Ah, yes. The combat dance. The beating heart of every Halo game.
For grizzled Spartan veterans this should be a familiar scene: imagine a Forerunner interior; a timeless metallic vault with soaring ceilings. It’s quiet, empty… except for a pair of Hunters, shields up, shoulder-spikes twitching, blocking your path forward.
What to do? That’s easy! I said to myself, the first time I fought Hunters in Halo Infinite. Bait them, get them to charge, then step aside, pivot, and direct as much firepower into their exposed, wormy backsides as you can before they turn-and-turtle.
But when I tried these classic dance steps, the Hunters had something else in mind.
As expected, one of the Hunters charged, exposing its weak spot. By the time I’d pivoted to face it, however, it had already pivoted to face me. That’s odd, I thought. Must be a bug. I tried the dance steps again. Same result. Except this time, the second Hunter filled my face with fuel rod projectiles, sending me scrambling for cover.
Crouched behind a Forerunner pillar, shields fried and health deep in the red, I had a quick think: What’s different? Hunters turn faster. OK, assume this isn’t a bug. What’s the game trying to tell me? And what new dance moves have I got?
As another volley of enemy fire rattled my virtual head inside my virtual helmet, I remembered: I have equipment. Specifically, in the case of more reactive Hunters: I have a Grappleshot. Which means I’m faster and more mobile too!
I don’t want to spoil your own fun of experimentation with a detailed description of what happened next. But suffice it to say: the Grappleshot didn’t “cheese” my encounter with the Hunters, it deepened it—simultaneously made me feel more powerful and the Hunters more intelligent. We all knew the rules had changed. But the Hunters weren’t going to let me dance on their graves without a fight.
This is just one example from a single encounter, but for me it encapsulates what’s so exciting about the totality of the work that Quinn, Tim, David, Brian, Elan, Kevin, and the entire Sandbox Team have done to deepen and expand the Halo combat toolkit. It’s great to feel their respect for the legacy. It’s even better to experience how they’ve improved upon it.
www.gamespot.com
