Halo Infinite Campaign Review - What If Master Chief Was Daddy

The complex relationship between Halo protagonist Master Chief and his AI partner Cortana has always been one of the strongest driving forces for the franchise--it's a genuine bond, but one born out of manipulation, as Cortana (an AI based on the mind of the woman who kidnapped Chief as a child) is gifted to Chief as a perfect companion to ensure he maintains peak efficiency as a super-soldier. In this way, Cortana has always been the more dominant voice in the partnership. She tells Chief where to go and what to do, and Chief's single-mindedness coupled with the ability to solely rely on her means he never has to develop emotionally healthy bonds with normal human beings.

Halo Infinite is the first time we've seen that kind of relationship dynamic flipped. Paired with a new AI, simply named "the Weapon," Chief takes on a more fatherly figure in Infinite. Where Cortana was assertive, quick-witted, and mature, the Weapon is awkward, overly trusting, and silly. She sounds and acts like a child-like version of Cortana, pushing Chief into taking on a more domineering role that has far greater control over her. This opens some intriguing new opportunities for a Halo story--in a franchise that has long had an undercurrent theme of familial connection and motherhood, Infinite is the first in the series to focus its narrative around familial responsibility and fatherhood. The strength of that narrative, alongside the open world and new traversal mechanics, delivers a welcoming freshness to the two-decade-old series.

Other than Chief, Halo Infinite doesn't have much in the way of familiar faces. Very early into the campaign, you're confronted with the startling reveal that a lot of the folks you've come to know over Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians, and Halo Wars 2 are dead or missing in action. Chief finds himself on a new Halo ring named Zeta Halo, which has been partially destroyed. The Banished, an independent army of multiple alien species that splintered off the Covenant, want the ring for some unknown purpose, and Chief vows to stop them. Without any of his usual allies to turn to, Chief ropes two unwitting companions into his fight--the aforementioned Weapon, who was supposed to delete herself following completion of her purpose, and the Pilot, a man desperately trying to just get home to United Nations Space Command (UNSC) space after being stranded all alone for months.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

source https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/halo-infinite-campaign-review-what-if-master-chief-was-daddy/1900-6417798/?ftag=CAD-01-10abi2f

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Godfall Review

Godfall makes a good first impression. Even if you're playing on a moderately powerful PC, as I did, it's clear from the opening moments that developer Counterplay Games has endeavored to show off advancements in visual fidelity, no doubt in light of new hardware such as the PlayStation 5. From the way sparks fly to the myriad particles that coat every inch of its action and the reflectiveness of its gaudy gold and marble halls, Godfall wants you to know that next gen is here. Beyond the visual spectacle, however, lies a game that's immediately familiar and over-reliant on an amalgamation of loot-driven games from the past eight years or so. Godfall's mixture of loot progression and third-person melee combat has been described by Counterplay Games as a new type of genre: the looter-slasher. The name holds up insofar as you loot and slash things, but there's nothing about Godfall that feels intrinsically new. Diablo, Monster Hunter, and Warframe make up a portion o...
Read more

Days Gone Review - Farewell, Oregon

Image
Editor's Note: In May 2021, Sony ported Days Gone to PC. In addition to compiling two years' worth of updates since the 2019 game's initial launch, the Windows version offers opportunities for enhanced graphics and performance with more powerful gaming PCs. Mike Epstein delivers his impressions on the game's technical improvements and how they may change your experience playing the PC version of Days Gone. GameSpot's original review for Days Gone is below in full and the assessment for the PC version is integrated at the end. This review contains minor spoilers about mission structure and overall story direction. There are no spoilers for major narrative moments. Around 10 hours into Days Gone , you're thrown into a hunting tutorial apropos of nothing. The over-the-top libertarian character takes you out with a rifle and shows you how to track a deer, although you've already had a tracking tutorial. You're then tasked with getting more meat for you an...
Read more

Nioh 2 Review - Get Good And Die Trying

Nioh 2 is not to be trifled with. Building on the original's tough-as-nails reputation, Team Ninja's second samurai action-RPG brings back the original's penchant for punishing and highly nuanced combat. The sequel hones the original's distinctive take on the Souls-like without completely reinventing itself. The result is a long, tough slog that will push even the most challenge-hungry players to their breaking points as they fight for every inch of ground and become master samurai. Despite the title, Nioh 2 is a prequel, revealing the secret history of a decades-long period of war in medieval Japan. As the silent, customizable hero Hide, you fight to uncover the secret nature of "spirit stones," which grant supernatural power, and defeat hordes of Yokai across the country. The plot, which you mostly hear through cutscenes and exposition between missions, has an interesting historical bent, but it is really just glue to hold the levels together. Historically...
Read more