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Halo Infinite Multiplayer is out NOW

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
So I can agree with that, if we distinguish between the combat mechanics and the game mode. In Stockpile for example you have to prioritise between defending your power seeds, stealing power seeds from the enemy base and helping pick up seeds in the environment. There is no single point of action, but a variety of different objectives all being contested at once. And you do get weapon and equipment pickups in the environment you can prioritise.

But the absense of a Warzone mode is felt, which is what Certain Affinity is expected to deliver. At some level, it comes down to semantics. You can say Infinite's gameplay is out of date, or you can say it is lacking modern game modes, but the core combat mechanics are fine.
We agree here. The core mechanics are fine.

But IMO that's faint praise. Rigid genres have been fine tuning mechanics and feel for 30+ years. The FPS genre produced a bunch of games that struggled mechanically in the 90s. Now we have examples of games like Splitgate (made by 2 college kids) that feel great. It's no longer enough to make a game that feels good mechanically because it's 2022 and just about every game released over the last 10+ years feels good mechanically.
Well, which games have a weapon that can coat the floor with a substance that damages shields/armour? Which games have pistols with highly damaging rounds that arc? Which games have "shotguns" that fire pellets that bounce off walls in a vertical or horizontal spread? Which games have grenade launchers that allow you to manually control the trajectory of the grenade? Which games have a plasma rifle with rounds that track the target at specific distances?

If you can give me 5-10 titles for each of these types of weapon, I will agree they are "stock weapons". But I suspect what you really mean by "stock weapons" are weapons that fire a projectile that can hit an enemy. Kind of like how in the 90's some people called every shooter a "Doom-clone", because they involved firing guns at enemies on screen. If you're not interested in shooting mechanics generally, there's likely nothing 343 can do to interest or surprise you in that regard.

AOE effect damage weapons are literally in every game released over the last 30 years. The rocket launcher that players can control is less common but variations do exist. However, the controllable rocket launcher in Halo Infinite still doesn't add enough gameplay variation to be meaningful. You still have to play in much the same way you do with other weapons. It doesn't allow for an all new playstyle. Same goes for bounce weapons. They're certainly in other games (less common admittedly) but it doesn't give the player new creative ways to play. It's still a fast paced arena shooter where the best Master Chief playstyle wins the round.
 
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STARSBarry

Gold Member
Well, which games have a weapon that can coat the floor with a substance that damages shields/armour? Which games have pistols with highly damaging rounds that arc? Which games have "shotguns" that fire pellets that bounce off walls in a vertical or horizontal spread? Which games have grenade launchers that allow you to manually control the trajectory of the grenade? Which games have a plasma rifle with

If you can give me 5-10 titles for each of these types of weapon, I will agree they are "stock weapons". But I suspect what you really mean by "stock weapons" are weapons that fire a projectile that can hit an enemy. Kind of like how in the 90's some people called every shooter a "Doom-clone", because they involved firing guns at enemies on screen. If you're not interested in shooting mechanics generally, there's likely nothing 343 can do to interest or surprise you in that regard.

OK going to be that guy so here's a list, of you want me to dig up the exact example by name and function I can but I think it will become pretty apparent after a bit

Team Fortress Classic / Team Fortress 2 (mainly the latter)
Unreal Tournament / 2k3 & 2k4
Serious Sam series
Borderlands Series
Soldier of Fortune (first title only, second went all CoD)
Enemy Territory Quake wars
Half-Life (primarily Opposing Force with the new alien weapons)
Tribes Series
Duke Nukem
Destiny 1 & 2
Deep Rock Galactic
Titanfall series
Perfect Dark
Hexen
Heretic
Timesplitters series
Planetside series
Resistance series
Marathon (cheeky I know)
C&C Renegade

There will be many more I am sure but those are the ones off the top of my head.
 
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FireFly

Member
AOE effect damage weapons are literally in every game released over the last 30 years. The rocket launcher that players can control is less common but variations do exist. However, the controllable rocket launcher in Halo Infinite still doesn't add enough gameplay variation to be meaningful. You still have to play in much the same way you do with other weapons. It doesn't allow for an all new playstyle. Same goes for bounce weapons. They're certainly in other games (less common admittedly) but it doesn't give the player new creative ways to play. It's still a fast paced arena shooter where the best Master Chief playstyle wins the round.
A weapon in any game is going to fire a projectile that is either hitscan or not, has aoe or not, has physics or not, is controllable or not, tracks the enemy or not. With those variations you can cover practically any gun conceivable. Even the gravity gun in HL2 fires physics objects. The Shrink Ray in Duke 3D just launches a standard projectile.The Redeemer in Unreal Tournament is just a controllable rocket, even the the Bio Rifle can be seen as a kind of grenade/mine launcher.

So if you're being reductive about it, it's hard to think of any weapon that would introduce truly "new" functionality. It doesn't follow from this that Infinite's additions don't offer new and creative solutions. In fact I think most of the creativity revolves around anticipating the enemy's movements. If you're being chased and low on health, you can switch to the Heatwave and bounce shots off the wall behind you, stopping your enemy before they can see you. If you can time the enemy popping out of cover, you can put a Skewer into them or a Mangler projectile. If the enemy is heading for a control point you can put a Ravager blast on it to take out their shields. If they try to pick you off at mid range with the BR, you can use the tracking shots of the Pulse Carbine to shut them down. If they're running away you can fire a Cindershot projectile near where they are and then aim it for their intended destination using the guide mode.

Pretty much none of these possibilities exist in Halo 3. But do they completely change the game? No, arguably not. Because fundamentally there are specific weapon niches in a multiplayer shooter that will always be filled with certain general categories of weapon. Unreal Tournament was considered to have more creative and interesting weapons than Quake 3, but they are still arena shooters with similar audiences.
OK going to be that guy so here's a list, of you want me to dig up the exact example by name and function I can but I think it will become pretty apparent after a bit

Team Fortress Classic / Team Fortress 2 (mainly the latter)
Unreal Tournament / 2k3 & 2k4
Serious Sam series
Borderlands Series
Soldier of Fortune (first title only, second went all CoD)
Enemy Territory Quake wars
Half-Life (primarily Opposing Force with the new alien weapons)
Tribes Series
Duke Nukem
Destiny 1 & 2
Deep Rock Galactic
Titanfall series
Perfect Dark
Hexen
Heretic
Timesplitters series
Planetside series
Resistance series
Marathon (cheeky I know)
C&C Renegade

There will be many more I am sure but those are the ones off the top of my head.
I was trying to be very specific in my descriptions, because I think that practically any weapon type has been done before. The Shock Roach seems like quite an original weapon, but maybe it is just a reskin of the Fusion Pistol from Marathon... Half-Life gets credit for its satchel charges, but maybe these are just Pipebombs from Duke 3D... So are there 5-10 instances of a weapon that fires bouncing projectiles in a vertical or horizontal spread pattern? Are there 5-10 games with a weapon launching armour depleting goo/energy grenades?

Because really my claim is not that Infinite's style of weapons is completely unique, but that they are sufficiently different to merit a place on that list of games with creative weapons, as opposed to "standard" ones. (Unreal Tournament as opposed to Quake 3, Half-Life as opposed to Quake 2).
 

Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
A weapon in any game is going to fire a projectile that is either hitscan or not, has aoe or not, has physics or not, is controllable or not, tracks the enemy or not. With those variations you can cover practically any gun conceivable. Even the gravity gun in HL2 fires physics objects. The Shrink Ray in Duke 3D just launches a standard projectile.The Redeemer in Unreal Tournament is just a controllable rocket, even the the Bio Rifle can be seen as a kind of grenade/mine launcher.

So if you're being reductive about it, it's hard to think of any weapon that would introduce truly "new" functionality. It doesn't follow from this that Infinite's additions don't offer new and creative solutions. In fact I think most of the creativity revolves around anticipating the enemy's movements. If you're being chased and low on health, you can switch to the Heatwave and bounce shots off the wall behind you, stopping your enemy before they can see you. If you can time the enemy popping out of cover, you can put a Skewer into them or a Mangler projectile. If the enemy is heading for a control point you can put a Ravager blast on it to take out their shields. If they try to pick you off at mid range with the BR, you can use the tracking shots of the Pulse Carbine to shut them down. If they're running away you can fire a Cindershot projectile near where they are and then aim it for their intended destination using the guide mode.

Pretty much none of these possibilities exist in Halo 3. But do they completely change the game? No, arguably not. Because fundamentally there are specific weapon niches in a multiplayer shooter that will always be filled with certain general categories of weapon. Unreal Tournament was considered to have more creative and interesting weapons than Quake 3, but they are still arena shooters with similar audiences.

I was trying to be very specific in my descriptions, because I think that practically any weapon type has been done before. The Shock Roach seems like quite an original weapon, but maybe it is just a reskin of the Fusion Pistol from Marathon... Half-Life gets credit for its satchel charges, but maybe these are just Pipebombs from Duke 3D... So are there 5-10 instances of a weapon that fires bouncing projectiles in a vertical or horizontal spread pattern? Are there 5-10 games with a weapon launching armour depleting goo/energy grenades?

Because really my claim is not that Infinite's style of weapons is completely unique, but that they are sufficiently different to merit a place on that list of games with creative weapons, as opposed to "standard" ones. (Unreal Tournament as opposed to Quake 3, Half-Life as opposed to Quake 2).

It's not necessarily new mechanics that I'm concerned about. It's that weapons and mechanics can diversify the play experience and Halo does a poor job of that.

The Wasp and the grapple hook DO do that. The problem with those is the Wasp takes forever to spawn and isn't in 2/3 BTB maps and the grapple hook pickup spawns randomly too. That means that half of your play session is mindless. In Halo Infinite you have to play like Master Chief. You can't play how you want.

Overwatch, Fortnite, Apex Legends solve the issue of playstyle preference by supporting different playstyles.

Mercy (healer) feels a hell of a lot different in playstyle than Genji (dps). Thus, Overwatch solves boredom and repitition by giving players characters who play substantially different. The core of Halo feels unbelievably dated today as it wasn't built to solve issues the industry has already solved.

I mean for the love of God playing in a party in BTB is atrocious. You tell your squad to pile in a Warthog at the beginning of a match, one person is left out because it only carries 3, and then for the next 12 minutes you barely work with your friends as everyone is dying and respawning at different locations and at different times. That's crap design.
 

FireFly

Member
It's not necessarily new mechanics that I'm concerned about. It's that weapons and mechanics can diversify the play experience and Halo does a poor job of that.

The Wasp and the grapple hook DO do that. The problem with those is the Wasp takes forever to spawn and isn't in 2/3 BTB maps and the grapple hook pickup spawns randomly too. That means that half of your play session is mindless. In Halo Infinite you have to play like Master Chief. You can't play how you want.

Overwatch, Fortnite, Apex Legends solve the issue of playstyle preference by supporting different playstyles.

Mercy (healer) feels a hell of a lot different in playstyle than Genji (dps). Thus, Overwatch solves boredom and repitition by giving players characters who play substantially different. The core of Halo feels unbelievably dated today as it wasn't built to solve issues the industry has already solved.

I mean for the love of God playing in a party in BTB is atrocious. You tell your squad to pile in a Warthog at the beginning of a match, one person is left out because it only carries 3, and then for the next 12 minutes you barely work with your friends as everyone is dying and respawning at different locations and at different times. That's crap design.
Ok, I can see that. I don't think B2B is really designed to support squad based play, and is more of a holdover from Halo 3. So it really depends on what Certain Affinity is building.
 
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22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Just got to the end of the battle pass lvl 100. Wish they'd include the white armor coating

Still enjoy the game a lot when playing against same skilled opponents
 

ZywyPL

Banned
Just today I discovered the "network statistics" option in the settings menu, and holy fuck the game lags so hard (which I already suspected for long time but didn't have any proof) - instead of connecting you with the closest server and filling the lobby with players from the same region with equally low ping it just all random, so sometimes you're playing on a server with 35ms ping, sometimes on the one with 187ms, other times at 121ms, and once I played at even over 200mn (US server I guess)... And even playing on the one with 35ms doesn't mean shit because there are players from distant regions who have 120-200ms ping at the same time, this is so fuckign wrong and is the absolute first thing 343 needs to fix in this game.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
343 Senior Game Designer David Ellis liking this tweet;




3k4yszo24dp81.png


I’m sorry, but if this is the type of brain dead, bitter, small-time imbecile they have at the head of the studio it’s no wonder 343 are totally fucked.
 
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01011001

Banned
343 Senior Game Designer David Ellis liking this tweet;




3k4yszo24dp81.png


I’m sorry, but if this is the type of brain dead, bitter, small-time imbecile they have at the head of the studio it’s no wonder 343 are totally fucked.


there's currently the finals of a Tournament going on, and the viewership on Twitch is lower than DayZ on it... DAY Z!... tells you how much people still care for the game, and the devs seem desparate.

d2Solnv.jpg


again, MID TURNAMENT FINALS DAY! and 1/3 of the viewership (~2000 viewers) it does have comes from Snip3down, a former member of one of the best Apex Legends teams who has a semi big fanbase due to Apex Legends

Season 2 will be the make or break situation for the game. this Season 2 will need to rescue the game, and so far it seem not even the already meager stuff they promised for season 2 will be there day 1, and might even be pushed back to Season 3... and Forge, which was planned to launch with Season 3 will most likely pushed back even further than that.

this game is dying fast and if there's not miracle when Season 2 launches, it will be by far the fasted dying Halo game ever
 
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Am I the only person who prefers the campaign mode (alone or in co-op) to the multiplayer game?

Nope. The Campaign was my most anticipated game of the last number of years, and it was fantastic and delivered. Even now as people complain for content for Halo, the content I care most about is tied to updates to that campaign and any story related DLCs coming that opens up more of Zeta Halo, or possibly locations off-world, for us to explore.
 
343 Senior Game Designer David Ellis liking this tweet;




3k4yszo24dp81.png


I’m sorry, but if this is the type of brain dead, bitter, small-time imbecile they have at the head of the studio it’s no wonder 343 are totally fucked.



I take a special kind of satisfaction in how much some guys hate people because of where they work and the consoles they do that work on. What is that level of hatred for? Cause he liked a damn innocent tweet? :messenger_tears_of_joy:

The man can't like a tweet that is basically poking fun at the exact nonsense people were doing to Halo after a mere weak after or two after the game, and that people are now using to suggest a game, which is due to get numerous updates and content additions for years to come, is somehow dead just because there are a few months delay for some stuff and many people have moved on to playing other games, one of which is the highest rated videogames of all-time?

With so many other games out there I don't know why people think it's mandatory people stick to any one thing just because. It hit 20 million players out the gate. That's the best ever launch for any Halo game in history. When they bring new content and update the game more, or drop in some new story DLC, people who care to return to the game will. And even if they don't because they find something else that they want to play at the time, I don't get what's wrong with that. Game populations can go up and down. All Microsoft will care about is that people on Game Pass are finding that there are always things they want to play. Halo Infinite will be just fine.

Microsoft will not care in November if everybody is playing Starfield and Call of Duty with less people playing Halo Infinite. What they care about now is keeping people subscribed to Game Pass and getting new people in. Halo Infinite did its job. It helped grow Game Pass. And when new content arrives and the game receives campaign DLC, MP updates (or that eventual battle royale that's likely surely coming), people who want to come back will. By the metrics some people are using, Forza Horizon 5 is a bigger "failure" than Halo Infinite, and we all know nothing could be further from the truth. Neither game has failed. People are just moving on to other things, or going back to what they were already playing. This is all perfectly normal in a more competitive gaming landscape.
 

01011001

Banned
Nope. The Campaign was my most anticipated game of the last number of years, and it was fantastic and delivered.

it delivered in so far that it wasn't as bad as 4 and 5... but beyond that... no highlights... basically the second mission of Halo 1 drawn out to a whole open world map, and the dedicated mission levels were mid tier Halo levels at best
 

oldergamer

Member
343 Senior Game Designer David Ellis liking this tweet;




3k4yszo24dp81.png


I’m sorry, but if this is the type of brain dead, bitter, small-time imbecile they have at the head of the studio it’s no wonder 343 are totally fucked.

don't be such a cry baby. not everyone has to like the same things as yourself.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
I take a special kind of satisfaction in how much some guys hate people because of where they work and the consoles they do that work on.
Surely you must be joking?

At the bare minimum you could check the username of the person you are shit-talking.

sLsoftL.jpg

3EExL4r.jpg


It’s no coincidence that the users who resort to this sort of comment are always the biggest corporate boot lickers. The funny thing is that I actually care about Halo’s future, whilst you obviously couldn’t give a fuck.

The rest of your post is drivel. Halo did its’ job by being a vehicle for Game Pass growth? Great for MS, but that does fuck all for me.
 

Leyasu

Banned
Finished cyberpunk yesterday (fucking amazing game. Fight me haters) so I went back to some infinite mp.

For all of its faults I love the mp, but it is in desperate need of work and new maps. I didn’t get one match outside of my region which is nice, but I did have a couple of desync issues.

343 need to come clean and tell everyone what the fuck is going wrong and why everything is taking a geological age to do.

Still, I’ll be back on it shortly lol
 

EDMIX

Member
Left 4 Dead 2, a game that came out in 2009 to compete with ODST, currently has 13k Steam players to Infinite’s 6k.

Christ on a bike man.

Celebrate Rest In Peace GIF by Jason Clarke
mexico fiesta GIF

lol I mean sure but, its also still doing pretty good on XB where the majority of that base even is. PC simply doesn't have the majority of Halo players.

Surely you must be joking?

At the bare minimum you could check the username of the person you are shit-talking.

lol I'm not saying Senju's comment is correct, but gamers tend to exaggerate the fucking shit out of things, ignore context and sensationalize a lot

So I'm not saying either of you should be flinging shit, but really now Banjo...

I’m sorry, but if this is the type of brain dead, bitter, small-time imbecile they have at the head of the studio it’s no wonder 343 are totally fucked.

The team is fucked cause someone liked a tweet? I'm not the biggest Halo fan, I don't care for the IP and you know me to be a big picture type of person, I simply can't buy a tweet and how its doing on steam is doomz and gloomz.

The base is lower yes, its not doing APEX or COD shit, of course as those Halo days are pretty much done, but that doesn't mean liking a tweet or something means the team is fucked or Halo is done cause Steam as its up on XB, where its majority base actually has been for generations now. Even as someone that likes Halo 1 and 2 on PC, I've moved on since those days and Halo MCC being on PC isn't enough for me to return, I just play different FPS titles now on PC and that might be why you see it that way on Steam now, yet on XB those numbers are different.


Halo is literally in the top 12 with Madden, Fifa, Call Of Duty, Fortnite etc. So maybe MS is playing the long game and plans to make Halo on PC going forward and never an either or ever again and that base grows and grows on PC. They might be ok with how Halo did, is doing, what they plan for it for Gamepass or something. Its hard to tell, but I digress. (sorry for the baby tree lol) So I don't think Senju should be calling names, but I don't think you should join em and I feel the response to many of theses games is really exaggerated. I say this as someone that didn't buy Halo Infinite and don't plan to either, that isn't saying it cause i'm some massive Halo fan man...
 

II_JumPeR_I

Member
Surely you must be joking?

At the bare minimum you could check the username of the person you are shit-talking.

sLsoftL.jpg

3EExL4r.jpg


It’s no coincidence that the users who resort to this sort of comment are always the biggest corporate boot lickers. The funny thing is that I actually care about Halo’s future, whilst you obviously couldn’t give a fuck.

The rest of your post is drivel. Halo did its’ job by being a vehicle for Game Pass growth? Great for MS, but that does fuck all for me.
Senj will love anything 343 developes lol
He doesnt wanna accept that 343i is currently one of the worst and most incompetent Developers out there besides DICE.
 

Mr.ODST

Member
I used to play Pro Halo (including competing in HCS qualifiers and embedded in the Halo Pro Scene) and its just dreadful atm, no new content etc, each week the weekly rewards are basically just JPEGS, only 2 good maps out of what ... 7 or 8 maps, they need to make sure Season 2 absolutley bangs with a ton of content or the game is doomed, the core gameplay is fun and spot on though.
 

Deanington

Member
The mp can be fun. The frustrating part is the desyncs and lack of new content. The events are cool but can be done in a day. So that leaves me feeling bored after a while playing the same maps and the shitty weekly challenges.
 

01011001

Banned
It’s no coincidence that the users who resort to this sort of comment are always the biggest corporate boot lickers. The funny thing is that I actually care about Halo’s future, whilst you obviously couldn’t give a fuck.

this right here.
I am a long time Halo fan, and I shit on 343 as much as I do because I see them ruining Halo, they started bad and since then it was a rollercoaster ride of minor wins and big losses for the series.

and Infinite could be the nail in the coffin for Halo and it showed just how mismanaged the whole studio is.

it's the same people that defend the always online DRM for GT7... you wonder if these people actually want games to improve or if they are so stubborn in their fanboyism that they rather have a worse product than to admit that their favourite dev/manufacturer made a mistake
 

Havoc2049

Member
The map design in Halo 5 and Infinite has been average at best. Not a single map in Halo 5 or Infinite would make my Top 25 Halo multiplayer maps.
 

oldergamer

Member
Am I the only person who prefers the campaign mode (alone or in co-op) to the multiplayer game?
Im with you there. Most multiplayer games wore off in importance for me when i hit a certain age. I also think its partly why sony has had dominance in the market..
 
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ZywyPL

Banned
Quick question - if I'm lvl100 in Battle Pass already but just lvl14 in the Fracture:Tenrai event, does this mean I won't be able to unlock stuff from the event anymore, or is it still going by those mere 50xp points per match? Is there any way to even check the event's progress?
 

FireFly

Member
Quick question - if I'm lvl100 in Battle Pass already but just lvl14 in the Fracture:Tenrai event, does this mean I won't be able to unlock stuff from the event anymore, or is it still going by those mere 50xp points per match? Is there any way to even check the event's progress?
You progress in the event by completing event specific challenges, so it's not related to Battle Pass progression. The event's progress *is* your level in the event.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
You progress in the event by completing event specific challenges, so it's not related to Battle Pass progression. The event's progress *is* your level in the event.

Well that sucks, I missed the previous events, done everything from the current one, so now I have to wait for week 6 of the event for new challenges :/ Which anyway won't be enough to unlock everything, and then Season 2 arrives. Shit sucks.
 
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