Since fans have had a couple of weeks to get a feel for Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, consensus has more or less been reached in regard to its merits. For the most part, the fundamental gameplay has received almost universal praise from both fans and critics while the systems surrounding it have gotten well-deserved criticism. Halo Infinite’s bafflingly stingy progression system has received most of the attention, but there are actually several areas in need of some additions and updates. Here are some additional features that would helpHalo Infinitereach its full potential.
Gametype Playlists
At the moment, Halo Infinite features three (technically four) playlists: Quick Play, Big Team Battle and Arena. Arena is further broken up between Solo/Duel and Open queues, but this is still functionally just one playlist. While it must be granted that this is technically still a beta, the reality is that this is the sparsest selection in Halo history at the moment. Players have exactly zero control over what gametype they get to play, which means having to spenda lotof time in modes one does not necessarily like.
The fact that it’s like this is baffling too considering that all of 343i’s prior Halo efforts had more to offer in terms of playlist variety. EvenHalo: The Master Chief Collectionhad more in its launch week, so what’s the issue here? When the updates inevitably come, this is perhaps the area that needs the most immediate attention. At the very least, the most popular game modes should have their own playlists in both the ranked and unranked sectors.
As for eventual, “nice to have,” additions, why not implement a proper “Double EXP Weekend” playlist a a la Halo 3, Halo: Reach andHalo 4?Sure, they’ve already got plenty of special events lined-up, but those won’t exactly be all that enticing until after the progression system is reworked into something a lot more reasonable. Even after that, though, it would just be nice to enjoy special game modes (cough Rocket Race cough) while ranking up all those season passes we’ll be accumulating.
Global Cross-Play Filter
Halo Infinite hasn’t even reached its official release day yet andPC-based cheaters are already having a noticeable impacton the game. PC crossplay brings real benefits to the game. It expands the player pool, reduces matchmaking time and makes it possible to play with PC-based friends. Unfortunately, these advantages also come with all the cheaters and hackers that infest the PC gaming space. Reports and video have already surfaced of players using aimbots and wallhacks, and that’s probably the least of it.
So, at least until 343i and Microsoft are able to implement a real solution for it, players should have the option to turn-off crossplay. The ability already exists in ranked arena for solo/duo queuing, so one would think that it wouldn’t be impossible to enable it for Quickplay and Big Team Battle. Cheaters have the potential to utterly destroy any game they touch, so it’s vital that 343i takes steps to ensure that they aren’t able to run rampant. If one needs an example of the worst case scenario, all they need to do is look at the sad state of the Titanfall games. Both were utterly destroyed by hackers, cheaters and botters, and it was all because nothing was done to combat them. The same must not be allowed to happen to Halo Infinite.
In-Game Unlocks (and Clues for Acquisition)
Okay this one is probably coming with the release of Halo Infinite’s campaign and it’s sorely needed. During the hype campaign for Halo Infinite, 343i made a huge deal about spartan customization. They talked about millions of potential combinations andhaving all sorts of cosmetics unlockable within the game.At the moment though, those promises don’t appear to be being kept. The vast majority of armor pieces, colors and so on are paywalled behind either the abysmally-slow battle pass or the insane prices in the cash shop. Sure, the multiplayer is free to play, but there are limits to what’s tolerable.
Hopefully the campaign will have plenty of cosmetic options tied to it, and hopefully 343i will be kind enough to give clues on how to acquire it. Halo 3 and Halo 4 did a good job with these kinds of cosmetics, both featuring entire libraries for players to browse through and detailed explanations on how one can acquire exactly what they want. The same is true of the Master Chief Collection, so 343i knows how to do this properly. If this sort of feature isn’t there when the campaign drops on December 8, it’ll be rather telling in regard to both companies’ priorities for the game.
With Halo Infinite, 343i has already got the hard part figured out. Its basic gameplay is solid, meaning that that they don’t have to do much in terms of foundational adjustments. It’s with the support systems that all the major problems lie. The lack of playlists forces players into gametypes they don’t enjoy; the lack of a global crossplay filter opens up all players to PC cheaters, and the lack of promised in-game unlocks makes progression feel like a rather empty pursuit. These problems may not be able to outright kill Halo Infinite if left unchanged, but they can limit both its potential and lifespan. Halo Infinite has the capacity to become the best in the series, but only if 343i and Microsoft are willing to do what is necessary to allow it to happen.
