Halo Infinite – Multiplayer Beta

I got to take part in the Halo Insider Flight test for Halo Infinite multiplayer this weekend, and I had a blast!

A big fan of the Halo series (I even enjoyed Halo 5 to an extent beyond what others apparently did), I’ve been excited and nervous. 

With a long development, apparent disarray in the background and recent news that certain elements of the game won’t be available at launch (Forge and co-op campaign), it’s hard not to be cautious at the very least.

If multiplayer arena shooters are your thing. Or Halo multiplayer is your thing. Or multiplayer first person shooters are your thing. You’re going to be pleased!

 

Feels so good

Halo Infinite feels great.  With that purposeful weight that you expect from Halo, but with a slickness and a quickness.  I can see where people have been drawing comparisons to Call of Duty, but Halo has more heft to it.

When I saw that you could slide, I was surprised. This isn’t a typical Halo manoeuvre! But i can see it being so useful with shotguns and perhaps moving to keep your head out of the way in SWAT.

Learning to slide was harder than expected, due to the crouch button being on CTRL and not on the standard “C” key. But that’s my preference.  The actual slide itself feels like you’re dripping the heavy weight of your Spartan armour to the floor. I cannot overstate how lovely and heavy that feels.

Add to it the sprint and jump, then additional manoeuvrability like the grappling hook power item and you can really pick up the pace.  Halo Infinite is modern Halo in a way i hadn’t expected, and I am here for all of it.

Weirdly, this is how I remembered Halo when I was playing Splitgate.

 

Additions and changes

Halo Infinite is a bevvy of tweaks and changes to a decades-old franchise. Some of which are really cool.

When you’re in a team and near allies, you hear them shout out contextual voice lines. Things like “we’ve lost another” or commentary on the use of certain weapons etc. It’s minor but a lovely way to pick up what’s happening during a round in an organic way.

Halo Infinite brings all the classic Halo weapons, and a host of new ones, too! I sat in the weapons testing area for a bit and did some challenges.  I have a lot to learn and adapt to, but they all feel great and seem to have specific purposes/strengths.

Powerups like the grapple and shield are great additions to the classics like the Overshield and Active Camo. Halo Infinite mixes traditional with modern and new, and it works in Halo’s favour.

Visually speaking…..

There are a lot of customisation and personalization choices here! Halo Infinite allows for armour colours/paints. Helmets, visors, weapons paints, helmet add-ons. Vehicle colours.

With a battle pass and battle pass ethos that others could learn from. Halo Infinite gives you plenty to unlock, and presumably plenty more over the lifetime of the game.

Maps are cool, the New Mombassa style map is giving off big Call of Duty and Halo 2 vibes. 

The optical zoom on your HUD that replaces individual weapon zoom is a nice touch.  It works well with the assault rifle and pistol.  Of course the sniper rifle has the proper zoom levels, but it works with most other weapons.

Graphically, everything looks decent and runs at a good pace. I noticed some graphical issues on the maps, but this is a technical test of the multiplayer component, not a finished product. Hopefully issues like shadows on walls popping in and out will be fine for the final release of Halo Infinite.

 

More to come!

Next week, there’s another test but for Big Team Battle. My favourite Halo multiplayer mode!

Big maps, big teams, vehicles and objectives.  I can’t wait to get stuck into that one!

Until then, i would say Halo Infinite multiplayer is going to make a lot of people happy for a lot of hours indeed.

Excitement and anticipation levels have risen substantially.