Back when Halo Infinite was released to the masses in November 2021, things were looking up for fans of the series. The much anticipated single-player campaign was a return to form, and 343 Industries finally nailed the frantic moment-to-moment multiplayer experience, pleasing Halo veterans and newbies alike.
It’s hard to deny that 343 has built a fantastic core Halo experience, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have its issues. The game is still riddled with poor hit detection and desync problems, and delays to core game modes and features have resulted in a dwindling of concurrent players. Not all is lost, however, as with the introduction of Season 2 and beyond, 343 can take advantage of its live-service model to implement some much-needed changes and updates to make Halo the great game it deserves to be. Here are some of the ways Halo Infinite can be improved to make it one of the best in the series.
10 Fix Bugs And Desync Issues
It’s awful for any online FPS to have poor hit registration and desync issues, but it’s especially heartbreaking for Halo as its great selection of weapons isn't being put to good use. There is nothing more frustrating in a competitive shooter than being hit through a wall or dying unfairly because your shots weren’t registered.
Even several months after launch, players are still plagued with these problems, and it’s beginning to turn people off the game. 343 must make it a priority to fix this desync problem to give its players the smoothest experience possible.
9 Make Microtransactions Worthwhile
Since launch, there have been issues with the state of the in-game store. With frequently overpriced armors and bundles, and a lack of updates or daily item rotations, it’s currently not set up in a way that maintains player interest.
The use of microtransactions has always been a sore topic for the gaming community, but if implemented well, most are willing to accept being sold cosmetic items. What’s needed here are frequent updates to the store that bring more variety at more reasonable prices.
8 Offer A Choice For Multiplayer Games
Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of the multiplayer experience is the lack of freedom when choosing how to play the game. Since launch, Halo Infinite’s playlists have funneled players into engaging with game types they simply don’t want to play.
Not being able to filter out specific modes and maps inhibits player agency, and with the poorly implemented challenge system, it makes unlocking gear a very painful experience. Giving you the freedom to pick and choose which game modes you want to play in multiplayer would certainly go a long way to helping maintain interest.
7 Forge Mode
Originally released way back in Halo 3, Forge mode revolutionized how players could interact with the game and encouraged almost limitless creativity.
Despite its slated release for later in the year with Season 3, Infinite’s lack of a robust and dedicated Forge mode currently has disappointed almost anyone who calls themselves a Halo fan. However, if recent leaks are to be believed, you’ll certainly be in for a hell of a ride when it hits, allowing you to create any map and mode your imagination can conjure up.
6 Campaign Co-Op – It Takes Two To Halo
Another much-anticipated legacy mode that should have been released as part of its initial launch, Halo Infinite’s campaign co-op couldn’t come soon enough.
As essential to Halo as Cortana is to Master Chief, players of old will undoubtedly have cherished memories of saving humanity from the likes of the flood and the covenant in glorious split-screen cooperative play. Infinite’s expansive open world is also ripe for exploration with a friend, and with its beta slated to release in July, there’s not long to wait until Halo co-op makes its coveted comeback.
5 Game Modes
A live service multiplayer shooter needs to have a large variety of new game modes to keep players coming back. Infinite launched with some essential Big Team Battle and arena modes such as Slayer, Capture the Flag and Oddball, but this bare-bones approach has led to fatigue setting in pretty quickly for most.
Previous games in the series were content-rich and built upon what came before. Firefight was introduced all the way back in Halo 3: ODST and became a huge staple for the series – it’d be a huge win for Infinite. Multiplayer fan-favorite modes such as Juggernaut, Dominion, Regicide and VIP are still nowhere to be found, much to the disappointment of Halo veterans. Bringing these back to the game in a future content drop would do a lot to keep fans happy for the foreseeable future. Variety is the spice of life, after all.
4 Bigger Battle Royale
Although Season 2 has released the 12-player Last Spartan Standing battle royale-esque game mode, it still doesn’t satisfy the large scope that you would expect from the popular genre. For a while now there seems to be a bigger, more traditional battle royale mode – code-named ‘Tatanka’ – in the works for a future update, that is sure to satisfy that battle royale itch.
A dedicated and expansive battle royale mode would surely generate a renewed interest in the game, and with Halo’s more traditional open-ended map design, it seems like it would be the perfect fit.
3 More Maps
Live service games live and die on their content updates, which is something Infinite has been sorely lacking in its first year. A steady stream of content is essential to encourage player retention, and Halo needs to up its game if it wants its players to stick around.
The game launched with ten maps and took a staggering six months to add just two more in its recent launch of Season 2. Though a good start, hopefully more maps will arrive in shorter time frames in the future. Some remakes of classic Halo maps would also be welcomed, especially due to Infinite’s revamped traversal mechanics allowing them to be experienced from a refreshed perspective. With classic maps recently hinted at by 343’s head of creative, it could be just what the doctor ordered.
2 A New Progression System And Better Rewards
The current system for progression has been a point of frustration for many. The challenge-based battle pass forces you to play in specific ways that can hurt teamwork, and with fairly mundane rewards, there’s not much of an incentive to keep playing.
It would be great if 343 looked to previous Halo titles by changing the much-criticized armor cores, implementing better rewards and moving towards a more traditional military rank progression system. In this way, XP gains would go toward a service record to show off player skill. A move away from the armor core system would also be a huge improvement as it restricts customization options and player choice.
1 Campaign DLC
With an ambitiously hefty ten-year plan for the game, it’s safe to say that more single-player content is coming to Halo Infinite. With how slow content has been dropping for the game’s multiplayer, it seems as though campaign DLC is still a ways off.
That’s a shame, because Infinite’s open-world setting is a perfect backdrop to house the trigger-happy antics of the Chief, and giving players more reasons to dive back into Zeta Halo can only be a good thing for fans of the series.
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