Halo Infinite – Test, Shooter

Every end is the beginning of something new

It’s not looking good for the Master Chief. His last opponent, the leader of the Banished, seems to have tricked him and killed him. But before the elite soldier from the Spartan unit dies in the cold of space, he will be rescued. Once again, it must be said. And once again he sets out to go to war for the survival of mankind. Against the exiles, the Covenant and whoever dares to stand in his way. Once again on a ringworld marked by conflict, this time Zeta Halo. He is supported during the fight by two new sidekicks: A pilot who always complains about his fate and who really only wants to flee from the chaos of war. And the so-called “weapon”, an AI that takes on a female human form and thus virtually replaces Cortana. While the introductory phase takes a surprising amount of time to successfully give the characters depth and character before the first action sequences reminiscent of the beginning of Halo 4, you lose yourself on the way to the finale in increasingly banal cutscenes move the story forward.

In addition, the studio that has been responsible for the series since 2011 not only tries to combine various open threads, e.g. from Halo 4, with the story, but also to somehow nominally accommodate almost everything that was even rudimentary. And the result is sometimes too confusing even for series connoisseurs. What has this or that faction got to do with it now? Who are the blood parents (in the original: Forerunner)? Why are the banished from different groups? And why do they intervene in the war? What does the flood have to do with it? What role does the weapon play? Why is she even on Zeta Halo? Who are the Prometheans? Questions about questions, the answer to which is made difficult by the fact that Halo 5, the last shooter offshoot from the Halo universe up to Infinite, was already over six years ago. In this respect, it would not have hurt newcomers to the Ringwelt and the conflict between UNSC and

To give Allianz a narrative overview in some form. So you have to rely on the database in the game, which is not really productive in terms of the Master Chief’s past. Then again you have to put it into perspective and, unfortunately, not positively for the game, that even with increased background knowledge, the present story loses its appeal after the interesting initial phase.

Back to the roots? Yes and no!

In addition, she is punished with a strange image of women. The fact that the visual representation of the Artificial Intelligence Cortana was too strongly sexualized in some of the later series has sparked discussions in the past. And something similar could flourish with the “weapon”. To portray a powerful AI that bears such a martial name and, next to the Master Chief, is mankind’s last bearer of hope, as a more or less naive schoolgirl, is not decisive for the war, but at least questionable and also casts an unfortunate light on the general character drawing. The empathic note of the Cortana substitute, which sounds again and again, would definitely have benefited from less naivety. Then again: Do you play Halo because of the quality of its story or its polished characters? Rather not. Still, the story has mostly been at least solid in the past. And it is the bottom line here too. But of course you fall

got into the UNSC conflict mainly because of the fighting. And that’s no different here either. The disputes with a wide range of opponents who act cleverly, especially in groups, not only form the foundation of motivation, but also the next floors.

At the same time, 343 Industries is building on what has been tried and tested: In the role of Master Chief, you are still only allowed to carry two weapons with you, for which ammunition is not always readily available. What is new is that there are supply boxes with limited usage options, the location of which can also be viewed by scanning the area, as well as the locations of dropped weapons, etc. Nevertheless, one is constantly confronted with the situation that one no longer has any further food for one’s favorite weapon. Fortunately, you can again pick up and use all the beating or melee weapons of the killed opponents – right up to the huge booms or hammers that leaders or even bosses carry with them and try to use against the master chief. A small detail that definitely benefits the flow of the game: plasma weapons no longer have to be exchanged when you find an identical object with an existing charge. Here, the residual charge of the weapon on the floor is transferred to the one in the inventory via “instant induction”. Similarly, the “ammunition packages” are picked up directly by fighting equipment lying on the ground if the identical ratchet is carried with you. The result: you can focus more on the demanding battles and don’t have to worry about ammunition micromanagement.