Halo Infinite Review (Grizzlei)
Halo Infinite is a complicated game. As of writing (13 March 2022), I have completed the Campaign on Heroic solo and just moments ago finished off the Season 1 Battle Pass. First things first, I'm going to commend the gameplay. I haven't had this much fun since the days of Halo 2 and Halo 3 back in my teen years. From hunting down the Banished leadership across the shattered islands of Zeta Halo to matching up with complete strangers in Tactical Slayer, I have never been left with such satisfaction with my victories and even my defeats.
However, the Live Service component of Halo Infinite leaves little to be desired. Fractures Tenrai has more than worn out its welcome, and along with the occasional special event every month, these features of the Live Service only highlight the immature state of its progression and reward systems. Playing many of these challenges are a dreadful grind. Unless you happen to still have a handful of challenge swaps saved from the Battle Pass, which I severely doubt, your weekly challenge progression and thus your Battle Pass progression are victim to the poor monetization system.
Sadly, since launch, no new maps have been released to the public. For the events, the launch maps aren't decorated up in thematic and appropriate new fixtures to make you feel like you're taking part in something special, something that no one else but the players you're with in the here and now will ever experience again.
The armor sets and armor coatings sold in the game's store are wildly overpriced. To make matters worse, very, very few armor coatings are available for your Spartan's three armor cores (Mark VII, Mark V Beta, and Yoroi). Those that have are either tied to free Twitch events requiring you to watch for hours on end, or we just happened to get lucky and one is included as an actual, in-game event.
The PC optimization on Steam was abysmal at launch. I can't begin to count the instances of texture stretching across the game, both in Campaign cinematics and in both Campaign and Multiplayer gameplay encounters. One moment Infinite would be presenting one of the most gorgeous environments ever seen in Halo, and the next, a gigantic Banished cannon would have its textures stretched and block out most of the map and skybox. The game crashes with regularity, seemingly for no reason at all, when you're doing nothing on the Main Menus.
These glitches and the Live Service model sully the foundations of an otherwise fantastic game. I encourage you all to play it, preferably on Xbox Game Pass where you don't really have to pay a cent more beyond the general subscription fee. I would not have minded waiting even longer, be it another six months or a year, for this game to have shipped to consumers in a state that allowed them to hit the ground running.
All things considered, despite the brilliant gameplay, I'd rate this *currently* as a 3/5.
You are what you dare, 343.