Why Halo Infinite Is Our 2021 Game of the Year

John Carson, Associate Editor

A varied, reliable arsenal is the halfway of immoderate Halo experience. With Halo Infinite, 343 has, successful immoderate ways, turned backmost clip to a much classical identity, astatine slightest for your Assault Rifles, needlers, and conflict rifles. You cognize what you’re getting with the mainstays, and that’s a monolithic boon for the wide gameplay. To enactment successful lockstep with that approach, Infinite allows each weapons – guns, grenades, powerfulness weapons, and melee – to consciousness similar invaluable tools successful combat.

The irreplaceable Assault Rifle is tuned for a near-perfect timing wherever emptying a mag volition slay a foe oregon astatine slightest get their shields debased capable that a speedy melee oregon a changeable from the new, susceptible sidearm volition decorativeness the job. It’s a stellar baseline for the weaponry offered, and that old-school Halo consciousness permeates the different Spartan armaments. It allows caller oregon experienced players to leap in, sprout around, and find the amusive of Halo’s combat earlier exploring the flashier wares of the armory.

Infinite succeeds by imbuing inferior into each of the assorted alien munitions. With astir each instrumentality astatine your disposal being a blast to wield, it’s hard to prime conscionable 2 to instrumentality with astatine a time. It’s not a atrocious occupation to person and speaks to the breadth of loadout permutations you tin take to implicit an nonsubjective oregon suit a preferred playstyle. Stopping a rampaging Banshee from terrorizing the battlefield by shooting it with an electrical limb similar the disruptor oregon Shock Rifle to disable it midair won’t get aged anytime soon. Nor volition leaning connected aged standbys similar rolling up connected a squad of Banished Elites and firing the Pulse Carbine oregon a charged Plasma Pistol to dispatch their pesky shields quickly. Though, fewer strategies bushed conscionable rushing into a skirmish, slinging grenades, praying for them to instrumentality to something, and swinging wildly with a gravity hammer. You whitethorn not marque it retired alive, but it’s a damn amusive mode to rack up immoderate kills. 

Each strategy feels distinctly similar Halo, providing a sandbox-like shooting assemblage to research and experimentation in. While this doctrine isn’t caller to the series, it feels similar a enactment of caller aerial and stands retired against different first-person shooters this year.