I’ve been playing the Halo Infinite campaign for a several hours now. Sorry not a fan of multiplayer, but I tried it. It’s good to feel so at home in this new release. I haven’t played a Halo game since Halo 3 back in 2007. Infinite reminds of everything I liked about the previous entries. And did I mention on the Xbox Series X it looks freaking sweet. It’s a shame I can’t wrap my brain around how to properly steer a Warthog at full speed.

Some of the reviews I’ve read mentioned that is the first couple of hours were a slog. I rather enjoyed them. They gave me a chance to get back into the gameplay and explore the weapons, especially that grapple hook, spoiler alert, it’s a game changer, but in a good way. I find myself in the open world part of the game now and wishing I wasn’t. I don’t think Halo is a franchise that needs the whole “go anywhere” treatment. While it is first and foremost a FPS, Halo has a great deal of lore and story built in to it and I think that is best experienced in the sculpted levels and progression of the previous titles. I know the bases and little pockets of enemies you come across sort of simulates the experience in multiplayer as someone who isn’t a fan of competitive deathmatch or teams play I don’t really care. That’s not to say I want a Halo RPG.

I do think if you’ve never played a Halo game you will feel lost. This is a very rich universe with books, comics and now even a live TV show. I just think it is better served by a game with more structure. Before you say, “you’re playing it wrong,” I am doing my best to scour the areas I come to for all the audio logs I can find. The skulls still elude me but they always did. I am enjoying what is here, even the “boss” fights that come up every so often. They are challenging and you’ll have to adjust your strategy to defeat them. Overall I’d say the Halo future is looking bright. I don’t want an annual release but I can already tell by the time I finish I will be ready for more.