Endless fun
Written by Lars Cornelis op
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In addition to the jointly chosen Top 25 of 2021, Gamer.nl editors in this section tell individually about the games that have made the most impression on them in the past year. Today: Lars with Halo Infinite.
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And then another year had passed. What really happened in the last 365 days? I really couldn’t tell you. This year and the year before have melted into a forgettable haze, in which January 1 is just an arbitrary dividing line. Much more significant to me was the day I could finally get started on Halo Infinite.
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I can’t stop talking about how wonderfully and gracefully that game plays. Every skirmish is different. Words are not enough to properly describe that sensation. Although I can write down a chaotic anecdote for almost every game, none do justice to what is happening. In any case, it is always a complete surprise what will happen on the screen.
That is decisive for me. I don’t want to invest my time in a multiplayer where the only reward comes in the form of cosmetic items. That is a kind of pyramid scheme: you invest time in something that will only benefit you if you put in even more time. I play for the good times and that’s exactly what Halo Infinite delivers, every time. One time in the form of a surprise kill, then another flag is captured in the final seconds, and another time my team dominates in Stockpile. I’ve been yelling at my television several times with excitement. That hardly ever happens to me at Ajax’s Champions League matches.
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In my opinion, such an addictive multiplayer couldn’t have come at a better time. Since the demise of the football genre I missed a game that you can play quickly. Just a drink before going to sleep. Although of course it never stops at one pot. Because when you lose, you want to win again. And when you win, you want to win again. That’s how those things work.
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At the same time, I also love to roam around in the single player campaign. For the review I’ve already completed the single player twice. The first time was on Heroic, where I also took a lot of side missions to get a good and complete picture of the game. Then I still had time to play it again on Normal. That way I could go through the story at my leisure. I have now started the campaign for the third time, this time on Legendary with the intention of turning over every stone.
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When you lose, you want one more time to win. And when you win, you want to win again. That’s how those things work.
The good thing is that Halo Infinite actually only gets more fun on the higher difficulties. It is precisely that smooth gameplay that comes into its own even better. The explosive Plasma Coils are even more valuable, an action with the Grappleshot can literally make the difference between life and death and well-aimed headshots with the Sidekick (I want to marry that weapon) are even more satisfying. It’s tradition for me to play Halo on Legendary, but I honestly don’t think I’ve enjoyed it this much before.
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With that, Halo Infinite ticks a lot of boxes, each of which is quite an achievement in itself. I generally don’t play multiplayer games much, mostly because I don’t have enough time to really invest in them. But I will continue to play Halo Infinite. I also rarely play single player campaigns multiple times. After all, there is always another game in the pipeline, so I prefer to play something new. But I’m already playing Halo Infinite for the third time.
Also, I can’t remember feeling the urge to explore every square inch of a map, collect audio logs, and find Easter eggs. I think that was the last time with Vice City and San Andreas. The original releases then, not that crap of a remaster. Yet I do just that in Infinite. And finally: a game in which I enjoy playing both the multiplayer and the single player with great pleasure? That hasn’t happened since… well, no idea? Never at all, I suspect.
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With this, 343 Industries is creating something really impressive. Of course you can come up with all sorts of things to criticize the game. There is no co-op, more playlists should have been available at launch, the original engine reveal trailer painted a very different picture, and so on. But look at what that studio did deliver: a game with both a hell of a single player, and a very cool multiplayer. We rarely see that nowadays. That puts Halo Infinite lonely at the top for me this year.
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