Despite a one-year delay, Halo Infinite has received high praise for putting the series back on the right track and finding new ways to push the series forward. Unlike the other games in the series, Halo Infinite picks up a few years after Halo 5, so much of the campaign is filling in the missing information after Cortana declared war on the universe.
While much of the plot in Halo Infinite is coherent and thoroughly well done, there are still a handful of things that, quite frankly, don’t make a whole lot of sense. Now, it might be a bit subjective to say certain things don’t make sense because it’s a game about fighting aliens, but based on our experience of the Halo series, we couldn’t help but scratch our heads and ask why.
The following list contains entries that have major spoilers regarding the game's story. Only continue reading this post if you've finished Halo Infinite.
5 Covenant Working With Banished
Early in the Covenant war, the collective of alien races sought out the Brutes to join their cause in fighting against humanity. The savage beasts first appeared in Halo 2 and have since become a staple among enemy forces for Master Chief. As we learned more about the Covenant, it’s revealed that cracks begin forming among the ranks as Brutes and Elites start fighting each other.
Because of the in-fighting, it’s somewhat of a surprise to see the alien races working together again. It could be their mutual hatred toward humanity or remaining Covenant factions from the war that wanted to continue fighting. Regardless, it’s clear that the Brutes are now the ones in charge, but why did the Elites give up their power so easily?
4 Banished Propaganda Towers
Scattered across Zeta Halo are propaganda towers that spew supporting messages for the Banished. Many of the messages focus on the inevitability of the Banished reigning supreme and the eventual fall of mankind. Upon finding these towers, Master Chief does what he does best and completely destroy the towers.
But let’s back the train up a bit. Why exactly do the Banished need propaganda towers? And how do they even know what propaganda is? This collection of aliens just obliterated humanity’s most advanced UNSC ship in the Infinity and established a firm hold on the surface. The Brutes never seemed afraid of humans, so the need to broadcast any sort of messaging seems like a waste of time.
3 Grappleshot Not Gripping To Smooth Structures
Without a doubt, the Grappleshot is the best thing to ever happen to Halo. The world of Zeta Halo is massive and exploration is key to finding Spartan Cores to upgrade Master Chief’s equipment, saving UNSC marines, and claiming Banished bases for fast travel capabilities. Now, the ring of Zeta Halo isn’t completely stable, as large fragments of it have been broken off, leaving large chasms on the surface. Unfortunately, the Grappleshot caps at a certain distance, but you can time Master Chief’s jump perfectly to snag onto the side of a mountain as you’re falling and propel yourself toward the top. But if you try this method with one of the smooth ring structures, prepare to fall to your death.
For some reason, if Master Chief tries to grapple on the side of the ring structure as he’s falling, the Grappleshot will detach and the Spartan will fall into oblivion. At first, it appeared that the reason the grapple detached was that the Spartan was simply too heavy and falling too fast for the Grappleshot to sustain a firm grip. But if that’s the case, why doesn’t it also happen with normal mountains? If Master Chief is falling down the side of a mountain, he can fire the Grappleshot and sling himself right back up. The Grappleshot is certainly an overpowered item in Halo Infinite, but we wish it was a bit more consistent in its function.
2 Banished Understanding Human Concepts
First off, it’s important that we disclose the fact that we understand Halo Infinite is a game about fighting aliens and there’s a certain point where you just accept things as they are. But can someone explain how the Banished know and understand human concepts like humoring us in conversation? The Banished speaking English, in general, is already an eyebrow-raiser, but who taught them the social complexities of our language?
Near the end of the campaign, Master Chief witnesses the final flashback of Cortana’s encounter with Atriox. Somehow, the Brute had cornered Cortana and was in the middle of demanding her surrender when she asked him to first humor her. In case you don’t know, humoring someone means for the sake of their own interest, go along with whatever question or statement they have. It’s odd seeing Atriox, a giant beastly alien who wants nothing else but humanity’s destruction, articulate our language delicacies.
1 Banished Having Human Prisoners
One of the side activities that Master Chief can participate in on Zeta Halo is rescuing his fellow UNSC marines. The Weapon will pick up UNSC distress calls from all around the ring for the Spartan to investigate and, hopefully, liberate. Some UNSC marines are under fire from advancing Banished forces, while others are already trapped as prisoners. But why exactly are the Banished keeping humans as prisoners?
For an alien race hellbent on killing humans, there are only very few reasons why captured humans would be kept alive. One instance was Escharum ordering Jega ‘Rdomnai to capture Echo-216 to lure Master Chief and try to kill him. But that’s Master Chief and these other marines are, unfortunately, no one special. It’s not like the Banished are experimenting on humans or have any desire to hold them for ransom. There are absolutely no good reasons why the Banished keep UNSC marines as hostages, only for Master Chief to break them loose and bolster their ranks. It’s a piss-poor strategy for the Banished that will ultimately lose them the war, but who are we to complain?