Very hard to review. I'm a massive fan of this series, like a dweeb-level fan, so to see anything close to a return to form after the disaster of Halo 5 is very exciting to me. This game plays AMAZINGLY, the actual gunplay and the balancing of the sandbox is some of the best it's ever been, and I want to applaud 343 for cutting the weapon list down so hard because (mostly) everything feels relevant again.
That being said, the mission design is totally barren. The open world is fine, it's fun honestly, but at what cost? The second mission of the original Halo seems to have served as the main inspiration for this entire game, yet it was the least memorable mission from a level design perspective of the original. Where are the big moments? The set pieces only Halo can do? Where is the warthog run? The scarab battle? The space dogfight? This game is 100% small scale gunfights from beginning to end, and that is such a disappointment.
On the story side, I dunno. This is better than most of what 343 has done (Cortana's death arc in Halo 4 is their best work, though the rest of that game missed hard), but the tone just doesn't match the perfect balance of wonder and grimness that Bungie nailed time and again. Overall I liked this game. I even grew to somewhat like the new characters and Chief, the ONLY returning character truly, was done well but still felt a little wrong. Infinite just falls so short of the legendary status of this franchise that I can't help but be disappointed.
I'm really hoping they add new campaigns to this game (given the lifespan they want it to have) and turn this from a disappointing entry into simply the first act of a great Halo experience. The bones are there.
That being said, the mission design is totally barren. The open world is fine, it's fun honestly, but at what cost? The second mission of the original Halo seems to have served as the main inspiration for this entire game, yet it was the least memorable mission from a level design perspective of the original. Where are the big moments? The set pieces only Halo can do? Where is the warthog run? The scarab battle? The space dogfight? This game is 100% small scale gunfights from beginning to end, and that is such a disappointment.
On the story side, I dunno. This is better than most of what 343 has done (Cortana's death arc in Halo 4 is their best work, though the rest of that game missed hard), but the tone just doesn't match the perfect balance of wonder and grimness that Bungie nailed time and again. Overall I liked this game. I even grew to somewhat like the new characters and Chief, the ONLY returning character truly, was done well but still felt a little wrong. Infinite just falls so short of the legendary status of this franchise that I can't help but be disappointed.
I'm really hoping they add new campaigns to this game (given the lifespan they want it to have) and turn this from a disappointing entry into simply the first act of a great Halo experience. The bones are there.