Halo Infinite
Developer/publisher Xbox Game Studios (343 Industries)
Format PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series (tested)
Release Out now
Welcome to Zeta Halo. Well-worn dirt tracks giving way to tall grass, slate cliffs topped with rows of pine and, off in the distance, towering alien structures silhouetted against the gentle sunlight of a mild winter’s day – it looks, well, a little familiar. This setting, in all its Pacific Northwest beauty, is just one of the many ways 343 Industries is directly quoting Combat Evolved, as it attempts once more to recapture the glory of Xbox’s most-lauded shooter. Gone is any suggestion of Spartan Locke or the Prometheans; in its place, a classic adventure that puts an AI in your head and a well-rounded pistol in your hand. It all feels like an attempt to poke your inner monologue – as the rest of you thunders across the landscape in a half-dead Warthog – towards phrases such as ‘return to form’. Infinite isn’t that. But it’s certainly 343’s best shot yet.
Zeta takes these archetypal surroundings and expands them into something more closely resembling an open world, without ever being one. The developer has pushed back on describing the game that way, and for good reason. Zeta’s boundaries are tighter than those in any game from Ubisoft’s stable, and set clearly: the world is a floating archipelago, giving way at the edges to sharp-angled Giant’s Causeway pillars and then nothingness. Aside from a few ramps that allow you to close the gap between islands, most attempts to push
