I have wondered about this for a while and the lack of dense forests could absolutely due to technical limitations. It could also be a design decision due to the areas not working well with the sandbox such as the example you gave.
After a poor launch (in terms of games that used or showed off the hardware) The Series X is going to have a brilliant end to the year. It so looks like all those happy memories of 1st playing the wonder of Halo over Christmas 2001 are going to be replicated for Christmas 2021. I canât wait
2 Likes
3 Likes
Iâve watched it in 4k a good half dozen times since it dropped. Thatâs got to be a good sign. My impressions on reflection:
-
Pretty much everything I wanted to see improved (pop-in, texture work, lighting) has been improved. It now looks in-line with the MP and is completely acceptable. I was hoping the somewhat wooden facial animations of the pilot were improved on, but they seem to be as they were, and thatâs my only disappointment.
-
I still donât find it a graphical showcase, but Halo doesnât need to be. It looks good, it looks fun, and I canât wait to play it.
-
I am starting to feel the game may suffer from too little variety in world design. In a sense the design follows the story â itâs entirely on Zeta Halo so you only really have a choice between the outside, which is a controlled grass and pine trees biome, and facilities inside. But Iâd like them to have bent those rules a bit â maybe had a snowy section at the top of a mountain range, maybe some desertification at the edges of the ring. Oh well, if it does end up all being âpacific Northwestâ perhaps the inevitable expansions can add some variety.
-
In general, the game design has me excited. I love the apparent structure of the âopen worldâ being split into level-sized chunks â with a number of side and campaign missions playable in any order on each â either connected to the next chunk by a very narrow chokepoint (no doubt with a mini-boss blocking progression) or seemingly unconnected meaning some action is needed to progress (a light bridge, pulling together hex columns or something like that is my guess). So it looks linear-but-open, like a Metroidvania where you need to do things to progress in a linear fashion but the world opens up behind you for re-exploration. I also like the collecting of gear and the upgrades section. This is the kind of evolution of gameplay Halo has been screaming for.
-
I genuinely like the ragtag âcrewâ they have given Chief, with the exasperated, frustrated pilot and the naive, optimistic AI adding some light relief to some classic stoic Chief lines. I think itâs going to add a tonne of character to the storyline to have lighter characters like this playing off Chief rather than the whole thing being high military drama and stiff upper lips.
In all, I am just SO glad this game got another year, and SO glad that they got Joseph Staten on board. If MS arenât offering him the contract of all contracts to be new on-going Halo Director, then something wrong is going on. If the sequel can be manned from ground up by Staten, with all the learning 343i seem to have done between 5 and Infinite, we could be looking at something very special near the end of the generation from Halo.
We know multiplayer is amazing, the campaign is now looking great. My only real regret is that they didnât get ahead of this, announce its delay in summer 2020 and this trailer was the first showing of the game. Would have been a totally different reception for the game. But câest la vie.
4 Likes
From THE man himself -
12 Likes
this moment immediately reminded me of GoW 2018 when Baldur punches Kratos lol
2 Likes
Hahaha, good one!
1 Like
I have the same complaint yeah, but
there was a leak that showed a mongoose thatâs modified for snow terrain, people are dubbing it the âsnowgooseâ, so there might indeed be snow sections, even if not at launch, definitely in an expansion.
The MP had Behemoth, and 343 did say a lot of the MP maps are basically just locations picked out of the campaign, so I wouldnât be surprised if the same kind of desert environment is present in the campaign, hopefully larger than just that map lol.
Also, there was a âDeadlandsâ biome shown in the trailer, will be interesting to see how that looks in detail.
1 Like
If theyâd targeted and built the engine specifically for this gen only the game would still be a year or more away. Because you couldnât target this gen when they started development and specifically started reworking the engine. You only have to look at Forza Motorsport which is a game on a much tighter development schedule than Halo Infinite yet we donât have a date yet for that. They are reworking an engine rather than building from scratch too. You need to be realistic best case scenario is full next gen Halo launched in 2022 but 23 is more likely.
given the history of installation 07, there has to be a snow biome at some point (lots of flood on 07-> cold biome slow flood down)
also now that Craig is dead (except in our hearts) how do you think 343 will reference him. my first guess was a skull (Craig, There is no need to be upset) which gives all non unique brutes Craig face
1 Like
Particularly liked this part with the creatures there.
1 Like
How about this:
There is a secret area you can get to in an obscure area with the grappling hook. Thereâs a cave and some animal bones and a smouldering fire outside. You inch into the dark cave and hear a sound. Out charges the original Craig model at you, screaming âI AM CRAIG!â at you. Some kind of exotic kit is hidden inside the cave once youâve dispatched him.
4 Likes
Both Harbinger and the Skimmers seem to be of the same race/species whatever, looking at the legs and the hands. And their armor has the same kind of design. The skimmersâ technology here seems to be Forerunner too, given the purple light/haze emanating from within their âjetpacksâ which is characteristic of Forerunner weapons in the game like Heatwave, Cindershot and Sentinel Beam.
Yet the Harbinger has her thrusters emanate blue instead, including the attack she does.
All in all, blue and purple seem to have a big significance in this game lol
@andrew_schmidt what do you think?
3 Likes
Oh hey, @Doncabesa did an awesome break down on everything weâve seen:
12 Likes
first time trying one of these, was fun but time consuming 
3 Likes
Firefight, Iâm assuming? Which isnât a surprise by this point, but I hope it comes soon after!
Nah I think SWAT