It’s been over half a year since we last left off with the Master Chief. Though we’ve played more than a few multiplayer matches, we’ve yet to touch the campaign proper on the new Halo game.
That changes now. Just like before, we’re going in mostly blind to Halo: Infinite.
Although we’ve only just begun, I’ve started to notice a glaring problem that reared its ugly head in Halo 4, the villains aren’t very interesting. The Banished occupy the same space in my mind that the Didact did in Halo 4. Neither one appear to have much going on beyond the stereotypical villainous need to conquer everything in their path.
I don’t want to say that the Covenant was one of the greatest enemy factions of all time, but they had a lot of layers to their presentation. It wasn’t just conflict for the sake of conflict. There were internal politics, disagreements among the hierarchy, and religious dogmatism all at play to flesh them out and give them much-needed character. One of the smartest decisions Bungie made in Halo 2 was using the Arbiter to give us a window into why the Covenant presented itself in the way it had.
Obviously, my opinion is subject to change as I progress through Halo: Infinite, but for now, I don’t see why people have chosen to work with this group, especially since we already established a working peace with the Covenant at the end of Halo 3. There’s not even an ounce of charisma within their faction leader to explain it.
The pilot is another character I’m not fond of, but I’m happy with the direction they seem to be going with The Weapon. It would be trivial to just make her Cortana 2.0, especially since she has the same voice actress. Instead, while she reminds us of Cortana, she remains a unique a separate individual with her own distinct personality. If we’re only given the models, it might be hard to tell which one is which, but once they begin to talk and act it, their identities would be clear.
It’s a mixed bag so far, but I’m overall having fun with the game.
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