HANDS ON - Halo Infinite Multiplayer Is Sharp And Spicy
Beating down the Bots.
By Jay Tee
02/08/21
Previewed on Xbox Series X.
Even though Halo is a franchise juggernaut, Infinite’s development has been somewhat tumultuous. Behind the scenes departures, a years delay, plus the divisive Halo 5: Guardians have left 343i needing to really [plasma grenade] stick the landing on this one. After a weekend with Infinite’s first tech preview, we can safely say they’ve achieved that goal, and exceeded expectations.
The campaign is still an unknown quantity, and perhaps still potentially risky business as we still haven’t seen much of it yet (despite some brief glimpses of greater visual polish in screenshots and cutscenes). Thankfully, any trepidation concerning the multiplayer can officially be quelled, as this razor sharp melding of classic and modern shooter mechanics is exactly what Infinite needed to be.
The sound design is exceptional, even though the Tech Preview build has some noticeable audio bugs. The worst offender is persistent audio popping when wrapping up a round and transitioning back to menus, but this build is already two months old so it’ll likely have already been addressed.
The soundtrack is goosebump worthy with those iconic choral voices placed front and centre when you boot up, but it’s the mid and closing round tracks that kick in during a match that add excitement and tension in equal measure. Weapons are particularly crunchy, and feel closest to Halo 2 Anniversary’s auditory improvements. The Needler in particular sounds great, and has definitely received a bump in damage output and overall effectiveness.
Removing Halo 5’s dodge mechanic was a smart move, making firefights more consistent and less frustrating, and the lack of shield recharge delay while sprinting (another Halo 5 mechanic I’m happy to see the back of) is a welcome tweak. While there’s plenty of new toys in the sandbox, the Skewer is by far the most audacious; a one hit kill, single round magazine spike that requires precise aiming and is balanced by a long reload.
Some other welcome new additions include the context sensitive ping system, which when highlighting an enemy marks their last known position instead of providing real time tracking. That function is reserved for a particular piece of radar enhancing equipment available as an in round pick up. A pulse scan reveals weapon racks and key items within a nearby radius, and your Spartan customisation is viewable by your team mates even though enemy players will see you as the usual generic solid colour. Very cool.
The lack of player names or service tags above friendly players is a glaring omission, and made finding teammates and co-ordinating your efforts extremely difficult. This genuinely sucked the fun out of what could have been several epic co-operative moments, and it’s something that will hopefully be remedied in the final release.
However, what 343i have created with Halo Infinite’s first peak at multiplayer is a wonderfully satisfying mix of old and new; a game with familiar elements and modern sensibilities, presented in a visually stunning package that completely justifies that year long delay. The game is undoubtedly better for it, and we can’t wait to play more.
I want to go there please.
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
