Players can choose whether they want to play Ranked or Quickplay, but both will feature a mix of Slayer, Oddball, King of the Hill, and Capture the Flag, with no way to select or avoid certain modes. One of them is the game’s playlist options. There are a few problems that both of Halo Infinite’s smaller modes share, however.
These matches also tend to include players that are more locked in - I’ve rarely had anyone quit in a ranked match - which leads to more competitive games, and more varied use of the maps and mechanics the game has to offer. Players also start exclusively with the battle rifle, which feels fantastic in Infinite. These matches are limited to teams of four, keeping the maps uncluttered.
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What’s more, in Quickplay you start with the assault rifle, which feels worse in Halo Infinite than it has ever been in the series thanks to the game’s lackluster melee - which used to provide the assault rifle with an excellent finishing move. There are positive new additions like the Mangler or the Shock Rifle, but most of the new weapons feel either gimmicky or like worse versions of human guns - something every Halo game has struggled with.
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Quickplay also includes the game’s full variety of weapons, which are mostly a disappointment. One-on-one duels rarely exist in this mode, thanks to random grenades or stray bullets from a freshly spawned enemy. Quickplay matches were mostly frustrating: Teams were often imbalanced, players quit in every match, and the larger teams - with sometimes as many as six players per team - made the maps feel overcrowded and messy.
These smaller maps play host to Halo Infinite’s Quickplay and Ranked game playlists, which vary widely in quality. Seemingly random corners frequently provided cover for me in the aftermath of harrowing fights This “economy of space” is reminiscent of Halo 3’s best maps, like Guardian or The Pit. None of the maps are especially complicated, but their layouts are smart and efficient. The small maps effectively force players to either engage in quick and brutal shootouts in tight spaces, or risk running though each map’s sparse centers and being exposed to enemies on all sides. Infinite’s maps also feel like welcome throwbacks. The one exception to this consistency is Halo’s iconic melee, which feels clumsy and unpredictable in this game, possibly due to some weird physics around player collision. Fights still require you to break through an enemy’s Energy Shield before killing them, leading to frantic firefights that culminate in well-placed final shots. Halo Infinite is slightly faster than Halo 3 (thanks to a new sprint mechanic that every player has by default) but it’s still far slower than something like Call of Duty. Otherwise, this is almost exactly the Halo you remember from its prime nearly 15 years ago. Rather than the gimmicky additions of armor abilities or loadouts from recent Halo games, Halo Infinite gives everyone the same weapons and keeps equipment limited to a few - fairly ineffective - gadgets. While the release cadence may be a first for the franchise, the gameplay itself is altogether traditional, to great effect. These are important changes as the series moves forward - acknowledgements that the old system of console exclusives and big-budget sequels isn’t how multiplayer games prosper anymore. It also came out nearly a month before the game’s campaign. Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is, for the first time in the series, free-to-play, and was released simultaneously on Xbox platforms and PC, via both the Xbox App and Steam. However, with the recent surprise-release of Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, the series is clearly in a great place to reclaim the throne.
All the while, Halo’s subsequent sequels have tried and failed to re-seize the moment. But a lot has changed since then.Ĭall of Duty is a platform unto itself MOBAs became a lifestyle battle royale games have all but defined the last five years of multiplayer offerings. When Halo 3 was released in 2007, the franchise was the undisputed king of multiplayer gaming.