Halo Infinite Review (Lil Ape)
Steam member for 15+ years and this is my 1st and probably only review that I'll make.
Been playing halo since it's launch in '01. And I can say, with certainty, that halo died with bungie and halo reach. 343 has had the reigns for over a decade, and after 3 original halo titles, they still sh*t the bed somewhere along development "one step forward, three steps back" will be 343's legacy when it comes to the development of their games. Infinite has the core mechanics locked down, even the art style, similar to the bungie era titles. Your spartan is quick and maneuverable, like H2/H3/HR. But not stupidly fast like the cracked out junkie spartan you had in H4/H5. The insider flight tests were amazing, feedback was great, and as millions would say, "halo is back". And then the multiplayer actually came out, in beta form, and was so ass backwards from everything they said it would be in the marketing and teasing of the game. Its a desperate cash grab at this point, and everyone knows it.
6 years of development, 100+ employees and 500 million in funding, and yet infinite still, to this day, has less content than that of a $40 game like aliens: fire team elite. They made half of the game "frEE tO pLaY", but still charged full price of $60 for the other half of the game. They claimed "halo reach levels of customization", yet a good 85%+ of all cosmetics are locked behind pay walls and based on FOMO. I've had the same blue & red armor colors since H2, and jolly roger emblem for 18 years. And yet I can't even get that color combo/emblem in infinite. And even if I could, I wouldn't be surprised if 343 tried to charge me for them.
The campaign is actually very good, and for the 1st time in 12 years, I actually enjoyed playing a halo campaign. It took me probably 4 or so years to actually muster the energy to force myself to play & beat H5's campaign. But I beat infinite's in just a few days, and enjoyed it doing so. I absolutely despised fighting the prometheans in H4 and especially H5. It felt like a chore fighting against them, but fighting against the banished in infinite was like how it always was in the 10 years of halo under bungie...actually fun and enjoyable.
I have zero motivation to play halo infinite. I only come back when they have the special events going on, as to try to unlock all the cosmetics. And during that time, I just hate it. All the desync issues are absolutely killing the enjoyment for me. Grenades keep disappearing immediately after you thrown them. Grenades never stick, or they do stick, then just vanish into thin air. Rockets don't shoot or explode. You'll get melee'd in the front, with full shields, yet somehow get insta killed anyways from a "back smack" or assassination. You hit someone point blank with a grav hammer, they don't die, but they can swing it 20ft away from you and still kill you somehow.
Halo infinite is so far beyond broken and unfinished, its unreal. I thought they couldn't do any worse than than H5...but here we are. 260k players on steam, at launch, to less than 7k daily. They should have just delayed it for another 2 years. 343 have sh*t all over the halo franchise in the 12 years they've had it. They had everything going for them this time around, but still managed to colossally f*ck it up. Thanks for sh*tting on mine, and millions of others childhood, 343 industries. Maybe infinite will be good in 3 more years, until then, its a disgrace to the halo IP.