Halo Infinite is just around the corner…and from the live reveal that occurred on July 23, it seems like something completely new, yet also borrowed.

 

Halo Infinite Trailer Reveal

Watching the world reveal trailer for Halo Infinite did at first elicit the giddy excitement I’d felt previous to every Halo launch since Halo 2.

But I’m an OG. I was there at GameStop (wait, they’re still around?) in 2001 when the original Xbox launched and Halo became my first choice of game to deflower as I booted up the latest competitor in the still-raging gaming console war – the original Xbox.

So here I am again, recent gaming PC adopter, and now without an Xbox to call my own, still watching live at noon as the eight-ish minute trailer unfolded. I fully expected to be floored and rush to put my deposit down on an Xbox Series X moments after the stream had ended.

And out it sprung. A grappling hook!?

I’ve rarely been a Halo critic. Halo 2, in my mind, was nearly flawless. I overlooked the shield bubble and assorted Brute tech in Halo 3. I had wet dreams for years while playing Halo 4 (yeah, it was my favorite, fight me). Halo 5 arrived and the story underwhelmed, to say the least, but Halo 5’s multiplayer was the most-supported element of a game I’ve ever experienced – benefiting from wave after wave of updates from 343 Studios.

So yes, approaching the Halo 6 reveal (sorry, Infinite), I didn’t hesitate to skip my typical on-the-dot 12 PM rush to the kitchen. Instead, I settled in and watched.

Halo Infinite is being touted as a spiritual reboot. Apparently, it’s prime to allow entry into the Halo universe for noobies and vets alike. What does that mean? We’ll see, but vets with knowledge of previous stories “will be rewarded,” while newcomers won’t feel like they need to know the breadth of Halo’s history for not having played each campaign through on legendary, not having read multiple Halo novels, not having spent hundreds of hours “mastering” each and every multiplayer experience...

Fine. You need the new kids' money too. I get it.

And then you’re introduced to the big baddie: a banished leader. Cool, more brutes. Probably the villain I like the least in all of Halo.

Whatever. I can forgive that too.

And then you find out the game is a much more open world than any previous Halo. I was never a fan of Fallout, Far Cry, Borderlands, or any number of open-world FPS games in my time, but again, this is Halo, there’s no way an open-world concept can be a bad thing. You're telling me I get to roll about a legitimate Halo ring in my trusty Warthog, with not a care in the world but to stick the nicest landings and pop as many grunts as my heart desires. It’s going to be like some badass Grand Theft Auto in space.

I’m down.

And while much of the criticism from PlayStation fanboys rests on the underwhelming graphics in the trailer, I was pretty awed by the ranging, seeming never-ending vistas my eyes uncovered as Master Chief ascended a cliff-side open elevator in preparation to do battle.

So, what’s my real gripe here? Oh yeah, I’m supposed to be OK with this grappling hook the Chief can shoot out, latch onto enemies, and use it to propel himself forward for a nice dropkick to their face. I’m not signing up for Master Chief becoming some Pathfinder rip off. That stiff and painfully tedious tool should be left in Apex Legends where it belongs. And I’m to believe that you’re using this grappling hook to pull yourself into an enemy and they just don’t move as you do so? C’mon man…

But at the end of the day, 343 has had a long time to conceptualize and develop this last outing as Master Chief (we’ll see about that) and since I’ve found out that Halo Infinite will be launching for PC right there along with its Xbox counterpart, I no longer have much of a reason to hesitate. My new rig is ready.

I’ll be there day one to finish (another) fight.

And I’ll give 343 some credit. There’s no damn battle royale!

 

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