Played Halo Infinite multiplayer

In November, the battle was to take place between Call of Duty: Vanguard and  Battlefield 2042. But suddenly a third party to the conflict appeared - although Halo Infinite was planned to be released only in December, they decided to open access to multiplayer this week. Before us is not a release version, but a "beta", so not all elements are finally brought to mind. But at its core, it's a delightful shooter and the kind of Halo that fans have long dreamed of.

I wrote about the great potential of Infinite in the  preview, and since then the gameplay has not changed in any way. Friv5Online new creation truly resembles Halo 3 multiplayer , including the lack of controversial innovations that did not win the audience's love for the fourth and fifth installments. Classic Halo  may be overly safe, but that's more of a plus than a minus.

In the standard Quick Play modes, two teams of four players face each other. In "Carnage" you need to defeat the specified number of enemies, in "Holding the Ball" - to hold the skull in your hands as long as possible, in "Positions" - to capture and defend points, and in "Capture the Flag" - to take the flag from the enemy base and carry it to your ... In the neighborhood, larger modes are available (12 by 12 players) with large maps and vehicles - the entertainment there is about the same, but the "Reserve" has been added, where teams collect energy grains and carry them to their base.

Apparently, the developers want to acquaint the audience with all modes, since when choosing "Quick Play" you cannot filter out uninteresting entertainment. So those who want to play exclusively in "Carnage" are out of luck - they will have to wear flags and grab the balls. The disadvantages of this approach are already obvious - in the newly released Poki game, people want to run and shoot, and not defend themselves. Therefore, in Capture the Flag, the squad almost always leaves the starting point as soon as possible, and each time you have to defend the flag yourself.

For beginners, the gameplay will be very unusual, especially after Call of Duty  - if one clip is enough for several enemies, then here it is not always enough even for one. Infinite , like the previous installments, rewards the player for their ingenuity and ability to react quickly and make decisions. In Quick Play, everyone is armed with an assault rifle and a pistol, but there are other cannons hanging on the walls all over the place, and almost all of them damage opponents' shields faster.

It is assumed that you will shoot shields with something else, and then switch to a machine gun or a pistol to finish off the enemy - the "naked" Spartans receive increased damage when shooting in the head. However, there is no urgent need for this - you can achieve success with one gun. It is much more important to use other opportunities: a melee strike, which removes the entire shield, and grenades, which are always two upon respawn.

Consumables scattered around the map are not that valuable, although they can sometimes come in handy. The most interesting of them is the grappling hook: with its help, you can grab weapons from afar, and climb onto high platforms, and even pull yourself up to opponents to strike. There is also a portable shield, a repulsor that repels enemies and vehicles, active camouflage that makes you invisible, a motion sensor, and a triple charge dash. And the luckiest ones will be able to find and pick up an additional shield, with which you become much more resilient.

In  Halo Infinite, it is not possible to assemble your own sets of equipment before matches - everyone starts the battle on an equal footing. But the winners are those who have the knowledge: what exits from the room are, on which walls are these or those guns hanging, where to find the grappling hook and where to use it, and so on. The longer you play, the more clearly you realize when it is better to run in case of danger, and when to approach the enemy for the finishing blow. No modifications affecting the balance, no unique characters with their own skills - a pure competitive shooter where you can really influence the outcome of a match alone.

In the rating mode, the conditions change, and against its background, "Quick Play" seems to be quite an easy walk - that's why it is more interesting to play it. Here, everyone starts not with two guns, but with only one - a combat rifle with a scope. The radar is completely disabled (in standard modes, it displays shooting and running players). Friendly fire is activated - it is quite difficult to kill an ally with bullets, but an unsuccessfully thrown grenade or a shot from a rocket launcher will send him to the next world.

Ranked's main problem is people leaving matches. No one comes to replace them, and they themselves cannot return, since there is no such function. It is very difficult to defeat four of three of us - if in "Massacre" it is still doable, then command modes like "Capture the Flag" turn into a hellish routine. Obviously, you've already lost, so either wait ten minutes or let your enemies carry five flags.

True, with four players, it is also not always possible to achieve success. People in Positions have especially big problems. The task is simple: there are three points, and to get points you need to hold most of them, that is, two are enough. In half of the matches, as soon as two points are captured, everyone breaks off and runs to the third - and while they are doing this, the two thrown ones are intercepted by the enemies. Why do you need a third, if with it the score counter does not drip much faster? Why don't people stand still when they can simply split into groups of two and defend themselves? Many matches would end faster if people didn't run to seek adventure every five seconds.

When more or less balanced teams meet, Halo Infinite's multiplayer is eerily addictive. There are relatively few maps (seven in normal modes and three more in large-scale modes with vehicles), but their design is brilliant. All are different: some are symmetrical, others have dissimilar halves; some are more suitable for close combat, while others are preferable to take a combat rifle or "sniper". With the same equipment, you use different tactics everywhere - somewhere you are looking for a Needler, somewhere you are guarding the place where a sword or other rare weapon appears.

The modes on large maps are also very fun and much more chaotic. There are a lot of vehicles, and even more funny situations are generated with it, especially thanks to the grappling hook - with its help, you can intercept control and throw out the driver. Plus, some types of weapons are much more common than in "quick" and "ranked". But if you want a more relaxed and tactical gameplay, then four by four modes are much better.

The result is a high-quality and fun shooter that needs minor fixes - adding a Playlist with Massacre, for example, will already solve one of the main problems. The main questions concern monetization, the disadvantages of which were not mentioned only by the lazy. The Poki game is distributed on a shareware model - all gameplay updates will be free, and they offer to pay only for "cosmetics". The prices at the local store are okay when compared to other shooters, but the battle pass seems to be made by people who have never seen other Poki games.

In particular, the pass does not reward in any way for success in the match. Although the developers have slightly updated the rules for gaining experience, the essence has not changed - experience is given simply for completing a battle, and it does not matter whether you win or lose. You need to play 20 matches per day to earn one pass level out of a hundred. They are rescued by weekly tests, which were significantly simplified on Thursday - if before that the Poki game could ask to kill 20 people from the rocket "Boar", now such absurd tasks do not appear. But all the same, the lack of playlists prevents those who want to quickly execute the "wiklicks" and forget about them - then you need to use weapons that are found only on half of the maps, then kill the Spartans exclusively in "Massacre".

However, this also has a bright side. If the players have complaints only about the monetization of "cosmetics", and not about the gameplay, then for the developers this is a great victory. Halo is back and, after so many years, has shown that the series can still fight back against other high-budget online action films. After the first beta, there was no doubt about that, and even more so now. In  Halo Infinite has room for improvement, but basically it is a brilliant multiplayer Poki game that is a very long time will remain in the information field.