The best always comes last, which is why desserts exist, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Spider-man: No Way Home. Saving the best for last always ensures that no matter how the rest of the trip went, we can at least end it on a high note, which always helps minimize anything that might have happened during the process. That’s why I wanted to write this “editorial trilogy” where the idea was to talk about 3 modern multiplayer titles, which allow to play against bots individually, and whose experiences help me to have at least several standards of comparison to which I refer in future editorials.
Imagine these texts as if they were the saga of The Dark Knight, with BF2042 in place of Batman Begins and PUBG in place of The Dark Knight Rises (even if this film was not as bad as the horrible bots from PUBG), all that’s missing is the masterpiece: The Night Knight. Well, today that place has found its exponent in Halo Infinite, which while I think it deserves it (especially compared to the other two titles), ultimately it’s still a bit far from to be this great masterpiece of bots, that is to say first and foremost (we’ll talk about that another day).
End the fight
“Master Chief, would you mind telling me what you’re doing on this ship?!”
– “Sir. I put an end to this fight.”
With these lines he completes one of what is perhaps one of the best games in history: Halo 2. It is an iconic line that today is not only an excellent reference, but also something something that we often see in the material related to the saga. . “Finishing that fight” is also something we’ll constantly think about not only when playing Halo Infinite multiplayer but also custom games against bots, which while it’s missing a handful of content, no doubt it has everything you need to trap us for hours and hours.
As usual, I remind you that wherever possible, I do not intend to do any kind of analysis of the game (unless I have to talk about something specific that affects the experience with the bots), because for this they have a very careful and work done by our dear colleague José Martínez, which you can enter from the following link, but I intend to dive as deeply as possible into this captivating experience and remarkable, so you know why it should be so appreciated by all fans of multis with bots.
And if there’s something to start with in my opinion, it’s because of the great job that 343i has done with artificial intelligence, which, contrary to what I told you in the PUBG editorial, not only has a wide range of difficulties (Recruit, Marine, ODST and Spartan), but also that for the most part they will make us feel like playing against other players, and not just against bots, even if they are a little limited in their behavior. These not only run, climb, throw grenades and swap weapons like a real player would, but they also know how to flee if they are close to death, jump to avoid enemy attacks or even vehicles, in addition to be able to use some of the equipment that we can collect on the maps and help us achieve objectives (like conquering an area or capturing the flag). For example, active cloak, wearable shield, shield overload, and dodge will be relatively common to see (at least in the last two difficulties), but grappling hook, on the other hand, is something you don’t. don’t know how to use directly, and it’s really sad because I would have liked to see a bot swinging around like it was about to lock Dr Strange in the Mirror Dimension.
On the other hand, the bots have no limitations with the use of weapons, since they know how to use absolutely all of them, and can even pick up those that are distributed on the walls of each level, but unfortunately there are some something absolutely fundamental that they don’t even dare to do: drive vehicles. These, as many know, are as fundamental to the Halo experience as pasta sauce or Wisin are to Yandel, and for the same reason they prevent us from enjoying modes like Big Team Battle, which are the thing closer than Infinite offers to an experience of those that would make Juan 117 blush, and where its use is most important. It’s also not like I can put all the blame on the lack of skill of the bots, since we also have another limitation: the maximum capacity of them in all modes. Whether it’s Everybody vs. Everybody, Team Battle or Big Team Battle (BTB), for example, custom games do not allow us to exceed the total of 8 bots per game, which in most modes does not pose no problem since these were designed for 4v4 play, but in BTB’s modes and maps, which were intended for up to 16 players, it’s not much fun trying to enjoy them with only 8 attendees.
Finally, it should be clarified that beyond the limitations just mentioned, each of the currently available modes can be enjoyed alone against bots and even better, they can be configured to our liking through Custom Games. Here we can configure a wide variety of options, such as the elements that appear related to the user interface, the way the radar reacts to certain things like normal eliminations or with grenades, how much life and shields we and our enemies will have, the initial ammunition of each weapon, if we activate the infinite ammo, the duration of the games, the equipment and the initial weapons and more, which does not allow us to go beyond what is established (as it would happen in BF2042’s Portal mode), but definitely It allows us to create some interesting modifications to the base modes, like a Free For All where everyone has a massive amount of shields and life, games where we will need more than one round to win, or even some where there are more players in one team than in another, something that could perhaps be interesting to try in Spartan difficulty among friends. I can’t deny that while I liked the options we’re allowed to configure, I can’t help but think that more could still be added, like limiting the number of resurrections each player has, being able to choose an initial ability (hook, portable shield, etc.) and the maximum amount of each of them, which could be lent to surely create another more interesting mode.
As you can also imagine, custom games won’t give us any experience for our battle pass, that’s why we also have the option to play co-op against bots in the official game lists, although you should know that these do not have a great difficulty, and therefore they only serve as an excuse to achieve certain daily/weekly objectives, and gradually increase the level of the pass.
You were supposed to balance the force, not leave it in the dark
In the end, the bots of Infinite Halo they don’t quite reach the legendary status I originally thought, and while I think they’re a cut above BF2042 (thanks to the variety of difficulties and private match customization options ), I always feel like they have a short way to go, before they reach that goal. Being able to play games of Big Team Battle on Spartan difficulty, with full teams, while bots drive vehicles and swing around like fucking Peter Parker is where I think this option should point, something which I personally don’t consider impossible, thanks to the current state of AI, but at the same time it depends on 343i deciding to do more work in this section, which only they know whether it’s worth it or not.
Personally I think it’s something totally worth the effort, because not only can they spend time improving a section that can help a lot in the life of this kind of title, but also the experience of many players like me, who just want to enjoy this kind of titles, without the intrusion of cheaters, toxics and players who do not know how to enjoy the game, and therefore end up leaving the game early. They may not be as perfect as I initially thought, but there’s no way I wouldn’t recommend this browsing experience to all single player multiplayer fans who want to have a good time, a good challenge, and most of all create a unique experience. our measure to help us realize the dream of enjoying a Halo Online alone and with colleagues who do not interfere with our entertainment.
