Halo Infinite

2024-12-02
Man, I'll tell you I love when the general consensus for a game is "It's shit" and I play it and I have a great time playing it. Now maybe it's because I did the whole game in a coop run with a buddy--as I've done with every Halo game that allows it since the first one--but damn this was a fun ride. And sure, I'll give the complainers that the story is more horseshit. But, then, Halo has been a horseshit story since 3? 2? The beginning? We're not here for the story. We're here to see Master Chief fuck shit up. We're here because the shooting in these games is still nearly unparalleled across all shooters and certainly is more unique than the rest of the other ones out there. (Destiny doesn't count because Skinner boxes don't count as games.) And it certainly delivers on that shooting.

Not only that but the open world really does add a lot. Again, especially with coop. Exploring the world and clearing out places and capturing bases and killing elite enemies and being able to spawn weapons and tanks and ghosts is such a blast. The joy of Halo for me has always been the almost sandbox nature in which you can pick apart a group of enemies (and why I played Silent Cartographer 100s of times as a kid). You have so many different environments with different layouts full of enemies. Do I ride in on a Warthog? Do I steal a Banshee and take that in? Do I sneak in from the right? Do I snipe them from a hill? And them 343 fellers done went and made a whole game of that.

Another standout addition for me was the grappling hook. Holy shit that thing is fun. It means even when you're not in a vehicle you have a huge amount of mobility. It's equal parts offense and defense. Enemy too far away for your shotgun? Not any more because you just grapple hooked his head and Chuck Norris kicked him from 20 feet away. Enemy threw a grenade at you when your shields are low? Well you can fuck off to that ridge up there to recover thanks to Captain Hook. It means even just traveling across the wide expanses of the map on foot, which in many open world games is a huge source of their tedium (I'm looking at you Xenoblade 1 and 2), is fun. Who would have thought a Halo game would take a cue from Breath of the Wild and realize an open world needs some good travel mechanics.

So yeah, I actually loved playing this. I was actually a little bummed when we finished because truth be told I still want to go through and clear the map. In coop of course.

2023-04-01
Man, I'll tell you I love when the general consensus for a game is "It's shit" and I play it and I have a great time playing it. Now maybe it's because I did the whole game in a coop run with Sam, as I've done with every Halo game that allows it, but damn this was a fun ride. And sure, I'll give the complainers that the story is more horseshit. But, then, Halo has been a horseshit story since 3? 2? The beginning? We're not hear for the story. We're here to see Master Chief fuck shit up. We're here because the shooting in these games is still nearly unparalleled across all shooters and certainly is more unique than the rest of the other ones out there. (Destiny doesn't count.) And it certainly delivers on that shooting.
Not only that but the open world really does add a lot. Again, especially with coop. Exploring the world and clearing out places and capturing bases and killing elite enemies and being able to spawn weapons and tanks and ghosts is such a blast. I mean it's perfect. You have so many different environments with different layouts full of enemies. The joy of Halo has always been the almost sandbox nature in which you can pick apart a group of enemies. Do I ride in on a Warthog? Do I steal a Banshee and take that in? Do I sneak in from the right? Do I snipe them from a hill. And they done went and made a whole game of that.

Another standout addition for me was the grappling hook. Holy shit that thing is fun. It means even when you're not in a vehicle you have a huge amount of mobility. It's equal parts offense and defense. Enemy too far away for your shotgun? Not any more because you just grapple hooked his head and Chuck Norris kicked him from 20 feet away. Enemy threw a grenade at you when your shields are low? Well you can grapple hook up onto that ridge to recover. It means even just traveling across the wide expanses of the map on foot, which in many open world games is a huge source of their tedium (I'm looking at you Xenoblade 1 and 2), is fun. Who would have thought a Halo game would take a cue from Breath of the Wild and realize an open world needs some good travel mechanics.

So yeah, I actually loved playing this. I was actually a little bummed when we finished because truth be told I still want to go through and clear the map. In coop of course.