Halo Infinite
Credit: MicrosoftWe’ve seen Halo Infinite at this point, and the gaming world has been...perplexed, might be the word. Microsoft’s debut of the flagship game for the Xbox Series X launch could have gone better, and within moments the internet lit up with talk about its graphics. It looks like Halo, to be sure, but that’s a blessing and a curse when you’re trying to show this thing off as something new and impressive. Overall, people are bemoaning flat-looking, low-detail graphics that just don’t pop in the way we were hoping. For many, it’s a downgrade even from Halo 5, and that’s a problem.
And in all of this, a star has emerged.
Craig is the new meme representing Halo Infinite: a flat-faced, grey brute with a look on his face that sits somewhere between resolute and “blank”. He’s making the rounds now on all manner of social media, and it’s not all that flattering for 343 studios. Even when there is love for Craig, is is a pitying sort of love.
To be honest, when I first saw the original screenshot, I thought it was doctored. Then I went to Youtube to get the header for this article, and nope: it’s right from the trailer.
It’s never a good spot for a game to become a meme. We saw it with Assassin’s Creed: Unity, and we saw it with Mass Effect: Andromeda: we know how both of those games ended. But in both of those instances, the game got memed after it came out: with Halo Infinite, we’ve still got a couple of months before we ship.
According to Digital Foudnry’s analysis, much of what’s making Halo Infinite look so weird comes down to lighting: that’s sort of what we mean when we call everything “flat”. It doesn’t help that I, and a lot of other gaming writers, watched that trailer in-between playing the Sony exclusive Ghost of Tsushima, which might just have the most beautiful lighting I’ve ever seen in a video game.
Which gives us a kind of hope. 343 has promised that ray-tracing will come in a post-launch patch, which should significantly improve the lighting effects on Xbox Series X and PCs that can handle it.
And beyond, I think that this game still looks fine, even good, in motion, even if still look a little bit silly. And that’s the the core here: we can’t really judge this thing, because we haven’t played it. We can judge the reveal, and we can judge it harshly if we like. But the game is yet to come. I don’t know if this game will ever be the next-gen graphical showcase the Xbox Series X needs, but it can definitely still be a good Halo game.
The Link LonkJuly 26, 2020 at 08:43PM
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Meet Craig: Halo Infinite’s Flat Graphics Are Already A Meme - Forbes
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Meme
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