343 has it all; time, money, and an established fanbase. They have had control of the Halo IP for as long as Bungie did and in all that time they have nothing to show for it but mediocre entries and an erosion of trust with their fans.

Halo Infinite at its core is a great game, it runs well, it's art style is a return to form, and the gameplay is tight. However it's underlying issues weigh it down too much for it to strive. Desync has been a problem for months and has barely been addressed,this is especially infuriating as it is such as common occurrence and its been prevalent for months.

Lack of content with the game being 9 months old at the time of this review we have received only 2 seasons and a handful of gamemodes (that aren't even new and should've been in the game from launch). To put the nail in the coffin 343 cannot even keep to their word and keep delaying features (again should've been in the game from the start) mainly forge and co-op, "oh co-op splitscreen is cancelled btw" 343 1 day after it was meant to launch. Communication is abysmal for such a large company and "live service game". Custom game options are lack luster. Infinite is still missing forge, co-op, firefight, the ability to replay missions, and a custom games browser all of that on top of having the most development time out of any Halo game and a year long delay.

While the gameplay is great it is ruined by the challenge system, which forces you to use weapons and play game modes you don't want. This would be okay if it wasn't the only way to progress and earn rewards at all, because of the lack of a traditional progression system. If you get a challenge for a weapon that sucks and doesn't even spawn good luck if you don't have a challenge swap.

The campaign is not worth the $90 I paid for it. The story was great and I enjoyed the more smaller scale of the narrative. But after playing it once nothing really stood out to me in terms of missions. Halo has always had amazing set pieces for their missions and epic moments (ie. The Covenant mission H3) which I think this campaign was lacking. Furthermore there is no real reward for completing the game outside of some stances and armor coatings(which were free in every Halo prior). The story also brushes off most of Halo 5's campaign with very little payoff rather than being a cohesive narrative.

All in all this game is worth it to try but don't waste your time getting attached things aren't getting better anytime soon, get the campaign on gamepass and don't spend a dime on anything.