Halo: Infinite (Dec. 8th, 2021) - Xbox Series X

[JaegerDice]

The box art was just revealed:

Maybe I'm reading too far into things, but this is the first time that the ring backdrop appears to be 3D. This leads me to believe that the entire ring will be accessible and the game will be more open-world.

Looks like a direct homage to the Halo CE boxart, as far as Chief’s position and the ring ascending behind him on the left.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Looks like a direct homage to the Halo CE boxart, as far as Chief’s position and the ring ascending behind him on the left.

Agreed, I thought the same thing.
Trying to recapture the essence of Halo: CE and/or milk the nostalgia from it has become a bit old. They already basically copied and pasted the ending of Halo:CE in Halo 3, just with a Mongoose instead of a Warthog. I'm sure there are other examples I'm missing as well, but it seems like a lazy way to generate hype IMO.

 

[Beau Knows]

Agreed, I thought the same thing.
Trying to recapture the essence of Halo: CE and/or milk the nostalgia from it has become a bit old. They already basically copied and pasted the ending of Halo:CE in Halo 3, just with a Mongoose instead of a Warthog. I'm sure there are other examples I'm missing as well, but it seems like a lazy way to generate hype IMO.

I see it more as the game going back to it's roots (Halo 1-3), and the cover being a signal of that, some of the supposed leaks point towards that being the case. I sure hope that's true, and the game doesn't have more in common with Reach-5, we should know a lot more about it tomorrow though.

 

[JaegerDice]

Agreed, I thought the same thing.
Trying to recapture the essence of Halo: CE and/or milk the nostalgia from it has become a bit old. They already basically copied and pasted the ending of Halo:CE in Halo 3, just with a Mongoose instead of a Warthog. I'm sure there are other examples I'm missing as well, but it seems like a lazy way to generate hype IMO.

I'm hoping that the homage is less a matter of trying to pull on heartstrings, and more a sign that we're going back to the sense of mystery and discovery we had in Halo: CE.

I'm thinking it's going to me more of an open-world, open-ended, tackle-challenges however you like campaign, than a rigid narrative. Bring some Zelda: BOTW into the Halo formula, make me figure out where the next place I want to go is, not with a HUD indicator or a voice in my ear, but because I say a cool looking formation I wanted to explore, and now I have to find my way there, and holy ****, you won't believe what happened on the way.

That kind of thing. That 'here's a jeep, go nuts' feeling the original CE had.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

I'm hoping that the homage is less a matter of trying to pull on heartstrings, and more a sign that we're going back to the sense of mystery and discovery we had in Halo: CE.

I'm thinking it's going to me more of an open-world, open-ended, tackle-challenges however you like campaign, than a rigid narrative. Bring some Zelda: BOTW into the Halo formula, make me figure out where the next place I want to go is, not with a HUD indicator or a voice in my ear, but because I say a cool looking formation I wanted to explore, and now I have to find my way there, and holy ****, you won't believe what happened on the way.

That kind of thing. That 'here's a jeep, go nuts' feeling the original CE had.

Agreed, like a bigger version of Far Cry 3 or even Skyrim in the Halo universe. Some RPG elements would be good if they want to take it in the MOBA/Battle Royale genre, or just for campaign and co-op. I hope they prioritize large scale battles, AI, and storyline over graphics - that to me would be the ideal new age Halo game.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

I see it more as the game going back to it's roots (Halo 1-3), and the cover being a signal of that, some of the supposed leaks point towards that being the case. I sure hope that's true, and the game doesn't have more in common with Reach-5, we should know a lot more about it tomorrow though.

I would agree that Halo 3 was more of a fun throwback like you suggest in going back to its roots. The flip side is that, generally speaking, pop culture has been milking nostalgia due to a lack of ideas over the last decade or two.

343 hasn't really won me over yet tbh. Halo 4 was good/great but not on par with the originals, Halo: MCC is amazing but it took the first 6 months - a year to make mp playable and another few years to flesh out the other games like ODST/Reach. Halo 5 wasn't my cup of tea at all (went too far into CoD territory, although I did like the movement changes. Didn't bother finishing the campaign). Halo lost a piece of its magic when Bungie left. This one should be a good test to see how 343 does with a huge opportunity at stake.

 

[JaegerDice]

If we lost thrusters because the anti Halo 5 jokers, Im gonna be pissed...



Quick thoughs:

• I like how open the environments are
• Kind of a dull scenario to use for a vertical slice, honestly
• None of the new weapons looked particularly interesting, and they all seemed to lack 'oomph'
• Bad guy seems lame
• The grappling hook looks like it could be good for traversal and exploration, but the combat functionality looked kinda gimmicky. Doom Eternal did it better
• Not visually breaktaking, but it started out as an Xbox One game like 5 years ago, so it was always going to be stuck with some last-gen DNA
• Bummed they aren't showing multiplayer for awhile

 

[Dolemite]

If this includes the flood in any way shape or form the franchise is done.

 

[AllAbout813]

If we lost thrusters because the anti Halo 5 jokers, Im gonna be pissed...



Quick thoughs:

• I like how open the environments are
• Kind of a dull scenario to use for a vertical slice, honestly
• None of the new weapons looked particularly interesting, and they all seemed to lack 'oomph'
• Bad guy seems lame
• The grappling hook looks like it could be good for traversal and exploration, but the combat functionality looked kinda gimmicky. Doom Eternal did it better
• Not visually breaktaking, but it started out as an Xbox One game like 5 years ago, so it was always going to be stuck with some last-gen DNA
• Bummed they aren't showing multiplayer for awhile

Agree with pretty much everything. Weapons and vehicle need to be much heavier feeling. Went out of their way to show sprint is back.

Overall this looks “ok” so far. Actually I’m pretty disappointed with the whole demo. Need to see multiplayer soon. They need to get momentum seriously building for this game and that little demo isn’t going to do it.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I mean it looks fine, but for Halo it should shoot for higher than that.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

If we lost thrusters because the anti Halo 5 jokers, Im gonna be pissed...



Quick thoughs:

• I like how open the environments are
• Kind of a dull scenario to use for a vertical slice, honestly
• None of the new weapons looked particularly interesting, and they all seemed to lack 'oomph'
• Bad guy seems lame
• The grappling hook looks like it could be good for traversal and exploration, but the combat functionality looked kinda gimmicky. Doom Eternal did it better
• Not visually breaktaking, but it started out as an Xbox One game like 5 years ago, so it was always going to be stuck with some last-gen DNA
• Bummed they aren't showing multiplayer for awhile

Agreed. I was hoping for more gameplay changes, particularly mobility. Those guns look bland and boring af.

 

[AllAbout813]

Watched it again. The graphics are very lackluster. I know Halo is a game with simple clean graphics. But these did not look very good, just so bland.

 

[Beau Knows]

I think the grappling hook could actually fit in quite well, especially if it works on virtually all objects with physics in the game. Halo's physics have always been one of my favourite aspects of the game, more ways to interact with them is a good idea. If you can grab loose weapons, live grenades, use passing vehicles to whip yourself forward, etc that could all be fun. I wonder if they'll really use that feature to it's full potential, you should be able to pull enemies legs out from under them knocking them down, grab weapons from their hands. What they showed didn't seem that dynamic, but hopefully they're holding some stuff back.

I really don't like the way the game looks.

An open world with objectives that you can approach in many different ways would make for a fun co-op experience.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I was quite happy with it. Old school with modern things added. The open world part will be interesting.

The 4k video they uploaded is way better than that stream.

 

[Suxnet]

Looks boring. Hopefully the FPS genre goes the way of the fighting genre. Shoot dumb AI enemy after enemy with boring guns. Absolutely zero innovation in this games.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

It honestly looks more like Halo 6 than an "Infinite". I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[JaegerDice]

Looks boring. Hopefully the FPS genre goes the way of the fighting genre. Shoot dumb AI enemy after enemy with boring guns. Absolutely zero innovation in this games.

What made the original Halo great, aside from the multiplayer, WAS the great enemy AI. Halo CE through Halo Reach had great, smart AI.

343 just plain isn't as talented as Bungie in that regard.

 

[aleshemsky83]

I really love it. The early and early-mid game of halo 1 always kind of felt like an open world game anyways. Its cool that they're making it truly open world.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I will defend the multiplayer in Halo 5. It was a blast. The campaign was the let down.

 

[Super Cake]

So is cortana going to be in this game? I thought she and whatever beings she was with were going to be the enemies in this game.

 

[JaegerDice]

So is cortana going to be in this game? I thought she and whatever beings she was with were going to be the enemies in this game.

The bad guy brings up 'The Harbinger' who serves the 'Atriarchs', that his 'Banished' Covenant share the same goals.

It's possible The Harbinger title refers to Cortana.

 

[chicagoskycam]

It looks like the same shit. It could honestly be Halo 4 and I wouldn’t even know it.

 

[Super Cake]

The bad guy brings up 'The Harbinger' who serves the 'Atriarchs', that his 'Banished' Covenant share the same goals.

It's possible The Harbinger title refers to Cortana.

Oh, ok

 

[Jussi]

I think the grappling hook could actually fit in quite well, especially if it works on virtually all objects with physics in the game. Halo's physics have always been one of my favourite aspects of the game, more ways to interact with them is a good idea. If you can grab loose weapons, live grenades, use passing vehicles to whip yourself forward, etc that could all be fun. I wonder if they'll really use that feature to it's full potential, you should be able to pull enemies legs out from under them knocking them down, grab weapons from their hands. What they showed didn't seem that dynamic, but hopefully they're holding some stuff back.

I really don't like the way the game looks.

An open world with objectives that you can approach in many different ways would make for a fun co-op experience.

It's a demo, which means an older build.

 

[Beau Knows]

It's a demo, which means an older build.

That doesn't necessarily mean it's going to look much better than that. Cyberpunk 2077 comes out around the same time and it looked amazing in it's recent demo.