deeply tragic game. they finally nailed the fundamentals! weapons sound good and all have distinct useful niches. enemies are easy to identify and read at a distance, and their ai is varied and challenging. the grappling hook is a great addition, and it's fun to throw barrels at enemies.

unfortunately, this game is severely lacking in level design. it's mostly indistinguishable banished bases in the forest and monotonous forerunner hallways. lots of annoying boss fights. the only trick to mix up fights is bringing in more reinforcements. every objective is actually three instances of the same objective. and in case you felt like the game wasn't padded enough, you'll have to fetch power seeds to open doors. this game is a great example of how good mechanics isn't actually enough to make a good campaign.

it's especially frustrating because it's the exact opposite of halo 5, a game that had great level design but weak guns and poor ai. if they applied infinite's mechanics to halo 5's levels instead of the sloppiest of open world slop, it would be a great game!

and as the fundamentals have gotten better, the story has only gotten worse and worse. the conflict set up in the last game is resolved offscreen. a guy named atriox kills everyone from the last two games and then also dies offscreen, only to be replaced with a guy who basically has the same demeanor but is different because his name is escharum. he loves to give long speeches but none of it lands because he never actually does anything. esparza just wants to go home but eventually learns to worship the chief. the conflict with weapon is suddenly dropped without actually being resolved. a third ancient evil awakens but that's a tertiary plotline. chief's ex-wife apologizes to him for being such a bitch and gives her blessing to his new younger girlfriend. embarrassing stuff.