Want to know how the hell Halo: Reach, a game made over 12 years ago, is exponentially better than Halo: Infinite made in 2022? Well let me tell you.

For those of you who were born after the golden age of gaming and this is all you will ever know, first off i'm sorry. Second off, Reach is objectively the BEST example of how a Halo game should be. Even if you have not played it, you probably know the campaign because it was just that damn good. You probably know of the Forge game modes, because they were just that damn good. The entire game was just SO DAMN GOOD and was priced at $60 for Campaign, Multiplayer and Forge. No DLC. No micro-transactions. Just one trip to GameStop and for a whole year all you did was play Reach. Multiplayer had actual progression. You sunk hundreds of hours into multiplayer just so you could get the flaming helmet effect, or the electric cloud effect, or maybe you just wanted that EOD helmet because you thought it was just that cool looking. Whatever it was, you could show it off to your friends and tell them how hard you worked for it. It was yours, and you were proud of your work.

If Reach is in the major leagues, Infinite is a toddler watching them play. Not even in the same sport, not even in any sports because its just a stupid baby who drools on itself and ♥♥♥♥♥ in its diaper all day.

They finally made a great successor for the gunplay that Reach provided, and that's a great breath of fresh air in the current era of corporate laziness that is gaming in 2022. They couldn't, however, escape the money hungry degeneracy that is 'gaming as a service'. I want to know who's bright idea it was to release a """FREE""" multiplayer to disguise the fact that multiplayer has been stripped to its bare bones and spits in the face of Bungie and everything they worked so hard for, because that dude either deserves a raise or a beheading depending on who you ask.

Why is it okay to release an unfinished game these days? Where is Forge? Where is the good, story rich, fleshed out environment in campaign we were promised and paid $60 for? Where are the maps? Game modes? Customizables that actually show you put time into the game and didn't just take mommies credit card? I don't want to wait for updates. I don't want to pay for an unfinished game. I don't want to pay to get access to customizables. I want to pay one time for a game and all it's features, as promised by the developers. If it takes another year? Fine. You won't get my money until after the product is complete. I'm not gonna pay for a loaf of bread and be okay with just a few slices then be promised by the clerk who already has my money that I will get the rest later. Screw early access, and screw you if you think this is okay. You're the problem.

To all the "ITS FREE!" people out there, pull away from your corporate masters coddling your balls and realize that this is a scummy tactic used to make you feel like its not their fault that the games been stripped of mechanics and features and locked behind a paywall because "They need to make money somehow". The fact that multiplayer is free and the campaign is not isn't an excuse to charge the hell out of players for stuff that was an integral part of the previous installments. Its greedy, and disgusting. This tactic needs to be exterminated, permanently.

The campaign sucks. It sucks so bad. It isn't worth the $60 thousands paid for. There is no real good overarching story and doing all the side missions is a slog and doesn't amount to anything. The Marines can't be ordered around to do tasks for you and only matter if you pack a truck full of them and just wipe out any enemies that are nearby. Megaphones to destroy? Really? Its so unfortunate that the optional objectives weren't expanded on. Why isn't there some kind of ground war going on or something? A front line that you can send rescued Marines to help the war effort? You can beat the whole game without doing those optional objectives so why the hell even have them? It feels like a useless objective just so they can fill up an unfinished and empty campaign. It sucks.

The battle pass. I paid for the battle pass and realized that the progression was slower than the people over at Microsoft are in the head. So, because I am a real gamer, I spent nearly 60 hours slogging through the 100 tiers of the battle pass. If you didn't buy the battle pass, you got next to NOTHING to show for your time spent in game. There is basically NOTHING to unlock without whipping out your wallet. Compared to Reach this is so vile. Gone are the days of working for cool looking armor and effects. There is nothing to gain outside of multiplayer, and the only thing you get from the $60 campaign is a green color and a red color for your guns if you slog through the campaign for HOURS hunting down the weapon boxes that are hidden on the map. There isn't a cosmetic for beating the game on Legendary which is bad enough but there isn't even a single cosmetic for completing the game at all. It's almost like they knew if they made multiplayer """free""" and the campaign $60 they could just slap together a half assed campaign and focus on how they can suck money away from players in their micro-transation ridden multiplayer.

Oh, you DON'T want to look like a loser with no cosmetics in multiplayer? Don't worry! We have tons of awesome looking cosmetics in the battle pass! Just buy the battle pass and spend a tenth of the time it took to get the flaming head effect in Reach! Oh, you work and don't have enough time to grind out the nearly 60 hours before the season ends just for some cosmetics? Don't worry! You can just whip out a credit card and pay nearly $1000 to progress through the entire battle pass just to figure out that it includes about half the ♥♥♥♥ Reach had! Don't feel scammed enough yet? Don't worry! Some of the stuff that was in Reach that wasn't in the battle pass you already paid for is in the shop! Just whip out that credit card again and spend another $200 for the stuff that was free in Reach! What, you don't like the idea of spending money on a game you already spent money on? What do you mean? The game is free! Customization is optional! Nobody NEEDS customization!

You see the problem yet? No? I'll keep going.

The forge was a huge part of Halo that fans were super hype for. I alone spent more time in the forge than I did in official Reach lobbies, and it was some of the best times I ever had in gaming. Now... oh! Sorry guys! We were so excited to show off what we had right now, we didn't include forge! Or more than 5 maps. Or all the game modes you all loved so much and now cant recreate because well... no forge. But now we have your money, so have fun with what you have because now we have no incentive to include all those things that we promised you would be in the main game. Don't worry! We will release like 2 new maps later along with the new season, new battle pass and new cosmetics you can buy for ANOTHER $1000 that you can't use with the same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ARMOR CORE THAT ALL THE ♥♥♥♥ FROM SEASON 1 WAS ON! HAHA GET ♥♥♥♥♥♥ NERD! We never cared about you, just how deep your pockets go! Yes, come back to us and buy, I mean try out the new season and see how much has changed! Still no forge, but don't worry we will take care of creating game modes for you! We have new game modes like... king of the hill and uh... a re-skin of zone control! Oh I forgot the battle royale style game mode because you guys love those these days, right? What do you mean those were base game modes in Reach? This is Halo Infinite baby! A money printer, sponsored by Microsoft!

God man I was so excited to finally enjoy another Halo game that wasn't garbage but here we are. Another game ruined by one of the biggest gaming companies out there who cares more about money than their own playerbase. The last good Halo game was Reach, and it was made by Bungie. Go figure.

Where the ♥♥♥♥ is my EOD helmet.
1/10