First impressions are key, and since six years have passed since Halo 5: Guardians, for a lot of people (like myself) Halo Infinite will be the first Halo multiplayer experience they’ve played at launch – especially since Infinite’s multiplayer is free to play and accessible to everyone with an Xbox or PC. And what a launch it’s been! With its tight 4v4 matches and more chaotic 12v12 Big Team Battle on expertly designed maps, Infinite revives and reinvigorates the glorious sci-fi action that once made Halo king among multiplayer FPS games. Riding high on that thrill, Halo Infinite’s multiplayer has dash-slid into the first-person shooter scene and meleed the competition off the map.
Halo Infinite looks absolutely gorgeous. The environments within each map are so detailed and pretty that I’m now looking forward to the campaign even more. The lighting, settings, and overall look of Infinite bring the futuristic world of Halo to modern-day glory. On PC, it can run at 144Hz easily (and there’s a 120Hz mode on Xbox Series X), and the most severe technical issue I’ve seen has been some server desync and stutters every so often. It wasn’t enough to really mess things up but it was noticeable and made some fights slightly harder than they should have been. I’ve only experienced one crash in my 20 hours of playtime, so my experience has been pretty steady.
Ahead of the beta “test flights” in September, one of my biggest concerns was how Halo Infinite would be able to court new players in addition to pleasing Halo veterans who have a lot of set-in-stone ideas of how Halo should play. But to my surprise, Infinite does a stand-up job of bringing novices up to speed with its Academy mode, in which you can try out different weapon drills or jump into a Training session against bots with customizable match settings. Training mode allows you to try out different power items (such as active camouflage and the grappling hook) that you may not have been able to get hold of much in PvP matches, and it also helps you learn the maps as you explore at your own pace. You can also join matches against bots if you want to test your skills before facing other players – and these are some of the most human-like bots I’ve ever seen.
When I did go up against real opponents, the intimate 4v4 Arena playlist’s fast-paced matches gripped me immediately and had me queuing again and again, for hours on end. The only complaint I have about the playlists is not being able to choose which mode you want to play – you can’t just check a box to pick Slayer or Strongholds, you have to queue for all five game modes: One Flag Capture The Flag, Capture The Flag, Strongholds, Oddball, and Slayer. While they aren’t revolutionary, they are undoubtedly fun and infinitely replayable, and have formed the basis of some of the most enjoyable multiplayer arena shooters of all time. As they say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Slayer is the traditional team deathmatch, Strongholds has teams fighting to control three capture points on the map, and in Oddball you’re battling over control of a skull. But among the 4v4 modes, my favorite remains plain-old Capture the Flag, which stays fun and competitive no matter how many times I’ve played it. Coordinating with my team and making mad dashes for the enemy’s flag while also chasing down the jerk who stole ours fuels my spirit, and scoring a capture is incredibly rewarding. Playing either defensively around my flag or offensively in trying to steal the enemy’s feels good, and due to the small team sizes no one is unimportant in a match.
The only unconventional mode in that list, One Flag CTF, sounded a little odd to me at first because each round has one team defending a flag and the other team has to capture that flag. But it’s actually a lot of fun – there’s only one map for it, Launch Site, but it has vehicle spawns and easily makes for chaotic and fun gameplay with vehicular Spartan-slaughter as one team attempts to raid the other’s base. All of these game modes are excellent – and much more so when you’re communicating with your teammates.
I do have a few gripes, of course. For one, barely being able to hear a seven-foot-tall, heavily armored Spartan run up behind you for a one-hit melee kill is incredibly frustrating. It’s an odd misstep (see what I did there?) given that the weapons and effects all sound great. I don’t want heavy footstep sounds like in CS:GO, where you can tell where people are from pretty much all the way across the map, but the number of times I’ve been run up on – not even crouch stealthed – and killed is kind of ridiculous. Also, cloaked enemies being silent makes sense since the Active Camo powerup requires you to walk or crouch to stay invisible.
A big part of the reason Infinite’s matches work so well is that each of the seven maps for arena matches are incredibly well designed to allow for you and your team to fluidly rotate through them, grabbing key weapons and items as they spawn and sweeping out enemies. My favorite map from that playlist has to be Streets, thanks to its flashy neon signs, dynamic lighting, and freshly rained-upon pavement. It’s a perfect example of readability being key when it comes to map design, favoring bold, angular architecture instead of over-detailed environments that come at the cost of instantly spotting enemies and objective markers.
It's Strongholds mode that really shows off Infinite’s superior map designs, however, since in this capture-point mode you really need to be able to rotate from point to point with a specific flow to keep an eye on the locations you already control. While the maps in Infinite are smaller than those in most FPS games, the distance between points is just enough that you can easily get from one spot to another. At the same time, you can also get caught out by yourself and eliminated, which encourages you to move as a team. This is where the flow of maps really comes into play.
In general, you can run from one side of a map to the other quickly enough that they don’t feel all that large for 4v4 matches, but they’re big enough that you don’t get there too fast or feel like they’re too cramped of a space, either. There are lots of platforms and objects stacked on top of each other that you can use to perfect your rotations, so you aren’t restricted to going down one hallway just to get to a specific area – we actually have a lot of options in these spaces thanks to the ability to vault up to ledges and the absence of fall damage. I’m impressed with how the map designs take all of this into consideration, especially on this smaller scale.
Even with Big Team Battle, the three maps are evenly balanced for 12v12 matches. BTB showcases expansive arenas with enough space for close-range mayhem, long-range sniper plays, rumbling Scorpion tanks, and flying Banshee fighters. I like how, unlike Call of Duty’s breakneck-paced 12v12 matches, BTB allows for you to catch a few moments of breathing time before you engage in a heated fight. The weapon spawns are spaced out enough to give everyone a chance to run for them and the vehicle spawns are mirrored on each team’s side, making for awesome vehicle runs. Power weapons and items are always a risk to play for since they’re placed in the middle of maps, and that makes balancing feel just right.