Was Halo Infinite's Campaign Better Than I Remember?

[@YodaOnABender]

My main problem with 343’s games is that it just doesn’t feel like a trilogy. Bungie’s games felt like they were ramping up with each new game, whereas 343 just feels like they’re starting over again with each new game because their previous one was badly received. There isn’t an overarching story because each game immediately skips past whatever the previous game set up at the end and replaces it with a new storyline that will also be skipped over in the next game

[@ColdRav-en7zh]

I completely agree. Halo 5 was awful, but I feel like it would’ve made more sense to stay the course and resolve the story in a sequel so they could start a new trilogy with some momentum rather than just breeze past it and stay in this ambiguous limbo. I mean that’s kind of what George Lucas did with the prequels and the trilogy as a whole is now remembered fondly. I guess it does help that ROTS is as good as it is though.

[@Middleseed]

Yeah. They backpedaled from the okay halo 4 into the awful halo 5. If they’d just stuck to their guns they may have produced something serviceable.

[@ColdRav-en7zh]

100%. I feel like companies nowadays are too scared to stick to their vision when games aren’t smash hits or are just mediocre. Fans are ruthless, but most of us can understand when a series falters and can still get behind sequels. It kind of happened with BO4 and people were ecstatic for Cold War.

[@SqualidsargeStudios]

343i means 343 idiots or incompetent. You choose either works. They can’t tell a 3 game story even if their lives were depending on it. I mean then they could be replaced by hopefully better fitting team.

[@ColdRav-en7zh]

I think they can tell a good trilogy, I mean halo 4&5 were about loss, guilt, and grief which is a rich concept for a universe like halo, if they had seen their vision through it might have redeemed the 343 trilogy, but they chose to start over. At its core games need rich stories on which gameplay can build, any game with a truly shit story is going to be bad no matter how fun gameplay is because it breaks immersion. 343 needs to write good or passable stories before making games, which I think they did with infinite. The only problem is that you need at least a roadmap for a trilogy so you don’t lose the plot like the Star Wars sequels, which I’m worried that 343 doesn’t have for its next few games.

[@originalvenom1972]

I love how, in the opening cutscene, Chief is so gentle with the human bodies. Shows how human he really is deep down.

[@shreggus]

Same that’s one of the best things they did was show his emotions helmet on :)

[@yoarifelix4647]

Then proceeds to slam and throw jackles like they are trash😂

[@silencedmaxim5889]

@@yoarifelix4647 Jackals aren't human, so there's no need to treat them as such.

[@sierra_112]

Waiting for ArbiterFan420 opinion

[@Iaminsideyourwalls23]

Were all waiting for ArbiterFan420 😔

[@QuarrelsomeLocalOaf]

Were it so easy... 😔

[@zackerylazarus]

That makes two of us

[@ArbiterFan420]

I have arrisen

[@sierra_112]

@@ArbiterFan420 Here he comes! Messiah!

[@Jacob-360]

The campaign was good, the biggest flaw was the repetiveness of the biomes, most of the levels don’t stand out from the rest with a few exceptions. Also video is great, comedy is funny as always, overall very entertaining video, keep up the good work.

[@ItsF1nn]

Agreed, imagine what it would've been like if the cut content made it into the game

[@bobafett3035]

@@ItsF1nnImagine how cool it would’ve been to randomly encounter a grunt goblin or a Goliath from Halo Wars 2.

[@Jacob-360]

@@bobafett3035 or maybe a scarab, or Two scarabs repeat Two scarabs

[@thedaltoid0266]

My problem was we didn't get the clean weapons and chief armor like the promos. Also, the night should look darker

[@bobafett3035]

@@thedaltoid0266 What’s wrong with Master Chief’s armor being worn out? In my opinion, it was a nice detail.

[@Jubelio_]

It was cool, and I think with the addition of the grapple hook it was one of the more engaging campaigns for me with the movement. I also enjoyed the revival of boss fights, it brought back some Halo 2 nostalgia. With the storytelling and variety it might be a bit weaker in my eyes, the gameplay is top notch.

[@crazychase98]

Gameplay wise it's fun an item enough

[@cookie.2118]

​I been playing Halo custom missions made by forge creators, some are really good and adds that variety that you are looking. Most of custom missions have bad enemy balancing and terrible used of boss enemies but when it's good, it's damn good. Best custom mission that I played by far is "Halo: Side Real" but planting the bomb in that mission is a real pain in the butt, it plays great tho.

[@tssilver10]

You're right about the Escharum boss fight being annoying on Legendary but the Blademaster fight is actually pretty easy if you're willing to cheese it a bit! There's a square hole right in front of you when the boss starts, if you stand directly in front of it, he tries to jump the gap and you can just punch him down. He then tries to jump up repeatedly and you can just keep pushing him back into the hole. Rinse and repeat until dead :) It's really funny listening to him monologue about how he can smell your fear and how he gutted your allies while you push him into a locker like a school bully.

[@SIsReal]

1:59 its also really cool that he throws the dead covenant around while he is gentle with the dead marines

[@J05TI]

@@SIsReal good catch!

[@esach_62]

Another reason why I love the cutscene at 2:00 that I don’t see a lot of people say is that the pilot only has one bullet left, which he was likely saving for himself, and it makes you wonder how close he was to doing it if he hadn’t found chief.

[@Lanny.C]

Damn :((

[@salvadortorres7449]

You never know, maybe he was going to do it after watching the family’s holo

[@Jackoooloop9456]

oh shoot, you're so right. I never noticed that...

[@rocketB343s]

@@esach_62 nah, Otherwise he wouldn't want to go home so much and it wouldn't bother him so much to follow the boss since it's his last hope

[@Koifin3]

@@rocketB343sactually I’m pretty sure that supports the idea. Before finding Chief he had been there for months maybe and given up all hope only to find basically Halo Jesus Christ who might actually be able to save the day and bring him home.

[@aimalkhan5028]

Halo infinite is just a massive "what could've been." Everything we got was just missed potential

[@woodsyjones]

The game feels like one continuous mission which is a plus in my opinion! Movement/combat is perfect and a lot of fun. The art style and visuals are incredible, especially the Forerunner architecture. Right up there with my favorite campaigns in the series

[@marlutteyestrelt3441]

It also really gave me such a fun playset feeling of ambushing every single Nemesis Banished. One of my best experiences was stealthily finding the highest ground I could get on to take down the deadliest Jackal Sniper in the list with an ironic headshot. Moments like that made Halo Infinite really memorable for me. I really hope they learn from that player agency.

[@senate2674]

Its definitely enjoyable, but sometimes a bit annoying with the checkpoints and also i think the old games have an edge on it mostly due to different zones and missions (2 and 3 mostly)

[@Titanos-vc6zh]

When it comes to visuals, it feels very divisive. I am among the masses that loves the art style, but it feels like the graphics themselves are not high quality. I do play on series s so it won't look as good but Infinite looks worse than H2A to me. Am I the only one that thinks this?

[@phanto6599]

@@Titanos-vc6zhart style is great, graphics are mid, lighting is amazing

[@GammaBB]

The visuals are incredibly underwhelming for the most part in my opinion

[@JKPOrigins]

Personally, I was disappointed. Everything looked/felt the same. Story didn’t really go anywhere until the end. Felt like wasted opportunity. Villain just monologues

[@Gassysamsquanch]

I felt the same way, but at the same time it was better than 4 and 5 imo

[@eyei6535]

It was very obviously an introduction to the dlc that was going to happen and we even already had confirmations that it would happen. But with the massive staff change I guess they froze the progress of the DLC and just work more on the multiplayer.

[@afanoflafear]

Basically a longplay of the level "Halo" from the first game.

[@thataberranthalo8032]

Escharum was great in my opinion, so what if they were just monologues? Those monologues felt powerful and full of energy. This man wanted THE fight. The guy who trained Atriox. A brute who is dying of old age who wants one last epic fight before his death. He would either die a warrior or would have the best kill of the Banished. Truly a very symbolic villain, and a very unique one from the others (The Prophets, Gravemind, Didact, Jul ‘Mdama, Atriox)

[@Satorotas89]

@@thataberranthalo8032 I know this is your opinion and you’re welcome to it, but escharum was absolutely terrible. His dialogue was so cheesy, his voice actor was trying to be generically evil, he sounded like the bad guy from a kids tv show, that is not how you build a compelling villain. Ties in with the wider problem of HI being the dogshit writing in general, this game was rushed and unfinished and nowhere does that show more than in the writing.

[@MasonOfLife]

“A couple years later” my brain cannot handle this

[@uhsid]

I actually liked most of the boss fights not going to lie they gave more more of a sense of accomplishment that the other games didnt really give me except for when i was fighting bigger enemies like hunters, but that can get a bit old the variety of boss fights kinda kept that from happening for me. boss fights and the grapple shot are definitely the main 2 mechanics id like to see return.

[@Alpharabius99]

The second bossfight in the tower where you use sensor againts an invisible enemy was so much fun. Tbh

[@dennistfossettjr]

The gameplay is actually really good. The story directors need to pick a direction and stick with it and fire the guy who thought we want to pay for customization

[@RivalHades-mk1xl]

yeah for real. Halo reach made it perfectly. Like if you saw someone with cool looking gear, you know they played a lot

[@Devin7Eleven]

Microsoft made that decision to add in paid customization.

[@bitbreaker_creator]

@@RivalHades-mk1xl tbh i wouldnt have a problem with it being both as in you can earn it all through playing but can also buy it if you dont have time to play the game enough minus a couple of special cosmetics that can only be earned through playing

[@LowkeyHypeBeast]

@@bitbreaker_creator i disagree, buying armor? sure thats fine, but i feel like certain armor should only be earned through playing/completing certain things throughout the game or ranking up. it takes the fun out of actually playing for something in my opinion. its one of the reasons why halo 3/reach were so loved, you saw a guy in halo 3 with recon armor? you immediately knew he grinded the game or did something special. the same with halo reach if you got inheritor and unlocked the haunted helmet. it used to mean something, now its just who wants to spend the money.

[@jackalazzerking3219]

@@Devin7Eleven I don't give af who it is, just stop it. Making all the progression behind a paywall is the fastest way to turn off players.

[@ionequinox6737]

Blademaster fight was my favorite in Infinite just because it frustrated me so much that I just stopped using game mechanics to beat him and just listened for his foot steps. I even closed my eyes like some crazy samurai master god and whooped his ass immediately.

[@silzouss]

did you use the tracker?

[@ionequinox6737]

@@silzouss Nah, just my ears. I think I was on legendary so he would 1 shot me if I tried to use the tracker and was too slow

[@nomad155]

I used my ears and the tracker as well as surroundings. I stayed upstairs and kept moving and switching with grappling hook. It was a pain but honestly enjoyable.

[@ArbiterFan420]

Personally, my thoughts on halo infinite are as follows: Trash because no arbiter Trash because no arbiter Trash because no arbiter

[@gutstheman65]

Lmaooooo😂😂

[@0banai_Igur0]

😂

[@tausiftaha12]

Trash because no flood Trash because only one biome Trash because FOB and open world Trash because vehicles suck Trash because the story is lackluster and went nowhere Trash because Not-Cortana is a naïve girl and not the sassy smartest human AI ever made. Trash because the lighting is horrible. Trash because hexagon pillars. Trash because no marine interactions in cutscenes Trash because "the Endless are worse than the Flood" quote exists Trash because there is no climax, there are no rising stakes, and there is no end goal. Trash because Pilot guy is annoying Trash because stupid kill borders Trash because of bad performance Trash cuz of no more story Trash cuz lame spongy boss fights that are just boring (tower elite dude was cool tho) Trash because texture and models just look off. And more.

[@gutstheman65]

@@tausiftaha12 aye I agree bro

[@mushroomfish300]

@@tausiftaha12what’s wrong with hexagon pillars

[@tejbz]

Heya. Been binging your vids for 2 days now. I just love your vibe and commentary. I love halo with all my heart, and seeing you play through them is so chill. Perfect before bedtime! Can’t wait to watch the next vid YT will recommend from u

[@Hammer_Of_Olympia]

I enjoyed it for the most part but I just thought the entire campaign was forgettable if I’m honest. The only mission I really remember was the one where we fight Jega and Escharum

[@rockl79]

That’s something I think the originals did super well, I can remember distinct parts of the original trilogy but almost nothing from infinite other than the hype I had prior to its release and the disappointment afterwards. Everything throughout the whole campaign felt almost the exact same, no different biomes and very few scenery changes. Whereas in the original games there are very distinct set pieces that even despite the fact I haven’t played the games in years, I can still remember relatively vividly

[@andrewjazdzyk1215]

My personal opinion here- they leaned into the "mystery" component that they correctly identified as a part of classic halo- but they missed that usually mystery is accompanied by a sense of "awe." That and the lack of unique level design aside from grabakken

[@wintereclipse3263]

@@andrewjazdzyk1215 Like the ring and its mysterious alien yet human like design while (At the time) having a nice environment you wouldn't really see. Most games either went alien or human especially for the entire game.

[@Bonga000]

Brother I didn't even know we killed the harbinger, I beat the game twice.

[@gesus6613]

For anyone who finished the main game without doing all the side stuff I highly recommend going back and loading up a Razerback 5 five marines a OP weapon and doing a few side quests, its fun as hell. 5 Arcane Sentinel Beam works best, it just melts dudes instantly, if you get under a Phantom you will kill it before it has time drops its troops. If you get board of that the Pinpoint Needler is awesome too, Brutes pop almost the instant the marines start shooting them. Guided Rocket Launchers or Sniper Rifles is always fun. Don't try the S7 Flexfire Sniper Rifle it is shit, it does half damage but fires faster. Weapon variants that do more damage but have less ammo work the best because the marines get unlimited ammo.

[@NvFongyy]

I couldn't argue with any opinion you have about this game, you really hit the nail on the head once again. Great video.

[@Jasonitodd]

The only real flaw of infinite campaign, was 343s lack of support for it. You can definitely tell multiplayer is there bread and butter, because they gave absolutely zero love to campaign players.

[@Landscape_]

The intro is so good, the problem was the repetitive parts and "ubisoft" kind of camps which doesn't have any kind of love. And the main biome doesn't make the engine look as good as it is in the multiplayer maps. Sadly it won't have any dlcs for the story so we end up with what it feels like a part of a bigger game

[@TinkerTailorSailorTy]

1:54 so there’s a Brute named Craig and one named Tremonious. This just reminded me that there’s a college football player named Lemonious-Craig.

[@teneesh3376]

One issue that no one except the ones who study film are the cutscenes. I have two issues with them. They do the boring one take thing God of War does that doesn't work. Even if you never die and play in one run, accessing the menus still cuts. And making it all in one take makes the cinematography visually bland. There's not a lot of interesting shots. The in engine cutscenes has really bland cinematography because of the aspect ratio. They're made for wide-screen and ultrawide screen. This is called shoot to protect where shots are made for both ratios. Unfortunately this also means they can't utilise the fool potential of either ratio. Is this all nitpicky? Yes. But both of these does require a lot more effort to put in compared to making cutscenes with cuts and made for one ratio. We all know everyone on 343 worked their butts off, and trying to do these thing makes them worse but requires more work just to cater to gamers. Cause gamers are their own worst enemies who don't know what makes something good

[@dreadlocsamurai4241]

Facts

[@Lockerus]

I liked the art style and boss fights in Infinite. The rest of it, I have nothing but complaints. Most of it you covered, but the samey environments really dragged the game down for me. Can’t believe that the Marine squad AI didn’t come in until after Joe Staten took over to get this game across the finish line. Also I think it says a lot that every game in 343’s so called “Reclaimer Trilogy” has had to soft reboot the story because people disliked the previous games plot so much.

[@morbidtotty8375]

I didn’t hate the campaign, there was some parts that was really fun but it felt like there was a lot of corridor shooting in the actual levels. The open world had some really cool Easter eggs and exploring was kinda fun but needed more variety in the environment. And after playing it on legendary, the vehicles are absolute garbage especially the wasp, they have such a far engagement range and so many enemies can emp you within a second

[@andrewwhite1138]

If we'd gotten short, high-frequency DLC after this, all of these problems could have been resolved! - Not enough biome diversity? Include desert missions in the DLC taking place where we left of with Chief. - Not enough linear missions? Make the DLC all linear missions, maybe with a few expansions to the original openworld. Such a great foundation, but...

[@brandonchase1533]

Halo Infinites campaign on legendary was the most fun I've had on a halo game since halo 3.

[@ColinPMcEvoy]

The whole game is just a deluxe version of Silent Cartographer.

[@chaos2mymind489]

I felt it only started to get good story wise (apart from the intro) after pelican down. They could of had the different islands you unlock as different biomes and more variety by far in the fobs and marine missions. Think dlc could of sorted a lot out. Think 343 have one more chance to build on infinite with the next campaign or they will be out

[@Jackoooloop9456]

Halo Infinite in its current state is epic. Anyone who stops being a blind Bungie fanboy for just a moment can see that.

[@rustyshovel7179]

Honestly I just have to say I really appreciate your positivity, it's refreshing in a sea of "halo infinite is WORSE than HITLER and SATAN" or "halo infinite has KILLED THE FRANCHISE FOREVER" Not that i've played the game or particularly care about 343 halo, but like. Come on. It's a video game, calm down.

[@Sonilotos]

It's my 3rd fav campaign, but I can see why some would hate it. There had been a lot of cut content until its launch; some of which you can still find in the game files.

[@NinjaSynFrey]

The only redeeming quality with Infinite for me is the gameplay. I honestly found the campaign underwhelming. It was exciting for the first hours but as you continue playing and noticing how everything feels and looks the same, it starts to become boring. I can't even recall any set pieces or memorable levels here. Really hope that 343 goes back into the linear format instead of pursing this open world idea.

[@flyingdoggo9887]

this was my fav, very good story and the best gameplay. not to mention the soundtrack =)

[@Brightside117]

I was so happy Infinites campaign, it is easily the best Halo story 343I has made and I'm so glad all the art style is and feels like classic Halo, it's just awesome and the boss battles and mini boss battles are wonderful and rewarding, sure you can cheese those battles but if you utilize the open world and sandbox you can create your own experiences with those battles, the core gameplay is absolutely wonderful too

[@user-ud7gv3br5d]

7:10 its widely theorized that the endless are the precursors, who have been in the halo lore since bungie and are literally alien gods and most likely way worse than the flood (the flood is "corrupted" remains of the precursors), it makes complete sense in lore and the precursors are something everyone wants to see in the games for the longest time

[@TinkerTailorSailorTy]

Hmm idk, with the way they’re described in lore as these abstract mysterious god-like beings who operate in ways outside human comprehension, I can imagine fans looking at the harbinger and be like “That’s it? That’s a precursor?” So there’s a bit of an expectation issue there. We’re talking about entities that go around creating galaxies and then taking a nap for a trillion years. Also humanity was lucky to defeat the Covenant. They were even luckier to survive the flood. A single Forerunner with the force almost disintegrated and enslaved all of humanity in only a few days after waking up like it was his morning routine. I think it might be a bit much to expect humans to take on the precursors especially when they still have big monke guy aka Craig’s boss to deal with.

[@ChrisJones-eb5pg]

Leaving a like for the "couldn't care less what arbiterfan420 thinks" bit

[@SerathDarklands]

What I love about that 'you have one bullet against an entire army' is that it has some subtle personification for Chief. Notice how gently he handles the Marine's corpse, it's respectful, showing that Chief, despite being a Spartan, has enormous respect for his fellow soldiers and their sacrifice. Contrast that to a few seconds later, when he casually tosses aside the corpses of the grunts and jackals. There's a real bit of humanization there, and I love it.

[@RednekGamurz]

Yeah, it's my favorite 343 campaign, and stands toe-to-toe with the Bungie Halos, but it is lacking in all the areas you pointed out. For some reason, for my first playthrough I actually started out on Legendary, despite usually playing Halo games on Normal or Heroic, and I gotta say Infinite's Legendary difficulty is pretty well balanced...for the most part. I think the hardest parts on Legendary are some of the boss fights. Escharam and the Harbinger are especially tough, though not impossible. They really force you to use every tool available, especially the equipment. You really have to be able to quickly switch between equipment in the heat of battle in order to stand a chance, which does remind me that switching between grenades and equipment in the campaign sucks on controller. I have no idea why they decided the inputs should be "equipment swap-equipment you want" instead of just handling it how Halo 3 handled grenades, where you'd just press the swap button until you got the one you want. Better yet, equipment and grenades should've been laid out on a 2x4 grid that you navigate with the d-pad. Up and down switch between swapping between grenades or equipment, and left and right let you choose which equipment or grenade type you want to equip. At least then, all of your options would be visibly on screen at all times.

[@itskairos1684]

I honestly hope the next halo campaign is open world. They did good the first time now they can improve on it in the next game to fix all these issues mentioned

[@knowltonic]

ODST was the first open world Halo game

[@askrs]

I really enjoyed it at the time. I was feckin' gasping for a new Halo campaign, and would agree the core gameplay is addictive. But you picked up on my main grievance with it; while the open world had it's upsides, we completely lost one of the best things about Halo: distinct and memorable levels. I also HATE 343s trait of throwing us into a story halfway through, and the Infinite campaign absolutely needs at least two DLCs to book-end the story, although it wouldn't surprise me at all if 343 have no idea what to do with the Endless going forward. But ye, IDGAF about multiplayer, so unless something big comes along, I won't touch Infinite for a while.

[@ryatt9365]

I replayed the game recently and I'm feeling fairly positive. My opinions haven't really changed other than, now after reading the Rubicon Protocol, holding an even stronger position that the game absolutely should've been rated M. Having more of Chief connecting with Marines and fighting alongside them, more blood, more brutal visuals around the Banished bases like human corpses lined up and desecrated outside the walls, torture chambers that actually looked like torture chambers and not just zappy restraint fields, and in general a bit more of a bleak tone when focused on the human characters. Humanity is at its weakest since the fall of Reach, and for the people on the ring it's absolutely the worst experience of their lives. Being hunted by packs of feral starving Brutes and Jackals, equipment and weapons constantly failing, pretty much everyone suffering injuries after 6 months of being hunted, starved, everyone knowing they're completely lost in space with no hope of rescue, this should be by far the darkest story in the Halo series and instead it's got the lightest tone based on dark subject material. I don't at all feel the 6 months of hell between the opening cutscene and the third mission. Gameplay is top notch. Movement is the best it's ever been, very fast and snappy if you take full advantage of it and the equipment but if you want you can play just like a classic Halo game. You can ignore all that and just use vehicles and maybe a little sprint to get around, and it doesn't negatively affect the game much at all other than being a little slower obviously. Gunplay as well is pretty much at its best here imo, though the game could've benefited greatly from a bugger sandbox and some Brute classics like the Brute Shot, Spiker, Shroud, Terror Wraith etc, all of which are mentioned as being present in abundance on Zeta Halo in The Rubicon Protocol. The art style has peaked in some ways, in others it's beaten by Reach and HW2. The UNSC look great, finally ditching the goofy Nerf gear and actually looking like a futuristic military, and look very worn. Something HW2 Excelled at and I can't express how glad I am to see it back in the main games. Dirt on their faces, scuffed up, dirty armor, some being stripped straight down to their BDUs. Not as much variety as Halo Reach which had us fighting alongside pretty much every branch of the UNSC, but they look great. The Forerunners are at their best. Finally back to the brutalist style that clashes well with the UNSC, Covenant, and Banished. Lots of golds, bronzes, silvers, greys, blues, and rose golds, and all very old and dirty. You love to see it. Gone are the pristine chrome super sci fi structures with intensely harsh lighting and lense flares everywhere. Sorry to anyone who liked that style but it just doesn't belong. The Banished are where I have some real issues. Almost nothing is carried over directly from HW2. You might think that makes perfect sense given that that part of the Banished has been outside the galaxy for a while but the Halo Wars weapons and vehicles are almost all mentioned in the Rubicon Protocol which means most of those designs are present on the ring. I've seen some people say the reason is that it wouldn't work, translating an RTS design to an FPS, but I can really only describe thst argument as stupid. There's no nice way to put it, that argument is just nonsensical, false, and dumb. There's nothing stopping soneone from recreating a HW2 model with more polygons and putting it in an FPS Halo game, modders have been doing it for years. 343 just chose not to and now we've got this Covenant/Banished hybrid that is cool but has far less of a unique visual personality. The story itself was a bit lacking but the presentation is what really stands out. My main issue is something that wouldn't be an issue if the series wasn't on death's door thanks mostly to the last decade of 343 dicking around, that being there's a lot of unanswered questions and the story is left off with some very serious consequences. And of course it's in the first mainline Halo game since Halo 3 to actually get me excited for a sequel, so now we've got to sit with these questions and the very real possibility that they'll never be answered officially. Very unfortunate. I found the map was adequately varied in terrain but putting more snow on the mountains, making part of the map a desert, having rain and fog(we've had random weather in open world games for like 20 years, come on), and having an actually dark nighttime that necessitated the use of the flashlight and threat sensor would've helped the atmosphere and visuals a ton. As a result the whole game just feels like one long mission and it never feels like you're getting anywhere. The map is something like 5x8km cut in half diagonally and most of it looks the same. Enhancing that feeling of the game all being one single mission is the cutscene style and lack of UNSC presence. Almost every cutscene is just Chief and the Weapon talking, great for that personal aspect but bad for giving a Halo campaign the proper scale it should have. At least they're showing us the antagonists perspective again. Half the gameplay revolves around you retaking bases and rallying Marines, yet they're nowhere to be found in the main missions. And you can only receive reinforcements from a FOB terminal, despite having a personal chauffeur one call away for the whole game. It's very isolated when if you think about it this story should be every bit about the remaining UNSC survivors as it is about the Chief. As far as they know the few hundred UNSC on the ring could he the last of humanity, there should be all kinds of instances of them connecting and planning out how they're going to beat this war against the Banished together, but instead it's just Chief against the world. Last somewhat major criticism is the Harbinger and Endless came out of nowhere. They kinda salvaged it by having the whole Forerunner coverup part which is intriguing and brings back some of the Forerunner mystery after 343 tried to make an entire decade of Halo about them, but that's another thing we can't explore unless we get DLC. Another aspect of the game that's not necessarily bad at the moment, but if it's never addressed for whatever reason then it'll leave a permanent mark on the game and how we view it. That's pretty much all my criticisms. Everything else was handled pretty well. Like most of Infinite there's not much I would change about what's there, I just would've liked more of what's there. More Brute focused weapons and vehicles, more elaboration on the Endless, more UNSC characters, more representation of Spartan IVs as actual soldiers, more of Chief connecting with humanity in their darkest hour, more biomes, you get the idea. I really hope the multiplayer team can salvage the game's reputation and that'll potentially revitalize Microsoft's interest in the campaign because it deserves it. After Halo 4 and 5 I didn't think it was possible, let alone that we'd get it from the very same studio thst made those games, but Halo Infinite's campaign is almost up there with the Bungie games. I wouldn't give it a seat at the cool kid's table with ODST and the holy trilogy, but it can chill with Reach and the Halo Wars games at the cool but a little weird table. For anyone who read all that, sorry for the whole ass novel.

[@xgunicon7341]

I so damn agree with u on this. Rubicon Protocol is truly one of the best books I've ever read and it changes my perspective completely on Infinite's story. It makes me appreciate the campaign more as the map in the game ( Installation 07 ) also has really good attention to details corelating with the book.

[@ppk2823]

To your point about the setting; I realized Infinite gives me the same feeling as MGSV, because you’re nearly always navigating the aftermath of a bigger fight you missed, almost grieving lost time and opportunity.

[@CommissarChaotic]

Yeah one of the sort of weirdest things about Infinite's campaign I find is that there isn't much like UNSC like stuff going on. There used to be a lot of UNSC stuff going on in the past games. In CE, while you're in the snow place, Keyes was out in the jungle. In 2, various UNSC forces are holed up across the city. In 3, the UNSC and also the Shadow of Intent and its Elites are fighting the Covenant and also the Flood after it arrives. In 4, as the Infinite lies crashed, Palmer is out and about and doing stuff with her squad. Like there's operations going on, like an army. There is just a sort of uncanny feeling to it being a supersoldier with no army. Because you clearly save marines across the open world. Like at the end, do you just leave them there?

[@ryatt9365]

@@CommissarChaotic Exactly. Even with 343s massive leaps towards making Infinite actually feel more Halo, they're still making it too much about Chief. I feel like they've forgotten that Spartans aren't meant to be superheroes, they're meant to be the perfect soldiers. They're meant to have a whole army backing them and just be the best part of that army. With half of Infinite's gameplay being you building up a resistance against the Banished, you'd think that'd be more of a story focus. Imagine storming locations like the House of Reckoning or the Tower, and depending on how many marine squads and FOBs you've liberated at that point there's more and more AI present on both sides. Main story missions revolving around rescuing Marines from torture camps. Even just having Brohammer occasionally fly in Marines during the open world missions like Foehammer used to do would go a long way.

[@CommissarChaotic]

@@ryatt9365 Yeah with the House of Reckoning one, I was imagining like beforehand you save a commander type character maybe Lasky and then at that mission he will order an attack with you leading the fight. Since Brohammer is like the only pilot you see, that would give Lasky a practical reason to take risks and do the attack because a pilot would be a valuable asset for logistics and transport especially since he's the only one so far. Then the marines go on before you but then silence, at the Jega bossfight there they are all dead and strewn about with the energy blade marks the Weapon mentions when encountering dead Spartans on them, and then you go to the beginning sequence of the bossfight but with more blood and dead bodies around. Would be so atmospheric. And then maybe instead of threat sensors it would be the threat seeker thats the default thing and then have a bright volumetric flashlight so it would make you clench tight, cloaking does still have the weird shimmer or distortion. Rated M Halo would be so cool.

[@juvenoiachild7675]

I forget about how absolutely hilarious that grunt scream was. AHHHHHhhh

[@LiveforHM]

Campaign has multiple problems. 1. Bad UI design which punishes you for completing content. Getting the weapon you want is a chore because you have to hit left or right X amount of times until you reach the weapon. No drop down or radial menu. This gets worse as you get Valor Points and unlock the weapon variants. The outer boundary where your cursor moves the world map is way too big, leading you to frustratingly overshoot map markers to fast travel to. 2. 343 tried to wow the fans with talk of open world, but it is really more of a hub world where you go from mission space to mission space. There are no sidequests/side story lines. The world does not change nor react to what you accomplish. Kill HVTs? No other npcs other than the Weapon talk about it. Liberate all FOBs? Nothing happens. Save all the Marine Squads? Nothing happens. Clear all Banished bases? Nothing happens. There are no fleshed out side characters. There are no emergent encounters. Marines do not attempt to patrol the area in vehicles. There is no squad command function. 3. Zeta halo does not feel alive. Banished patrols are just something you learn to run past and ignore. No significant wildlife besides a couple of rats. 4. Other Chief games have you as a soldier in the midst of a bloody military campaign. There is none of that in Infinite. The military fluff and jargon is lacking. The only part of the campaign i found fun is the combat. Shooting, moving, and getting a razorback full of marines is fun. That is it.

[@ano_nym]

This fight 10:48 was a major let down for me. I had brought a turret gun and that stun locked him until he died... It was only afterwards I found out people thought he was hard.

[@Thurnmourer]

It's been nearly 3 years and I still haven't bothered to finish it.

[@TheShapeshifter]

343 wasn't kidding when they said Halo Infinite was going to be a spiritual reboot

[@merryharry6487]

Just finished it for the first time, and it feels like year 2 Josh Allen, raw, mistakes are blatant, but man is there potential for something potentially great in the making.

[@TenthSgtSnipes]

Poor frog, unaware the entire campaign team got axed

[@Skorly]

I'm really looking forward to the rumored Forge Campaign AI update. Would be great to make new levels using Infinites core gameplay!

[@arthand7672]

I still maintain that this campaign could have been GREAT if instead of ignoring it to focus on multiplayer, we got new segments of the ring opened up over time and updates that brought in old characters and weapons. It may take longer for the updates but like can you imagine an update that brought back the arbiter, covenant weapons that were missing from infinite, give us a swampy area somewhat akin to the first flood mission from halo 1 and then a new swamp map to multiplayer? Or snow capped mountains like assault on the control room, bringing back lasky and palmer and giving us the classic halo magnum and shotgun? And as the game continued the ring would have slowly been fleshed out to the point where you have all the environments the first halo game had, but you could visit them at will. And explore them with your friends.

[@divitorizyt]

“ I shall light this holy ring, release its cleansing flame, AND BURN A PATH INTO THE DIVINE BEYOND!” Arguably my favorite line in the entire halo series.

[@shoego]

I liked Infinite. The campaign was fun. My main complaint was that I was promised split-screen co-op and never got it. I wanted this to be the first Halo I finished with my son, but I was robbed of that. In my opinion, this is by far the best Halo game 343 has ever made, and it could have become god tier IF they had added more content to the SINGLE-PLAYER CAMPAIGN! I'm currently replaying this game on heroic with a few skulls on (more grenades and leveled-up enemies). Which is proving to be very hard, but it is also fun. Seriously. More single-player content would have been awesome. Also, for some reason, the graphics seem better than I remember from my first playthrough.

[@Cthethc]

It doesn’t help the pain we experienced when they showed off literal different biomes in the 2018 E3 Tech Demo.

[@Bi9Clapper]

Infinite's campaign was awesome. Only complaint was how the linear levels (non open world levels) reused a lot of the same rooms, were mostly indoors and the open world had no variety in biomes. All that aside Infinite's campaign is a god damn slapper imo and it's a damn shame they decided against doing DLC. It really felt like the begining of a new arch for Halo's story and now it will be years before we ever see any kind of continuation

[@zadeinator2370]

Storywise and aesthetics/art style are honestly the best parts of the campaign for me, music was pretty damn good as well, but as you said the lack of environment variety really hurts the appeal of it all in the long run. I would have *loved* to see small mission packs added that explore other areas or environments on the ring and allowed for that more tailored campaign experience that the other games were able to provide. In the unlikely event that you make a comparison, I would love to see your thoughts on this game's open world vs ODST's hub level, even though the latter is a comparatively smaller part of the game

[@TinkerTailorSailorTy]

1:23 this freeze frame clip is just too good to ever forget 😂

[@graye2799]

The biggest flaw with Halo infinite in terms of its gameplay is the fact its open world. It ultimately adds nothing, and the game would have been better served with linear levels like past games or much more condensed and focused worlds. Also, while the story is better than 5, thats not much of an achievement, and the fact that they killed cortana off-screen is terrible. Halos lore is unfortunately damaged beyond repair in my eye, and that doesn't even include the BS of the forerunner retcon 343 did. The only way to fix it would be retconning 343s lore and games.

[@wed6790]

Yeah this is not talked about as often as it should be… full open world should’ve been used for a spin off or something

[@MadmanEpic]

The Sequence is the mission most harmed by the Grappleshot and air vehicle availability. With those it's extremely bland, but if you play it without the Grappleshot and only using ground vehicles it's probably the best mission in the game with a real Tsavo Highway feeling as it routes you through a nice mix of side missions to reach the towers.

[@lúki-ang]

Pretty much the only way I can play the campaign is if I blitz through all the main missions and ignore side content because otherwise I would just get really bored. Despite how much I like the weapon sandbox and enemies (up there with Halo Reach in my opinion), it’s so formulaic and repetitive when it comes to the design of encounters and the environments you fight in.

[@IAsimov]

I really like this campaign, and I have a lot of fun with it. And funny you say that about boss fights, I actually think this game actually did *right* what every other single Halo game had struggled with: Boss fights. In here, they focus on giving the bosses personality, avoid making them one-hit KO's for the most part, and give you extra abilities so you can continuously improve and be creative on them. The gameplay is solid, although I agree on the points you mentioned regarding the need for a greater diversity of biomes, the Endless being sold as a greater threat than the Flood somehow and with little information, and the fact the story doesn't get to say much. Other than that, I really enjoy the Infinite campaign.

[@Nitebro11]

I liked Halo infinite a lot it was way better than Halo 5 and a DLC would be cool, it shouldn't get all the hate it does.

[@ryu411]

“Why did Bonnie do this?” ☠️☠️☠️

[@GrrmPleaseWrite]

I love the way you just end your videos. No outro or winding down to lengthen the video. Really cool to see

[@djnexes861]

My main problem is there’s 3 set pieces for the most part, you have the banished bases, forerunner ruins, and outdoor with big trees. I like most other things

[@jamiewalsh0611]

In a word, no. It wasn't bad. But it wasn't good. And that's the problem. It felt like nothing. It felt like a long DLC, an expansion pack. Say what you want about 4 and 5, they were a stark divergence away from what we knew and were filled with issues, 5 especially, but at least they took chances. They tried something new, they failed admittedly, but I played 5 once to completion and that was in 2017 and I still have quite clear memory of the levels and the story. Infinite I played twice only last year and I cannot remember a single character name, a single mission storyline (Bar the Cortana clone thing) and overall, I cant remember a single moment in the game where I felt like I was playing a mainline Halo game. The gameplay is amazing, and it is very smooth and all, but that means absolutely nothing if the story is so mundane, so safe, so boring that I never feel the need to come back to it.

[@jeremynicholson0026]

I like in tht cut scene how he's realy careful with the bodies of the marines and just kinda tosses the banished around

[@Caspeaon]

Easily the best 343 game. Hopefully they can learn from this game for the next halo

[@switchboy2320]

I have played the campaign so many times and I wish the open world had secret underground forunner stuff for me to do stuff in or different biomes

[@Ren99510]

The mechanics were great. Grappling hook was a stellar addition. It was fun wreaking havoc on the Banished. That being said, they could have done the open world thing and still made the missions much cooler and included different biomes. Big let down on the environment and level design front. Edit: Also it's nice having marines actually be useful for once. I forget the name of the vehicle but the one that fits like six people inside, roll up to an outpost after giving some marines rocket launchers. By the time the base is captured most of them area dead, true, but they keep the heat off of you for a lot longer and can get some kills in. Edit2: Finally a really good assault rifle too.

[@GH0ST2166]

"infinite is the first open world halo" Um well actually-

[@LegLessEKR]

The only play through of this game i did on Legendary on day one. The bosses are so much damn difficult that the final boss took me 3…3 damn hours.

[@NCRtrooper558]

Don’t worry the most important part of a halo game is coming to infinite: the forklift

[@250914616672152]

i think the bulldog shotgun should have been a automatic shotgun, the clasic shotgun is a 8 gauge a big caliber, so they could have made the bulldog a 16 or 20 gauge a much smaller caliber

[@thatdomingovibe1707]

there needs to be more of a command and conquer approach to the unsc soldiers and fobs you can inhabit. admittedly, maybe I'm biased to my preference because i have spent countless hours on arma 3 and other games that allow squad command and micromanagement but to a point there doesn't feel like theres enough incentive to capture fobs and maintain squad members. sure everyone try's to keep them alive because they follow you and having a group help you is badass but theres nothing more than that. they just follow you and they act on their own instead of your precise strategy. i think this ties into frogarchist's point on how theres not much difference in how you approach a side or main mission, theres not enough diversity.

[@danielwendell542]

He is a frog. A frog for us all. An infinite frog, even.

[@thorstensimmons461]

Though with the Endless being worse than the Flood I don’t see how that adds up but then again we barely know anything about the Endless, maybe they’re some sort of ghost like species, if so it would make sense for the name and could figuratively and quite literally be a game changer for the Halo lore, we’ve already had two types of freaks of nature with the Flood and the Promethians why not add a third?

[@Batman89057]

Oh playing this game on legendary is HARD. Tank gun usage aside, it’s one of, it not the only halo game where personally, I found it almost as difficult without skulls than with skulls. Once you know skips it becomes a lot easier but doing it as intended was a time consuming experience. The blood blade elite on legendary still gives me nightmares to this day: on my first legendary playthrough it took me two days just to beat it. Definitely not as hard as halo 1, 2 and 4, but I’d arguably put it next to those in terms of legendary difficulty, if played the intended way.

[@daddydobson200]

My only playthrough I did was on release on legendary, and yes, the boss fights were horrible lol

[@theCantinafan]

11:08 Halo Infinite was the first Halo I played, and yes I played it on legendary the first time, loads of fun at the expense of my mental health whenever I fought a boss, but I'm overly competitive and way too stubborn to realise when my mental health is at risk because of a virtual game therefore I did not lower difficulty. Then I played legendary REACH as my first MCC game and had a literal breakdown. I will forever be greatfull to legendary ODST being easy and allowing my brain to rest.

[@stevenyoung9208]

i think what the campaign misses is a twist in expectations- H:CE, H2 and H3 all pull the rug to some degree - you think you’re playing one game and it pivots (the introduction of the flood, switching to the arbiter). Infinite never lands on something like that

[@anakinskywalker2142]

Is crazy how spirit of fire faced more action and scale for the ark while chief is just small ride adventures with 3 buddies and a few npcs to rescue. For being the first open world halo game it feels small scale than even combat evolved

[@sandman8920]

I’m playing through it again to see what I think. I loved the linear sections like foundation and the tower for example but didn’t like the open world idea as it’s just far cry. On the art style I wish they had made it more gritty like reach because everything looks shiny and plastic like.

[@halo99yo]

Infinite story was basically an epilogue after the real story played out in the cutscene and books 😑

[@garrettstripp6899]

The videos keep on getting better

[@Lilac_005]

I agree with almost everything you said except the boss fights. I think they're fun in this game compared to Halo 2. Great video as always.

[@WickedLizardWizard]

Yeah they were surprisingly enjoyable, except that damn teleporting invisible elite, fuck that guy

[@NCRtrooper558]

Yeah halo 2 bosses sucked but I like the infinite boss fights a lot

[@SobBaget602]

the boss fights were good except in legendary

[@Iaminsideyourwalls23]

I replayed the game multiples times on legendary and I love the bosses. Some (like that spartan hunter duo) suck major balls but the rest are a lot of fun to fight

[@impairedtrout6917]

One of the things I liked the most about this campaign was the feeling I had of rebuilding the unsc and restoring hope

[@mrjack3855]

Its my 3rd favorite, the closest thing we will probably have to CE.

[@gesus6613]

For Legendary you can fast travel back to base before boss fights fighting and you won't lose level progress (the bosses will back to full HP if you fast travel mid fight). Piling up explosive crates prior to boss fights can work. For the pair of Brute bosses you fast travel back to base and grab a sniper rifle, it will take an entire mag to kill as long as you don't let their shields get back up, fighting just 1 isn't so bad. The Brute Chieftain can be cheese by grapple stunning him getting in 3 hits with the Bloodblade energy sword then run away till your shields regen and repeat, it takes 6 hits to kill him with the Bloodblade, not sure if the standard Energy Sword but just fast travel back to base prior to the boss fight then leave it on the ground till the Chieftain come out.

[@vaniellys]

Infinite's level design was its major problem. I enjoyed playing it, but when I was done... There was no level I wanted to replay.

[@CrunchyKieran15]

It needed more main mission variety, hve varied mission design like other campaigns and a more banished centric backdrop, easily the best campaign

[@dredhead117]

as an avid Halo fan who's also a huge NFL fan, I was most pleasantly surprised by Elvis Grbac making an appearance in this video

[@TinkerTailorSailorTy]

Reminded me that there’s a college football player with the name Lemonious-Craig. Pronounced the same way as Tremonius of course.

[@VladiMetal]

Hahaha I did the 4 spires mission by land, I did not see the Banshee, and on the last spires, I took a Scorpion, it did take a lot but it was fun 😅

[@hanging4176]

I enjoyed Infinite on my first play-through when the hype was still there. But by the end of my LASO run I was bored by the main antagonists. Not a single one of them felt particularly interesting or as anything other than tankier versions of existing enemies. I left the game with infinitely more questions than I started with. Ignoring the obvious ones like “why no coop, why no mission select?” I was left with “So why are we at this ring?” “Where is the Arbiter?” “Where are all the banished troops and vehicles that were in HW2?” “Why are the endless a threat again? They showed up, said they were worse than the flood and then immediately died.” “Why did this game end on a cliff hanger if there’s not going to be any extra story content.” And my favorite “Wait the games already over? I’ve only been playing for 3 hours!”

[@Koifin3]

I really enjoyed Infinite and it made me excited for the future of Halo. The very first cutscene was a testament that the people making this game actually care about halo.

[@rainnydaay2116]

The entire campaign team was let go shortly after release so that probably ended any plans for dlc

[@kelphiuspolluxeldanimus6426]

The core gameplay is PERFECT. The grapplehook and the smooth sprinting is all great. Agreed on the same thing. Just lack of biomes. But other than that I really really like this game. And unlike others I actually really enjoy the bossfights. I loved that part of Halo 2. I hope they keep these perfect elements in future games. All they need is different biomes down the track and it's a perfect campaign in general. It feels and plays like a Halo game. And feels like what I think Halo 6 should feel like to play.