Halo Infinite is the game that Microsoft needed to confirm the ambitions of its videogame platform. The campaign is the right evolution of the most popular sci-fi saga on Xbox. The gameplay is fun, tactical, I would say almost gymnastic in its dynamics. But the real novelty is multiplayer (free-to-play), vintage in essence but already projected into the future. We are facing a game that seems born to generate the most innovative esports arena ever.
Countryside
First two words about Halo. We are in the sixth main episode of the Master Chief saga. The tone is epic and that’s okay. The choice to focus on the open world is not the happiest but it works. Zeta Halo, the highly unstable and multi-part shattered orbiting and habitable ring where the campaign is set, is instead an inspired place, we are not at Destiny levels but we are close to it. How the really fun gunplay is inspired, well calibrated and challenging for variety of weapons and gameplay options.
The multiplayer
The decision to surprise free-to-play two weeks after launch left everyone a little surprised. But it made sense. The Pvp packaged by 343 Industries is strategic, fast but never hectic. We are not from the part of Cod, the players dance in the maps, you need a spirit of adaptation and a deep understanding of the potential of weapons. Compared to modern Fps Halo Infinite is no less fast but only more classic in setting, it looks at the less lethal and more fun arenas of the past years but recovers a very contemporary vocation for esports. You will experience exciting duels where only the best wins, and not the smartest one.
How eSport is rethought
Unlike other titles such as Overwatch and Call of Duty, 343 Industries seems to want to unhook the competitive experience from the role of a multimedia event. No millionaire licenses or mega-events with a lot of sponsors, at least for now. But instead deals with teams to generate digital items to sell in the store. The idea is to make the distribution platform athletes to generate custom skins. The business model is that of Fortnite: in-game micro-transactions where you pay for the digital content that changes the aesthetics of the character. Instead of focusing on super-expensive licenses, the model seems to be to push the start to generate objects to bring more players to play. Instead of living from events, we work on the product. Esports teams can earn money by focusing solely on the publisher’s own goals: getting players to download the game and spend money on it. It looks like Columbus’s egg for esports. And maybe it is.
What we liked
Halo fans will be delighted. It is a new beginning. In all senses.