Only thing I really remember of Halo Infinite campaign is the Infinity’s intro that we were robbed of and collecting battery to power a terminal… again and again and again
That intro is so great, but there should have been a playable section prior to Chief meeting Atriox in the hangar. Or even a playable encounter with him too. Much more effective way of showing him to be a threat if you the player get battered by him.
I like that Jega was co firmed to be in the Halo Evolutiins short Headhunters, he was the leader who got blown up, the missing limbs and mandibles are the result of that explosion.
Imagine if they kept adding little side missions to the open world every so often with the story of other characters attached to them. That would have been a great way of adding content and making the world feel more alive.
@@BenPlaysGames It would have been SO good. I'd have loved if the special banished assassination targets had entire missions dedicated to them. And the Co-op... My beloved co-op.
@@BenPlaysGames this is still my dream, exactly. I would love to see little bits added every month or two, eventually doubling the story we have. I would love to see the map fully utilized plus more secrets hidden throughout.
I think Infinite is the best campaign 343 has made, but I genuinely can't tell you the names of the missions or what differentiates them. Everything just looks samey.
I honestly find that baffling, at least halo 4/5 had varying environments and set pieces. Infinite just felt so dead. Empty, boring, pointless open world, no set pieces, then every ‘level’ is a corridor shooter in the same forerunner structure copy pasted ad infinitum. It was such a let down. Also the story was awful. 343 gang your heads in shame.
@@Satorotas89 could not agree more. 4 & 5 story is awful but at least the set pieces, environments and atmosphere looked great. Infinite is soo boring, it felt like a chore having to traverse the bland, empty world just to get to the next story mission. I loved the combat in infinite but the rest was dribble
@@Satorotas89 To me the emptiness actually works. One of the reasons I love CE so much is the melancholy sense of solitude that game has and I think Infinite captured a lot of that. I can see people feeling otherwise if you want the bombast of H2 and H3.
@@torb-no hmm, I get what you mean about CE, but CE was from like 3 generations ago lol and even it had incredible set pieces and variance in level design (although pretty much every map gets reused during the latter half of the campaign). The level ‘Halo’ is mostly empty, but you connect these pesudo open world sections with set pieces with characters and things happening, like the marines hiding out in the hills with sniper rifles, or the base that you have to defend before getting the warthog. Infinite never has that, you just move from boring engagement to boring engagement, there’s never a crescendo, no moments of bombast punctuated by quiet moments of solitude. It’s just so flat.
@@Satorotas89 Oh yeah, I def. think Infinite has problems, I just don't think the emptiness is one of them. And CE is better in the ways you mention for sure. As for 3 generations ago: I personally consider CE to be not only the best Halo, but the best FPS ever created, though I realize that might be a bit of a controversial statement hehe.
I honestly think the Sequence is one of the best missions. It’s insanely long, letting you explore vast parts of the ring, and also shows off the bit of variety the ring has, with portions being higher up and mountainous, and that one area with a big lake in the middle of it. It’s like the Silent Cartographer on steroids, letting you do the mission however you want.
I think the reason people find Halo Infinite’s campaign not memorable is probably because it’s only The Chief, The Weapon and Espanza as the main characters, you don’t really get any Marines, no allies like Sergeant Johnson or The Arbiter, on top of each level having to be set in the same entire world unlike other Halo games where you’d go from, a Snowy Canyon in Assault on the Control Room or the Dark lush jungles in 343
Part of the reason I didn’t bother updating my “Top 25 Hardest Halo Missions” video to include Halo Infinite missions was because how bland and unoriginal many of them were (mostly the Forerunner themed ones). In fact, it wasn’t until probably my 4th play-through that I was able to differentiate Nexus, Command Spire, and Repository from one another. Definitely agree with Nexus ranking last and Warship G ranking first. Great list overall ❤️
I actually really like excavation zone. It's easily one of my favorite missions. Maybe that just because it's one of the few I can actually remember well but I've always found it to be very enjoyable to play.
having not returned to halo infinite after completing it I'll be totally honest many of its levels just faded entirely from memory. I will say though that the 2 top choices you have here are the ones I remember the most. - personally as the boss fights were not my favorite set pieces I rank the final mission pretty low. My wife was watching me play as I finished out the story. around the ending she turned and said something along the lines of "I feel like I missed something" and I replied that I was just about as confused too. I just feel like they had a chance for a great reset to the story. establish new threats, setup for more games to come... ideally make a game that would go on to build on what it setup. But instead they introduced the banished.... which likely will go down as one of the biggest mistakes they could have made. I dont care about the banished. this game should have made me care. but I still dont care. its just a shame cause at face value a big open world halo game sounds brilliant. - scarabs crawling around doing patrols - maybe have a bigger impact on regions as you build up the human presence they become safer. - when you first start the map maybe the way to gate some areas off would just be to have a overwhelming amount of enemies in certain areas. as you progress you widdle the enemy numbers down and start clawing back control. - having secrets that could be side quests that open up pathways to make life easier. - having hidden UNSC vehicles like the one from halo 4, maybe the answer to the scarabs. maybe have a side mission that would bring one of these out of hiding to have your own patrols - bring out new air vehicles that are inventive. maybe a large one that is like a scarab that you can board and take out? - having played hell divers maybe you could even get orbital weapons that you could call in occasionally again... after activating them via a little side mission or something. point is there was SO MUCH potential with a big open world halo game and I feel like infinite just bumbled most of it up and its such a shame
I still can't understand why with all these allegedly talented writers, they thought the best course of action for story telling was to have the main antagonist continuously monologue at you again and again and again AND AGAIN. Every time he Facetimes Master Chief all of his dialog contributes nothing to the story and is summed up as "Look at how evil I am. I'm gonna get youuuu. And I'm saying mean things to you and I'm big and in red. See how evil I am? That's how you know I'm SO super evil." Even the Prophets in Halo 2 and 3, who literally sit around in their chairs and big fancy hats the entire time, SHOW that they're genuinely corrupt evil individuals. Which is evident when in Halo 3 the Prophet of Truth is killed by Arbiter, you get this satisfying sense of "Holy hell that evil sack of shit is finally dead! Oh god, now what's gonna happen?" Halo Infinite is a shining example of the failed writing style of "tell, don't show". They told me the game was gonna be good, the environments were going to be vast and diverse, and the story was going to be deep and compelling. They never SHOWED me any of that throughout the game. But they sure as hell TOLD me a lot of things. Which is about as helpful as telling a hungry person about a big table of food on the other side of the world. Def not the worst Halo title, by a LONG shot. But it's damn disappointing that this is the best 343 can muster after all this time.
I think the whole campaign was likely cobbled together last minute from whatever work they'd completed up to that point. There's such a lack of variety in terms of aesthetic and storytelling, and the campaign ends at what really should have been the narrative's midpoint. Let's just hope they don't ditch what they've started for the next game, as all the set up is now done at least.
@@BenPlaysGames Yeah it does feel like that. The basic bones of a good game is there like art style, audio design etc. but none of that is complimented by the story. The delivery of expanding the lore of Halo felt clunky at best. For instance the introduction of the Skimmers was just terribly handled. They made it seem like THOSE were the Endless, and not some yet-to-be-seen species that the the Harbinger (also not the Endless? Which is even more confusing) keeps on "mysteriously" alluding to. Granted I don't think all the dialog or story is bad. Seeing the relationship between Chief and the Pilot evolve and change was enjoyable, and there were moments when the Weapon and Chief had some good conversations. Maybe 343 could tell us why they can't write competent stories since they're genuinely flexing their abilities to tell not show. At least then we'd have some dialog between us and them which would be nice.
As someone who used to love open world games like skyrim and fallout, halo infinite just completely missed the mark for me. Dont get me wrong the map is absolutely beautiful (except for those godawful metal hexagonal pillars plaguing every scenic view in the game) but once you've spent some time there you've basically already seen it all as theres nothing to differentiate different parts of the map from each other and it all ends up looking the same. This also negatively effects the story as well because all the missions just blend together because theres no visual differences between them. I literally could not tell you the name of a single mission in this game and I can barely remember the story the game was even trying to tell. I thought the gameplay was great and felt really fluid and polished, but the campaign was just so forgettable mainly because of how boring the open world is. Thanks for listening to my ted talk lmao
Bungie fanboy trying their hardest to compliment 343i (Difficulty: Impossible) On a more serious note, I agree with the Forerunner missions blending together, but not remembering the names of the other missions, like the Tower, named after - you know - THE MASSIVE TOWER IT TAKES PLACE IN? Or Gbraakon, being the first mission you're exposed to after 6 years of no new Halo games? Things like that should stick, and them not sticking makes me think you weren't really paying attention to the game. Also, Infinite's story is pretty simple, Chief gets knocked into space as the Infinity crashes on Zeta Halo. 6 months later he is awakened by Brohammer in a pelican where he retreives the weapon, a copy of Cortana made to lock her down for deletion. She was supposed to be deleted upon succesful deployment, but she wasn't (hinting at something deeper). Chief makes his way through repetitive Forerunner hallways when he finally makes it out to the surface where he clears an LZ for Brohammer. You're then set loose in the open world and are tasked with going to the Tower. From there you take out the Tower's guardian, find out what the Banished are excavating, and find the Installation's monitor who is quickly taken out by the skimmers. You then figure out who the Harbinger is, meet the sub-monitor, fight him because your goals do not align, take out the three AA guns, and look for piece together enough data to open the Command Spire, where they attempt to stop the reformation. They also find out that the Banished are trying to access something called The Silent Auditorium. While they await extraction, Brohammer's pelican is hijacked by Jega 'Rdomnai and steered towards the House of Reckoning, where the Chief will fight through a test of mettle that no one has survived. He defeats Jega, Escharum, rescues the Pilot and heads to The Silent Auditorium to take down the Harbinger. Now, I'll admit, its a bit more confusing than the trilogy's story, but overall it's not that hard to remember. At least for me.
@@ChefandTheArbistor Yeah that's honestly fair enough, like you said it's probably just me being a bungie fanboy lmao. But having said that I did actually enjoy halo 4 for the most part, and I really enjoyed the multiplayer for halo infinite too. But to be fair i did only play halo infinite's campaign once right at launch so it's no wonder why I can't remember much. But either way I'm glad you enjoyed the game, it's just my opinion.
@@rockstormv3911 ya know, props to you for not doing the typical Bungie fanboy thing and slandering me for not agreeing with you. I’m not a 343i shill, by any means. My favourite game is 2 and I played CE back at launch. I actually disliked Reach and 4s gameplay more than 5s, too. But I still think that Infinite was a decent attempt at an open world, but with how well 343i did the opening linear mission, I’d like to see them make a whole game like that.
@@ChefandTheArbistor Thanks man, like i said I dont hate infinite by any means, there are a lot of aspects about it that i genuinely think are great, like the general art style and graphics are spot on and the game play is phenomenal. The main gripe i had with the game was the blandness of the open world itself, and unfortunately in my opinion the rest of the game suffers slightly because of that. But thats just me and i can definitely see the appeal of it, but for me i think i prefer the more linear level design of previous halo games.
Sequence was honestly the best mission for me, it offers so many options on how to clear each location and brings you to explore the areas around them like the one in the east could be: a fight you're way on foot from the front or side, or you go to the FOB in area and take the Wraith from there to bomb you're way through and can even get it up to the building if you use the boost right, or you take the banshee land behind the building and kill them all from behind. The one in the south could be a Scorpion mission, since you could take the Scorpion which stands around in the woods not too far away from the FOB there or fly up the massive metal structure south of the building and sniper all the drivers and gunners out of their Wraith's and Ghost's, just to name some of the many options there. The one in the west with the hunters there you can bring the Scorpion or one of the Wraiths from the south building over, just need to drive them of the cliffs and over to that part of the map or simply get a Warthog from the FOB north of the building or use a Banshee and get the nearby Marines over to fight while you support them from the air. The one in the north I personally find the hardest cause there are so many shockrifles, making most vehicles hard to use, but the area is definitely not bad for a Warthog with all the infantry units and the few Ghosts or sniping is also an option, but the terrain is not that great for it and ammo is a problem too since at least I didn't find any around that area and the next FOB is kinda far away on that one. While this mission also shows you the biggest weakness of Infinite first with the insides of buildings, which could have been all different and a little bigger and secondly - your allies the Marines are nearly useless outside of being a gunner or as passenger of one of the Warthog versions. The best thing you can do with them is to cheese the mission with the huge laser with a full Razorback and bring some to the boss room at the end with you, can kill him in like 2 seconds with the right weapons. But the convoys and fighting groups from Halo 3 seem now like high-tech of the past, the only thing that makes the Infinite Marines better than the CE ones is that you can give them weapons and that they pick up stronger weapons on their own sometimes, but even the CE Marines feel more intelligent than them at times.
Broadly agree. Pelican down and warship are in the top 3. But just not having excavation site so low 😆. Here is why. There are so many ways to play it; including, for laso or difficult skulls on. Load up the razor back before starting. Park it on the cliff to the right (as you look at the beam). Trigger the start, grapple back to the razor back and watch the marines unleash on the banished below. Note they won’t follow you down so they remain like artillery at the top. Finally for the boss fight, activate the marines on the other side, take the warthog into the tower before lock down. Park it at the far end. Activate bassus, channel him the the warthog and goodbye. Lots of fun🎉
I will say, as much as I hate the gondola in Nexus, considering I wasn't very good yet when i got there, and playing on heroic definitely made that last dash to the door while every sentinel shot at me memorable at least. Personally, my favorites have to be the road and the house of reckoning. (Also, Pelican down and the warship but that's a given.)
The problem with the sentinels is that they drop the beam which absolutely shreds them to the extent they become a non issue even on higher difficulties. Although, to be fair, the beam destroys everything, it's incredibly overpowered.
Man, Warship Gbraakon was such a strong start, it really made me hopeful for the game! It's such a shame that the rest of the campaign was plagued by the extremely repetitive scenery and formulaic structure of the open world. Not to mention the story that crawls to build up this massive threat that is never even revealed.
343's Halos haven't been the best, but I think Infinite campaigns was a huge step up compared to previous titles. I guess we still have a long way to go but hopefully we're in the right direction for the next titles to keep improving. I say this as a long time fan of Halo since CE, I really hope Halo gets better. Looking forward for the analysis videos of each level Ben, great video as usual. Cheers!
As someone who hasn't played Infinite (still waiting for that Halo 5 PC port 🙁), what can I say except that the graphics look absolutely stunning. From Halo 4 it was clear 343 knows their graphics very well. Shame the Forerunner structures always look so bland and gray. Gameplay looks pretty fun but I guess you have to truly play it to know it. Great video anyway
I really wish they would do another "open world" halo game, my biggest issue is there wasn't more to it. I think its an interesting step forward for the franchise.
I honestly had a better time just roaming the wilderness with Marines and clearing FOBs/bosses/camps than any of the sectioned-off Levels. The levels were very sameish in environment and in objective, PLUS they weren't easily replayable until the update almost a year later (basically you had to start a new game to replay the unique scenarios).
Going into this video I quickly realized that none of the missions particularly stood out to me. I remember some of the boss fights being more annoying than others, but other than that... Can't really remember much, despite having done 2 playthroughs and some extra. In contrast, I could probably write a multi paragraph synopsis describing each level from every other Halo game (except 5, which I do not own).
House of Reckoning will always be tied with Warship Gabrakon for me. (crap I spelt it wrong) It is cool seeing a makeshift UNSC base in the giant Banished base. No wonder it was used for scuffed firefight!
I cant really say which one was my favorite level. They mostly blended together or were Forerunner hallways. New biomes and locations would have helped. The entire game being open world didnt help.
I have never replayed any of Infinite's levels which is strange for me. Idk i just never remembered or had the thought of replaying. I played more of Halo 5s campaign. Then probably Halo 2s, 1s, 3s.
I’m glad you noted that the forerunner beacon towers having nothing inside of them during the sequence was a big disappointment for you. It was for me.
In my defence, I actually love the Forerunner environments in this game! Aesthetically they're a vast, vast improvement over those in 4 and 5. Unfortunately, far too many of Infinite's levels are set entirely within them (7 out of 15), so they get quite tiresome after a while.
Yeah the first mission was really the only memorable one for me. Campaign wasn't very fun since I'm not into the open world format. Preferred CE's open area's within a linear mission design instead e.g. AOTCR, SC and even Halo to an extent. Instead, the campaign felt to me like every other open world. Lots of traversing that, whilst fun with a grappling hook, nullifies the vehicles due to the level design and how weak they are (to quote you "paper mache"). The encounters felt almost the same in most of these areas and the extra's like rescuing the Marines + lore dumps being behind audio logs just left me feeling like it was pointless and empty. Why not have the Marines openly engaging the Banished on their own terms after rescuing them? Why not have extra missions to assist the Marines? Where are they during missions? It no longer feels like Humanity vs the Banished, it's Chief vs the Banished. The linear levels suffered from feeling too familiar to each other, especially since they're Forerunner levels and they all tend to feel the same anyway. Outside of that, the bosses being bullet sponges was immersion breaking. If I drop the shield, I should be able to HS you like a normal boss. This problem is exacerbated on Legendary difficulty. Halo has never had good boss fights, bringing them back was a mistake. And then the story. Nothing really happens. We don't see/know what happens to the humans unless you go out of your way to get the audio logs + a handful of dead Spartan IV's. The Harbinger is released with no real info on the Endless and by the time something major happens with the Harbinger making probably the Galaxy's most expensive phone call, the game ends. Oh, that's right, Atriox was in this game (lol). Halo Infinite suffers because of its troubled development with the game engine, chasing open world trends that do the series no favours and staff turnover due to lack of permanent contracts. Such a shame.
I’m waiting for the campaign to one day be reduced to a really cheap price 😅 currently going through the halo 5 campaign atm. Looking to play halo wars 2 and at some point hopefully infinite
I only remember the first mission and the last one where you use a tank on a canyon or something like that. What a waste of a campaign :/ we need to go back to creatively designed linear levels with awesome set pieces
Haven't played Infinite enough to properly rank them, and I really feel the thing with a lot of it bleeding together. I don't only think it's because of the underground levels being samey, but I think the open world format kinda stop you from feeling the discrete levels. That said, my favorites are Pelican Down, Foundations and Ship G'Braken. I kinda like The Sequence and The Silent Auditorioum too. I strongly disagree that they nailed the open world in Pelican Down. All the rest of the rest of the open world is locked away (much like a underground mission or Ship G'braken). So now, it's not nailing the open world, because it *isn't open world*. What it *is* however is a big non-linear Halo level, much like the second leven of CE. With Infinite they said they tried to make the whole game like that leve, but I think Pelican Down shows that mostly failed, but making *a single fairly open level does work well*. So I hope they throw away open world for the next entry, and rather make some really big open levels in a discrete campaign. Anyway, thanks for the vid! Does actually make me want to revisit Infinite. Despite being very flawed it also has it's moments, and if you take care to approach it in the right way it can be very fun (I say that as open world very much makes it possible to approach in less fun ways). And a controversial statement: I hate the boss fights. That's one of the reasons I kinda dread replaying Infinite. I really enjoy regular combat being challenging, but find the boss fights to be tedious and boring with their difficulty. I wish I could turn up regular difficulty yet keep boss difficulty low or something.
House of Reckoning was absolutely best imo. Silent Auditorium was a good “conclusion” if you can even call it one but there were so many different shifts in tone throughout the level leading up to one of Halos best boss showdowns after an entire level of build up. Overall the levels are pretty mid but that and Warship Gbracken stand out to me as levels comparable in both fun and story telling as Bungie’s games
This was the only game I couldn't complete...Infinite didn't FEEL like a Halo game like back in the day. Halo didn't need to be another "open world type game".....H1,2,3 wasn't made to be an open world game, it was a Halo game first which just so happen to allow you to explore. 343 needs to be eradicated because they apparently don't get Halo
It's sad I've never felt compelled to finish infinites campaign. I adore the bungie campaigns and think halo infinites multiplayer is great, but infinite's does nothing for me. All the confrontations feel the same.
Honestly could never answer that. I guess Pelican Down maybe but the whole plot was so damn forgettable. It's odd because the writing and dialog is very solid but the why and what of the story is empty
I think Infinite has the unenviable position of being the best of the worst trilogy in Halo so far. So many of its course corrections were GOOD and necessary, but course corrections generally don’t make great stories. The best parts of the story were lost in exposition or skimmed over in the breakneck pace of trying to fix a story AND try to advance it at the same time.
ill be so honest. I really did not enjoy infinite.. I loved the idea of an open world Halo game a lot. 343 just didnt do that great of a job making the world feel as alive as they showed in all the trailers and teasers. The world feels repetitive and bland, the levels, likewise, feel repetitive and not entertaining, the boss fights feel forced and the bosses feel really shallow. It was an absolute snoozefest for me personally i couldnt even finish the campaign because of how sleep inducing it was lol. im done with 343 and i have been done with them for the past decade. I hope one day, Halo earns back the throne it was so viciously kicked off due to poor management and leadership
“The world feels repetitive and bland, the levels, likewise, feel repetitive and not entertaining” so like most (if not all?) open world FPS then. I think we have to accept the fact that it's production wise impossible to make a good open world FPS games. Personally I hope they go back to discrete linear levels again, the best parts of Infinite follow that anyway.
For halo infinite, I pretty much love every level, it’s the best game in the series, and every level is my favorite, I truly think halo infinite is perfect, and I praise it with everything that it has to offer!🙂
@@jasperfox6821 how many great Halo games there are and to think Infinite comes anywhere close to being the best, forget being perfect. If you think Infinite is the best halo game you have some seriously questionable taste
Personally, I think it offers some value at times, but those moments are fleeting. What I will say is that I enjoyed playing through it several times far more than 4 or 5, because the gameplay is so good.
Broadly agree. Pelican down and warship are in the top 3. But just not having excavation site so low 😆. Here is why. There are so many ways to play it; including, for laso or difficult skulls on. Load up the razor back before starting. Park it on the cliff to the right (as you look at the beam). Trigger the start, grapple back to the razor back and watch the marines unleash on the banished below. Note they won’t follow you down so they remain like artillery at the top. Finally for the boss fight, activate the marines on the other side, take the warthog into the tower before lock down. Park it at the far end. Activate bassus, channel him the the warthog and goodbye. Lots of fun🎉
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The ultimate Halo Infinite critique will follow soon...
Only thing I really remember of Halo Infinite campaign is the Infinity’s intro that we were robbed of and collecting battery to power a terminal… again and again and again
That intro is so great, but there should have been a playable section prior to Chief meeting Atriox in the hangar. Or even a playable encounter with him too. Much more effective way of showing him to be a threat if you the player get battered by him.
The sequence, but every beacon gives you a power seed you have to carry from beacon to beacon. 😈
Tried to remember a single level name before starting the video andddd nothing lol. Played through 3 times in the first month.
This is why you don't start the name of half your levels with the word 'The'. Makes it especially hard to keep track of them.
@@BenPlaysGamesor set 80% of them in identical locations with no discernible difference between them
I like that Jega was co firmed to be in the Halo Evolutiins short Headhunters, he was the leader who got blown up, the missing limbs and mandibles are the result of that explosion.
"Apes or gators?"
Wait, really? I had no idea, that's amazing. Going to sit down and rewatch it now with my morning coffee.
Halo Infinite's campaign is a very sad tale. There was so much work and love so obviously put into it, and they let it die out.
Imagine if they kept adding little side missions to the open world every so often with the story of other characters attached to them. That would have been a great way of adding content and making the world feel more alive.
@@BenPlaysGames It would have been SO good. I'd have loved if the special banished assassination targets had entire missions dedicated to them. And the Co-op... My beloved co-op.
@@BenPlaysGames this is still my dream, exactly. I would love to see little bits added every month or two, eventually doubling the story we have. I would love to see the map fully utilized plus more secrets hidden throughout.
@@BenPlaysGamesand new portions of the map, like desert areas, snow environment and so on
Game is trash, period
hi Ben, hope life is treating you well. Thanks for all the effort you put into these videos
I'm not too bad thanks, Sebastian! Same old, same old really. Cheers for the kind words and hope all's good with you too mate.
I've always loved Warship Gbraakon, yet many people always regard it as mediocre. I think its on par with PoA and Cairo Station.
Agreed, fantastic level opening level. 343 are actually two for three in that regard, as Dawn in 4 is fairly good too.
What's poA
@@SpartanX027 Pillar of Autumn
@@ChefandTheArbistor ohhhhhh
I think Infinite is the best campaign 343 has made, but I genuinely can't tell you the names of the missions or what differentiates them. Everything just looks samey.
I honestly find that baffling, at least halo 4/5 had varying environments and set pieces. Infinite just felt so dead. Empty, boring, pointless open world, no set pieces, then every ‘level’ is a corridor shooter in the same forerunner structure copy pasted ad infinitum. It was such a let down. Also the story was awful. 343 gang your heads in shame.
@@Satorotas89 could not agree more. 4 & 5 story is awful but at least the set pieces, environments and atmosphere looked great. Infinite is soo boring, it felt like a chore having to traverse the bland, empty world just to get to the next story mission. I loved the combat in infinite but the rest was dribble
@@Satorotas89 To me the emptiness actually works. One of the reasons I love CE so much is the melancholy sense of solitude that game has and I think Infinite captured a lot of that.
I can see people feeling otherwise if you want the bombast of H2 and H3.
@@torb-no hmm, I get what you mean about CE, but CE was from like 3 generations ago lol and even it had incredible set pieces and variance in level design (although pretty much every map gets reused during the latter half of the campaign).
The level ‘Halo’ is mostly empty, but you connect these pesudo open world sections with set pieces with characters and things happening, like the marines hiding out in the hills with sniper rifles, or the base that you have to defend before getting the warthog. Infinite never has that, you just move from boring engagement to boring engagement, there’s never a crescendo, no moments of bombast punctuated by quiet moments of solitude. It’s just so flat.
@@Satorotas89 Oh yeah, I def. think Infinite has problems, I just don't think the emptiness is one of them. And CE is better in the ways you mention for sure.
As for 3 generations ago: I personally consider CE to be not only the best Halo, but the best FPS ever created, though I realize that might be a bit of a controversial statement hehe.
I honestly think the Sequence is one of the best missions. It’s insanely long, letting you explore vast parts of the ring, and also shows off the bit of variety the ring has, with portions being higher up and mountainous, and that one area with a big lake in the middle of it. It’s like the Silent Cartographer on steroids, letting you do the mission however you want.
Imagine if the next Halo game is just 10 or so Pelican Down-type missions in different environments
Throw in a few linear levels of Gbraakon quality, and I'm in.
I would be worried about repetition of the "do this 3 times" style of mission.
Hell yeah! No to open world, yes to big non-linear missions (but also som linear ones, variety is good!).
I honestly couldn't recall a single level from infinite
I think the reason people find Halo Infinite’s campaign not memorable is probably because it’s only The Chief, The Weapon and Espanza as the main characters, you don’t really get any Marines, no allies like Sergeant Johnson or The Arbiter, on top of each level having to be set in the same entire world unlike other Halo games where you’d go from, a Snowy Canyon in Assault on the Control Room or the Dark lush jungles in 343
Part of the reason I didn’t bother updating my “Top 25 Hardest Halo Missions” video to include Halo Infinite missions was because how bland and unoriginal many of them were (mostly the Forerunner themed ones). In fact, it wasn’t until probably my 4th play-through that I was able to differentiate Nexus, Command Spire, and Repository from one another. Definitely agree with Nexus ranking last and Warship G ranking first. Great list overall ❤️
I actually really like excavation zone. It's easily one of my favorite missions. Maybe that just because it's one of the few I can actually remember well but I've always found it to be very enjoyable to play.
having not returned to halo infinite after completing it I'll be totally honest many of its levels just faded entirely from memory.
I will say though that the 2 top choices you have here are the ones I remember the most.
- personally as the boss fights were not my favorite set pieces I rank the final mission pretty low.
My wife was watching me play as I finished out the story. around the ending she turned and said something along the lines of "I feel like I missed something" and I replied that I was just about as confused too. I just feel like they had a chance for a great reset to the story. establish new threats, setup for more games to come... ideally make a game that would go on to build on what it setup. But instead they introduced the banished.... which likely will go down as one of the biggest mistakes they could have made. I dont care about the banished. this game should have made me care. but I still dont care.
its just a shame cause at face value a big open world halo game sounds brilliant.
- scarabs crawling around doing patrols
- maybe have a bigger impact on regions as you build up the human presence they become safer.
- when you first start the map maybe the way to gate some areas off would just be to have a overwhelming amount of enemies in certain areas. as you progress you widdle the enemy numbers down and start clawing back control.
- having secrets that could be side quests that open up pathways to make life easier.
- having hidden UNSC vehicles like the one from halo 4, maybe the answer to the scarabs. maybe have a side mission that would bring one of these out of hiding to have your own patrols
- bring out new air vehicles that are inventive. maybe a large one that is like a scarab that you can board and take out?
- having played hell divers maybe you could even get orbital weapons that you could call in occasionally again... after activating them via a little side mission or something.
point is there was SO MUCH potential with a big open world halo game and I feel like infinite just bumbled most of it up and its such a shame
I still can't understand why with all these allegedly talented writers, they thought the best course of action for story telling was to have the main antagonist continuously monologue at you again and again and again AND AGAIN. Every time he Facetimes Master Chief all of his dialog contributes nothing to the story and is summed up as "Look at how evil I am. I'm gonna get youuuu. And I'm saying mean things to you and I'm big and in red. See how evil I am? That's how you know I'm SO super evil." Even the Prophets in Halo 2 and 3, who literally sit around in their chairs and big fancy hats the entire time, SHOW that they're genuinely corrupt evil individuals. Which is evident when in Halo 3 the Prophet of Truth is killed by Arbiter, you get this satisfying sense of "Holy hell that evil sack of shit is finally dead! Oh god, now what's gonna happen?"
Halo Infinite is a shining example of the failed writing style of "tell, don't show". They told me the game was gonna be good, the environments were going to be vast and diverse, and the story was going to be deep and compelling. They never SHOWED me any of that throughout the game. But they sure as hell TOLD me a lot of things. Which is about as helpful as telling a hungry person about a big table of food on the other side of the world. Def not the worst Halo title, by a LONG shot. But it's damn disappointing that this is the best 343 can muster after all this time.
I think the whole campaign was likely cobbled together last minute from whatever work they'd completed up to that point. There's such a lack of variety in terms of aesthetic and storytelling, and the campaign ends at what really should have been the narrative's midpoint. Let's just hope they don't ditch what they've started for the next game, as all the set up is now done at least.
@@BenPlaysGames Yeah it does feel like that. The basic bones of a good game is there like art style, audio design etc. but none of that is complimented by the story. The delivery of expanding the lore of Halo felt clunky at best. For instance the introduction of the Skimmers was just terribly handled. They made it seem like THOSE were the Endless, and not some yet-to-be-seen species that the the Harbinger (also not the Endless? Which is even more confusing) keeps on "mysteriously" alluding to.
Granted I don't think all the dialog or story is bad. Seeing the relationship between Chief and the Pilot evolve and change was enjoyable, and there were moments when the Weapon and Chief had some good conversations.
Maybe 343 could tell us why they can't write competent stories since they're genuinely flexing their abilities to tell not show. At least then we'd have some dialog between us and them which would be nice.
As someone who used to love open world games like skyrim and fallout, halo infinite just completely missed the mark for me. Dont get me wrong the map is absolutely beautiful (except for those godawful metal hexagonal pillars plaguing every scenic view in the game) but once you've spent some time there you've basically already seen it all as theres nothing to differentiate different parts of the map from each other and it all ends up looking the same. This also negatively effects the story as well because all the missions just blend together because theres no visual differences between them. I literally could not tell you the name of a single mission in this game and I can barely remember the story the game was even trying to tell. I thought the gameplay was great and felt really fluid and polished, but the campaign was just so forgettable mainly because of how boring the open world is. Thanks for listening to my ted talk lmao
seem unfinished especially considering the trailers
Bungie fanboy trying their hardest to compliment 343i (Difficulty: Impossible)
On a more serious note, I agree with the Forerunner missions blending together, but not remembering the names of the other missions, like the Tower, named after - you know - THE MASSIVE TOWER IT TAKES PLACE IN? Or Gbraakon, being the first mission you're exposed to after 6 years of no new Halo games? Things like that should stick, and them not sticking makes me think you weren't really paying attention to the game.
Also, Infinite's story is pretty simple, Chief gets knocked into space as the Infinity crashes on Zeta Halo. 6 months later he is awakened by Brohammer in a pelican where he retreives the weapon, a copy of Cortana made to lock her down for deletion. She was supposed to be deleted upon succesful deployment, but she wasn't (hinting at something deeper). Chief makes his way through repetitive Forerunner hallways when he finally makes it out to the surface where he clears an LZ for Brohammer. You're then set loose in the open world and are tasked with going to the Tower. From there you take out the Tower's guardian, find out what the Banished are excavating, and find the Installation's monitor who is quickly taken out by the skimmers. You then figure out who the Harbinger is, meet the sub-monitor, fight him because your goals do not align, take out the three AA guns, and look for piece together enough data to open the Command Spire, where they attempt to stop the reformation. They also find out that the Banished are trying to access something called The Silent Auditorium. While they await extraction, Brohammer's pelican is hijacked by Jega 'Rdomnai and steered towards the House of Reckoning, where the Chief will fight through a test of mettle that no one has survived. He defeats Jega, Escharum, rescues the Pilot and heads to The Silent Auditorium to take down the Harbinger.
Now, I'll admit, its a bit more confusing than the trilogy's story, but overall it's not that hard to remember. At least for me.
@@ChefandTheArbistor Yeah that's honestly fair enough, like you said it's probably just me being a bungie fanboy lmao. But having said that I did actually enjoy halo 4 for the most part, and I really enjoyed the multiplayer for halo infinite too. But to be fair i did only play halo infinite's campaign once right at launch so it's no wonder why I can't remember much. But either way I'm glad you enjoyed the game, it's just my opinion.
@@rockstormv3911 ya know, props to you for not doing the typical Bungie fanboy thing and slandering me for not agreeing with you. I’m not a 343i shill, by any means. My favourite game is 2 and I played CE back at launch. I actually disliked Reach and 4s gameplay more than 5s, too. But I still think that Infinite was a decent attempt at an open world, but with how well 343i did the opening linear mission, I’d like to see them make a whole game like that.
@@ChefandTheArbistor Thanks man, like i said I dont hate infinite by any means, there are a lot of aspects about it that i genuinely think are great, like the general art style and graphics are spot on and the game play is phenomenal. The main gripe i had with the game was the blandness of the open world itself, and unfortunately in my opinion the rest of the game suffers slightly because of that. But thats just me and i can definitely see the appeal of it, but for me i think i prefer the more linear level design of previous halo games.
Sequence was honestly the best mission for me, it offers so many options on how to clear each location and brings you to explore the areas around them
like the one in the east could be: a fight you're way on foot from the front or side, or you go to the FOB in area and take the Wraith from there to bomb you're way through and can even get it up to the building if you use the boost right, or you take the banshee land behind the building and kill them all from behind.
The one in the south could be a Scorpion mission, since you could take the Scorpion which stands around in the woods not too far away from the FOB there or fly up the massive metal structure south of the building and sniper all the drivers and gunners out of their Wraith's and Ghost's, just to name some of the many options there.
The one in the west with the hunters there you can bring the Scorpion or one of the Wraiths from the south building over, just need to drive them of the cliffs and over to that part of the map or simply get a Warthog from the FOB north of the building or use a Banshee and get the nearby Marines over to fight while you support them from the air.
The one in the north I personally find the hardest cause there are so many shockrifles, making most vehicles hard to use, but the area is definitely not bad for a Warthog with all the infantry units and the few Ghosts or sniping is also an option, but the terrain is not that great for it and ammo is a problem too since at least I didn't find any around that area and the next FOB is kinda far away on that one.
While this mission also shows you the biggest weakness of Infinite first with the insides of buildings, which could have been all different and a little bigger and secondly - your allies the Marines are nearly useless outside of being a gunner or as passenger of one of the Warthog versions. The best thing you can do with them is to cheese the mission with the huge laser with a full Razorback and bring some to the boss room at the end with you, can kill him in like 2 seconds with the right weapons.
But the convoys and fighting groups from Halo 3 seem now like high-tech of the past, the only thing that makes the Infinite Marines better than the CE ones is that you can give them weapons and that they pick up stronger weapons on their own sometimes, but even the CE Marines feel more intelligent than them at times.
Broadly agree. Pelican down and warship are in the top 3. But just not having excavation site so low 😆. Here is why. There are so many ways to play it; including, for laso or difficult skulls on. Load up the razor back before starting. Park it on the cliff to the right (as you look at the beam). Trigger the start, grapple back to the razor back and watch the marines unleash on the banished below. Note they won’t follow you down so they remain like artillery at the top. Finally for the boss fight, activate the marines on the other side, take the warthog into the tower before lock down. Park it at the far end. Activate bassus, channel him the the warthog and goodbye. Lots of fun🎉
I will say, as much as I hate the gondola in Nexus, considering I wasn't very good yet when i got there, and playing on heroic definitely made that last dash to the door while every sentinel shot at me memorable at least. Personally, my favorites have to be the road and the house of reckoning. (Also, Pelican down and the warship but that's a given.)
The problem with the sentinels is that they drop the beam which absolutely shreds them to the extent they become a non issue even on higher difficulties. Although, to be fair, the beam destroys everything, it's incredibly overpowered.
Personally, I think Infinite had the best first level in the franchise! Other levels start blurong together, but the first started things off right!
Man, Warship Gbraakon was such a strong start, it really made me hopeful for the game! It's such a shame that the rest of the campaign was plagued by the extremely repetitive scenery and formulaic structure of the open world. Not to mention the story that crawls to build up this massive threat that is never even revealed.
343's Halos haven't been the best, but I think Infinite campaigns was a huge step up compared to previous titles. I guess we still have a long way to go but hopefully we're in the right direction for the next titles to keep improving. I say this as a long time fan of Halo since CE, I really hope Halo gets better. Looking forward for the analysis videos of each level Ben, great video as usual. Cheers!
In another universe, we had the complete campaign…
I feel you on nexus.
As someone who hasn't played Infinite (still waiting for that Halo 5 PC port 🙁), what can I say except that the graphics look absolutely stunning. From Halo 4 it was clear 343 knows their graphics very well. Shame the Forerunner structures always look so bland and gray. Gameplay looks pretty fun but I guess you have to truly play it to know it. Great video anyway
I really wish they would do another "open world" halo game, my biggest issue is there wasn't more to it. I think its an interesting step forward for the franchise.
Hyperius has a sniper rifle that he uses if he is expelled from his chopper and you stay at extreme range. It kills you in one hit. I don't like it.
I honestly had a better time just roaming the wilderness with Marines and clearing FOBs/bosses/camps than any of the sectioned-off Levels. The levels were very sameish in environment and in objective, PLUS they weren't easily replayable until the update almost a year later (basically you had to start a new game to replay the unique scenarios).
Going into this video I quickly realized that none of the missions particularly stood out to me. I remember some of the boss fights being more annoying than others, but other than that... Can't really remember much, despite having done 2 playthroughs and some extra. In contrast, I could probably write a multi paragraph synopsis describing each level from every other Halo game (except 5, which I do not own).
I struggle to mentally differentiate 90% of the campaign levels.
House of Reckoning will always be tied with Warship Gabrakon for me. (crap I spelt it wrong) It is cool seeing a makeshift UNSC base in the giant Banished base. No wonder it was used for scuffed firefight!
I always love your analysis of Halo. I mean, for someone on the other side of the pond. Lol
Honesty the first 2 missions, and the silent auditorium
Uncle squid is that you?
I cant really say which one was my favorite level. They mostly blended together or were Forerunner hallways. New biomes and locations would have helped. The entire game being open world didnt help.
You ARE NOT A COMBAT MAN. You sir are a level critiquer
I have never replayed any of Infinite's levels which is strange for me. Idk i just never remembered or had the thought of replaying. I played more of Halo 5s campaign. Then probably Halo 2s, 1s, 3s.
I’m glad you noted that the forerunner beacon towers having nothing inside of them during the sequence was a big disappointment for you. It was for me.
The only thing I ever take from these videos is that Ben *really* hates Forerunners
In my defence, I actually love the Forerunner environments in this game! Aesthetically they're a vast, vast improvement over those in 4 and 5. Unfortunately, far too many of Infinite's levels are set entirely within them (7 out of 15), so they get quite tiresome after a while.
Yeah the first mission was really the only memorable one for me. Campaign wasn't very fun since I'm not into the open world format. Preferred CE's open area's within a linear mission design instead e.g. AOTCR, SC and even Halo to an extent.
Instead, the campaign felt to me like every other open world. Lots of traversing that, whilst fun with a grappling hook, nullifies the vehicles due to the level design and how weak they are (to quote you "paper mache"). The encounters felt almost the same in most of these areas and the extra's like rescuing the Marines + lore dumps being behind audio logs just left me feeling like it was pointless and empty. Why not have the Marines openly engaging the Banished on their own terms after rescuing them? Why not have extra missions to assist the Marines? Where are they during missions? It no longer feels like Humanity vs the Banished, it's Chief vs the Banished.
The linear levels suffered from feeling too familiar to each other, especially since they're Forerunner levels and they all tend to feel the same anyway. Outside of that, the bosses being bullet sponges was immersion breaking. If I drop the shield, I should be able to HS you like a normal boss. This problem is exacerbated on Legendary difficulty. Halo has never had good boss fights, bringing them back was a mistake.
And then the story. Nothing really happens. We don't see/know what happens to the humans unless you go out of your way to get the audio logs + a handful of dead Spartan IV's. The Harbinger is released with no real info on the Endless and by the time something major happens with the Harbinger making probably the Galaxy's most expensive phone call, the game ends. Oh, that's right, Atriox was in this game (lol).
Halo Infinite suffers because of its troubled development with the game engine, chasing open world trends that do the series no favours and staff turnover due to lack of permanent contracts. Such a shame.
I’m waiting for the campaign to one day be reduced to a really cheap price 😅 currently going through the halo 5 campaign atm. Looking to play halo wars 2 and at some point hopefully infinite
I only remember the first mission and the last one where you use a tank on a canyon or something like that. What a waste of a campaign :/ we need to go back to creatively designed linear levels with awesome set pieces
Haven't played Infinite enough to properly rank them, and I really feel the thing with a lot of it bleeding together. I don't only think it's because of the underground levels being samey, but I think the open world format kinda stop you from feeling the discrete levels.
That said, my favorites are Pelican Down, Foundations and Ship G'Braken. I kinda like The Sequence and The Silent Auditorioum too.
I strongly disagree that they nailed the open world in Pelican Down. All the rest of the rest of the open world is locked away (much like a underground mission or Ship G'braken). So now, it's not nailing the open world, because it *isn't open world*. What it *is* however is a big non-linear Halo level, much like the second leven of CE. With Infinite they said they tried to make the whole game like that leve, but I think Pelican Down shows that mostly failed, but making *a single fairly open level does work well*. So I hope they throw away open world for the next entry, and rather make some really big open levels in a discrete campaign.
Anyway, thanks for the vid! Does actually make me want to revisit Infinite. Despite being very flawed it also has it's moments, and if you take care to approach it in the right way it can be very fun (I say that as open world very much makes it possible to approach in less fun ways).
And a controversial statement: I hate the boss fights. That's one of the reasons I kinda dread replaying Infinite. I really enjoy regular combat being challenging, but find the boss fights to be tedious and boring with their difficulty. I wish I could turn up regular difficulty yet keep boss difficulty low or something.
Uncle Squid what happened…?
House of Reckoning was absolutely best imo. Silent Auditorium was a good “conclusion” if you can even call it one but there were so many different shifts in tone throughout the level leading up to one of Halos best boss showdowns after an entire level of build up. Overall the levels are pretty mid but that and Warship Gbracken stand out to me as levels comparable in both fun and story telling as Bungie’s games
all the levels are basically copy and paste, the only one I liked was when you heard pete stacker as keyes in those random echos in the missions.
Loved seeing Keyes plus Chief and The Weapon briefly mentioning him. I always forget it happens and it makes me smile.
Ha Marty o donnel either you love his music or you just never heard of his music
This was the only game I couldn't complete...Infinite didn't FEEL like a Halo game like back in the day.
Halo didn't need to be another "open world type game".....H1,2,3 wasn't made to be an open world game, it was a Halo game first which just so happen to allow you to explore. 343 needs to be eradicated because they apparently don't get Halo
Put the fries in the bag.
They're called chips where I live, dummy.
And yet it's the best 343 had to offer
Not saying much when everything else they put out is medicore or outright garbage
I don't know. They all feel the same.
The one with pine trees is best
It's sad I've never felt compelled to finish infinites campaign. I adore the bungie campaigns and think halo infinites multiplayer is great, but infinite's does nothing for me. All the confrontations feel the same.
Honestly could never answer that. I guess Pelican Down maybe but the whole plot was so damn forgettable. It's odd because the writing and dialog is very solid but the why and what of the story is empty
Halo infinite’s best mission is all of them, because they aren’t really that different.
Can we have chapters please?😢🙏
I added them the same way I always do while uploading but they're not working for some reason! I'll try and figure out why today.
@BenPlaysGames Thank you. The missions blend together so much that I sometimes forget what mission you're talking about while discussing it.
@@Christian-o8t9n No worries! Have solved the problem, so they should be working now.
Thank you. 😊
I'm sorry, this game has levels?
I think Infinite has the unenviable position of being the best of the worst trilogy in Halo so far. So many of its course corrections were GOOD and necessary, but course corrections generally don’t make great stories.
The best parts of the story were lost in exposition or skimmed over in the breakneck pace of trying to fix a story AND try to advance it at the same time.
ill be so honest. I really did not enjoy infinite.. I loved the idea of an open world Halo game a lot. 343 just didnt do that great of a job making the world feel as alive as they showed in all the trailers and teasers.
The world feels repetitive and bland, the levels, likewise, feel repetitive and not entertaining, the boss fights feel forced and the bosses feel really shallow. It was an absolute snoozefest for me personally i couldnt even finish the campaign because of how sleep inducing it was lol.
im done with 343 and i have been done with them for the past decade. I hope one day, Halo earns back the throne it was so viciously kicked off due to poor management and leadership
“The world feels repetitive and bland, the levels, likewise, feel repetitive and not entertaining” so like most (if not all?) open world FPS then.
I think we have to accept the fact that it's production wise impossible to make a good open world FPS games. Personally I hope they go back to discrete linear levels again, the best parts of Infinite follow that anyway.
The sequence is ASS😭😂
Peace
This game is so forgettable I don't even remember there being a gondola
3 1/2 minutes???
For halo infinite, I pretty much love every level, it’s the best game in the series, and every level is my favorite, I truly think halo infinite is perfect, and I praise it with everything that it has to offer!🙂
Wow must be nice being this ignorant
@@dhruvster10 Ignorant to what exactly?
@@jasperfox6821 how many great Halo games there are and to think Infinite comes anywhere close to being the best, forget being perfect. If you think Infinite is the best halo game you have some seriously questionable taste
@dhruvster10 Agreeable, I've uninstalled infinite, not as good as it was when seasons were around.... £700 on cosmetics I'm never seeing again 😅
@@jasperfox6821 you spent £700 on cosmetics in an unfinished game??? My god. I’m sorry but you’re part of the problem.
None, is the worst fps out there,halo 3 itself is 10X better than all 343 halos combined
This entire campaign, hell the entire game, was a snooze. The tradition of 343 releasing disappointing games continues
Personally, I think it offers some value at times, but those moments are fleeting. What I will say is that I enjoyed playing through it several times far more than 4 or 5, because the gameplay is so good.
There are levels in this game? lol
You give this bullshit lazy game too much credit. Especially at the end there with that lame run through a blowing up ship
Honestly most of these are all so forgettable lol.
Such a boring campaign...
What’s the worst infinite mission? The entire game, since every mission is exactly the same.
Broadly agree. Pelican down and warship are in the top 3. But just not having excavation site so low 😆. Here is why. There are so many ways to play it; including, for laso or difficult skulls on. Load up the razor back before starting. Park it on the cliff to the right (as you look at the beam). Trigger the start, grapple back to the razor back and watch the marines unleash on the banished below. Note they won’t follow you down so they remain like artillery at the top. Finally for the boss fight, activate the marines on the other side, take the warthog into the tower before lock down. Park it at the far end. Activate bassus, channel him the the warthog and goodbye. Lots of fun🎉