Recent reviews by henrybadger

SILSON!!!!!!!!!!!

Most, if not all of the previous issues I had with this DLC have been fixed, I just hope history does not repeat itself!

Too busy liberating to make a proper review, join our cause!

Cannot recommend this game to anyone in it's current state. I feel more like a bottom line percentage than a valued player, let alone a customer.

I'll give you the short and sweet.
-Cheaters rampant in high ranks/competitive
-AFK Bots in just about any lobby
-Bugs that interfere with game viability
-Mixed bag of content and updates

But you know what they CAN fix and update? Cosmetics, shop updates, and quicker and greedier ways to make a quick buck. A controversial event from a few years back, known as "Iron Crown" was promised to never re-introduce the predatory microtransactions that they did. But the second everyone forgot? They brought it back in full force, and more too. And don't even get me started on the new battlepass bull they are trying to peddle, absolute and objective ripoff.

I don't feel valued by this company, I don't feel listened to, and If you look at social media and the reviews, we're pretty much all in the same boat. I refuse to spend another dollar on this game until the publishers and investors actually act like a human being for once.

I *REALLY* wanted to give this a good review, but the requirements for enjoyment will not please the average player.

I've been a Halo fan since day one, but you've heard that story more times than you can count now. Let's try to make this review a bit more unique.

Where do I even begin? I could honestly talk for DAYS about this game, for better and for worse, but let's focus on some of my personal gripes.

Halo's been having an identity crisis for over a decade now, but that isn't my problem with the Campaign. The gameplay had potential, and you can certainly feel the passion, but that's just it. You can *FEEL* the potential and passion, but the *EXECUTION* of it is either mishandled, misplaced, or shallow at best.

What do I mean by this?

1: The "Open world" aspect of the game was interesting but FAR from anything you'd expect from other "Open World" games, and after a few hours, the cycle was clearly there, fight a boss, clear a story "dungeon" Rinse and repeat. The campaign "Missions" are a farcry from what you'd expect from a traditional Halo campaign, reminding me more of a Skyrim Dungeon more than anything (In terms of repetition, same-ey hallways, rooms, and sections so similar, they might as well have been repeats with different enemy variations. I respect 343 trying something new as opposed to making the same game over and over again, but the rushed product began to show after only a couple hours. And not to mention, the lack of different location variety (One of Halo's strongest things in campaigns, Example being halo 3: Fighting in the jungles of Africa, to snow tundras, and covenant supercity, all in one Campaign.) bites this game hard. Seeing the same 10 shiny metal buildings and the same grassy forests (Heavily inspired by the western coastal/forested regions of earth) was nice at first, but after hours of the same biomes tend to get stale fast.

2: The story. Oh boy... The story. Look, I wasn't a huge fan of Halo 5's narrative handling, but to swipe it under the rug so quickly and almost act like the events and setup Halo 5 was preparing never happened came off to me as Lazy, uninvested, and almost... Afraid? As if the writers were so disgusted by Halo 5's story and lore implications, that they would rather wrap it up off to the side and in a few expanded media sources (books, comics, etc.) It feels like Halo 5 was weighing them down, and they wanted to wipe their hands with it as quickly as possible, undoing the impacts Halo 4 and 5 was setting up, souring the death of Cortana in Halo 4 even more. (Halo 4's ending is actually one of my fav moments in the franchise, but has aged terribly due to the games after it.)

But I digress, Halo infinite's story with Chief and Escharum was genuinely interesting, but ended on a weak note (A problem common in the Halo franchise, building up a Villain, only for them to die or vanish just when it was getting good.) The most upsetting example being Harbinger. My god, that lady. Not only does her very existence sour all previous games (Harbinger and the Endless supposedly being WORSE than the flood, the ENTIRE reason the Halo rings exist, the entire reason the COVENANT exist, and the main reason pretty much anything major happens in the Halo universe) Harbinger and the endless had me excited for a moment, but the lore implications of them sour everything Halo has been doing for the last 20+ years, and not to mention, Harbinger ALSO dies at the end of the game, making both the banished and the Endless completely void of any narrative tension or fear. Why should I be intimidated by the banished or the endless when I've killed two of some of their most notable members in a little arena fight? What's the point of introducing the endless anyway at this point, after washing your hands with another faction in the same game? (The created, and also souring the reputation of the flood) That being said, the design and Voicework of said villains were top-notch. Escharum was a villain I wanted to see more of! And Harbinger was a really interesting design, and was kinda a baddie tho owo

The moments with the pilot and chief were quite enjoyable though, don't get me wrong, there was some genuinely well written moments. But by the end of the Campaign I was left confused and overwhelmed from a narrative and experience standpoint, arguably more confused than I was back in 2015 with Halo 5.

Anyways, that's just the surface of my issues with the campaign. I could go on FOREVER about the campaign, but I'll leave it at that.

Passion was there, skill was there, poorly executed, messy, and all over the place, but can still be salvaged for a day or two of enjoyment blasting silly little aliens and THE big green spaceman.

Childhood trauma: The Game

Not enough hot steamy robot sex, but I can let it slide.

Please just let me see my wife again.

Hey, it's Halo. And credit where credit is due, the game is fun. But the game is choked for content at the moment, and the campaign was far from the best. Good, but not the best.

The multiplayer is a somewhat shallow mess. it's fun though, but I wouldn't recommend getting into the multiplayer until at least Season 2 or 3.

As for the campaign, It's great, but I can't help but feel like more could have been done in terms of content, depth, and some story elements. It's fun, but bittersweet.

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