Halo Infinite has a ton of potential to return to its glory days with its gameplay and the content that’ll release a long with it. Skepticism is still very much there though based on what I’ve played.

I may keep this a bit brief since I don’t think it’s entirely fair to judge the game based on three playable maps, one game mode, and competing against bots rather than actual players. Plus, there have been rumblings from the developers over at 343 Industries about releasing a PvP test soon enough. But, let’s talk about what I think about the game so far and where it could potentially go once it officially launches later this Fall.

I’ve been a huge Halo fan for many years now. Halo 3 is one of my favorite games of all time and, 14 years later, I still fire it up from time to time since it still holds up incredibly well. It was ahead of its time when it came out and it still does certain aspects of first-person shooters better than games releasing today. Unfortunately, the titles to follow it haven’t really lived up to the quality Halo 3 established, which is unfortunate since I want this series to succeed. I can say Halo Infinite could be heading in the right direction based on what I’ve played, but I do have some gripes with it. Let’s get right into it.

From the maps I did play, I only truly enjoyed two out of the three that were available, which is actually surprising since I haven’t been the biggest fan of some of the maps that have released in the last couple of Halo games. In fact, it’s been pretty poor map design and the developers have had to bring back popular fan-favorite maps and revamp them for the new game. I’m not sure every other map will be great, of course, since it remains to be seen, but in terms of good maps, I could say Infinite is heading in the right direction so far.

When it comes to gameplay, such as the shooting mechanics, the movements, and abilities, it feels a bit like Halo 5: Guardians, but also a whole new thing. Based on my first impression, I can see myself playing it for quite some time, but at the same time, I’m not sure how long it’ll be able to keep me invested and interested in playing it. I know it’s only a technical preview and I’m sure 343 will polish things up prior to the official launch. However, the frame rates felt a bit all over the place at times. I also still couldn’t figure out the settings that best work for me in terms of resolution, controller sensitivity, and so on. The game feels fast in terms of movement, but it also feels slow, if that makes sense. The aim assist felt way off at times, too. Maybe I’m just spoiled because of Halo 3, but I feel the game can use a ton of adjustments in order to improve the overall feel of the game and make it feel less clunky. It could be I’m simply not very good at the game at the moment and I need to play a bit more, but I’ve seen many other people have concerns about the same things.

The weapons do feel very good, for the most part. For example, the Assault Rifle and Battle Rifle both feel great, especially the BR. The pistol seems viable from close range, but from a distance, I almost couldn’t hit a shot. Maybe it’s like this on purpose since it was pretty broken in Halo 5. Again, it could also be that I’m pretty awful with it. The sniper feels very heavy and slow at times compared to the other games. I hope it gets tuned up a bit because I could barely hit a shot with it. There are many other weapons I tried, but also some I never got the chance to use. There’s a new weapon called the Skewer, which is a one-shot kill, but it felt very hard to use as well. I’m looking forward to using the rest of these weapons in the future.

This is really all the thoughts I have about Halo Infinite so far. It was a small sample size of what’s to come in the full game and I completely get that. I enjoyed most of it but adjustments definitely need to be made.