Halo Infinite Tech Preview July 29th- Aug 1st

andrew_schmidt · July 30, 2021, 3:28pm

DAMN

QuietGamer90 · July 30, 2021, 3:37pm

It worked, thanks!

Ace_Maverick · July 30, 2021, 3:43pm

andrew_schmidt · July 30, 2021, 3:51pm

Oh boy let’s go

Cortana117 · July 30, 2021, 4:23pm

I suck at PvP. So I enjoy playing against bots. Problem though, most MP games have god awful bots. Playing the tech preview and i’m so excited for the bot system. Marines play fairly competitive, they give you some challenge considering their difficulty level. I can already feel that ODSTs are gonna destroy me and god forbid Spartans. And that’s exciting. Finally a MP game today with exceptional bots.

bcatwilly · July 30, 2021, 4:24pm

I put my Series X into 120 FPS VRR mode, and my TV Freesync rate monitor realtime was showing it between 100 to 110 fps basically the whole time. I will say that for me sitting close to my 65" TV I actually prefer playing this at 60 fps right now based on apparent resolution difference in gameplay. Using my TV Freesync monitor seemed to be showing basically a consistent 60 fps in either Performance or Quality mode, so I stuck with Quality as it looks amazing and plays great too. Man, after playing some more matches at lunch and playing around with the armor customization and such a little bit this game is going to be fire IMO

Boosted_Gear · July 30, 2021, 4:25pm

Yep, I was very impressed by the AI’s behaviour. It reminded me of how some players would act sometimes and that’s awesome ! It really feels like we finally have a game with some real work done on AI.

bcatwilly · July 30, 2021, 4:27pm

Man, something that I noticed even more at lunch today when I could up really turn up my Dolby Atmos surround sound system volume more is that the audio is just freaking unreal with this! And my speakers definitely rotated upwards to confirm it was getting a Dolby Atmos signal

Swanlee · July 30, 2021, 4:34pm

So I finally got to play a round and this feels great, also the game looks really amazing, everything is lean and crisp but also feels worn and realistic, the lighting looks really good and not flat at all.

Even if the campaign looks exactly like this with no improvements the game will looks really really good.

I need to re learn how to properly play but movement and firing felt great

PhantomFox · July 30, 2021, 4:39pm

I was surprised at how the marine bots were way better than me at throwing grenades. Able to average around 10-12 kills and 3-4 deaths per match but I’m kinda scared for the ODST bots, not gonna lie.

bcatwilly · July 30, 2021, 4:40pm

Your description of the graphics matches mine, and it somewhat reminds me of the overall artistic approach with Star Wars in The Force Awakens or Rogue One for that reason which makes me really happy.

euV2 · July 30, 2021, 4:44pm

It never feels like you’re truly playing against bots, they don’t feel scripted. Everything from grenades to melee feels pretty natural.

javycane · July 30, 2021, 4:50pm

Ran into a match

Got the sniper and then realized my Right Stick up and down isnt working.

Sigh at least its a technical preview

andrew_schmidt · July 30, 2021, 5:18pm

Audio went out but NO SCOPE

Jeans · July 30, 2021, 5:19pm

You probably want to report that. That’s the point of this technical test.

I can’t customize my armor at the moment. Changes aren’t saved.

The game is amazing though.

Bots are…scary. They can emulate player’s behavior somehow and they are pretty good with grenades.

Eduardo · July 30, 2021, 5:21pm

Can’t even get into the Academy, gonna try later again

Jeans · July 30, 2021, 5:28pm

Close the game and restart.

Zappy5 · July 30, 2021, 6:09pm

Feel like the game would benefit from a little more aim assist for controller players. Picked up the sniper and omg might as well give me a spoon. BR also tough to use I’m finding and I play a lot of FPS (not saying I’m good I’m not but definitely feels like it’s missing).

javycane · July 30, 2021, 6:12pm

Checked and my controller settings had changed to custom.

nrXic · July 30, 2021, 6:27pm

I’m playing on the base Xbox One and the game is running at a consistent 30 and looks good. From a technical perspective, which is more of an objective perspective, the game looks good. Image quality is good for an Xbox One game and the frame rate is consistent. There’s a good amount of geometric and texture detail In the map and the added detail like the foliage and such aren’t dithered or popping in. There’s a really solid look to it unlike what we saw with a lot of Halo 5.

I do have subjective opinions on it and this goes back to the very first teaser of the game (followed by the first reveal of the game, and the first gameplay showed)… I still don’t like how nothing that’s supposed to be metallic looks metallic.

Looking at the Spartans their armour looks like it’s made out of concrete. This is a shader thing (maybe specifically coming down to the specularity?) and for one reason or another they wanted to go with this look and it’s something I disagree with, but hey, it’s a subjective opinion.

I’m going to borrow some of the screens (thanks @ElPutoXD they do look great) earlier to sort of demonstrate what I’m talking about:

Again, not saying the game looks bad! But if you look at the armour it looks like smooth concrete and not metallic and for my tastes, not what I’d personally like. Super reflective (chrome-ish, like the Halo 2 remake cutscenes) isn’t what I’m asking for either, just something that looks like it’s made of metal. I also think this would have benefited the character skins because you can have skins that use matte materials, extra shiny chrome materials, or plastic or metallic looking materials along with colors for an added level of uniqueness for various skins. I mean who doesn’t want a chrome skin for their Magnum? But if you look at the metal bridge in the map (or joints in the prosthetic limb arms in first person mode) it shows you what I’m actually hoping for on player skins.

Regardless of my opinion on those materials (and really who am I to nitpick at this game with my own specific tastes?)… Just look at the geometric detail, look at the texture detail, look at the lighting and shadows on the characters, it’s all very, very good.

I need a bit more time with a gameplay to form an opinion on it. I was playing in the middle of the night with no sleep and was getting motion sickness from the default FOV so I turned it down to 65°, which definitely helped. But I might bump it up to 80 degrees or so to see what happens. I feel motion sickness with 5% of shooters and I absolutely love the fact that they included an FOV slider.

As a Halo 3 fan, I need to get used to sprint in this game, as I was slowly chasing the action and could never quite catch up to it but did in my last few matches when I started sprinting. I felt like the map was pretty solid for a 2v2 or 4v4 map. There’s something about the map design that seems very polished with sandbags and concrete barriers placed in the right places. I think some weapons on the edges of the map would make them more enticing destinations, like the grass area with the dummy targets which seem like a good place to have skirmishes but right now it’s just used as a pathway. But that’s what Forge is for.

A question for the Halo 5 players, is there a way to customize the beginning poses and winning poses? Would that be covered under the presentation part of the menu (which isn’t implemented the technical preview yet). Because that seems like a cool thing to be able to unlock in the season or purchase.