[REVIEW] HALO INFINITE (Campaign) – The best Halo ever?

I can’t forget the bittersweet taste left by 343 Industries last July. We had long heard of a Halo in development, the first for the new generation and the one to serve the study to show that he was the legacy of the Master Chief, the rifleman who managed to get an FPS playing, preserving cannot be hell on the console. but his presentation was disheartening.

A title that needed time, more care and more fine-tuning in its entire technical area. There was a desire and promising plans to keep it alive for a long time, as its developers announced in a presentation to the media hours after the big reveal, but the Master Chief was not to return like this. They knew it and they accepted it and made the best possible decision: to postpone the start and give the necessary time.

The Xbox Series X | S without leaving the start icon is a bold exercise, especially if promised. But if you don’t risk, you don’t win, and here too the risk is twice as high not only to postpone the game for a whole year, but also to change the formula of the Spartan 117 and Cortana games by almost losing the Open World formula hugs. Fortunately for everyone 343 Industries won the bet with Halo Infinite.

I’ve played the entire new Halo campaign and I’m here to tell you about it. If you want to get to know the other side of the coin, the free online mode, I invite you to read our analysis of the Halo Infinite multiplayer, although mastery reaches a fast, intense and addicting “multi” with the 343i has, is something that almost point by point lead to a new chapter in the history of this Spartan.

And I admit it. I stepped on fearfully Hello Zeta, the gigantic ring where most of the adventure takes place. After a more “corridor” start, in the style of the traditional Halo, 343 takes you into a big world, but not a huge one; with freedom, but not absolutely. It’s difficult to step into without memories of other current shooters who have worn out the open world formula without thinking that the team has embraced that scheme to join a car that has the essence of a franchise sacrifices that it has always been characterized by intensity, focused by linearity.

But they succeeded. They showed that this was the step Halo needed to take and found the perfect way to do it. You didn’t get carried away by the extended kilometers, by the “zillion” events and boring secondary schools. Less is more, they say, and Halo Infinite proves it. He makes everything that adds up with sense, not out of the ambition to make the world bigger and do more. In addition, your card is small compared to others and not littered with hundreds of tasks. It doesn’t even present a revolutionary design or scheme compared to the others. Play it safe but how well it plays.

And how well it plays! I haven’t had such a surprising and satisfying experience with a shooter since Doom’s revival in 2016. It’s been a long time since I dropped a controller and started thinking about when to pick it up again, and Infinite has been consistently successful. It has always made me, with honey on my lips, to explore another corner of a world that evokes and intensifies the sensations created by Halo: Combat Evolved in the twenties.

The controls respond with surgical precision, although they can always be adjusted at will, every single one of his weapons is useful and fun, and the boss’s new gadgets make him more versatile than ever. They are few (shield, hook, sensor and “dash”), but they give the fight a three-dimensionality that was not present in the franchise before.

Whether by destroying the posts of the Banished (enemy faction, remnant of the alliance, led by the Jiralhanae or Brutes), conquest Advanced operating bases (BOA, necessary for fast travel and for “summoning” vehicles or weapons to equip) or destroying special targets to get modified weapons, Halo Infinite always gives you incentives to move forward and explore. First, because it doesn’t abuse repetitive structures, even though you almost always end up doing the same thing; second, because the fight is diabolical fun.

In less than a minute, you can have the Master Chief run across multiple grunts with a stolen ghost, catapult a skimmer into the air with its new hook, fall from the sky with an energy hammer, contain multiple Brutes with the assault rifle while holding them with grenades spray, grab a power sword from a fallen elite, smash a core holding multiple UNSC Marines, and all together take on the rest of the enemy forces in the area. It acts almost like a tongue twister and is even for your hands at first. But thanks to the fact that you won’t get lost with hundreds of tools and very simple controls, you need very little to know how to use everything the game has at your disposal.

It’s hectic, it’s fast, and most of all it’s organic. It may seem like this new game scheme atomizes the experience, but 343 Industries has always made Halo Zeta interesting. Every few steps you find something, be it a fallen ship that contains photos of people, or exiles that reveal more of the “lore,” a cave guarded by a spartan nucleus to improve your skills (gadgets) , or a group of marines who need your help. Or if not, you can always swing the hook between trees like spider-spartan. Hands down the best gadget in John’s repertoire for its usefulness both in and out of combat. As a result, there is no corner of the map that you cannot explore without vehicles.

But don’t be misleading. As much as Halo Infinite can be viewed as an open world, progression is linear, with main missions to overcome in order to advance in a campaign that sometimes plays too much with the gap between Halo 5: Guardians and this episode and as usual . Use terms like “The Auditorium” or “The Emissary”, as ominous as it is confusing. In his favor it must be said that these missions also take place in closed scenarios and are more familiar to veterans, in addition to the fact that this scheme below helps keep the thread on at all times and also opens up more areas to explore and do things all the time . Against him? Certainly nothing. It’s a progression that goes with Halo and never skips a bar at any point.

In addition, the 343i has made sure that you cannot go over the edge and delimits your scope of action between mission and mission. Are you trying to get out of the area where you need to be? A countdown forces you to return and if you don’t you will die. Fortunately, these invisible borders cover areas large enough that you won’t run into them unless you want to experiment more than necessary or put the game to the test.

And his story? It’s almost impossible to understand 100% without the context of the previous games. Those in charge claimed Halo Infinite was sort of a “reboot” in some ways, and now I understand they were referring to the mechanics, not the plot. Of course, all of its cinematographic sequences and recordings (all dubbed in perfect Spanish) offer enough material to know what is going on without the baggage of the previous Halo, but we recommend playing them to really connect with the story and its characters especially with a master chief whose life in constant war begins to weigh on him.

Veterans can expect surprises, script twists, and important revelations from the past. Non-veterans, pay attention to every conversation and detail. In the end, you will all understand that every decision and every action has consequences for everyone involved in this story.

Well, with that little twisty somersault you’re going to allow me to do, I have to say that every decision has consequences. Xbox and 343 Industries have decided that Halo Infinite will be a game for the Xbox Series X | S, but also for the Xbox One, the consequence is … it’s going smoothly. I played on Xbox Series S., and always in performance mode to enjoy a constant 60 frames per second both outdoors and indoors. You can see something “pop”, but it’s not difficult at all. In addition, it is absolutely robust and looks great without being technically a piece of absolute avant-garde.

Perhaps it could be more amazing if you focus on the new hardware, but the package is almost flawless, save for some animations that move at half frames per second (there are trade-offs in the S series to maintain fluidity). It is a shame, however, that when accessing certain missions that require entering closed environments, loading screens appear, albeit small. In the age of SSDs, those displays collide with how organic the whole game feels.

I won’t forget the musical either, because that OST, where drums and choir predominate knows how to dose completely. Anyone who plays The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will find that Halo Infinite follows in his footsteps when it comes to the use of music. He’s almost always present, but he never leaves his role to keep the atmosphere going. Step up the intensity if you have to and know when to slow down. High and calm, tension and relaxation. It just fits.

After completing an adventure that cost me well over a dozen hours, I can safely say that Halo Infinite is the shooter that I’ve had the most fun in years. 343 Industries took all my fears and threw them out the window, rolled them over with a warthog and smashed them with a SP4NKER. You have found the key to franchise renewal without giving up its essence, you have completed this difficult juggling exercise to move forward without giving up the Master Chief’s legacy.

In short, they managed to steer their ambitions on the right track by indulging, not adding, any supplement without looking. It’s a game that takes in and gives out a lot more than you’d expect. It’s the return Halo deserves.

I warn you: if you step on the Halo Zeta, you won’t want to leave it.