4.5/5 ★ – Mrneverchillin's review of Halo Infinite.

Halo Infinite Review Written by: Vic Brubacher III No. I Think We're Just Getting Started Spoiler Alert! Halo is known as a revolutionary franchise by bringing first person shooters to the console when everyone said they couldn’t. You like me, most likely have many many memories playing all of the Halo games throughout the years. And also like me, you were probably let down by the last 2 entries. And Halo Infinite is here, and it became the third entry developed by 343 Industries when it was released on December 8, 2021, roughly one month after the multiplayer was shadow released. Arguably the most important entry. Being set in the year of 2559, Master Chief was defeated by Atriox who boarded the UNSC Infinity. Chief was then dropped into the darkness of space. A UNSC pilot stumbles upon a floating Chief six months later.Once aboard, the pilot wants to flee but Chief insists on fighting. They head back to the Forerunner ringworld known as the Zeta Halo, which is severely damaged with zero explanation why. A mystery. What pushes the story further is when Chief finds the Weapon who was created to imitate and kill Cortana, and comes to find out that she has failed… I Need a Weapon Halo Infinite is played in the first person perspective just like the rest of the titles. It has always felt like we were Chief, Especially since we have never seen his face. As you play as Spartan 117 you wield many different human and alien weapons equipment that provide different playstyles. Whether you want to get up close and personal with the sword or shotgun to keeping your distance with the sniper or battle rifle. And how you get to different parts of this semi open world to engage in these aggressive negotiations is by driving or piloting the different vehicles from the iconic warthog to the covenant banshee. As you traverse this world you will come across many different points of interest. First of which are the forward operating bases (FOBs) which you must clear out before capturing them. Once you successfully eliminate all hostiles, they become a beacon for fast traveling along with providing you places to change out your loadout and vehicle. Other points of interest include high value targets (HVTs), Banished propaganda towers and captured marines. By completing these tasks, you are rewarded with valor points aka EXP which level up to unlock new weapons, equipment and vehicles you can equip at the FOBs. And during your journey you can discover different collectibles such as audio logs, cosmetic lockers and skulls that all provide either more lore or more customizations. Of course we cannot forget about the spartan cores you can find littered throughout the world. They allow you to upgrade or unlock your spartan abilities like the immensely useful grapple shot. You Told Me There Wouldn't Be Any Cameras It felt like I was at home. The controls in Halo Infinite were familiar and easy to learn and use. It allowed you to engage in these fights that could be very quick and easy but sometimes difficult if you were fighting the HVTs or bosses. Speaking of them, when battinling them, both HVTs and bosses felt bullet spongy which is never fun. What made some of these conflicts easier was after you would clear out FOBs or rescue captured marines, they would then follow you and during your next engagement, they would be there to help you but seemed to die rather quickly. What also made some fights easier or even possible to overcome was using the different spartan abilities which could change the tide at any given moment. The grapple shot allowed me to escape quickly or reach higher places enemies could not reach to the threat sensor which provided a ping and highlighted nearby enemies for those Elites that would turn on their camouflage. Wake Me...When You Need Me You know something is good when it gives you goosebumps. From the very moment I booted Halo Infinite up and the Halo theme song started playing at the main menu, goosebumps and chills ran through my body. Damn near brought tears to my eyes from excitement. Overall, the game was graphically impressive and one of the best worlds I saw. You can tell that this IS next gen. The world seems massive, open, very detailed and filled with quality content and life. The environment sounded real and life like. Even the guns, equipment, and vehicles looked and sounded absolutely incredible. And as I started this section talking about the music, I am going to end it with talking about the soundtrack. It is crucial to have a solid soundtrack because it can provide added emotions or more depths to them. Halo Infinite’s soundtrack does just that. From the intense gun fights to the sorrow moments, it added to my emotions and made me feel more connected to the story and the characters of it. To Give The Covenant Back Their Bomb This section of the review is going to be the debbie downer portion. Halo Infinite does not provide much replayability. You cannot even replay any specific missions unless you start over on a new save file and play through the game all over. Hopefully we see mission select added to the game in a future update. And the other things you can continue to do after beating Halo Infinite is do the typical stuff every other game offers. This includes: collecting all Mjolnir Armor Lockers, spartan cores, skulls, capture all of the FOBs, rescue all of the marines, take out all of the HVTs, destroy all of the Banished propaganda towers, and discover all of the audio logs and Forerunner artifacts. And once co-op is added in a few months, you get to finally replay the store and experience it with a friend which I am looking forward to. I am almost certain that me and my cousin will play through on legendary mode together like we always do. Finish This Fight This is by far the best Halo game that 343 has given us which does not say much but it is still a beautiful, emotional and intense game. The game gave me closure I did not know I needed but still set the next entry up with a cliffhanger ending. The delay was well worth the wait and it shows. I just wish all of the content could have been ready at launch like co-op and forge, two staples of the Halo franchise. I did not have too many gripes with this game except for the boss fights seeming to be out of place, too many ammo stations around the world, and the story did not seem long enough, so maybe we will see story DLC in the future. But in the end, Halo Infinite has brought Halo back to its glory days with a compelling story and a fun & frantic multiplayer. I give Halo Infinite a 9 out of 10. Reviewed on: Xbox Series X