343 made some improvements from 4 and 5 with Infinite, but like those I still found the campaign to be utterly forgettable. Had no interest in whatever the story was here or any care for the Banished that got so much focus. None of the missions stood out to me.

That would be alright if the gameplay made up for it, and it does in some aspects but didn’t in others. The biggest positive was the grappling hook, which was a great addition for traversal compared to past Halos. The general controls, sound design and visuals were good.

That said, this new open world area that made up most of the game got dull fast. The activities were mediocre and it felt mostly boring to explore since the environment’s a single biome. It’s a neat change but not one I liked much compared to standard levels.

The other parts of the game are spent going through corridors that all look exactly the same, there’s a notable lack of variety with these and they were a slog to get through. Can’t say fighting the same hordes of enemies the whole game didn’t get repetitive either. And the bosses felt like poorly designed damage sponges on Heroic, though it’s probably better balanced on lower difficulties.