With just two days until the big first-party Xbox Series X video game reveals, it’s no secret that the hype is building for Halo: Infinite. The rumour mill is going into overdrive, with fans voicing speculations based on the trailers we’ve already seen.
Here’s some of the best rumours / compelling arguments so far:
- Master Chief uses a new A.I. in Halo: Infinite and It might be a modded version of Cortana?
- The Banished will appear in Halo: Infinite were originally introduced in Halo Wars 2.
- The Halo: Infinite campaign will be an open-world effort, much like Bungie’s Destiny series.
- The Mega bloks Halo: Infinite character leaks, featuring the death of someone in particular…
- Free to Play Halo: Infinite Multiplayer
- Third Person Cameras Angles
Whilst some of these rumours are more possible than others, its exciting to imagine the lengths 343i have gone too in order to position themselves as a worthy Halo Studio. For some, Halo: Infinite will be the first Master Chief experience. With that in mind, here’s some history on the Franchise with some of my own nostalgia thrown in for good measure:
Microsoft’s IP was Originally Apple’s Killer App…
The creators of Halo, Bungie, had quite a long ride in getting Halo: CE off the ground. Not to mention getting it into the hands of over a million gamers a little under 5 months after its release. Halo was originally a Mac and Windows Sci-Fi RTS title to a 3rd person action game.
Microsoft announced the acquisition of Bungie studios on 19th June 2000 which eased the release of Halo: Combat Evolved.
Firstly, Halo: CE broke down demographics from 13-year-old kids like myself to college students and beyond. Secondly, Being highly regarded as a party game, never before had an FPS worked so brilliantly in the living room. Yes, Goldeneye was awesome but it’s aged terribly. Suck It up and move on.
Alongside Halo: CE‘s immersive plot, it was a system seller. Also, It was just a technically ground-breaking title. No frame rate drops during Flood swarms or busy battle areas, massive environments and crisp textures with great sound FX and voice acting. All rare finds at the time. By the end of Halo: CE, I just wanted more Chief.
A Glorious Return
Chief made his return to this writer’s sad, sweaty and angst-ridden existence on November 9th 2004 with Halo 2. Featuring a brand new engine complete with Havoc physics, this was again a technical achievement on home consoles at the time.
This time around Bungie decided to split the story into two halves, one as Master Chief and the other as the Arbiter. The back story of the Arbiter is a cruel one: being made responsible for the Covenant’s loss of the Halo ring against the UNSC, he is sent on a holy suicide mission against Chief and his forces.
A lovely but overpowered addition was dual-wielding. Dual plasma pistols were unstoppable along with a Plasma sword for one-shot melee kills. On the UNSC side, we saw such additions as the SMG for rapid-fire and the BR55. The latter being a short burst battle rifle with mid-range accuracy, resulting in headshots without the limited ammo of a sniper rifle.
The biggest role Halo 2 played in the landscape of FPS was becoming the most popular online multiplayer game, and this writer and his buddies got caught up in the whirlwind. Plugging in the Xbox Live starter kit into the top of one’s Xbox S Pad and playing Slayer of CTF was life.
Halo 2 was the peak in a golden age of multiplayer; when the feature was still supported on and offline. This meant players could have a buddy sign into a guest profile for some couch multiplayer. Although there was a big fanboy debate overpaying for live subscription services.
The Step Up
Halo 3 was released in September 2007, tying up the loose ends of Master Chief’s long battle with the Covenant. Again, Bungie knocked it out of the park by providing amazing graphical fidelity and making a return to split-screen, albeit featuring a much shorter campaign.
In the first 24 hours racked up over a million players over Xbox Live and stands as the 5th best-selling Xbox 360 game (Ignoring Call Of Duty). By this time FPS online games were gaining more and more popularity thanks to the original springboard of the franchise.
This was also the first Halo title with a built-in map editor called the Forge, allowing fans to customise levels. We also saw some new vehicle and weapon additions which changed the gameplay up a bit too.
Then, as exciting as the release was. That was the end for Master Chief, whilst not physically seeing him pass away it was pretty much a very educated guess. Or was It?
Getting Around
So began the era of Halo spin-off titles, firstly with Halo 3: ODST in September 2009 and Halo: Reach in September 2010. ODST was an odd title for many fans that soon developed a cult following. Players followed a squad of UNSC marines, adding weight to Chiefs legendary status.
Tactical guerrilla warfare was the name of the game in this title which was refreshing. No more storming in and smacking Elites in the face. It was shoot, cover and move. ODST also came packaged with the Halo 3 multiplayer which was a nice touch and kept the competitive scene alive.
Reach was, unfortunately, the swan song for Bungie who decided to move onto a new project, which would become Destiny.
Reach featured one of the most publically-favoured expanded universe story arcs, The Fall of Reach. Whilst the characters were fleshed out and fresh with new skins and Spartan armour, Reach employed an excessive amount of motion blur. This was a massive complaint at the time that was never really fixed and it’s a shame.
This title really pushed the 360’s hardware, I still pressed on into completion. Although it’s not the longest game, it was solid and ran seamlessly into Halo: CE. The multiplayer was quite sturdy as well.
So with Master Chief presumed dead and Bungie departing for pastures new, it didn’t look like the Halo franchise had any steam left, right? Microsoft responded by forming 343 industries (named after the beloved Halo character 343 Guilty Spark)
Halo: Remastered
On 15th November 2011, 343 released Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary to mark the 10-year anniversary of the game’s debut. It was a respectful remaster with controls intact and full Xbox live support.
For those who didn’t play the Combat Evolved PC port, this was the first time these maps were playable online. This bountiful bucket of nostalgia boasted overhauled graphics with the option to switch from new and shiny to the original game at the press of a button. Why go to so much trouble if we weren’t going to see Master Chief again?
2011 was a great year for Halo, lets backtrack to E3 that year.
Non-Linear Storytelling…
Microsoft delivered their presentation which ended with a load of fluff about Kinect. Then, we heard the words “I’m very excited to share with you a project that will become the dawn of a new trilogy for Xbox”. We saw electricity gathering and shooting across the screen in the dark, then a beating heart, then we could hear a woman shouting, then we heard “Chief, John!”
Master Chief was back for what Xbox was calling the ‘Reclaimer Saga’ in Halo 4. The crowd went nuts, as did I. Actually, I screamed that loudly my dogs thought it was the doorbell and went mental.
The promotion for this game was intense, with Microsoft fronting the biggest development bill they could muster. The game even got a live-action mini-series “Forward unto Dawn”. It followed the cadet career of ‘Thomas Lasky’ the Captain of the UNSC Infinity in Halo 4. On November 6th 2012, Halo 4 was released to the public. The online scene for this game exploded and moved into the e-sports arena with massive cash prizes fronted my Microsoft.
But with the return of Master Chief came the wrath of the fanboys. Master Chief could now sprint, he had power-ups much like in Reach and utilized aim and shoot mechanics. Of course, there were initial complaints regardless of the benefits.
The biggest change was the reveal of the Prometheans, servants to the extinct Forerunner race. Without giving too much away, Chief ends up on a Forerunner shield world and finds out a few new things. The biggest achievement of Halo 4 is how amazing it looks on the 360, 343i really outdid themselves.
A Missed Opportunity
Just months after the Xbox one launch The Master Chief Collection was announced in June 2014 at E3 followed by its launch in November 2014. Although it leaked days before its announcement, this was a complete Master Chief experience on Microsofts new Flagship. Featuring a long-awaited fan request in Halo 2: Anniversary. Much like Halo CE: Anniversary, Halo 2 Anniversary features overhauled graphics, cut-scenes and sounds.
Again we got the option to flick between the classic version and the new but the remaster looked that good I didn’t bother. Mechanics were untouched and all multiplayer maps returned.
In fact, every map from Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 were featured in rotation online and split-screen. It was a fanboys dream, or so we thought…
The Master Chief Collection was plagued with matchmaking and server issues from day one and took a few months to iron out. By that time, people had moved on and 343i had missed their opportunity. Later on, ODST was added as an apology to early adopters of the game. Reach was later released on backwards compatibility but ran worse than it did originally. Only to then be added officially to the Master Chief Collection via Game Pass.
Divisive Fifth Halo
Halo 5 was first teased at the back end of E3 2013 with nothing more than Master Chief wearing a shawl looking at a floating sphere. It wouldn’t be until 2015 when hype would start picking up steam for the game with #huntthetruth audio recordings. Halo 5 would mirror Halo 2 as a dual-storyline affair focusing on Chief’s Blue Team and Spartan Locke’s Fire Team Osiris.
The marketing was more or less UNSC propaganda of Chief going rogue; everyone was getting aboard the hype train. Microsoft’s E3 2015 conference opened up with what we all wanted, a long clip of Halo 5 gameplay.
Following on from Halo 4, 343 once again used motion capture technology to implant some humanity into characters and take storytelling and action to the next level. Spartans could now smash through weak walls, blast into enemies and jump in the air for a ground smash.
The gameplay had moved to a squad-based mechanic, requesting revives from teams instead of respawning at checkpoints and directing teams fire and movement. To be honest, the team A.I. wasn’t great outside of reviving players so many players just ignored the features anyway.
Halo 5 Hype: Multiplayer
After the disastrous launch of The Master Chief Collection, 343i wanted to make it clear that Halo 5: Guardians would have a smooth launch. As a thanks for their fans patience, a copy of The Master Chief Collection gained players access to the Halo 5 multiplayer beta.
In a polished move by 343i, featuring smooth and snappy gameplay in every mode, it was just fun to play whilst balancing matchmaking according to skill. This portion of the game was built with the competitive scene in mind for sure.
After the release of Microsoft’s powerhouse, the Xbox One X, Halo 5 received a 4K update that, quite frankly, is a work of art. It looks astounding and plays beautifully, but served as a trade-off for 343 taking away split-screen functionality.
Halo: Infinite
343 have had a rough start but now seem to be finding their feet. Halo: Infinite is set to break new ground for the next generation starting this Thursday with the Xbox Series X first-party game reveal. Other rumoured titled to make an appearance include a new Fable title, a relaunch of Perfect Dark and a bucket load of new IPs.
