Halo Infinite actually deserves the shooter crown in autumn 2021 – if it weren’t for the demotivating Battle Pass. The competition is already showing how it’s done.
I understand that a shooter like CoD Vanguard 2021 would rather build on the strengths of Modern Warfare than shine with its own ideas. I can also understand that Battlefield 2042 has technical problems – game development with a pandemic breathing down your neck is certainly no walk in the park and a postponement with a publisher and investors in mind is not always possible.
But I can’t explain at all how a really fantastic shooter like Halo Infinite can let its Battle Pass go to waste like this, while it’s absolutely standard in the competition. The spontaneous Free2Play release was brilliant, as can be seen from the player peaks of almost 300,000 on Steam alone. But if the developers don’t fix the broken progression system now, the multiplayer surprise will soon disappear into oblivion again.
Why is the Battle Pass such a disaster?
Imagine making 30 kills in a match or helping your team to victory at the last moment by single-handedly defending a point to the bitter end or diving with the enemy flag just in time to finish. Halo Infinite then just shrugs its shoulders wearily. You don’t even get experience points for such actions, or a little bit of diligence for the Spartan armour.
Instead, every few PvP matches you get between 100 and 200 points as participant certificates and a handful on top for special challenges. The whole progress is based on such challenges, which are unfortunately on the one hand very cryptic and difficult to implement and on the other hand simply no fun. It’s nice that I’m supposed to make kills with a gungoose grenade launcher, but who are they and where on earth can I get one?
If the tasks are linked to certain modes or maps, you are doubly unlucky: neither can be set, but are selected randomly, which makes for even more frustration when levelling up.
With the sparse yield, it can take between eight and ten games to reach the next rank at 1,000 points – but even the level up disappoints. I only unlock boring grey helmet visors and arm warmers for my soldier. A different colour for the combat suit is already the highest of feelings – no comparison to cool skins for operators and weapons or practical XP boosts that await me in Call of Duty and Co.
It’s hardly surprising that Reddit is currently full of complaints about the Battle Pass. Some players feel they are being punished for wanting to level up. User (Lanky128k) sums it up aptly for me:
“I feel like I have to downright bend to progress all the time. It’s unnatural and in some cases forces me to completely ignore how I want to play. They need to get a handle on that before the beta is over or I fear it will go downhill fast. And that would be a real shame. ”
Halo Infinite is far too good to go down like this
While underneath the progression quagmire is actually a really fantastic PvP shooter that pushes just the right buttons. Due to the high time to kill and mostly low player numbers (4v4), tactical interaction and correct positioning win. On the one hand, the maps with their winding and vertical areas make for fast battles in a small space, but on the other hand, especially in the large rounds with 24 players, they offer space for vehicles in extensive areas, which is reminiscent of the dramatic sandbox battles of a battlefield.
The highlight for me, however, are the futuristic weapons and gadgets familiar from the series. While you can hardly do anything with the standard assault rifle, you can mow down several enemies at once with a laser beam, fast plasma bullets melt shields, war hammers thunder mercilessly down on unsuspecting enemies and a camouflage allows me to sneak up unnoticed and finish off an enemy from behind with a melee kill. All of this is incredibly fun, which is why it would be a tragedy if the Battle Pass causes players to migrate now.
A fatal mistake that Halo can still iron out
A modern shooter doesn’t necessarily need a Battle Pass to shower me with cosmetics and recognition for real money or determined grind. It often deliberately locks me out of certain content and tempts me to spend money on something I don’t even need – just so I don’t miss out or get slowed down.
What it cannot do without, however, is a functioning progression system that motivates me in the long term. That was already the case before the live service era, but it’s more important now than ever. Games like Battlefield 2042, CoD Warzone or Halo Infinite must not be short-lived magnesium flares. They have to keep me interested as long-lasting embers with seasons, updates, maps, modes and events in order to recoup their costs, justify the developers’ efforts – and, of course, fulfil the high profit forecasts aimed at the money-printing machine Live Service. Ubisoft is also having a hard time with this.
Despite this, enough games show how it’s done properly: whether Destiny 2, Rainbow Six Siege, Fortnite or Call of Duty, here I am rewarded for every match, every victory, every kill and like to chase these little moments of happiness. Halo Infinite is designed precisely for this addictive spiral, but forgets the most important ingredient with the dopamine boosts. Either it has to fundamentally overturn the system to motivate me differently, or give me what I expect from a Battle Pass for a steep 10 euros.
The chances of this happening are not that bad, Community Director Brian Jarrard promises that the feedback will not fall on deaf ears:
Thank you to everyone who has jumped into the HaloInfintie beta so far! FYI the team is looking at Battle Pass progression and gathering data from yesterday’s sessions and we’ll share updates as we have them. Please continue to share feedback and raise flags as you see them. 1/3
– Brian Jarrard (@ske7ch) November 16, 2021
What do you think of Halo Infinite? Are you happy with the Battle Pass, would you like to see drastic changes or are you playing without it? Let me know what you think in the comments
