Halo Infinite Season 3 Is Going Down Well, Despite Xbox Performance Issues

So far so good. The proof of whether the game finally has legs will be in around 3 months when season 4 is due to roll around. The new maps are fun for sure.

I don't think we're looking at a No Man's Sky kind of situation but I do think Halo Infinite is on the up. It's clear from Winter Update onwards and with the change in leadership the passion is there.

I've only see performance issues on my Series X in the armor hall. Outside of that I've been pretty lucky. Generally the game has been much, smoother and I was already having a fairly solid experience since Winter Update so happy to be continuing that trend.

The number of free customization options is kind of crazy at point. No, it's not the level of freedom that previous Halo titles offered but it lightyears better than what we got at launch. Every time I've played a game since Winter Update the variety of Spartans on display is amazing. I often play with 4 different cores. It's not just Mark VII any more. Clearly there's a core for everyone and the fact they're all free without FOMO is huge too. Plus all cores get 10 stock coatings.

The Mindfall event unlocks are decent and hardly any filler. They came out of the gate strong with this one. Let's hope the rumors of Infection at the mid-season point are true!

I really think Infinite is going places.

Whenever I read about Halo Infinite now I just do an imaginary fist shake at the sky and curse the day live service games were ever invented. The Halo campaigns used to be so good and Infinite's campaign is pretty damn good as well... but it could have been outstanding if 343i hadn't had to sink all their resources into creating these trend-chasing live service seasons and cosmetics and events. It feels like such a waste of a once great IP.

Maybe I'm just too old for this sh*t.

@Spaceman-Spiff I don't know if they originally wanted this to be a live-service, or when they saw that they can launch only the skeleton of a game in 2021, they decided to just go like: "yeah btw this is live-service so more content will come over time". Or maybe a combination of both. Even in live-service model the game should have launched with Forge, Co-Op and Split-Screen. Even something as basic as "cool CGI cutscene for the new season" wasn't really there in a quality way until this season and it is something they just need to storyboard and outsource. It tells you so much about what a leaky ship Bonnie Ross was running for years.

@Spaceman-Spiff I don't think you're wrong. I'm a multiplayer guy when it comes to Halo. I've enjoyed the campaigns over the last couple of decades but I can't say I really remember them.

That said all I ever want is a fun multiplayer game with a Spartan dress up simulator built on top which Infinite is. Sadly it's throttled by the trapping of a live service. Having played weekly since launch I have pretty much all I want outside of some of some key modes missing: Infection, Griffball and Assault.

The new maps are great and I'm still enjoying playing the multiplayer with my buddies. Hopefully they have consistent content updates and I do enjoy the mini events for cosmetics. when the cosmetics are good. That Ninja armour from season 1 is still my favourite. Add in a bit of that light mohawk on top, it's a beauty.

@Krzzystuff I was Mark V(B) ODST or Mark VII with the goofy Enigma helmet for the longest time. I switched to the Firefall helmet at the moment but I’m a sucker for any ODST like helmet.

@ParsnipHero I think it is kinda funny how Halo diverges. Most of its legacy is thanks to its MP, launching Xbox Live with Halo 2, boom of Live with Halo 3 etc.
But then you have the campaigns, more than 30 novels, comic-books and an Encyclopaedia all delving into the Halo universe canon. Not to mention the super iconic soundtrack. It is really quite an IP. I think no other SciFi video game has quite the same wealth of story, lore and content.

@BrilliantBill absolutely. I was one of those kids getting their hooks into multiplayer gaming with Halo 2. Having been a Nintendo kid before that it just blew my mind.

But you're completely right. Halo like any good IP services many kinds of fan.

@ParsnipHero "Halo like any good IP services many kinds of fan"

Like an experienced lady of the night?

They somehow went back to awful launch-era performance and added a single BTB map.

Not sure how any of that can be taken as good.

Its been a great update. I even dropped money on the new pack that grants some cool cosmetics for the MK7 armour and the new armour set.

Played a few matches on launch day. Had some of the framerate issues here and there, but had a lot of fun. I have always enjoyed this game and will continue to do so.

I don’t think the issues I’m seeing are performance related? Unsure of that definition but multiple times last night I would melee someone and it didn’t register, I also had a couple assassinations that that didn’t count as that.

In terms of the new maps, they aren’t very good to me. They are huge for 4v4 which makes things like KoTH not much fun. Also, starting with a pistol on these maps is akin to Behemoth, not great. I think Cliffhanger has more potential but Chasm is truly terrible. On Chasm the only thing that really matters is who has a sniper because there is very little cover moving from one side to the other.