A Ghost zips through the narrow passage undercutting the centre of a sprawling map as Warthogs rip across the plains above. Off in the distance, a sniper picks off the turret gunner, putting a swift and scrupulous cease to the flurry of bullets keeping your team’s flag carrier at bay and allowing them to finally breach the last stretch of open ground leading back to your team’s base. This is Halo Infinite.

Except it’s never that perfect, is it? As a matter of fact, your sniper misses, the Ghost pilot zooms their way to an untimely demise off the side of the map, and the Warthog driver is so irredeemably bad that they somehow end up flipping over a ramp and accidentally subjecting your flag runner to Halo’s infamous vehicular manslaughter. Unlike other games, where perfect precision is the key to victory, Halo has always revelled in its unique maelstrom of chaotic combat. Fortunately for fans of the old Bungie games, it seems 343 Industries has finally cracked the code for brewing a perfect storm.

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During this weekend’s technical preview for Halo Infinite, I played several games across the same pair of concise maps exhibited during the game’s initial demo period. While I originally felt pretty ambivalent towards them - simple Slayer on small maps that appeared relatively unrefined when compared to iconic levels like Guardian and Ivory Tower didn’t elicit the kind of “back with a bang” feeling I was hoping for - Halo Infinite’s newest map changes everything. On top of that, the introduction of new game modes this time around has also managed to revitalise my interest in the maps I had previously written off. Sure, they’re not great for Slayer, but Strongholds? Whole different Grifball game. This is the happiest I’ve been to admit I was wrong in quite some time.

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Mainly, though, it’s Infinite’s latest map - Behemoth - that has managed to sell me on Big John Halo’s upcoming outing. While I’m still unenthused by the lack of campaign details - I love Halo multiplayer, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to judging most of the existing games almost exclusively on their single-player modes - this return to form in multiplayer inspires an enormous amount of confidence. There’s a certain X-factor that makes Halo emphatically Halo. It has nothing to do with glossy graphics or precise shooting, nor is it determined by the same kind of standards typically held to other contemporary shooters. Halo is at its best when it is itself because nothing else is like Halo. Infinite, at long last, is displaying a nuanced understanding of this fact.

First of all, the guns feel great. I’m not sure there are any other shootybangs in the modern FPS oeuvre that manage to capture the same kind of feedback as sticking an enemy with 20 Needler needles, nor does any heavy-duty gunslinging compare to bunny-hopping across a map armed with a rocket launcher the size of a Great Dane. Infinite even gets the classic AR feel right, allowing it to experiment with newer weapons like the Skewer without ever compromising on Halo’s storied history. Some of the firearms look a little bit too pretty - Halo is supposed to be alien, innit - but in terms of how the controller feels in your hand, Infinite’s gun game is weapons-grade.

I’m a little bit more sold on the mobility this time around as well. After the last preview, I wrote about how Infinite’s jumping left me feeling pretty grounded. Halo is defined by its movement at least as much as it is its guns, so it’s possible having the first two new maps be small and confined wasn’t exactly the best shout for convincing decades-long Halo fans on Infinite’s merits.

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That being said, having more time to practice with the all-new grappling hook has revealed just how fast Infinite is. If anything, yesterday’s switch from Slayer to Strongholds, combined with the need to actually make use of increased mobility, offered a tasteful showcase of purpose-built maps that, in the right modes, are capable of instigating the same kind of mayhem that has made Halo so special over the years. Aye, I’m a bit sick of the “put a grappling hook in every game” trend as well, but… Halo Infinite grappling hook good. In fact, Halo Infinite grappling hook very good.

None of the above bore the burden of being the potential deal breaker. though. When I think of Halo multiplayer, yes, I think of shotty snipers and Infection and plasma sticks and gravity lifts. Let’s be real, though - we all know what makes Halo sing is its vast and varied arsenal of ridiculous alien jeeps and jets. I’ll admit that I was a little bit disappointed to once again miss out on Scorpions, Wraiths, Banshees, and Hornets, although I’m more than happy to finally get a taste of Ghost versus Warthog action. Yesterday I spent the majority of a Capture the Flag match just properly ruining the other team’s collective day. You reckon you’re homeward bound, eh? Gonna score? Haha. I’m in a Covenant craft designed to move five million times faster than you. Okay, I’m feeling generous today - I’ll give you a ten-second head start. Time’s up! Bang. Flag returned and another job well done. It feels good to be in the driver’s seat of a Ghost again.

There’s a very specific synergy between all of the individual elements that make Halo feel distinct. Its guns are different, its movement is different, and its vehicles are not just different, but completely singular. In previous entries - right back to Reach, mind, meaning this issue predates 343’s inheritance of Chief and the lads - it almost felt as if Halo was trying to be more like other shooters instead of exhibiting pride in the fact that it was… well, Halo. In Infinite, however, at least from what we’ve seen so far, it’s the exact opposite. This is the 2007 Halo we know and love back with a vengeance. It’s fast and chaotic and designed with evident intent. This weekend’s preview is - hopefully - our long-awaited sure sign that Infinite is here to finish the fight in style.

Also, the fruit explodes now. Not that it mattered to any remotely normal person on Earth before. But yeah. Watermelons go bang when you shoot them with bullets and stuff. Bananas, too. Wild.

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