Halo Infinite Game Review
Halo Infinite
One of the most important of the first FPS games which on consoles was Halo. The basic gameplay of the series was as an arena shooter, so as you progress in the level, you will have to kill the creatures that come your way. However, the most important feature that distinguishes the series from the other games in this category is the story and visuality. In fact, we can say that what has become more popular is the helmets worn by super soldiers, because recently these have become an icon. Even who have not played them that have been seen references to them in most movies, at least the name of the game is known most of the people. So much so that it won the Players' Voice Award from The Game Awards. The peculiarity of this award is that it is the players who choose to give, not the jury. From here we can understand how popular the series is among the players, but this situation is a little different in our country, because consoles such as Xbox entered to Turkey very late. That's why the number of people who play the games is small. But special to the 20th anniversary of the released, the Halo Infinite multiplayer version has been made free-to-play for all players. In addition, for those who want to follow the story, it is a great opportunity to be played for a small amount thanks to Game Pass. Although the game that attracts the most attention by the players, it did not have such a big rate in the gaming community. This is because of developer difference. While the developer of the first series of the game was Bungie Studio, in the middle of the series it changed to be created by studio called 343 Industries. So much so that their previous game, Halo 5, was released in 2015, and Halo Infinite has taken about 5 years to develop since then. Soever, the bad rating of Halo 5 required the company to make a change together with some problems inside of the team. That's why even a new engine called Slipspace has been created, just for special to Halo Infinite. Furthermore, it could not be released on the expected date. Consequently, it is aimed to keep the gameplay simpler and the story more intense so that the delay time would not get longer. Speaking of story, briefly protagonist Master Chief that super soldier known as a "Spartan" of United Nations Space Command (UNSC) who is fighting against a coalition of alien races and artificial intelligence that called Cortana.
Again Ring?
The conversations they made to enrich the story should not be forgotten. The dialogues between the opponents are arranged by guessing the player's movements. For example, if you kill one of the rival soldiers, the others talk among themselves as if they are informing them via wireless. In this way, immersion has increased significantly. Although Halo's helmets are iconic, as Disney did in Mandalorian series, being able to see the Protagonist's gestures to see the back of the helmet to feel his emotions even for once, would enrich the story more. If need to look in detail, it welcomes us with a semi-open world which called ringworld Zeta Halo in campaign mode. There is of course a day and night cycle inside. If we look at the visuals of this world, unlike the trending photo taken from the gameplay that they revealed in 2020, the resolution and light show the visual quality, but although the level beauty, the variety and color scale are a little less. For example, the general flora of the world usually consists of two colors, gray and green. This makes you feel as if you are passing through the same places over and over. In addition, because of its wide, teleportation points which is a tower you captured are used for travel, but at this point, it should be noted that the player has not been freed enough. Because some side quests cannot be accessed without progressing from the main story. As a result, this state which is a point that reduces the player's engagement. Instead, it should be used the player feels that the encountered enemies are strong in the meantime, so it will make the player ambitious. Besides, blocking the player from going somewhere will also kill the exploration feeling of the open world. Also, a scanning feature for the level's navigation design has been integrated into the game. In this way, if the player presses the Z key, it can be understood where it will be going with the signs on the screen. Even so, we see it in a helmet as first person, I expected a more technological display. For example, a mini hologram showing where we got shot, or being able to see enemies like x-rays when we press the button, for example, how many health enemies have left, etc. Because just like in the old series that we see on the HUD that blue and orange bars above which represent recovering armor and health after some time. In other words, the Z key could be made more visually and functionally rich.
Meh!
One of the important subjects in the game is the ability to hook which called Grapple Shot, this mechanic is liked by most players. The use of this mechanic has in both attacks and exploration. For example, it can be used, such as going near the enemy, pulling the object to oneself, pulling oneself by holding on to a place. At this point I would also expect a swing rather than a linear movement. Else, in the multiplayer mode, the battles are progressing very frivolously due to this mechanic, especially the unlimited use of these hooks causes us to see players jumping everywhere. If we continue to look at other equipment after Grapple Shot, there is one transparent shield which called Drop Wall. This shield passes your bullets and blocks other attacks such as bombs coming from the other side. With local damage, each one can absorb a certain amount of attack through its 15 parts. Also, not to forget the classic Halo shield which called Overshield. Although its usage is passive, it can be regenerated again and again, so it absorbs most attacks. One of the equipment that increase the visuality for in the first part that I wrote which includes poor HUD design is Threat Sensor. Thanks to, it allows us to see nearby enemies from behind buildings when placed by sticking around you. Last equipment is a classic dash called Thruster. It provides the players mobility, so evading into cover much faster. Also, there are equipment that only includes in multiplayer mode. One of the equipment is Repulsor. As the name signifies, this ability repulse incoming attacks, and even when used in close combat, it pushes the opponent away from you. The other is active camouflage. Although you are not completely invisible, you do appear somewhat transparent. If we look at the weapons, there are a total of 22 different weapons in the game. These can be grouped as 5 different categories, Kinetic, Hard Light, Plasma, Shock and Power. Each weapon has its own special ability and strategic feature. For example, shock weapons break things with electronics, that is, a Hard Light weapon as laser that is effective against machines and vehicles, plasma weapons throw hot plasma, kinetic weapons are plain normal automatic weapons, power weapons are melee weapons. However, we can only have 2 weapons with us. Therefore, although we do not know exactly which weapon that we need and it seems that there are so many equipment and weapons, you don't need most of them in fact. For example, using only Grapple Shot and a few weapons would be enough to clear all level, we can say that this reduces the dependence to other weapons and equipment. Besides, if we add to the negative sides something else, there is no Co-Op mode for story mode and as you guess no split screen, like the old Halo games. This was disappointing for the players to play the campaign alone and without split screen. Speaking of modes, if we explain in more detail, there are 5 Matchmaking system which are Quick Play, Bot Bootcamp, Big Team Battle, Ranked Arena under the multiplayer title and there are 4 types of game types as Slayer, Oddball, Capture the Flag (CTF), Strongholds under these matchmaking systems. Quick Play is the standard 4 vs 4 matchmaking. Bot Bootcamp is sort of that can be played against bots. Big Team Battle can be played 12 vs 12 with vehicles on large maps. Lastly, Ranked Arena is a competitive matchmaking match without radar. As for that game types, Slayer is the standard game type which you kill your enemies. Oddball is a sort of that you hold the ball to earn points, while you are trying to not die. CTF is type which you need to invade your opponent's stronghold, seize their flag, and return it to your base to score. Lastly, Strongholds is capturing and defending the 3 territories on the map. Also, having said that while playing multiplayer, although it is a good thing in terms of engagement and distinguishing to be able to do some customize, but it is nothing more than just sticking stickers or changing the color for some parts, so it does not contain elements that reflect the characteristics of the players to feel autonomy for intrinsic motivation.
Halo 6
Afterall, although the game did not release as expected, it did not make upset the players, but considering this game as Halo 6 would have been proper for the title. Although the graphics of the atmosphere in the open world of the game look are enough according to today's game, towards updates, more variety in levels can be brought into mods both multiplayer. Together with these patches especially for the PC optimization problems like FPS drop which encountered mostly are going to fixed. The game difficulty level is a bit much according to previous series, this may be due to being prepared for Co-Op. Thus, it would likely be found difficult by the players in terms of holistic level design, increasing or decreasing the number of players had better supposed to be a challenge that change. However, even this state is generally more playable than many other games.
