By Daniel Yae
On November 21, 2001 the first ever edition of the Halo series “Halo: Combat Evolved” was released. Two decades later on November 15, “Halo: Infinite” was released to commemorate the 20-year anniversary.
Although the multiplayer video game was released this past month, it was released for open beta with the full game set to officially release on Dec. 8.
“Halo: Infinite” is a first-person shooter (FPS) game with multiple weapons, vehicles and power items in the game. It also has different game modes such as capture the flag, slayer, oddball and stronghold, which can be played on the standard four versus four game modes between quickplay and ranked arena (or the big arena game mode which is 12 versus 12).
Having put roughly 50 hours into the game since release on mouse and keyboard, I’ve noticed a lot of positives and negatives about the game.
The gameplay overall is great and the shooting and movement mechanics are easy to learn for casual players. Aiming on the game is relatively easy for casuals, especially for controller players. Power abilities on the map add an interesting element to the game to give you an advantage for gunfights and help win the games you play. These items include active camo, overshield, dashing and repulsor.
The game runs smoothly for the most part but has a problem with crashing. For example, the game had tendencies to crash in ranked arenas and allow the player to reconnect, which results in losing elo players are playing for. Elo is what determines a player’s rank and you gain it based on how you perform in the game as well as total wins and losses. However, the rate of the game crashing can be prevented, or at the very least be decreased, as there is a setting you can turn off when you launch the game through Steam, which is the main platform people play the game from. Players can turn this setting off by right clicking the game, going to the game’s properties, going all the way down to “DLC” and checking off the box that has “Multiplayer High-Res Textures.”
Another problem with the game is that it has a lot of cheaters currently. Cheaters are people who use third party software to have an advantage. These advantages for example are seeing people through walls and aim hacks for example. The developers are aware of this and have stated on multiple social media platforms that they’re currently working on building an anti-cheat program while listening to player feedback on how the game can be improved over time.
With the game set to fully release Dec. 8, a lot of players were anticipating a multiplayer campaign and forge mode. Forge being something that players can build their own maps and get creative within the game. Unfortunately, the full release of the game will not be launching multiplayer for campaign and forge and will be single player on release.
From playing the open beta, the game is quite fun and refreshing for the FPS genre and something people can play casually given that the multiplayer aspect of the game will be free, while the full game costs $59.99. Overall, I would rate the game a seven out of 10 because of the current bugs, crashes and cheaters, but the game has potential to improve and get better with the developers listening to feedback from the community.
