Halo Infinite Campaign Review

Credit to: 343 Industries, Xbox Game Studios, and Microsoft

Is Halo Back to its former glory?

Welcome back, y’all! This time around, we’re taking a look at the brand new Halo Infinite, or more specifically, the campaign, which recently released on December 8th. As we usually do things around here, we’ll have a section for the pros, a section for the cons, and then my final thoughts. Simple enough? Alright, then. Without any further ado, let’s just jump right into it.

Pros

I really want to start off by expressing my absolute admiration towards the work that 343 Industries has put into the designs of this game. Master Chief himself looks absolutely amazing, returning to a nice, sleek armor, while still being fresh and new in its own way. He’s bulky but slim, which is a perfect balance, making it a lot more believable that he can move around in that suit. I really didn’t like the Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians design for the Chief, since it felt like they were trying to hard to be futuristic or more advanced, and it really looked like he could barely move in that thing, so I’m glad to see him looking so good here. The enemies themselves, the Banished, are designed soooo so well in this game. Of course, the design is kept from the original Halo Wars 2 designs, however we see some fresh ideas used for all the species. The Brutes are super well-designed, as they have the Banished look of course, but we see the lower ranking Brutes with armor that reminds me of the armor they used in Halo 2, which really put a smile on my face. They also have a few different features in terms of hair and facial hair, making them a bit different when you encounter them, so that’s really neat. The Grunts are really awesome. They took designs from Halo 4 and 5, and combined it with the classic designs of Halo CE, 2, and 3. I love the armors we see them wear as Grunt Ultras or as Grunt Mules (a Grunt with a bunch of equipment for their comrades to grab), they really grabbed my attention. The Jackals look absolutely AMAZING, like they’re finally back to their old school designs, while having some cool new design choices to them. Also, Skirmishers are back! And, maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like we actually face off against female Jackals. I’ve only heard them when facing Skirmishers, so maybe all Skirmishers are female (or maybe just most of them), but either way, that’s cool that we get to hear the difference in terms of vocals. The Hunters are also back, but they aren’t too different from how we last saw them. Still deadly, still badass. The Elites… oh man. The Elites are back, looking better than ever. These guys are absolutely beautiful. They’ve got the classic designs again (FINALLY), which seem to be quite similar to the designs used in the Halo 2 Anniversary campaign, so that’s honestly great to see. We just need them to be playable, 343. There’s a new enemy type called Skimmers, which are a cool new species you can fight on Zeta Halo. They’re essentially Drones, but they explode when they die. Pretty cool, but nothing too fancy.

There are also boss fights, each of which have some pretty cool, intriguing baddies for you to take down. This ties into my next pro, which is the overall freedom you’re given. The story can indeed be linear, but you have an option to explore new areas and encounter side quests that have you face side bosses, which award you with stronger weapon variations. Beyond these bosses, I just love the overall freedom that I’m given in general, because I tend to enjoy exploring as I play video games. There’s plenty to explore here, and you do often stumble across enemies scattered around the map, so you’ll almost always have something to do. You can find collectibles, fight enemies, save marines, and unlock stronger weapons. It’s pretty great, honestly. In terms of the weapons, I gotta make that my third pro. The weapons that I find to be disappointing in multiplayer are actually quite viable here, which is great, because they’d be pointless in this game if they weren’t at least good in some aspects of this game. Since each battle is different, you can find many uses for all of the weapons you come across, as they all fill out different roles, and they fill them well in campaign. So yeah, I’ll give these guys credit: the weapons are pretty great in campaign.

My next and final pro is the overall plot. I seriously enjoyed the story for this game, like honestly, this has restored my faith into this series. I was really hoping that 343 was listening to all of the criticism provided by fans over the last two games, and they definitely listened. This game is pretty well paced, it’s got quite a few surprising moments and sad moments, and it does a really good job at engaging the player. I felt glued to my screen during each cutscene, and I didn’t want to put my controller down after I was given a new objective. This game really is a fantastic entry to the series, and I’m so very happy to say that Halo truly is back to its former glory.

Cons

I only have a few issues, so I’ll keep this section pretty short. My first issue is with traversing the world. The vehicles control so weirdly in this game, like they just feel… off. When you’re driving a Warthog, for example, and you feel like you’re about to tip over, you’ll suddenly turn right side up with ease, which feels super unnatural. I also noticed that when I try to drive up some rocks or a hilly area, almost all vehicles have a ridiculously hard time trying to move forward, or up and over a small obstacle. It really is odd, so I am gonna knock the score down a little for that. My next issue is the humor. Don’t get me wrong, this game is quite funny, but it feels like jokes are thrown at you way too much. Whether it’s from Marines, Grunts, Brutes and Elites, or interactions with the Pilot, you kinda have to expect a joke or a humorous scene, which is a bit off-putting, considering how dire the situation is for both sides of the spectrum. My final issue is the boss difficulty. The bosses, while interesting and pretty unique from one another, are so so so so SO easy to beat. Not once have I felt pressured or in danger from any of these boss fights, like, I was able to beat each boss with little to no effort, and that started to bother me more and more when I realized that it wasn’t just the first two, three bosses. It’s like this throughout the entire game.

Final Thoughts

Well, y’all, I’m a bit lost for words. I have some issues with this game, but I gotta say, this feels like Halo again. It finally feels like Halo. I would love to see what they do after this, but for this campaign specifically, I am super happy with the end result. The story is great, and it’s paced super well. The voice acting is quite compelling, and the environment around you is beautiful and full of surprises. 343 Industries definitely did a lot of hard work for this game, and it really shows. But what did you all think? Did you or have you been enjoying Halo Infinite so far? Let me know on my Instagram or Twitter, and make sure you’re following me on both to stay up to date on the latest news and reviews on your favorite entertainment topics. But that’s all from me, this has been The Wolf Den!

4.5 out of 5.