Microsoft’s Halo Infinite Went from Disaster to Triumph
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
Maybe the campaign is good? But if they’re launched as 2 separate games, I don’t think the campaign being good should give the multiplayer a pass.
I've played Halo since Combat Evolved on Xbox, and played in the test flights of Infinite and was playing more last night. The core of Halo Infinite is good. But the release is not a triumph. Pretty much everything outside of the core game loop, in my opinion, feels half thought out. From the incredibly limited number of maps considering the 6 year development cycle (a greater duration than between Halo 2 and Halo Reach), to the universally hated battle pass progression system (even amongst players who were new to the franchise whom I watched on Twitch), unreasonably expensive armour customizations, three launch playlists, very buggy campaign experience, no Forge. The list goes on.
They had a lot of time to get this right, and as far as the feeling when you play multiplayer goes, they nailed it for the most part. But only if you happen to like any of the 6 maps and don't mind being forced into an incredibly narrow selection of game modes.
Launching with 10 maps is disappointing but understandable given the depth of modeling resources that were required for the open world campaign. Halo 2 had 12 and Halo 3 had 11, with much more onerous ways to add maps compared to today. I don’t think the limited number of maps will overly limited Infinite.
Limited game modes sucks but at least they will get us more in early Jan. I’m sure maps will be a quick follower as well. Forge is scheduled for May, which is unforgivably late but at least they are including it. I can’t think of many games with a Forge-like feature.
I’ve had really strange bugs in multiplayer (clipping into walls on spawn and can’t move, bizarre visual glitches, and yeah bad desync), but the campaign so far is visually gorgeous. Given how atrocious the original launch trailers were for gameplay 1+ years ago, and how gawd awful Halo 5 was, had Microsoft launched on the original timeline it would’ve been a franchise killing disaster.
There’s also serious problems with the monetization scheme that has the potential to alienate players (it’s already doing that). If 343 is going to treat the Halo franchise as a GAAS that’s both depressing and a “well I guess that’s the state of gaming now” moment.
Otherwise, it's doing Halo type stuff in an open world + grappling hook is elicits the same type of fun we all had playing Halo CE at lans.
I'm not the biggest Halo fan by any stretch; the last Halo I completed was Halo3; only playing a couple hours of 4, Guardians, Reach, and never touching ODST and HaloWars(1 & 2), but I'm hooked on playing the campaign on Legendary.
I am playing it on the Series X; not my PC.
If you are spreading fud about glitches and the game being “broken” then find me one reputable news source reporting on these issues.
I think they managed to avoid cyberpunk levels of disaster.. but it's a bit early to call victory.
I've been playing it quite a bit, and sure I'd love more maps and at first the experience seemed to be given too slowly, but the gameplay itself is pretty rock solid and it's the most time I've put into any multiplayer shooter in a long time.
Easily played it more than the last few Call of Duties, Valorant, and Fortnite combined, and more than I played any Halo game since Halo Reach.
Also, if I had to pay $60 for it, I might not have tried it for quite some time, since I haven't really gotten into the past couple of Halo games. It being free made me go "sure what the hell, let's try it."
I even paid the ~$10 for the battle pass, something I never usually do, but I felt like I had enough fun with it it was worth tossing them $10.
I am a big fan of the series and think they've done a fantastic job with the game, aside from some rough edges. The open world campaign especially has been a really cool experience so far.
What bothered me though is I don't think those raging fans are totally off point. And the 343 and MS response rubs me the wrong way. Not only on Twitter, but this article is (to me) a naked PR attempt to control the narrative and do some damage control. As much as I enjoy the game, there are still flaws, it was massively delayed, they haven't released forge, and calling it a "triumph" without first establishing a record of success comes off as pompous.
Infinite is amazing if you’re a fan. Campaign is unreal. I feel like I’m playing a Halo RPG.
Halo 5 was The Last Jedi of the franchise.
Halo Infinite saves the property.
Anyone can make a laundry list of complaints but seriously, after 2 weeks of multiplayer and 24 hours of campaign, I don’t care. At my age it’s just not that big a deal.
Thank you, 343.
I think, at this point, this is known - but it's limited to certain segments of the audience. A lot of gamers have happily dropped hundreds of dollars on Paradox titles (keeping up with the DLCs) without ever feeling that gut wrenching guilt you get from interacting with freemium systems - even while outspending the average user by a large margin.
Freemium games have several really big flaws that have come to prominence lately - one of the biggest comes into play with competitive games. If the game has no acquisition cost then bans are really hard to enforce so cheating can be extremely common.
That's assuming anyone is even doing anything about them cheating in the first place. Most publishers seem to only react when streamers draw attention to someone cheating.
I saw a COD: warzone youtube video where the streamer got someone banned by messaging an activision employee; the player was riding around on an ATV, instantly shooting every player. They get bounced mid-game.
It's a "fuck yaeaaaa, activision!" moment...until the streamer goes and looks at their game stats and sees that they had a lifetime K/D ratio of something like 20, where TWO is practically world-class...and that they'd played dozens of games. The streamer asks: why weren't they bounced (or at least subject to account review) simply by having wildly off-the-chart stats alone?
Because Activision doesn't care. Cheaters don't really impact their bottom line.
It's actually the opposite - they don't chase the users, they chase, pin, and throw the developers of these mods in jail.
It is just by the time they do that, the mods tools/anti-cheat is leaked and prevalent to even free users.
Man I spent endless hours playing and coding back then. But I never could get into the later Halos. The gameplay was so drastically different. The CE pistol was the ultimate weapon. It was always available and had the potential to bail you out of any scenario. But you can’t solely rely on it to win competitive games. Powerup timing is king. Everyone knew the exact second overshield/rockets would spawn, so there was a natural flow to the maps as teams pushed to gain these items. Halo 2 and beyond removed all of this.
Like the environment artists just copy and pasted the same crates around with the same little doodads.
Just seemed bland.
Apex, Overwatch have much more natural movement and better graphics. Even PUBG with the worlds most terrible engine/movement/physics has more fun to offer.
Which is no small feat making a game that feels fun like Halo (as we remember it), without just retreading on the same themes. 343 could have made "another Halo game" and I don't it would have felt like Halo fun.
The American people seem so disenfranchised they might let it slide, while the wealthy boys will use their money to buy goodwill.
I hope not.
How are we to be certain that this isn't already happening?
I have a sneaking suspicion that most of Reddit top posts, whatever Google news recommends, and any media / Hollywood / game blog is astroturfed and paid for.
We can't be certain, as with most conspiracy theories, but there are regulations against it so there would be ramifications if/when it came to light.
Played a single game, knew I made the right choice by not playing sooner.
Hopefully this will not follow the same fate of Halo 5 and MCC.
MCC took 5 years to be playable from the "Launch party," - Halo 5 is not considered Halo by anyone who had played at any previous title.
I wonder when the (Halo 2) mantra of "throw em in a room with mountain dew and doritos until they have a banger" stopped working.
How much is technical debt to blame? How much is bureaucratic red tape?
Is there a certain magnitude of complexity where AAA game development plateaus?
It's arguable that it's more surprising that this happened to work the first time than that it wasn't repeatable
Halo Infinite is the worst multiplayer FPS game I've played in years. To sum it up in a sentence, it isn't fun to play. My friends and I, who have been playing for decades now (yeesh, I'm getting old) are still on the Master Chief Collection because it's at least a good time. Infinite just feels like a grind, and I'm sad this is how kids experience video games today.
-No friendly fire changes the dynamics and risk assessment of throwing grenades, one of the primary combat 'tripod' legs. No longer do you have to weigh the option of throwing a grenade to aid a teammate for fear of also killing them. Are they in a capture zone? Throw everything to got to help keep pressure off of them.
-Melee hit detection is wonky, as is the lunge. To be fair the range and stickyness of the lunge seems to change with every iteration and it takes some time to get used to it. But, there is something off with the hit detection. I've gotten, and been victim of, one-hit melee kills to the front, as if it was an assassination from the rear.
-I greatly feel the loss of Reach's 'shield threshold' mechanic. For the unfamiliar, there were few instances (1hko weapons primarily) where damage would 'bleed through' shields and into health. When the shield popped, so did any overkill damage from the attack that took the shields down. What this boiled down to was a very binary point, if shields are up a melee attack will only take down their shields, if their shields are down, it'll finish them off. Coupled with a very clear visual indication when someone's shields went down, it became an instinctive part of the flow of battle, to me.
-No collision with teammates is pretty awkward. Several times already I've had someone walk through me right as I fire a rocket, which explodes on the back of their head, killing me. At least with friendly fire they'd die as well and maybe learn to stay clear of the guy holding a damn rocket launcher.
-The battle rifle feels wrong. I can't expand on that, it just hasn't gelled with me yet.
I do wonder what the numbers would be like if it was available, then we'd have something to compare and if it turns out the MP in Halo 5 was pretty good and Infinite was mostly a 'side grade' or just marginally different that would have been very interesting.
In Halo 2, you were fighting to save the world. That's awesome. From the moment the game started you felt like you were in a race against time to stop the Covenant. It was epic and the story progressed linearly.
The main issue with the new campaign is that you find yourself in an "open world". But unlike other games like Assassin's Creed or Skyrim, the open world doesn't add any value. You don't level up and the special weapons don't make sense.
Like ok I drive around the cramped spaces and then I can get this special “rare” plasma pistol. But I don't always use a plasma pistol. So... cool I guess? I drive or fast travel to get the special weapon? And the same with the mini-bosses. Why am I fighting mini-bosses? Is this Halo or an RPG?
Ultimately the game suffers from someone just not being in charge and lack of clear vision and direction. It has no soul in the design. It's like the developers saw that open world games were popular and said "me too!". You can see this in other choices as well such as the plethora of unbalanced and useless weapons. This can get fixed in the future, but the "kinetic" versus "energy" distinction and how you might be supposed to use both really (and the ammo crates everywhere which make 0 sense) feels forced and not well thought out. Like the plasma carbine.
And this is to say nothing of the Battle Pass system or any of the monetization aspects, map making, or multiplayer in general.
The one thing they definitely got right is the feel of the game. It feels great to play. I wouldn’t be able to tell any difference between it and Halo 2.
The story itself feels cringe. The writing is terrible. Like Hollywood cliche every step of the way. This guy who is always complaining about everything. There’s nothing EPIC about the game. In Halo 2 I felt like I had to rush to save the world and everything made sense. In Infinite I feel like I’m just trying to find a banshee so I can not have to fight through pointless groups of enemies to get to an objective. Ah yes the two hunters Marvin (or whatever) and they're on the UNSC’s most wanted list. Ok? Am I a cop now too? I guess I get an "achievement" for killing them. But what if we just didn't have them and got rid of the achievement? Sometimes when you add things you take away more than you add.
I was really surprised to see all of the positive comments here. Maybe I’m just an old guy yelling at a cloud now and don’t get it. Idk. Like does nobody remember how scary and creepy the flood was from CE? Whatever happened to the mystery and theater?
The Arbiter's character arc in Halo 2 was incredible. Too bad he was practically sidelined in Halo 3.
Look half this game is nostalgia. Do people really have nostalgia for sitting alone in their basement?
I'll leave this here http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
So I scroll down 2 pixels and a huge neon blue banner invites me to DO SUBSCRIBE FORE MORE COOL STUFF.
Hmm sorry, what was the link I clicked on about, can't remember already - poof delete tab.