![]() Open world activities come pretty much from the Sandbox Playbook, with many earning you Valor - a currency of sorts that gradually unlocks new vehicles, weapons, and allies for your efforts as you stockpile it. Chief gets zip, and while combat is still fun without a payoff, it's literally just a waste of resources in most cases, and I found myself avoiding it in the late-game unless there was something on the line, or a twinge of bloodlust that needed sating. Most open world games would offer loot, experience, cash, skill proficiency. There's plenty of stuff to see, do, and collect, sure, but as you chip away at outstanding objectives, it becomes more and more apparent that there's no real benefit to engaging incidental hostiles around the map. ![]() Only a little, mind, because the open world thing does kinda fall apart in the endgame. Perhaps you grapple up the cliffs on the other side of the map to commandeer a Banshee for easy access to all three sites? Maybe you pay a nearby group of marine hostages a visit, liberate them, then bring the whole crew to the party? Or how about going after the high-value target known for their heavy ordnance in order to procure a potent new persuasive tool before getting stuck in? I said previously that I wasn't sure how much value the open setting added, but a few of those later missions not featured in the preview build certainly do leverage it well, so I'll change my tune a little. What once would have been a linear sequence of objectives or smaller play area with some choice in terms of order becomes something bigger and better here. One in particular tasks you with taking out three key targets spread across a large area of the map. I opened my campaign preview with a reassurance that the new open world design didn't break the experience of those first few missions, and I'm glad to say that it serves the full campaign even better.įor the most part, you can still just go to waypoints to trigger the next largely traditional story mission if you'd rather mainline the campaign than see the sights, but several missions actually play into the broader setting brilliantly. ![]() ![]() Minor issues still exist, like foliage detail pop-in, but it's rare to see an open world game that doesn't have quirks such as these, and impressive that 343i has hit the ground running so well with its debut sandbox. Those who have been enjoying the multiplayer will be glad to hear that everything in the campaign feels just as slick and snappy, and there's a premium air to Infinite that is worlds away from what we saw in that original 2020 campaign reveal. While Halo Infinite may feel wanting for other content besides the solo campaign, there's no denying that what is there is of a superb standard. Infinite certainly has quality on its side, but there's just not all that much to it as a full-price release, especially given the fully-loaded suites of modes and options for which the series has come to be known. Development on Infinite has been a bumpy ride indeed, and it's still far from over, with core features like campaign co-op and Forge stripped out to get Infinite out the door this year, and these Halo staples now aren't expected until around the middle of next year, while multiplayer tuning is ongoing follow backlash at the aggressive F2P approach to the battle pass. Considering just how much content is usually rammed into a Halo game, it's really weird to fire up Halo Infinite and see - aside from competitive multiplayer, which is free-to-play and thus can't really be considered a valuable part of the package any more - just a solo campaign option. Halo Infinite Halo Xbox Game Studios Free to Play Xbox Game Pass Game review Review First Person Shooter Luke Albigés 'Infinite' feels like a strange subtitle for a retail product that effectively contains one thing of value.
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