Halo Infinite’s Campaign Review: A Campaign Worth A Playthrough

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From 2001 to 2021. That’s how long Halo has been around for. It has been 20 years… 20 years of Halo. Throughout those years many Halo games have launched. From the first Halo to Halo Infinite; from Bungie to 343 Industries. Along the way, there have been highs and lows. But, how does Halo Infinite’s campaign fair? Is it a high or is it a low? Does it live up to the hype? Well, let’s talk about it.

The Good

When I started my playthrough of Halo Infinite’s campaign, I was skeptical. I had been disappointed before, and I wasn’t sure if I would be disappointed again. Gladly, after spending countless hours in-game, I can say that I did indeed enjoy myself. After all, the writing, graphics, and music all blew my expectations off earth.

To start off, the writing in Halo Infinite’s campaign has been absolutely fantastic. For example, the story, although it felt familiar, had many great moments from start to finish. A lot of that is due to the interactions between characters, like Master Chief and The Weapon. But, what was most enjoyable was the writing for the Banished and the Marines. Enemies and friendlies have a lot to say on Zeta Halo, and it is great.

Next, the delay really seems to have done wonders for Halo Infinite’s campaign. Compared to what was shown in July last year, the visuals have improved. Things no longer look very plastic and have taken a somewhat more realistic tone. Best of all, the environment on Zeta Halo looks stunning. With lots of mountains to climb, there are plenty of beautiful views. Many that would make for a great photo. Sadly, though for the better because of the visual enhancements, Craig is but a meme now.

To finish, the music in Halo Infinite’s campaign has been a good highlight for me. In fact, I have not stopped listening to the official soundtrack. Tracks such as “Judgement”, “Sacrifice”, and “Endless” are some really good listens and were personally the most memorable. Well, besides most of the classic tracks like “The Road” or “Zeta Halo”. In the end, I would definitely recommend a listen because this soundtrack absolutely hits those sweet spots.

The Bad

Halo Infinite’s campaign has been quite the delight with most of the game feeling fantastic. It has been fun going through the story, listening to the music, cutting off grunts at the perfect moment, and just admiring the beauty of Zeta Halo. However, the game still has a bit of bad in it. These bad aspects of the game include the bosses, the price, the delayed co-op.

First of all, bosses in Halo Infinite’s campaign are very uninspired. Throughout the campaign, the player will encounter many bosses. But don’t get your hopes up, because these boss fights are truly lazy, repetitive, and just not memorable in the slightest. In fact, the last two bosses are the ones that I remember the most and they are still a bit repetitive.

For example, a majority of the bosses rely on melee weapons or just melee. Which you wouldn’t think is necessarily bad, but most of them don’t really do anything very special and usually rely on lung/charge attacks. This left me having to rely on my grapple hook and thrusters way too often just to get away from an enemy that doesn’t stop lunging and charging at me. Which left me feeling very dissatisfied with almost every boss.

Second of all, paying sixty dollars for just Halo Infinite’s campaign is a bit too much. Especially since the game is missing co-op, one of the reasons I myself got into Halo all those years ago. Sure, you can technically play the game for 10 dollars with game pass, which I think is the best way to play the game currently. But I just find it a little much to expect people to purchase the game for a full sixty dollars when it only includes the campaign and is also missing features that have been in other Halo games.

The Weird

While I played Halo Infinite’s campaign, I would constantly stop and think about how the game made me feel. Was I enjoying the story? How do I feel about the bosses? Is the game beautiful? How are the guns? Do I like the character? I would ask myself all these questions and more. I would even stop playing the campaign to discuss with others. Sooner or later, I found myself answering such questions about the open world and the grapple hook, which in the end felt neither good nor bad and just a little weird.

To begin, Halo Infinite’s campaign has an amazingly beautiful open world. It is not only beautiful and full of color but also big. But, there just seems to be something missing for me and that thing is good content. At a glance, it looks like there is quite a lot to do in the campaign. You can take outposts, kill high-priority targets, save marines, gather cosmetics, gather skulls, and gather intel logs. Sadly though, most of that content suffers the same way that bosses do, from repetitiveness.

After completing most side objectives I have felt neither satisfied nor unsatisfied. Also, exploration only gets you great views plus a few easter eggs; with how big the open world is, it is quite sad to see how empty it is. At the end of the day, though, the open world is not bad. But I wish there was more to it.

To end, the grapple hook in Halo Infinite’s campaign has been probably the weirdest part of it all. While playing the campaign, I noticed that the best way to travel was the grapple hook. You can get from point a to b quite quickly while swinging around like Spiderman. It’s also a good use for grabbing fusion coils, weapons, and grappling enemies. But, it felt too reliable. For example, my number one use for it besides travel was running away from bosses. I used it many times trying to get away from lunging/charge attacks. So although I enjoyed the grapple hook, I felt that I had to rely on it way too much.

Robert Rodriguez
6.5/10

Summary

Overall, I felt that Halo Infinite’s campaign was worth the playthrough. Sure it has a bit of bad and some things seem a little weird, but the game was enjoyable nonetheless. In fact, playing as Master Chief is once again a pleasure, and I look forward to seeing if 343 industries can continue to improve their entries into the Halo franchise.

2 thoughts on “Halo Infinite’s Campaign Review: A Campaign Worth A Playthrough”

  1. Uh this score is way too low. The review you yourself have written aligns much more with an 8.5 than a 6.5. Also, the grapple shot is amazing, why would you list that as “weird”?

    Reply

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