Halo: Infinite (Dec. 8th, 2021) - Xbox Series X

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I see players leave and get replaced immediately in quick play. It's not like I was leaving ranked matches.

They get replaced in quick play by bots who don’t really do much.

 

[x Tame Impala]

The forced playlists definitely suck but if people stopped quitting (no offense HanSolo) and took a few minutes to understand the right way to play these objectives…even by yourself…then they’d be way more fun for everyone.

I said it a week+ ago but I was actually glad they included objective-games into the mix because I thought it would force a new appreciation for these modes. People just want to play slayer though, which I understand.

 

[Beau Knows]

I'm all for timeouts for quitting, but with the way things are setup now it's not surprising that people are still quitting so often.

 

[HanSolo]

The forced playlists definitely suck but if people stopped quitting (no offense HanSolo) and took a few minutes to understand the right way to play these objectives…even by yourself…then they’d be way more fun for everyone.

I said it a week+ ago but I was actually glad they included objective-games into the mix because I thought it would force a new appreciation for these modes. People just want to play slayer though, which I understand.

It's not really about not understanding the objectives. At least not for me. It's not finding them fun and not wanting to play them. I mean no mode is THAT bad but I had like 4 Oddball games in 7. And fwiw I didn't want to just play Slayer.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

The Onyx grind is done (open); now back to stress free gaming.

Also the campaign reviews are coming out, looking very solid.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

 

[aleshemsky83]

Looks like the turnover last year made a big difference. Looking forward to this one.

 

[chicagoskycam]

The forced playlists definitely suck but if people stopped quitting (no offense HanSolo) and took a few minutes to understand the right way to play these objectives…even by yourself…then they’d be way more fun for everyone.

I said it a week+ ago but I was actually glad they included objective-games into the mix because I thought it would force a new appreciation for these modes. People just want to play slayer though, which I understand.

Yeah, they just need to break them out through if they have challenges related to game modes. I like objectives because Slayer against decent teams becomes a standoff and or campfest. Oddball seems to come up too much and one bomb is not there.

I see players leave and get replaced immediately in quick play. It's not like I was leaving ranked matches.

Not exactly. Often I'm left with 343 Swiss Cheese on my team after people quit so the game is pretty much done.

On a side note played a bunch of FFA custom games last night, messed with the gravity. Hilarious.

 

[Warden of the North]

Is Infinite campaign available for preload? Do I already have it?

I have the multiplayer beta downloaded, and of course it wont allow me to access the campaign through that. The file is approximately 25gb. I got a notification that the campaign was able to be pre-loaded but I cant seem to find anything else to download. Ive also heard the total file (campaign + multiplayer) is 87gb.

So what the hell is happening?

 

[LarKing]

I see players leave and get replaced immediately in quick play. It's not like I was leaving ranked matches.

They get replaced with bots who are basically useless. It’s not cool no matter the game mode imo.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Is Infinite campaign available for preload? Do I already have it?

I have the multiplayer beta downloaded, and of course it wont allow me to access the campaign through that. The file is approximately 25gb. I got a notification that the campaign was able to be pre-loaded but I cant seem to find anything else to download. Ive also heard the total file (campaign + multiplayer) is 87gb.

So what the hell is happening?

I had the same issue when I tried yesterday. Went into the store page specifically for campaign and it told me I already have it installed despite having only the multiplayer portion.

I thought I was just dumb lol

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I preloaded the campaign through the gamepass app. It made the file 53 gigs, and I’ve heard there’s another update on day one to make it bigger.

 

[Blitzkrug]

I'm still a little bit leery of the open world route they went.

Open worlds can be enjoyable if you either; give it stuff that's actually worth doing (shrines in Breath of the Wild) or if you go the Ubisoft route, keep the game shorter so the player doesn't burn out (Far Cry tends to keep it on the lower end, with 25-30 hours being needed to explore a sizable chunk of its worlds usually)

If they can combine with a shorter Ubisoft open world experience with Halo's combat sandbox you have a legitimate winner..

 

[HanSolo]

They get replaced with bots who are basically useless. It’s not cool no matter the game mode imo.

Well...that seems silly. I've joined games in progress in big team battle. They have the framework to replace players.

Whatever, I guess I'll default to thinking playlists are dumb with the way the battle pass is set up. I figured this would likely be my main game of choice for the foreseeable future so I bought one and I know that we have 100+ days to complete it but I wanted to get the weekly nameplate and getting so many oddball games was interfering with my weekly challenge progress.

On that note, I understand cosmetics should be a challenge to receive but the weekly challenge system is asinine in its current state. Complete 20 weekly challenges by fighting through an RNG playlist system, THEN win 16 PVP matches. If you want a weekly reward you basically have to play this game like it's a part time job to do it.

 

[HanSolo]

That's my only gripe though. In terms of gameplay, like I said this is the most fun I've had playing a PVP shooter since before the battle Royale era started. Maybe as far back as CODBO2 tbh.

I never used to fully enjoy playing Halo as it felt kind of clunky and slow paced to me. This game is energetic and has so much potential for all kinds of different kill/overall match scenarios.

 

[JaegerDice]

One of 343's consistent weaknesses as been map design.

The maps in Halo 4 were pretty uniformly terrible with a few decent standouts that lacked personality.

Halo 5 was better for the fact that they focused on competitive play, so the actual layout and flow of the maps was much better across the board. But again, none of them had any personality. None were iconic on the level of the best maps in CE, H2, H3 or Reach.

And now, again. All of these maps are fine to play. There are none that come up in rotation where I feel 'ugh, I hate this map' or am tempted to back out. But likewise, there are no amazing, iconic maps that I can't wait to play, or that I feel like I'll remember for years.

Some of that is just time. It takes time to make the fun or epic memories that etch a map in your mind. But there is also an art to it. Bungie still has that magic, because the maps in Destiny and Destiny 2 (which, admittedly, they haven't made nearly enough of) feel much more unique from each other, and more memorable.
343 is almost certain to add more maps over time, and I hope they're good. I also hope they find a bit of that Bungie magic and give us something truly iconic.

 

[HanSolo]

One of 343's consistent weaknesses as been map design.

The maps in Halo 4 were pretty uniformly terrible with a few decent standouts that lacked personality.

Halo 5 was better for the fact that they focused on competitive play, so the actual layout and flow of the maps was much better across the board. But again, none of them had any personality. None were iconic on the level of the best maps in CE, H2, H3 or Reach.

And now, again. All of these maps are fine to play. There are none that come up in rotation where I feel 'ugh, I hate this map' or am tempted to back out. But likewise, there are no amazing, iconic maps that I can't wait to play, or that I feel like I'll remember for years.

Some of that is just time. It takes time to make the fun or epic memories that etch a map in your mind. But there is also an art to it. Bungie still has that magic, because the maps in Destiny and Destiny 2 (which, admittedly, they haven't made nearly enough of) feel much more unique from each other, and more memorable.
343 is almost certain to add more maps over time, and I hope they're good. I also hope they find a bit of that Bungie magic and give us something truly iconic.

Bazaar is fun with the grapple hook tbh.

 

[Jussi]

Looks like the turnover last year made a big difference. Looking forward to this one.

Microsoft showing they're not afraid to delay a game and make it better during the wait.

 

[JaegerDice]

Bazaar is fun with the grapple hook tbh.

Bazaar is one of my least favorite maps, simply because its a standard 3-lane COD-style map. Doesnt help that the art direction is standard middle-eastern/african town, which would be right at home in a hundred different shooters.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I’m a big Launch Site fan because it’s a little different. Bazaar is great, IMO, and I found some small nooks the other night I didn’t know about. I also love Behemoth, but seem to be in minority there.

The maps in 5 felt like they were randomly generated by a computer.

 

[Blitzkrug]

I can't stand launch site or behemoth. Makes sense for a mode like CTF but it plays like garbage for slayer.

Again this is coming from someone who always liked the close quarters maps like lockout, blackout, the 45 different variations of midship, battle creek, most of halo 3's other maps so it could be just a me problem.

And I agree with mars. If you need any idea on how creatively bankrupt 343 was for map design in 5 take into account they remade Midship...twice.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

This is a cool video. Technical stuff but interesting nonetheless with critiques that 343 has already gotten back to them on.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Looks good

 

[Beau Knows]

Tbh I can't think of many super memorable maps after Halo 3. The ones in this game are consistently decent, not really any stinkers in there.

But the gameplay is so much stronger than 4 and 5 that even decent maps are a lot of fun to play on. If they can come up with some truly great ones, or I guess just bring back the classics if they can't, I could see this surpassing Reach for me as the best multiplayer in the series - after the original trilogy.

 

[JaegerDice]

I’m a big Launch Site fan because it’s a little different. Bazaar is great, IMO, and I found some small nooks the other night I didn’t know about. I also love Behemoth, but seem to be in minority there.

The maps in 5 felt like they were randomly generated by a computer.

I don't agree. Randomly generated maps wouldn't have anywhere near the consistency or flow of the maps in Halo 5. From an art creativity perspective they were lacking, but from a layout and competitive perspective, they were all very good. The problem is, without that layer of great art or personality, they all start to blend together. They were built specifically with the competitive sandbox in mind, rather than an idea of 'oh, this map can play like this, and this map can play like that'. There were a lot of messy maps in Halo CE, Halo 2 and Halo 3, but some of them remain classics despite that because messiness can lead to character.

I feel like that's why some of the Forge maps in the BTB rotation are considered among the most popular Halo 5 maps. Because they were messy. There's a map in that rotation that had the shotgun spawn directly below a sniper spawn at the top of a tower, with a lift between. Balance-wise, that is obviously broken, but the fact that two teams were fighting to control that obviously broken point on the map led to some really fun matches and moments, win or lose.

I can't stand launch site or behemoth. Makes sense for a mode like CTF but it plays like garbage for slayer.

Again this is coming from someone who always liked the close quarters maps like lockout, blackout, the 45 different variations of midship, battle creek, most of halo 3's other maps so it could be just a me problem.

And I agree with mars. If you need any idea on how creatively bankrupt 343 was for map design in 5 take into account they remade Midship...twice.

They remade several of the launch maps in Halo 5. That was always the plan, from the beginning. Hell they had a video series that went over how they were tweaking the maps based feedback and putting a new coat of paint on them to give them a unique feel despite having the same layout (or similar). Truth and Regret were the same map, Fathom and Riptide were the same map, there were a few others.

It would have gone over better if they weren't relying almost entirely on community forge maps for BTB. Fans (myself included) were not thrilled that they were putting time and resources into remakes of arena maps instead of increasing the breadth of professionally made maps across all modes.