The first four missions of Halo Infinite’s campaign have left us incredibly impressed and eager for more.
Anyone familiar with Halo’s Master Chief will know that the 7-foot Spartan is a man of few words. So, in the spirit of John-117, I’m going to cut right to the chase – Halo Infinite’s campaign has the potential to be the greatest entry in the series to date. That might sound hyperbolic, blasphemous even to those who still regard ex-developer Bungie’s titles as the crème de la crème of Halo campaigns. But after completing the first four missions of Halo Infinite ’s campaign, which releases on December 8,2021, trust me when I say that the game’s single-player experience took my admittedly cautious expectations and fired them into the stratosphere. The ghost of Halo 5: Guardians’ monotonous and uninspired campaign – which has loomed over developer 343 Industries like a dark and ominous cloud since 2015 – has finally been exorcised. The horribly convoluted story, drawn-out gunfights, and meaningless characters are gone. In its place is a game that captures the very essence of Halo: Combat Evolved and delivers something that the original title never feasibly could – genuine player freedom. While I won’t delve into too much of Halo Infinite’s main story elements (though I will say I was hooked from the opening cutscene), I do want to talk about Halo Infinite’s three newest cast members: The Weapon, The Pilot, and Escharum. Halo veterans will instantly gravitate towards the game’s new AI companion, The Weapon. She oozes charisma and almost feels like a familiar face due to her similarities to Cortana. She isn’t just a carbon copy, though. The Weapon is a lot more easygoing than her holographic counterpart (especially given Cortana’s dramatic character shift in Halo 4 and Halo 5) and has a habit of bringing out a more playful side of Master Chief that players have rarely seen. The new AI is noticeably more naive than Cortana ever was, too, and like you – the player – she’s slowly trying to piece together everything that’s happened since the Banished – a powerful army consisting of Brutes and Covenants – defeated humanity’s forces, the UNSC. From her witty interjections to her thoughtful observations, it feels great to have a little voice inside Chief’s head again. The Pilot, similarly, is also strangely likable straight away. Desperate to return home to his family, The Pilot gets embroiled in helping Chief take down the Banished and seems like he’ll add some grounded perspective to the super-soldier’s relentless pursuit of duty. Although the Pilot plays more of an ancillary role early on, I’m excited to find out more about how his story progresses as the game goes on. And as for Halo Infinite’s antagonists, the Banished? Well, let’s just say I can’t remember the last time I was truly intimidated by an enemy in a Halo game. That was until the guttural, grave tones of the Banished leader Escharum graced my presence. He’s one terrifying Brute and establishes himself as a formidable foe early on. Halo Infinite’s story is very promising, then. But I’d argue that the series’ lore isn’t exactly the main reason why so many players fell in love with the original game 20 years ago. No, it’s the moment-to-moment gameplay that really cemented Bungie’s first-person shooter into the annals of video game history. And I’m happy to report that it’s better than ever in Halo Infinite. Halo Infinite’s campaign begins in a typically linear fashion as you mow down waves of animated Grunts, burly Brutes, and deadly Elites onboard a now-ravaged spacecraft. However, you’re quickly introduced to a number of new gameplay mechanics and design decisions that have a dramatic effect on how Halo fundamentally feels and plays. The first change seems rather insignificant, but it’s something that I never grew tired of during my hands on. You can now pick up various explosive canisters and lob them at enemies. We’ve been blowing up red barrels and the like in video games for years, but being able to grab and throw these environmental hazards into the face of an onrushing Brute is incredibly liberating. And thankfully, there’s a handy way to grab these volatile canisters from a distance, too.
