Whenever I revisit the original Halo, my main takeaway is that it still feels larger than it ever really was. Those moments where you briefly venture out from the endless corridors into a wide open combat sandbox and see the ring curving up into the sky - Even if it was all an illusion, inhabiting and exploring Halo as a singular location is just as evocative as it ever was. For all their world building and planet hopping, the sequels never really captured that.
So here we are 20 years later... At its best, Infinite presents a fully realized version of the feeling that playing the original Halo gave us back in 2001. A giant playground to be tackled from any angle, constantly forcing you to think on your feet and make use of every tool at your disposal. Chaining grapple swings and slides together to fly about at top speed never gets old and I sincerely hope other open-world devs are taking notes as far as traversal is concerned. In many ways, Halo has never played better.
But Infinite also exhibits all the shortcomings of revisiting that original Halo blueprint. Lengthy treks through indistinguishable corridors; poorly paced exposition dumps; a lack of variety in the environments; a "Force Awakens" style enemy faction whose sole motivation is to populate the world with familiar enemy types; an insultingly simplistic "return to the basics" story which hand waves away the established narrative... It's a toy box, desperately in need of fleshing out with purpose, just as Halo: CE desperately needed Halo 2 and 3.
The 'Halo illusion' has flipped on its head entirely, a gigantic world where the journey you're undertaking feels incredibly small. It may well be the Halo game I envisioned in 2001, but 20 years later I was hoping for something that could strike that balance a little better
So here we are 20 years later... At its best, Infinite presents a fully realized version of the feeling that playing the original Halo gave us back in 2001. A giant playground to be tackled from any angle, constantly forcing you to think on your feet and make use of every tool at your disposal. Chaining grapple swings and slides together to fly about at top speed never gets old and I sincerely hope other open-world devs are taking notes as far as traversal is concerned. In many ways, Halo has never played better.
But Infinite also exhibits all the shortcomings of revisiting that original Halo blueprint. Lengthy treks through indistinguishable corridors; poorly paced exposition dumps; a lack of variety in the environments; a "Force Awakens" style enemy faction whose sole motivation is to populate the world with familiar enemy types; an insultingly simplistic "return to the basics" story which hand waves away the established narrative... It's a toy box, desperately in need of fleshing out with purpose, just as Halo: CE desperately needed Halo 2 and 3.
The 'Halo illusion' has flipped on its head entirely, a gigantic world where the journey you're undertaking feels incredibly small. It may well be the Halo game I envisioned in 2001, but 20 years later I was hoping for something that could strike that balance a little better