It was only a technical preview but playing the first semblance of the first new Halo game in six years was a gaming itch I needed scratching. Finally, a fresh Halo to learn, built for the modern gaming landscape. A lot has changed in gaming since Halo 5: Guardians’ 2015 release and the initial test revealed that Xbox’s flagship is ready for the gamers of today.
Below is a breakdown of the components featured in the Halo Infinite technical preview and my take on how they performed. Obviously, this was only a slice of the full game, but from what I got to experience, “Holiday 2021” couldn’t come fast enough!
The Bots
Bots, a new addition to the Halo series, were the main enemy throughout the weekend. Overall, they are worthwhile practice dummies, but they won’t bring a challenge to an average or better Halo player. They had the same starting strategy on each respective map, allowing for an easy 4-0 start to the game after a bevy of grenades were thrown their way.
Speaking of grenades, that was their best (read: most annoying) attribute. The bots threw some of the best nades I saw in the preview, accounting for the majority of my deaths. Oftentimes they’d give up shooting halfway through a gunfight, look at their feet and lob a perfect tinker that would explode beneath me.
As the difficulty level got raised, the shots of the bots became more accurate. That said, they are only really a problem when you have two or more shooting at you at a time. There are a few times where a bot will suddenly turn toward you and perfect you before you know what happened, but those were rare.
For players who have always wanted bots in Halo though, they are in for a treat.
The Academy
Personally, I think this makes more sense as the warmup mode for Infinite. Playing bots on a map in a 4v4 setting is almost bad training for players. Bots don’t play like humans and will teach you bad habits on how to play the game.
The Academy on the other hand allows you to get shots down on stationary, moving, or strafing targets who mostly move like how other players truly would. Drills can also be fun to beat your high score or to challenge friends.
The Weapons
The strategy I had with some weapons changed significantly for the couple of hours of PvP the preview featured compared to playing against bots. The biggest change was with the pistol or “sidekick.” Against bots, I had been trying to start engagements with the pistol, in the hopes of dropping their shields and killing them with a headshot.
When playing other people, however, the ineffectiveness of the pistol truly displayed itself. Challenging someone who has a Battle Rifle or Commando with the pistol in hand is a recipe for death. It simply doesn’t stack up. Players also move much differently than bots, making their tracking harder to predict for shots. The best way I determined to use the pistol was by first peppering the enemy with the Assault Rifle before switching to your sidekick to finish them off.
This also works well with the Pulse Carbine as the shield-dropper. Zoomed in at long range, the Carbine tracks enemy players which makes it somewhat effective. But overall, it’s not a top-tier weapon in Infinite.
The BR feels crisp and superior to its most recent iteration in Halo 5. It remains the classic 4-shot kill, though the final headshot has to be aimed higher than you’d think to eliminate the player.
The Commando is the other marksmen-style rifle featured in the preview. For up-close enemies, feel free to hold down the trigger to melt them before your eyes. At distance, I avoid zooming in and just slow-tap the trigger to bring an opponent down. It still feels a bit wild with recoil when you fire it, but most times you’ll want to pick it up in favor of your pistol.
The Bulldog shotgun is a one-shot kill with an enemy in your face. Otherwise, it takes a few shots to take down an opponent at close-medium range. This is no Halo: CE or Halo 4 shotgun, but it’s better than the worst shotguns in the Halo series.
I didn’t get the chance to use the Sniper Rifle during PvP but against bots, it felt a bit clunky in its current stage. Still, I witnessed others having success with it, so perhaps the learning curve is just a bit steeper for Infinite.
The Plasma Pistol doesn’t have a strong tracking ability when fired but with the elimination of thrust, it should be easier to hit opponents who are in close-middle distance from you. The drain on its battery reserves is also slower than in Halo 5, meaning you have more use from it with each pickup.
The Needler RIPS in this game. The pink needles track well even at range. Used efficiently and you can get two kills per clip.
The Ravager is best used in its quick-burst fire form rather than the hold down and fire method. It is similar to the Concussion Rifle in Halo 5. I found it disappointing no matter the firing method.
The Heatwave is a Scattershot successor in practice, though it isn’t as strong as its predecessor. The best use I’ve seen of the gun is to shoot it off walls or the ground and have the bullets bounce around corners to find hidden targets.
The Skewer is a one-shot kill harpoon gun that is difficult to aim whether aimed in or descoped. Still, if you hit home on your shot, the enemy player is instantly dead.
The splash damage of the Rocket Launcher is huge in this game. If you fire it remotely near an enemy it should take him out no problem. Be careful shooting an enemy in front of you that is on the same level because more often than not you will take damage from your own rocket.
The Movement
With thrust being removed from the player’s repertoire of movement abilities, the walking speed has been noticeably ramped up from Halo 5: Guardians. Sprint doesn’t feel super fast, which I think is a good thing. Sliding is a much bigger component in Infinite than H5, and you have the option of sliding for quite a long distance, especially down ramps.
Clamber is back but was inconsistent in the technical preview. Many times my spartan would do the animation to climb up but wouldn’t actually perform the action. Hopefully that is squared away by launch.
It seems like the movement meta might be a combination of sprint, slide, jump, in that order. Slide, while not the same as thrust, will be the closest thing to the “bail-out” button in Infinite.
Settings & Gameplay
Aim assist is very low in this game. It is the lowest of any Halo game and one of the lowest of any modern console game I know of. If this remains in the final product, the skill gap for hitting shots will be the largest yet in Halo.
The sensitivity settings feel like they need to be fleshed out more to better represent what the numbers say.
Another new element to Halo Infinite is player outlines. Unlike previous games where players would either be on red team or blue team with matching armor color to boot, players can rock their unique armor color in any game mode. To differentiate friend from foe, all players have an outline attached to their spartan. The color of this is determined by the player for both the enemy team and your own squad.
This wasn’t too problematic in the preview but I think it will take some getting used to for players. I’m also not sure if there will be certain colors that stand out more, making them superior compared to others. I know I had problems as all the bots wore blue armor and I kept the red (salmon) outline for them. When I saw a blue-colored teammate, it took me a moment to see they were friendly. There has also been some difficulty in knowing when a player’s shield pops, indicating they are one-shot. Whether this is a game aspect or a particular color aspect remains to be seen in future versions of the game. I’ve noticed some players opt to go with yellow or purple instead of the classic red and blue, but it might just come down to personal preference rather than a competitive advantage.
Post-game stat details are the richest yet in Halo history. Shots fired and shots landed make their return from Halo 2, while damage taken is a new statistic to analyze after each map.
The beatdown mechanic needs to be remedied for sure. The lunge distance is much too far and I’ve personally had a lot of non-registering beatdowns during my playtime.
The Maps
Live Fire was the first playable map in the preview and was very open with a narrow middle hallway. There were few spots to hold a setup, the best one maybe being the back tower. Though there are multiple levels, the map mostly plays on the same plane in a 4v4 scenario.
Recharge on the other hand is a very vertical map. Getting up top where the BR or Commando spawns is the best strategy. It’s a little big for only four players per team and most battles took place in the main room of the map, leaving a lot of empty space.
Bazaar is symmetrical, which is always nice for a Halo map. With this in mind, it is the most likely one to be a competitive map for the HCS out of the three that were shown in the preview. That said, with a lack of lifts in the game, there’s a lot of times where you feel very far away from the top half of the map.
Final Notes
To review, the technical preview was the most fun I’ve had playing Halo in years. There is still some work to do in order to get the game as good as can be prior to launch. But overall, I have little doubt Halo Infinite will revitalize the series and return it to one of the most played games out there. 343 Industries has indicated there should be more technical previews to come, potentially even a beta. Infinite is (finally) coming, and it couldn’t be soon enough!