Halo Infinite is out.

[hanselthecaretaker]

Not really. Yes, Halo majorly popularized online mp on consoles, but it didn't invent it. There were some others that were ahead of Halo, mainly on Dreamcast, but we all know how long that life cycle went. With that said, there are plenty of FPS games that made multiplayer popular or added more awareness. Goldeneye, Doom, Quake I & III, Unreal Tournament, etc.

Where @Fallen Soldier's anger is coming from is the sin and the wrong direction a lot of the industry took during the 7th generation and now with the Battle Royale modes. That if your game does not have competitive multiplayer, it won't sell or is doomed to fail. The funny thing is, most games that tried to copy Halo, Gears of War, or COD4 all failed to captivate, and a majority of them have been forgotten about, or are a very small footnote in history. Never getting to the next generation. That same sin is being seen in this industry and certain streamers on Twitch who are all about BR and nothing else. To an extent that they (falsely) believe that if Halo: Infinite does not have a BR mode, that won't survive. Infinite does not need a BR mode to be good nor survive, you selfish dick-wads want it that way, because you're afraid you won't get the maximum view count you desire. If Halo added a BR mode, it was just be another clone in the crowd, and you guys and gals would play it for two weeks at best, and drop it and get bored. Going back to Fortnite, War Zone, or PUBG. To the extent that one Twitch streamer, called The Doc, kept talking about how he wants a BR mode, while looking at gameplay demonstration of the single-player, and felt all assets were wasted. For the single player! You're part of what's wrong with the gaming industry you assholes!

I did specify it only popularized mp on consoles, but never implied it invented it there. Goldeneye was earlier but only couch mp. It’s the network mp and death match focus that blew up on consoles with Halo and yes, started some of the industry’s longest lasting and worst trends, leading also to some of the worst industry practices.

 

[BrawlMan]

started some of the industry’s longest lasting and worst trends, leading also to some of the worst industry practices.

Exactly! So that's why I have no problem, and agree with the term "Fuck multiplayer!".

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Fallen Soldier]

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Honestly even with shield upgrades I don’t see that much difference between not having it upgraded and fully upgraded shields.

 

[BrawlMan]

Honestly even with shield upgrades I don’t see that much difference between not having it upgraded and fully upgraded shields.

I have not watched the video yet, but I guess that goes to show you how much some of the upgrades barely make a difference. Seraphim is a skilled player, but he does make mistakes like anyone else. I'll see for myself when I get the chance

 

[laggyteabag]

Played some more, and God, I'm sick of it already.

Save squad. Take FOB. Take outpost. Go back to FOB. Get vehicle. Go place. Kill stuff. Find Spartan core. Back to FOB. More stuff. Go place. Do stuff...

I get this is how open world games work, it's just a reminder that I don't like open-world games much.

Yeah, pretty much this.

I read/watched a lot of content on the lead-up to the game's launch as to how the open-world was "definitely not Far Cry", but, well, its definitely Far Cry.

The world is expansive, but there is nothing to see. There are objectives all over the map, but they are all the same. You are free to tackle engagements from any angle, but you are probably just better off avoiding them entirely. The game suffers from exactly the same open-world flaws as pretty much every other open-world game over the past decade.

Im just not excited about a potential sequel/expansion with the same open-world mechanics.

Swinging around like Spider-Man was fun, though.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Fallen Soldier]

Of all the cool ideas Halo 2 brought to the table, it was dual wielding. Yet, it has never returned to the franchise. Hell most shooters don’t even use dual wielding. Which is a huge shame because the concept has potential to be so good for gameplay purposes.

 

[Worgen]

I finally finished the campaign and in the end I really enjoyed it. The way the told the plot was good, but the plot itself really could have used work. I don't think the open world was the best choice, but it was fine. The gameplay is top tier, the combat feels fantastic, the grapple also feels amazing to use, the difficulty is also pretty good, started off kinda easy (even on heroic) but it ramped up to some rather challenging fights. The vehicles are good, but could use work, not as good as in the old Halo games, even the tank which feels great to shoot, turns really oddly on a mouse an keyboard, probably feels fine on a controller though. So yeah, recommended even with the bullshit way cosmetics work for the multi.

 

[Hawki]

Yeah, pretty much this.

I read/watched a lot of content on the lead-up to the game's launch as to how the open-world was "definitely not Far Cry", but, well, its definitely Far Cry.

The world is expansive, but there is nothing to see. There are objectives all over the map, but they are all the same. You are free to tackle engagements from any angle, but you are probably just better off avoiding them entirely. The game suffers from exactly the same open-world flaws as pretty much every other open-world game over the past decade.

Im just not excited about a potential sequel/expansion with the same open-world mechanics.

Swinging around like Spider-Man was fun, though.

This is sort of a reply, but I'm mostly just touching on the topic by saying...I can't really add much else.

It's weird, in the space of a few hours' play, I can go from thinking "this is the best Halo game ever" to "this is one of the weakest Halo games ever." This even extends to the multiplayer - one session can have me loving it, another, detesting it. The one thing I can definitely agree with you on is that swinging around with the grapple IS fun - since I've decked it out with upgrades, plus, I've gotten more used to it. On the other hand, the dash ability is useless. I've used it a few times to deal with Hunters (run to them, dash over them, open fire), but that's about it. Oh, and the grenade system is still assinine. FFS, even multiplayer does it better by allowing you to scroll through with a single tap rather than opening the sub-menu.

There's also some other things - pretty sure I mentioned this, but I think this is a case of "poor plot, average storytelling, excellent dialogue." I mean, on one hand, everything the Weapon says is gold (and that includes the multiplayer AIs - I use CIRC in case you're wondering), but it struck me that there's a dearth of actual characters in the game. Oh sure, we get introduced to lots of them, but how many aren't just bosses, and how many aren't killed instantly like Despondent Pyre and Abject Testament? I'd argue, not many. And I'd really argue that there needed to be another UNSC character. Some kind of CO to give a 'face' to the marines you save. Because while it's nice to see your FOBs in action, I'm left to ask, what kind of chain of command are the marines following? Lasky's AWOL, every Spartan-IV is dead or missing, so...who's in command? Halo 1 had Keyes, who led the ringside forces (however briefly), who's the Infinite equivalent?

Anyway, ramble over.

 

[BrawlMan]

Of all the cool ideas Halo 2 brought to the table, it was dual wielding. Yet, it has never returned to the franchise. Hell most shooters don’t even use dual wielding. Which is a huge shame because the concept has potential to be so good for gameplay purposes.

Ya wanna know why most shooters don't dual wield anymore?

Spoiler: Answer is Time stamped.

By the way did you ever finish that walkthrough vid from Seraphim17? I watched it all last week. He does like some stuff, but overall hates the game. The reason he did the no shield upgrade was to prove that if he can do it, then anyone can.

 

[Worgen]

Because while it's nice to see your FOBs in action, I'm left to ask, what kind of chain of command are the marines following? Lasky's AWOL, every Spartan-IV is dead or missing, so...who's in command? Halo 1 had Keyes, who led the ringside forces (however briefly), who's the Infinite equivalent?

I really do get the feeling that the marines were added as an afterthought. Like only because you needed gunners for your vehicles. Cause the story completely ignores them aside from a couple lines about there being survivors from the Infinity.

 

[Hawki]

I really do get the feeling that the marines were added as an afterthought. Like only because you needed gunners for your vehicles. Cause the story completely ignores them aside from a couple lines about there being survivors from the Infinity.

I think there's some truth to that, but we saw marines in one of the early cinematic trailers for Infinite. I'm pretty sure they were planned in some form early on. If anything, the story ignoring them probably has more to do with how the FOBs are optional.

Even then, I figure since you have to take Outpost Tremonious one way or the other, you could meet "Lieutenant John Doe" there. So you could play the game without doing a single FOB, and there'd still be a marine character you could interact with.

Or hey, even an ODST? Remember them?

 

[wings012]

Yeah, pretty much this.

I read/watched a lot of content on the lead-up to the game's launch as to how the open-world was "definitely not Far Cry", but, well, its definitely Far Cry.

The world is expansive, but there is nothing to see. There are objectives all over the map, but they are all the same. You are free to tackle engagements from any angle, but you are probably just better off avoiding them entirely. The game suffers from exactly the same open-world flaws as pretty much every other open-world game over the past decade.

Im just not excited about a potential sequel/expansion with the same open-world mechanics.

Swinging around like Spider-Man was fun, though.

It is Farcry but at the same time not quite as bad as Farcry? You're still free to leave any marines, FOBs or HVTs you come across. Whereas activating most side activities in FarCry for some inexplicable reason locks you into it, and you either have to complete it there and then or abort it through a menu.

The H:I sides are still cohesive with the game. Whereas FarCry activities are just downright random bullshit a lot of the time. Do some fucking biplane stunt course time attack for some completely unrelated upgrade or something daft. You're still in the world when doing H:I side stuff but you often get teleported to some whacky activity space for FC sides.

Though I personally was expecting something a bit more out of the open world. Like maybe some marine characters and subplot involving them, rather than just audiologs. It is rather hollow at the end of the day, but the enemies being fun to fight do help it seem better than it actually is.

 

[Worgen]

I think there's some truth to that, but we saw marines in one of the early cinematic trailers for Infinite. I'm pretty sure they were planned in some form early on. If anything, the story ignoring them probably has more to do with how the FOBs are optional.

Even then, I figure since you have to take Outpost Tremonious one way or the other, you could meet "Lieutenant John Doe" there. So you could play the game without doing a single FOB, and there'd still be a marine character you could interact with.

Or hey, even an ODST? Remember them?

I still really get the feeling that the game only intended there to be the Chief, the Weapon and the Pilot as the only traditionally human forces. It would also make the pilot

Spoiler: minor plot point

taking a pelican alone less of an asshole move... probably. When he said he did that all I could think was "you had an empty transport, you should have waited for it to be full."

 

[BrawlMan]

It's time....

Halo Infinite - Zero Punctuation - The Escapist

This week in Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee reviews Halo Infinite from 343 Industries, the quasi-open-world first-person shooter.

www.escapistmagazine.com

 

[Fallen Soldier]

It's time....

Halo Infinite - Zero Punctuation - The Escapist

This week in Zero Punctuation, Yahtzee reviews Halo Infinite from 343 Industries, the quasi-open-world first-person shooter.

www.escapistmagazine.com

Always great to see Yahtzee ripping games a new one.

 

[BrawlMan]

Always great to see Yahtzee ripping games a new one.

Actually, he took it a bit easy on this one. He still ripped some parts into it and definitely called out the story and game structure, but he thought it was just okay overall.

 

[Fallen Soldier]

Actually, he took it a bit easy on this one. He still ripped some parts into it and definitely called out the story and game structure, but he thought it was just okay overall.

I agree with him the hook shot is a game changer for Halo. Easily the best part of the game.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Of all the cool ideas Halo 2 brought to the table, it was dual wielding. Yet, it has never returned to the franchise. Hell most shooters don’t even use dual wielding. Which is a huge shame because the concept has potential to be so good for gameplay purposes.

Halo 3 also had dual wielding.