Despite the difficult fate of Halo Infinite, which never made it into the Xbox Series launch lineup, the game’s release date is relentlessly approaching. And in anticipation of the continuation of the series beloved by many gamers, we could not miss the opportunity to participate in the open beta of the project.
- Developer: 343 Industries
- Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
- Release date: December 8, 2021
A little bit about multiplayer Halo Infinite
I am more than confident that neither Halo Infinite nor the Halo series as a whole needs an introduction. However, we traditionally value her mainly for the epic storyline of the single player campaign. There is a prejudice against gamepad shooters and the great popularity of competing series and platforms.
But both “departures” – so, in a military way, the stages of the open beta were called – were devoted to multiplayer. Hungry Halo fans have the opportunity to fight in three modes on five maps, as well as hone their skills in the shooting range and in battles with bots. I managed to get on the second sortie, and after a bad experience in Halo 5, I knew – no matter what the experience in the campaign, in multiplayer you are still a raw recruit.
And so it happened. But unlike the confusing Halo 5, here after a couple of battles I quickly figured out what was what, and even got into it. In the second “crash” of the beta, the battles of large 12v12 teams with the use of technology were added to the 4v4 modes – and it turned out to be just insanely cool, especially if you coordinate the actions at least a little.
What we liked
- Decent nextgen graphics. After the first impressions, she got, perhaps, the hardest – and from the impressions of the beta, I absolutely do not understand why. Great detail, amazing landscapes, great lighting and shadows, and for the vehicle models I just can’t find the words. Perhaps the picture will be worse on the last generation, but on Series X everything is just perfect. And on more powerful PCs it will be even better.
- Good sound. Even with relatively simple headphones, I perfectly tracked the direction of fire and clearly distinguished the sound of fire from different weapons. And the Halo soundtrack is not even worth mentioning – it is, as always, great, with a consistently calm but epic main theme.
- Convenient management. Somewhat unusual after the main Halo series, but once again proving that you can play shooters on a gamepad. Although for the most die-hard conservatives, keyboard and mouse are supported even on the console.
- Stable work of servers. Almost instant matchmaking, complete absence of lags and crashes – what, in theory, should be the norm, after the high-profile problems of many multiplayer projects evokes a feeling of sincere gratitude. Hopefully the influx of players after release doesn’t spoil this idyll.
- Dynamic and straightforward game modes. No more cards with stars, the sudden appearance of virtual Covenants and other unnecessary experiments. Capturing and holding points in Strongholds and Total Control, bringing together the old school Capture the Flag, a simple-minded team Slayer (who said that deathmatch was outdated?). It reminded me of the now defunct Unreal Tournament of 2003-2004. And yes, that’s definitely a good thing.
- Weapons, movement and maps. Halo has always been famous for what the English-language press calls gunplay – the implementation of weapons and shooting. And Infinite is again at its best – the guns are diverse here, each has its own purpose, each requires its own approach, its own skills and its own tactics. The impeccable mechanics of jumping and pulling up movements are ideally complemented by the use of the grappling hook and, of course, thoughtful maps (four for 4v4 modes and one for 12v12) with all these seemingly randomly spaced ledges and corridors.
- Personalization and Season Pass. Unlike multiplayer hits overloaded with unnecessary gadgets and a bunch of game currencies, everything here is simple, convenient, harmonious and intuitive. Choose the color of the armor part, paint a weapon or a tank, buy additional buns in the store – in honor of the beta, each participant was given 3,000 credits for free, and although there were not so many options to spend them, one thing is for sure – this is how a season ticket for a healthy person should look like …
What did not like
- Localization flaws – Infinite has already managed to get its share of gaming rage for the lack of Russian voice acting, but even the text has not been fully translated yet. Most of the game is in Russian, and the quality of the translation is generally satisfactory, but in some places English-language names of achievements, game modes or news texts slip through. Hopefully this will be corrected for the release, because it doesn’t even fit with fan-made localizations.
- Minor technical bugs – black screens of statistics, the character’s leg shining through the door, mixed up team names and other seemingly insignificant and absolutely not interfering with playing, but quite offensive little things. Of course, such things are fully justified by the beta status, so there is only one thing to say – we are waiting for the release.
Are we going to play?
Such a question will sound more correctly regarding multiplayer – because almost every Xbox owner will probably play the Infinite campaign. And even as a die-hard single player fanatic, the unexpected thing is that Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is probably the only multiplayer I’ll be playing seriously. Maybe buy a season pass. And I strongly recommend everyone to at least try it.
Judging by what was shown during the beta, we are waiting for a dynamic and, in a good sense of these words, artless and old-school shooter. Plus, multiplayer will be free even without Game Pass. So we are waiting for December 8 – and see you in the crosshairs!
