halo transports the player to a bucolic setting where futuristic architectures and other metallic elements are grafted, creating a contrast that is as unique as it is hypnotic. The latter, however, collides with a lighting system that is not always functional , with an annoying overexposure that flattens the scenarios in some moments of the day-night cycle. The situation improves in the interiors , as anticipated, where the light, reflecting on the walls and other artificial elements, highlights instead an extraordinary attention to detail. The result is surprising even in the absence of that Ray Tracing that Microsoft has decided to introduce only at a later time and of which, at the moment, we have no further news.
We particularly appreciated the scalability of the resolution , a technique that automatically changes the resolution according to the complexity of the game scene and the computing resources available. The player sets a minimum frame rate they would like to play at and the engine manages the resolution accordingly to ensure the smoothest possible smoothness. It is very useful especially in open spaces, where the number of elements on the screen increases exponentially, weighing on the performance of the game. In this sense, the ‘sacrifice’ that is made coincides with a slight reduction of the graphic details, nothing that can visibly affect the final experience.
For Halo Infinite, 343 Industries developed a new graphics engine, which it called the Slipspace Engine . With this engine, it aims to offer significantly wider game maps than in previous Halo chapters, especially for the single player.
Slipspace comes to offer 120 frames per second on Xbox Series X as far as Performance Mode is concerned, and this applies to both single player and multiplayer. At the same time there are differences between the two game modes: both on console and on PC, in fact, multiplayer gives the impression of being optimized, and appropriately scaled, to offer the best possible performance, giving up part of the graphic definition. Returning to Xbox Series X, we also have a Quality Mode, which runs in dynamic 4K , going from 3840×2160 to 2880×1800 pixels with temporal upsampling depending on the game conditions, always at 60 fps. On the Xbox Series S, on the other hand, Halo Infinite runs at 1080p and 30 frames per second in Quality and 60 fps in Performance.
In addition to being extremely detailed, the character models are characterized by an almost flawless animation sector, with realistic facial expressiveness and a natural rendering of the most sophisticated movements. It is the perfect base on which to mount the dubbing of Halo Infinite, excellent both in the original language and in Italian , with Giorgio Melazzi and Donatella Fanfano reprising their respective roles of Master Chief and Cortana with their historic voices. The sound sector also performs well in the mixing of sounds and effects that animate the world of Zeta Halo and its inhabitants, hostile and otherwise. Infinite’s soundtrack borders on perfectionand, just like the gameplay, unearth the glorious past of the franchise with epic arrangements and an abundant dose of strings and percussion. Obviously, the iconic Gregorian chant of Halo is not missing.
Infinite multiplayer: the shooter arena we needed
The Halo Infinite campaign is certainly one of the main reasons that will drive fans of the series to purchase the game or an Xbox Game Pass subscription , given the inclusion of the Microsoft exclusive in the popular on-demand library – since the launch scheduled for the ‘8 December. The real killer application of Infinite, however, is its multiplayer sector , an experience that 343i has decided to make accessible even before the actual launch of the new chapter.
The invitation to discover the wonders of Infinite and its innovative gameplay came about a month ago, coinciding with the launch of the multiplayer in Beta version. Players can already access a standalone version of the game that is completely free and free of any pay-to-win mechanics. The only paid content, we specify, are represented by cosmetic items and customizations for the Spartans controlled by the players. Cherry on the cake? The cross-play , which brings together players of Xbox One , Xbox Series X | S and PC .
The in-game progression is represented only by the Battle Pass , a system made extremely popular by Fortnite and transplanted in the latest iterations of Call of Duty. The feature is still the subject of heavy criticism from the community, due to the excessive slowness that still regulates the level advancement in the Pass – linked to the inevitable collection of XP points. The absence of a merit-based distribution of scores further aggravates the situation, but we are still talking about a Beta and the 343i is already working to fill these and other gaps.
But let’s focus on the true essence of the multiplayer sector and, therefore, on the gameplay. The game formula of the single player campaign is declined in a PvP key to give life to a surprising arena shooter , a shooter that distances itself from the most popular FPS to get closer to the true pioneers of this videogame genre – at least on the competitive front.
In the fast-paced battles of Halo Infinite there is no time to create your own loadout or alter the guns with unnecessary grafts. Once the matchmaking has started, in a few seconds you are already on the field taking up a rifle and pistol : this is the only equipment they will have to rely on in the early stages of the match, before being able to collect the most lethal weapons and any gadgets while exploring the arena . As in the most iconic episodes of the series, a player’s talent is measured by his ability to exploit energy shields, both in the offensive and in the defensive phase. In Infinite, in fact, it is not enough to be precise by delivering the usual, but still effective, blows to the head: you have to strip the opponent of his shield and only then inflict the coup de grace, which can be a melee or a spectacular headshot.
Halo Infinite’s gunplay is based entirely on this simple philosophy. The most skilled players, or at least those who aspire to the highest ranks of the ranking, must demonstrate perseverance and surgical precision , intercepting the opponent’s movements, accurately calculating the times of the volleys of the bullets and the distance between a rocket and the its target. Apparently it might seem like hell, but a couple of matches will be enough to assimilate the main rules on which the entire multiplayer apparatus is based.
As for the arenas, these coincide with a series of maps built in a meticulous way, authentic pearls of level design that are surprisingly balanced, even when they result in the most daring asymmetries. Too bad that the number of scenarios is still quite limited in Quick Games and that it is even more limited in Grand Team Battles .
In the first playlist, the most engaging and tightest matches of Infinite multiplayer take place, based on modes such as Massacre , Capture the Flag , Strongholds and the inevitable Skull (Oddball, for Anglophiles). These alternate randomly and, at least for the moment, it is not yet possible to select them through a list of games. Even among the game modes there are big absentees, first of all Team SWAT, but, as demonstrated with the Fracture: Tenrai event party games, 343i plans to release new PvP modes on a periodic basis. The ‘Great Battles’, as the name suggests, consist offull-scale battles, with objective-based matches set in more generously sized maps . Fans will take advantage of the vehicles that can finally whiz at full speed aboard Mongoose, Ghost and other racing cars, particularly efficient during assaults on the enemy base.
In any case, additional maps and modes can be created by the players themselves, but only at a later time. Just like the aforementioned co-op mode of the Campaign, the Forge will also arrive in the course of 2022 , a choice that has turned the noses of numerous fans of the beloved map editor introduced for the first time in Halo 3.
It may be a simple Beta, but the Halo Infinite multiplayer has presented itself to the public in a truly dazzling form . The moles are not lacking, but they mainly concern absent contents or the already known progression system, not yet functional despite the latest updates introduced by 343 Industries. The rock solid competitive gameplay is the flagship of the entire production and we are sure it will attract a large number of players, even those most unrelated to the traditional Halo formula. After all, it’s free-to-play: it costs nothing to try .
PRO
- The story offers exciting moments full of nostalgia
- A gameplay that, while innovating, recalls the origins of the series
- AI makes an important evolution
- Impeccable sound sector
- The exhilarating arena shooter formula of multiplayer
AGAINST
- On the narrative front, he doesn’t dare that much
- It feels a little lonely in the open world of Zeta Halo
- Co-op and Forge absent at launch
- Multiplayer progression still improvable