Halo Infinite: What Can It Learn From Its Predecessors?

Halo Series

Halo Infinite is getting closer every day, and as we eagerly await its arrival, we can’t help ourselves but wonder what improvements 343 Industries could make to the game’s formula. Halo has always been a series that has evolved its combat (wink, wink) with every entry. Sometimes for the better, and other times… not so much.

Halo Infinite Movement Halo 5
Credit: 343 Industries

As is so often the case in folklore, learning from your elders is one of the best ways to grow. What can Halo Infinite learn from each of its predecessors, for better or for worse, to evolve as a game? Let’s take it game-by-game (the main entries, at least) to find out!

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Halo: Combat Evolved

Halo CE Landscape
Credit: Bungie

What better to replicate from the original Halo than the sense of awe and mystery that prevails throughout the game. The mission Silent Cartographer has gone down as one of Halo’s best for one good reason: eerie, beautiful world design and well thought-out encounters. Exploring these alien structures and abandoned stations fills you with a sense of wonder – a feeling that was missed in nearly every entry thereafter to the same extent.

343 should avoid making the same mistake with Infinite that they did with Combat Evolved’s remaster: make alien architecture and design actually look alien. Don’t just throw chrome, purple, and lens flare on everything and call it a day.

Halo 2

Halo 2 Combat
Credit: Bungie

Halo 2 is arguably the most popular game in the series, and it’s easy to see why. 343 should take a look at how beloved Halo 2 is, and take note of one decision choice in particular: open-ended gameplay. No game granted the player more strategies to choose from to overcome tough engagements, and it’s what made Halo 2 Legendary playthroughs so memorable. The addition of dual-wielding added a whole new layer to combat that we’d also love to see back with Halo Infinite, by the way.

Give us Halo 2’s strong level design with plenty of routes, and well-designed enemies. What 343 shouldn’t give us from Halo 2: bad story pacing. Yes, just the pacing. Halo 2 has an incredible story full of sadness, horror, and epic fights. What it doesn’t have is a good ending, or very good pacing at all. The game ends right when things are just getting good, and leaves us on what could only charitably be called a “cliffhanger.” In reality, it’s just a poorly-timed finale.

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Halo 3

Halo 3 Multiplayer Valhalla
Credit: Bungie

Halo 3’s multiplayer has gone down in history as one of the most influential PvP experiences in gaming’s history. Everything about it was just designed to be addicting. Maps encouraged flanking, or pushing with vehicles and power weapons. Control of the powerful items on the map was always balanced, and the sandbox enabled a good player to be great, while still allowing those not too familiar with shooter to get their fix of sci-fi action.

All of that is without even mentioning Custom Games, the heart of any game night in 2007. 343 absolutely could benefit from balancing multiplayer in Halo Infinite like an evolved Halo 3: simple, sincere, and fun.

Halo 3 ODST

Halo 3 ODST Front
Credit: Bungie

ODST has a lot to say for itself. It’s bold, unique, and gorgeous, and nothing is more telling about the quality of the game than the audio design. 343, put on your headphones and dive into ODST. The sound of rain pouring onto New Mombasa’s streets as distant combat makes the Rookie feel even more alone. The sound of a silent sidearm dropping a Grunt squad as Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori’s emotional score drive you forwards. Sound in ODST is everything, and it’s proud of what it has to offer, and stands out as a stellar example of what audio design should be

Just give us more interesting side characters than we had in ODST. It was awesome playing as Rookie or Buck, but any time any other ODST was on screen, listening to them was like watching bad character clichés pour out of talking heads. Halo’s main cast has always been strong, so let’s keep the supporting cast that way in Infinite too, okay 343?

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Halo: Reach

Halo Reach Armor
Credit: Bungie

Say it together, everyone: armor customization. Halo: Reach was the last mainline Halo game made by Bungie, the series’ original creator. With their final entry, they allowed Spartans to deck themselves out in the most beloved sets of armors in any Halo game. Innovating to the highest level, Reach added deep customization to your Spartan without sacrificing in-world accuracy. (Or making your Spartan look like a Power Ranger.) Infinite’s armor customization is apparently incredibly deep, and looks a lot like Reach, so 343 could be heading in the right direction.

Reach’s biggest mistake? Armor abilities needed to be tweaked more. Like, a lot more. One of the single most controversial gameplay innovations in the series’ history was the addition of armor abilities, and with abilities unconfirmed to be returning in Infinite or not, we don’t know if 343 is going to get the chance to do better here than Bungie did with Reach.

Halo 4

Halo 4 Emotion
Credit: 343 Industries

Halo 4 had a sad story. The weight of Master Chief and Cortana’s adventure was heavy, and players were treated to an emotional roller coaster from start to finish. Simply put, the story of any Halo game will evolve if the writers focus on character development, struggle, and hurdles they must overcome. 343 wrote this game, so they definitely have it in them to do it again for Halo Infinite.

What Halo 4 didn’t have was good multiplayer. At all. The worst multiplayer in the series by quite a large margin, Halo 4 felt like anything but Halo when you were playing it online. Loadouts, killstreaks, sprinting, and more made it exactly what everyone feared it would become when 343 got their hands on it: little more than a sci-fi Call of Duty clone.

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Halo 5: Guardians

Halo 5 REQs
Credit: 343 Industries

Halo’s latest major entry remains divisive, what with a weak campaign, exotic multiplayer, and the infamous REQ system. It goes without saying that no game in the series handles better, however. Regardless of how you feel about Halo’s latest movement gimmicks, moving through Halo 5’s scenery feels like a dream. Clambering, sprinting, melee, vehicles. It all feels smooth, responsive, and weighty. Continue to make Halo feel so fluid, and we’ll be in business.

With the aforementioned REQ system comes a bane of multiplayer that 343 should not replicate: some REQs were horribly unbalanced. Take the Hannibal Scorpion, a tank that a player could call in at any time that shoots lasers and has a gauss machine gun. There were REQs that were just too powerful, and the whole system allowed players who just simply had more unlocked to dominate the other team.

Halo Series
Credit: Bungie/343 Industries

And there you have it, our opinion on some notes 343 should take on the past games in their beloved sci-fi action shooter. What do you think they should learn from your favourite past Halo game? Let us know here on the Click!

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