One point of feedback as I'm a few minutes in. The music is distracting from the great commentary you provide. Halo dubstep can be pretty distracting when combined with a commentary video hahaha
Holy shit it's the act man. What a nice notification to see at 2:30. Thanks so much for watching the video I'm honored I've been subbed to you for years
It's weird how some people say Halo Infinite has too many walls, while other people say it has too few. I think what the real issue is is that the walls are in the wrong places
It haves in fact many walls, but it feels like the opposite some times since people can snipe you with the sidekick or even with the assault rifle at long distances, so even if there are many walls, there's always a gap where someone it's going to down your shields with the sidekick before you react and move, so you feel like you're always exposed. The only solution to this would be a literal box with 1 door so you can cover on the laterals, wich it's going to lead to someone throwing 4 grenades inside and still killing you anyway, so yeah you're still exposed.
I think it has to do with how much more effective guns are at long range than the older games. The high amount of walls do lead to more boring game environments, but they’re also kinda necessary as Infinite’s weapon sandbox makes it incredibly easy to kill people at long range in open areas. It’s really a lose-lose situation here.
@@trevordavis6830 Negatory on the lose-lose. Plenty of games where any weapon will one hit you have maps that don't leave you exposed 90% of the time while still being fun. having actually lethal weapons isn't the issue, it's 343s attempts at map design. Most of the time spawn killing and other unfun things to experience result from peoples willingness to be scummy combined with inherent flaws in map design that allow for it. Good games get wrecked hard by bad map design or implementation all the time, it just so happens Infinite is a mediocre game with bad maps.
@@fake_butters Desync has always been a problem in previous Halo titles, only you had to be lagging immensely. Infinite has desync regardless of connection XD Sorry, I feel pedantic today.
Infinite’s maps feel too sterile. They were clearly catering to making them esports friendly. Especially with weapon pickups being on the walls instead of naturally along the ground as in previous Halo games. Infinite’s map design lost its charm and feels like a generic arena shooter. I am cautiously optimistic for Forge however.
@@MR.AlIEN8ED As do I but I'm afraid most people who have given up on the game won't be coming back to check it out. Which is extremely unfortunate because Halo deserves better than how it is being run.
@@ianhall6614 Halo has been straying further and further from what it once was, from what made it special. Infinite's the closest in some aspects, yet the furthest in others. For me the online is only a shell of what it used to be, and I find no joy in it. Forge alone won't make a big difference, personally.
What does esports friendly even mean? How is that any different than the og maps that were actually used in esports? After quake, Halo is the *definition* of generic arena shooter, so I don’t see how it could have lost its charm when its charm is exactly the same as it used to be
I don't disagree. I feel like some of the maps are purposely built to make use of the grapple but problem is we don't get starts with grapple so only a few players at a time can get the zoomies... I think forge may fix many of your gripes. Good video btw.
I say no one asked for grapple hook to begin with... they should keep it in campaign and even there I would toss it. In classic halo no one complained about not having a sprint ability and other bs we didn't need also. Of course, now that we have it, people are going to say we need it. Again, classic halo is still thriving for a reason. Modern Halo isn't going to have the same success, clearly.
The highest rank I hit was onyx 1708. I've playing competitively for years. With this title I had to give it a break though unfortunately. I think the game will improve over time for sure
This game will only be great when 343 gives us the tools to make it our own. Until then, 343 is going to continue proving themselves to be the worst AAA developers in the game
I love your points about how open to gunfire a lot of positions are. I constantly feel like I’m being beamed no matter where I am and on any map. You’ve enlightened me on how much cover played a big part in my favourite Halo maps of old.
Some of Halos most popular maps are extremely open. Think about Midship, Warlock, Sanctuary, even Pit and Narrows are very open. You can easily spawn kill on these maps and shoot one side to the other. No the problem with Infinite is the opposite: it’s too closed. Even big maps like overgrowth you rarely fight cross map and all the geometry gets in the way on purpose. Because of closed sight lines people run in packs and fights end up close quarter creating constant chaos which = sweat.
@@CDX7 I never liked Midship or Warlock for that reason actually. The Put had loads of cover, railings, indoor sections, an entire middle structure that separates the sides. For me maps like Bazaar and Aquarius are bad because you walk 3 seconds out of spawn and it’s just open air. Open sight lines. Maps like Sanctuary, The Pit and narrows all have a separation on sides, a break of sight lines (I never liked Midship nor Warlock) And as far as sown killing, that only happened when you faced a good, coordinated team, which wasn’t the usual gameplay experience for me, mostly I played social because the sweatiness makes the game feel like a chore rather than fun
i gotta say, a lot of the issues come from the stimple fact, that 343 removed ALL dynamic objects like boxes, explosives, barricades, and whatnot from the game. those, at least in the old games, were the cover you are missing.
This is great, you offered some interesting critiques that I see the community or even 343 making changes on. With forge coming out soonish, we might see some community edits to the vanilla maps, and even some better map creations.
343 only knows how to make "three lanes with a middle split" arena maps. Gone are the unique layout natural feeling maps that feel like they would exist in a real world. Not everything has to be so damn symmetrical. There may be a few boxes, rocks, or bridges around, but the map layouts are all essentially the same. Whatever happened to closed-off rooms? Whatever happened to elevation and multiple stories of height? We may not have jetpack like Reach and 4, but we have grapple hook. Make taller maps. Stop putting out of bounds kill zones in BTB just because I'm standing on a rock. There is pretty much no room to fly or drive. 343 is obsessed with trenches that a Scorpion can't even maneuver through.
Name any beloved map from the old halos and I guarantee it’s three lane. I’m not even trying to defend infinite but how can you people spew so much hypocrisy.
@@bakes1324 Blood Gulch, Lockout, Guardian, Ascension, Valhalla, Hang 'em High, Ivory Tower, Countdown and many others. Even something simple like The Pit has more than 3 lanes. So simply put, you are wrong.
Ok, first thing I can say is, the fact that the two maps you enjoyed are the two most recently added maps is a good sign. That means that the map designers are actually getting better, so we can be hopeful that further maps will follow the design ideas of those.
I and a few others actually talked to the designer of Launch Site in a voice channel in the Halo Mods discord. He said the goal of Launch Site's design was to capture the style of cautious gameplay found in Counter Strike without having to rely on that game's lack of respawns. I reckon he succeeded as it does remind me of Counter Strike in retrospect, but I don't think that was a good design goal to have considering he was working on a game designed around an entirely different pace and style of combat.
I like the machima style format with the spartan headbob! Classic! It's a nice touch. Also, I appreciate this being focused around the balance of more casual play and not super competitive. So much competitive and ESPORTS is shoved down your throat in games these days and its pretty god damn annoying. 😮💨 ot makes things toxic. For infinite's maps, I really don't like when there's an objective in a small area as there's so much grenade spam. That tunnel on breaker...Holy hell, man! The maps in infinite feel kinda boring and less inspired. They play it safe and we miss out on some cool maps that we used to have. Map interaction was something so cool and I miss it. The maps I actually enjoy a bunch in infinite are streets, Aquarius, and maybe recharge. Catalyst is pretty good, but most of the others get really annoying. Bazaar is like freakin 2fort with its death pit and annoying sniper towers! It's not fun, man! So many open angles! Btb maaps are weird and don't feel big enough or designed for vehicles, and the vehicles in infinite are pretty doo doo, not gonna lie! 😆 I REALLY miss the covenant themed maps! It feel like a good chunk of the map themes are just missing. There's like a couple foreunner maps, and then the rest are mostly gray or basic, human environments. The maps I like have some color. I've need some curvy purple covenant maps, man!s great stuff here, man! One critique, though... the background should be background music! It's hard to understand your commentary with the loud and a bit distracting background music. 😅Overall, good stuff!😁👌🏻
Thanks for watching! And yes I'd love to see some purple covie maps as well. The music was bad in this video but I've fixed that in my new video lol. Thanks for the comment!
People are blaming esports style... the maps aren't bad for that reason, they just suck, period. They're not even good for esports. Spawn killing is bad for casual playing and esports. And if you're not playing to be somewhat competitive, then why not play campaign which is clearly not meant for esports. People don't want you on their team if you're not going to be at least somewhat competitive. Player Vs Player is competitive in nature regardless of the game. If you're playing a game of checkers, you're not playing just to slide pieces around, the goal is to win. The only difference in esports is they have more practice. It's like playing football or any sport and trying to change the rules of the game because you aren't as good as the pros.
Also keep in mind the pros are playing these maps because they have no choice like the rest of us, I'm sure they'd be happy to go back to the H2 and 3 days, when esports was amazing
@@otallono yeah, many of the maps feel devoid of any soul if that makes any sense. I miss some of the old maps and I too would definitely like to have some of em back. But yeah, you can play multi-player pvp and have it be competitive in nature, that goes without saying, but it doesn't feel fun when the game puts you in reoccurring sweaty matches and players. It's starts to feel like a meat grinder and it's not fun when you feel you have to do your best _all the time._ I just feel that games these days focus too much on being the next esport and not a fun game first like the core idea of old Halo CE and others going foward. 😅👍🏻
thanks for pointing out how close everything feels - these Infinite maps feel like arenas rather than just being a cool location to fight in - no doubt i will be making hella maps when Forge comes out
It seems 343 is afraid to add remakes even though they would be a very welcomed addition, like it would be nice to add 8 or so remakes and double the size of the map rotation
@@blaniac6591 Exactly, it blows my mind that 343 hasn't figured this out yet. You did not make the series popular, it arguably peaked fifteen years ago. Nobody gets excited for Halo 4 maps in MCC matchmaking. The fanbase didn't scream about black body suits for a literal decade. They're so up their own assses, and it almost led to their total downfall. Hopefully they figured that out as of recent.
You hit all these point perfectly! One thing I’d add is that I miss the empty feeling of maps from the older games. Having music play at the beginning and end of each game, as well as constant alarms and AI chatter makes it feel crowded. Sometimes when I’m playing multiplayer I just wanna feel the map and appreciate the atmosphere, which I think really helps with the overall play
Thanks for watching! I have a similar video coming out in a few days that focuses more on the classic maps and their gameplay dynamics. Stay tuned for that!
One way they could improve Streets is by adding wider sidewalks so 3 friends or more can walk side by side and not feel like their dragging behind. Thats all.
Fantastic video! Really loved the attention to the editing. You've definitely earned a new subscriber. For the most part, I couldn't agree more as a casual player. Catalyst and Breaker are legitimately fun (and while it's flawed, Recharge is my personal favorite), Live Fire and Streets are basic but functional, Launch Site feels very strange and experimental, and Behemoth is beautiful to look at, but it's maybe my least favorite map to play in any AAA first person shooter. In fact, the only thing I disagree with is the idea that there are any casual/laid-back matches in Infinite! Even when I play the "dumb fun" modes like Fiesta, the focus on competitive, skill-based matchmaking turns EVERY GAME INTO A TOTAL SWEAT FEST instead of a fun, social game (and I think that's what takes such a toll on Aquarius, since I agree that it has all around solid level design).
One thing I hate that isnt about the maps themselves but greatly ruins their memorability is the Variable Weapon Spawns, in previous games weapon spawns gave specific parts of the map inherent value and built a reputation of their own for what they offered players, which for me greatly added to the character and enjoyment of each match. With Variable Weapon Spawns I dont know what I'm going to get which in turn dilutes any value to any of the areas that weapons spawn in, which makes all the maps inherently less memorable. I remember the little hideout underneath the Turret in The Pit BECAUSE the Sniper spawns there. Same goes for the Rocket in the Middle Or the Over shield in the under passageway on the top of the map. These things add character and memorability to each Map. In Infinite all of the maps are just some ambient indistinct mush because nothing is consistent.
@@MR.AlIEN8ED I like the variable weapon spawns, personally. It sakes up the gameplay a bit. Having a Gravity Hammer or Energy Sword spawn gives the gameplay the same effect. Most of the maps just don't feel "sci-fi" enough imo.
The "Streets" Map has a lot of little extra areas that are blocked off by doors and other things that likely either were meant to be moved or could be within forge. I think Bazaar has some as well with doorways going into Antennae and Palm Tree Rooms being blocked off by boarded up doors and lockout gates that if removed would Greatly help in giving extra options for approaching a team that is set up well. I actually feel like raising up the Newspaper stand in the middle into a two floor building would help break up the sightlines way more than just some random extra cover in specific places, the stand has a t or cross bar shape so just raising it up along Vertical / Length (Where the middle split of the map is from Tower to Truck) would still allow some of the angles to tower from lockers but likely cut off from seeing the opposing side. Grenades could still be thrown easily over it and making it not too high so you can maybe jump and shoot over it would work for the best... IDK I can't really make it in forge yet or I would.
Aquarius also has a little area underneath the middle bridge. There's a vent on each side about the size you could crouch or slide into and inside is a little room that is fully decorated. Feels like it was part of the map but maybe they worried campers would be too annoying
My contribution to this is that it seems like with the exception of like, one map, Infinite's map design seems like it's geared more towards creating a setting for a world than it is creating an environment for combat
343's map work has been my biggest complain about them ever since their first Halo, they clearly don't know what they are doing with any aspect of Halo, their maps have always been atrocious and random.
The issue isn't with Infinite's maps themselves (barring Breaker, Highpower and Deadlock). The issue is these maps are all highly specialized for specific gametypes and MMR. Bazaar is purpose built for high competitive CTF, Recharge is built for Strongholds and Slayer, Livefire seems purpose built for Oddball and Slayer and Launch Site is purpose built for 1 Flag (To varying degrees of success tbf). None of the launch maps were built for particularly casual gameplay, especially not for standard FFA, the best map for FFA from launch was and remains as Recharge, Catalyst works decently enough as well. I think most of the maps cater to their gametypes really well, there just isnt enough maps to cover all the gametypes and playstyles effectively. Diversity is the real problem, we have 12 total maps and we're 3/4th of the way through an entire year of the game being released. If you're wondering what my issue is with the initially mentioned maps its 1. Breaker is a campfest, vehicle play is neutered by being funneled into admittedly large but also fairly tight and linear paths, dynamos and plasma grenades continue to dominate vehicle plays as well as the proliferation of sniper rifles. 2. Highpower disadvantages waterfall side always, its weapon pads are also still bugged and are not equal. 3. Deadlock's obsession with buttery slippery rocks and retaining walls that can not be clambered leads to consistent frustration.
I don’t think it’s that maps are too open, plenty of halo 3 maps have huge sight lines, it’s the fact that the BR is hitscan. It is a laser beam, it’s too easy to use. Even the AR is a laser beam
Amazing video, love that your coming at it from a casual POV since Halo should be for both pros and casuals. I heavily agree that the BTB maps are somehow extra large yet feel claustrophobic at the same time. There are so many parts of the new BTB maps that never get used or that are a waste of space and driving is about as bad as it was in Dead Rising 3 or Halo Infinites campaign imo.
Thankyou very much for watching! I decided to cater to the casual crowds because I think the casual chaos is what makes halo great. As good as competitive play is in all of halos history, the casual memories of playing with friends is what makes this game so special.
As someone who has mostly played Big Team Battle since 2010, I was holding out for your thoughts about the launch maps. The fact that you aptly summed up the issue (tight, winding grenade pits and a lack of drivable spaces) AND included all three maps corporately literally made me start clapping and nodding in my chair. Great analysis. I was also floored by your saying that it's like Bazaar doesn't want anyone to play on it - everything about Bazaar works on paper, but it just feels like there's nowhere good to play from on that map and I could never put my finger on it. I don't share your love for Streets and I have an inexplicable soft spot for Behemoth, but thank goodness someone finally called out Live Fire. Streets, Aquarius, etc have problems but can still be fun, but Live Fire just... kinda sucks, for all the reasons you mentioned. This video was great, and very refreshing. Your love of Halo was obvious from the nostalgic opening, but you were able to talk through it and apply what you loved from past titles to criticism of Halo Infinite, without being crushingly negative. Keep at it!
Great vid. Personally I just wish there was an 8v8 game mode. I feel like 12 v 12 just feels a bit more chaotic which I think is cool but I always liked the way 8 v 8’s played although I don’t think any of the btb maps would cater to it sadly.
So, I actually agree with a lot of your tweaks, but I disagree with the core thesis that Infinite's maps aren't "Haloy", because all of the maps you cite as examples as being emblematic of Halo's map design are specifically from Halo 3. Not that Halo 3's maps aren't valid examples to be citing, they are, but when your sample size is just one game rather then the broader franchise as a whole, I don't think it's justified to act as if those design principals you pick out represent the entire franchise. I think this is an issue a LOT of discourse around what "makes Halo feel like Halo" has, Halo 3 is always the go-to example even though, even just looking at the Bungie games, or even just looking at the original trilogy, it is still just 1/4 to 1/3 of that selection. As it applies here, I think CE and Halo 2 have a significantly different approach to map design then Halo 3 did. I'm gonna be focusing CE, 2, and 3 here, and on 4v4 maps just to prevent this from being like 20 paragraphs long (and also because I think the fact that Infinite's BTB maps have a lot of enclosed lanes and hallways that limits vehicle mobility is pretty inarguable), but 4v4 maps in CE obviously range from more experimental and gimmicky maps like Chiron, Boarding Action, and Rat Race, to Arena style maps like Wizard, Prisoner, Derelict, Chill Out, etc. Pretty much all of the latter maps are symmetrical, with a lot of overlapping instances of elevation and walkways, but with relatively limited places to actually change your elevation, but the map design is dense enough that you can get around to staircases or lifts or teleporters or other rooms fairly fast.. Halo 2 has a lot more asymmetrical maps, but also way less gimmicky ones: Almost every 4v4 map in Halo 2 is sort of sweaty arena maps. There's less overlap of different elevation floors, but there is WAY more opporunities to move up or down in elevation spread all across the map, and also more cover and geometry, and a lot of skill/trickjumps, making Halo 2's maps feel like combat jungle gyms with constant flanking and high mobility, and is less forgiving, in part also because of how broken the BR is. Halo 3's 4v4 maps are a lot more conductive to vehicle use then in prior games, and as a result many are more wide open then in past games, and feel more spread out: High ground, Isolation, Snowbound, Standoff, etc. Even the infantry only ones like Construct, The Pit, and Narrows feel larger and landmarks on the map take longer to access. There's also less accesability verticality as a result: Not just in the Halo 2 sense with being able to jump up to higher platforms wherever, but also in less overlap of floors in general. There's also some more experimental choices in the DLC, with Rat's nest, Longshore, and Orbital, which I can only describe as sort of race tracks; and some more traditional CE/2 style arena maps like Ghost Town, Assembly, and various remakes, though I don't think they really feel as dense as CE or 2's versions either. To put my biases on the table, I am a Halo 2 fanboy, and I love the jungle-gym, platforming heavy nature of those maps and to a lesser extent the sort of verticality CE's maps have. I've never really liked Halo 3 scaling those elements back and inflating the maps, and as a result I found it very ironic that people accused Halo 5 of "stretching the maps out" when if anything it was a return to form to 2's maps with a big emphasis on verticality, being able to hop up and between elevation layers easily anywhjere on the map, trickjumps, and sweatier map design with dense geometry conductive to flanking. (Also, while I like the sweaty nature of these maps, I wanna stress I am NOT a comp or even a big ranked player: I'd like to, but I enjoy the varied weapon sandbox too much and prior games had stuff like the AR just as bad guns for bad players, and in 5 and Infinite while the sandbox as a whole is solid now, not just precision weapons, now I don't have friends to match with and in Infinite there's not even a ranked playlist that's not HCS settings, and I'm not gonna play a mode with no radar without a team to communicate with) As it applies to Infinite, I feel like the maps are sorta a combination of 5's and 3's (TBH Infinite's MP in general does) Like 3, stuff tend to feel sorta open and spread out, and there';s some other similarities I can't quite put my finger on, but I think it's noticably more vertical, sorta like CE, 2, and 5's, but there's not really overlapping vertical layers like in CE, nor is there a lot of points to go between elevation levels like 2 and 5's.... at least in the same way: Those spots exist all over the place, but require clamber, and result in you just sort of climbing onto buildings and structures, since there's no criss-crossing platforms to platform off or or between, wheras in Halo 2 or 5 you were jumping up and down off of a whole bunch of things. Not sure I explained that well, but like, clambering up onto the balconies on Bazaar, or the tower or the base side that opens up to the central hall if you jump down from the firing range area by the crates on Live Fire, or doing the same on Recharge from the lower powerup spawn onto the crates towards the tower; or off the moving pillars to the hallway overlook on Recharge, etc, isn't quite the same as jumping up onto the rooftaps and walkways on Turf or Sanctuary or all the crazy stuff you can do on Plaza or The Rig. All that said, I do think your suggestions for Infinite's maps are good, but I also think they're plenty fun to play on already (Including Behemoth!) I just do wish that there were more walkways a la CE and platforms to jump off and across those + walkways a la 2 and 5... and yeah, the BTB maps need to have smoother floor geometry and open up more so that warthogs and ghosts and choppers don't get stuck on everything
How would you rank the maps in Infinite? Also, what do you think of Reach and 4's map design? really enjoy most of Infinite's maps, though I do agree with the points he had on Launch Site.
Halo 3 sold the most copies out of any Halo game thus the gold standard for the vast majority as that's when Bungie really got it all right for all map sizes. 343 has an identify crisis trying to make Halo a competitive game first, fun second. OG Halo was always fun first, competitive second with MLG tweaked maps and game modes.
@@duncansiror5033 For arena maps, Recharge is easily my favorite, and aside from specific modes, Bazaar and Launch Site would be my least favorite. As far as Reach and 4, I think they largerly stick to Halo 3 esque map design in that they do feel like Halo maps, but have the verticality and platforming largerly restricted to specific spots on the map instead of being all over the place like in 2 and 5. Reach in particular I think has the worst maps in the series.
Ooo the cinematic with the video is honestly really really amazing, like kept my eyes glued to the screen because it was like camera ASMR 🤙 also I miss the old maps
Thankyou so much! I love it so much when someone appreciates the visual structure of my videos. I'm going to continue making machinima style intros. If you want go check out my spartan laser video I uploaded two days ago. The entire intro is a machinima. Thanks so much for watching!
8:39. Behemoth is large, but there are plenty of ways to get around, like grappleshot power ups and vehicles, and shortcuts, like using the Repulsor to jump up a level from the bridge where the Active camo spawns, or jumping through the hole from ground level into the pit. The map is actually a joy to move around in. People hate on this map but I love it. Bazaar. This map is a nightmare with BR starts, when movement just slows to a crawl and everything turns into a campfest.
The thing about Bazaar for me, it also highlights a massive difference between Infinite and classic Halo games - the absolute dependence on clambering/traversal just to even navigate the basic areas of this map. It's terrible. I'm surprised you take such a liking to Breaker, because I'm simply not having fun with it. Objective game modes play really bad, especially CTF. The lanes on either side of the map have little to no room to strafe or navigate, you get spammed with nades in one and sniped by the 3-4 enemies camping their base when you take high ground to cross the other. You go below, you're a sitting duck or get splattered. The bases themselves have so many platforms and clambering areas and I don't get why, when nothing happens inside of them it just feels like a gymnasium. I'm struggling to enjoy any games I land in that map.
I made a comment about the same thing. You fight for your life to get the bulldog just to realize you can’t flank without clambering and it’s just tedious when you get this map in the rotation all day since there’s barely any maps in the game
I agree with most of what you said, especially the part of the btb maps should feel way more open and let the sand box play out, but you know also as much as im not to crazy on the base vanilla maps they all have a common theme where they are really forgeable and just simply that would really change gameplay experience, i feel like they purposely did that.but good video !
This is essential watching before beginning any Forge map. Do what Infinite didn't - give space to breathe in a room, add protected areas with cover, break up sightlines without clogging flow
Quality vid, the big thing that I'd change about streets is definitely the A to B route. That little curved road. Feels like it's just a meat grinder going up there, and the only reasonable counter is having a teammate flanking B from mid or C. I'd add a wrecked truck or something there, just to give some form of cover to that route
Well said. I mainly want Lockout, Turf, Guardian, The Pit, and Construct remakes (they may need slight scale or other small adjustments) added to ranked. I know people will do forge recreations of those maps, but I hope I can actually play them easily and regularly. Ideally, we could vote in the pregame lobby... throw in a curated selection of the best of the best forge maps (complete originals + remakes) and use the data from the votes to weight how often a map will show up in subsequent voting lobbies... while also continuing to rotate in new forge maps to try out. Or, a separate playlist where the above happens and then the absolute favorites get thrown into main ranked rotation. That would probably be better... would make the game crazy dynamic and perpetually interesting.
Yes absolutely. I'm very excited for forge and the endless possibilities but I want 343 to recreate the og maps for us. I think that the textures would look noticeably better that way vs the forge materials and I think they kind of owe it to us at this point as well. I know we will get plenty of forge versions of every halo map in history but to get a fully built high res version of some of our favorite classics is what I prefer. Thankyou very much for watching and I appreciate your thoughts on this
The main reason will always be sprint. Ever since it’s inclusion in Reach, the maps have turned awkward and forgettable. Also these “Ordinance drops” severely hinder the multiplayer. I think I can speak for everyone that no one asked for them or continues to want them.
I think ordinance drops make last spartan standing really unbalanced because players who havent leveled up or don't also have powerups are at a huge disadvantage especially when up against someone with overshields. I thought the point of the game mode was to prove who was better at starting from scratch not looting every drop on the map like a battle royale. (I literally saw a player loot 1-2 times after every kill and by the time he won he had an overshield, camo, 4 grenades and then some )
I'm noticing a lot of your proposed alterations include a lot of extra cover to increase survivability with allocations for a more strategic form of play, which is something I don't believe infinite is really designed for. The speed of movement and the short-mid range weapon sandbox seem geared more to a constant rushing style, you move or you die, claustrophobic slugfests are the norm with weapons serving as a way to close the gap or draw attention just as often if not more then outright killing players (which would work significantly better if they added collision with other players, but I still have some fun with it), the gameplay is all knee jerk reactions and high pressure. And while this does have merit, I personally understand why some would say that in comparison to the rest of the series, it doesn't really feel like Halo.
Very good take. One commenter pointed out that there are no strong power positions anymore. It's just a constant rotation. I'm learning a lot from all these comments. Thank you for watching!
@@MR.AlIEN8ED I also find infinite has very few medium strength power weapons. Even AR starts are about as competent at dealing damage in this game as most weapons you pick up on map and are a lot more versatile. This combined with grenades being bouncy and going VERY far with huge blast radiuses makes the game feel like it has lost a lot of that mid range 'dance' identity that Halos of the past had.
@@lockevalentine997 I think the nerfs to BR and frag grenades in the recent update have gone a way to remedying some of these problems, but the AR does still feel rather powerful.
@@iratepirate3896 I think they took the wrong approach to balancing grenades. I think Halo 3 grenades were the pinnacle of them in halo games, and instead of making infinites more like those they just made them have an even longer fuse time. They really don't feel like halo grenades anymore, they feel like COD or Battlefield grenades.
Great vid 🙌🏻 I personally think that Fragmentation is an all-time great Halo map, but that doesnt mean that the rest of Infinites BTB maps need to feature restrictive lanes running throughout them. We also need some wide-open maps thats promote the use of vehicles (Blood Gulch, Avalanche, Sandtrap, etc)
I actually quite like a lot of Infinites maps (not a btb guy btw): Catalyst - great all round Aquarius - great all round aswell imo Live fire - ok for 4v4, great for ffa or 2v2 Bohemoth - its ok but way too open Breaker - fun for LSS Bazaar - not a fan of death pit but can be fun in a good CtF game Launch site - agreed very weird. Could be alright with a man cannon on both sides. Recharge - pretty great Streets - pretty great (as a side note I think a lot of the death pits on these maps could be better if in Ranked you only spawn with 1 frag grenade instead of 2, not a great way to start a game with 8 nades coming at you imo)
I appreciate your well thought out opinion on this. I will say that I do enjoy every single map in the game for ffa. They play well with only 8 total players on free for all
Disagree, tbh I think most of the maps are fun except recharge and at times streets can become a little boring. Love infinites maps and catalyst is such a banger, we just need mroe
The maps of Halo 2-Reach play a lot more interestingly than Infinite’s. I pretty much only play solo social, and find Infinite’s maps to be pretty bland I don’t hate them, but they do suck the life out of the game a bit
@@JohnSmith-ti9uq actually the maps were made for multiplayer first and then pasted in to Campaign, but I do agree compared to H2/3, Reach’s maps are a step down for sure
7:51 Yes. This map needs more walls big time. Bazaar is one of my favourite maps when I used to play Infinite regularly. I used to shred on this map. Streets sucks. There's no cover anywhere and you get grenade spammed to oblivion.
Maps are overly wide, spacious. Too many hallways. Too much running around. And they all feel "sameish". No interesting sightlines or positioning. It's just a bunch of hallways connecting basic flat rooms. Compare it to CE's maps (which I've grown to love) where it's like, every 4v4 map has some unique arrangement of cover and pathways that leads you to navigate around combat differently. When I play "Damnation", and I'm slipping in and out around the pillars with the shotgun and flanking enemies, or when I'm going "stealthy" in a map like Wizard or Derelict by taking the bottom and obscuring my hitbox using sightlines, the environment totally changes the way I play from map to map. But when I play Infinite, I don't get this feeling. Combat feels totally detached from the environment because the environments feels so basic. And it strips out one of the coolest thing about Halo's gameplay. What makes older Halo work is the sense of "flow" to the combat changes from map to map and creates variety. With newer Halo, it's like you're playing the same game regardless of map.
Bazaar's biggest problem outside of the forced flow from palm tree side (seriously, that route underneath needs to be opened) is the fact it requires clamber to navigate the map at any given time. I'm not saying that lowering the entire map and adding ramps would suddenly make Bazaar goated, but the map would play significantly better. Like imagine if Sanctuary required you to jump, let alone clamber the front of the base 🤢 The clamber problem is amplified on Basement side, which is just so terribly designed I can't believe it even got approved.
Yes! You're exactly right. There has to be ways to get the hell out of bottom mid. It's an unplayable area that creates a giant trap in the middle because there is no quick way to get the hell out of there. Great point you made here. Thanks for watching!
Thankyou so much! The machinima intros are my favorite part of my videos. Go check put my video I uploaded last night. I think you'll like it. Thanks for watching!
It also doesn't help that props aren't all dynamic. We need more crates, exploding trucks/forklifts, and more open space for vehicles in BTB. There's very little stuff that you can actually interact with. The loot doors on Fragmentation are cool, but they're nothing compared to the bridge on Zanzibar/Last Resort. They don't change the flow of a map permanently. It also doesn't help that weapons, power ups, and vehicles are artificially withheld from us on pads, drop pods, or pelican drops. A proper BTB map needs a Warthog spawn, two small vehicle spawns, a heavy spawn, and an aircraft spawn all at the two bases at all times. BTB isn't as chaotic when the tanks are withheld until later in a match. I can't wait for the Forge community to one up 343 within the first few weeks of Forge being released.
Hey man thankyou very much! I'm learning a ton about this game talking to you guys. It's making me a better content creator. This has been a lot of fun I look forward to seeing you on the next video!
New sub. I appreciate you actually playing the game before making a video about the topic. I can tell you put work into this and your ideas, which some were great and I agreed with.
Its hard to say if I agree with the smaller maps but as a highly competitive person I go on BTB to chill out. You said it perfectly that the BTB maps don't feel open and its a damn shame. good video all around.
I agree with quite a bit of what you said about the maps, but besides the maps I personally think they should put friendly fire back. Both for a fun casual thing to mess with your friends but also for comp to actually watch your fire around them
Breaker has a big ctf problem imo. I feel like it ends in a 0-0 tie most of the time. Flags are placed too open so it’s hard to grab without getting shot from multiple directions.
Yeah, Breaker is more interesting than the other three BTB maps, but it ain't good. Valhalla, which he compares it to, was intentionally designed such that you _couldn't_ just stand atop your own base and shoot the enemies as they spawn in theirs. Breaker significantly suffers from this issue, especially when one team has a talented player on their sniper and shock rifle.
this is a great take, when infinite first came out i loved the smaller maps on fiesta, but they simply do NOT have the replayability that the older ones do.
I really like the br and commando spawns. I do kind of want a grenade spawn on top mid though. It would make sense given that it's the highest point in the map.
This is a really good vid. There were a lot of points you made which made me realize why I'm not too big a fan of half the maps. I really think cover and momentary down time is important to halo.
Absolutely. In the classic games it felt like almost every match told a story. Especially btb games on h2 h3 and reach. Now it's just kill die kill die kill die
@@MR.AlIEN8ED it's one of the main reasons I can't play halo 5 for more than two hours because there is no time to relax on any of the maps. Like on plaza the sight lines are crazy.
Yeah I think a lot of 343 maps are missing actual power positions. There's no positions to hold anymore and be safe and establish control. Just look at live fire Aquarius Bazaar and Behemoth. It's just constant spawn rotating chaos. Some h5 maps are like that as well
New maps feel pretty time wastey. Pretty but feels like no one knows where things are or where they should be and you never get satisfying Halo combat. At best you might have some fun chaos and some interesting encounters but its almost always you surprised an opponent because of random happenstance. But never that classic 1 team is clearly trying to gain a position that the other team understands they need to not allow.
@@MR.AlIEN8ED I also wanted to say based on your video I’d say your good at judging a map so if you play halo 5 I have a work in progress map I would like to see you eventually critique altho it isn’t finished yet as I made it a while back and it’s my first map so I need to update it
2 Changes that I think will significantly improve halo Infinite multiplayer maps would be changing a lot of the hit scan weapons to projectiles and nerfing grenades by reducing blast radius and adding a delay before you can throw them, this would make grenades a lot harder to spam. GREAT VIDEO.
I agree with your stance on many of the maps and with alot of suggested changes. But the whole time i was thinking that alot of what was said could have also been said for one of the best maps in halo history. H2 lockout, like the lack of cover in the entire mid, base to base easy shooting ect lol. so as many small suggested changes would help, overall weak map design is the biggest problem in all newer halos i think. Getting back some old school remakes or at least spiritual successors would be much needed.
Live Fire is my favourite map because it’s the only map in Ranked to have a sniper, which is crazy when you think about it. Construct, Narrows, and The Pit all had sniper rifles, with two of them having multiple snipers and giving us intense cross-map battles. The main issue with Infinite’s map design isn’t the lack of cover, it’s the lack of power positions. Lockout had BR tower, Midship had pink tower, Guardian had sniper tower, Construct had lobby, etc. The current maps do not have a power position that teams should strive to gain control of, rather they’re designed for constant movement and rotation. This does create a faster pace of play, which most people do prefer I suppose, but to me that’s not what Halo is about. Call of Duty is fast paced and run and gun; Halo is positioning and teamwork. I feel like at all times on every map I never know which position I should try and hold, and whenever I do try and hold a spot, I’m too easily naded out of that spot. This forces me to play where I’m constantly sprinting around and I don’t like that. The BR is a laser beam so I can’t even get the distance advantage on someone when I do get the sniper, which as I mentioned, is only on one map anyways.
You know what? I'm learning more and more about this game from comments like this. You're exactly right. There aren't any decent power positions. Recharge has top and bottom control and top glass but even then they are so easily naded that you're lucky to even hold those positions for more than 45 seconds. Thank you I appreciate your take on this.
I feel like 343 has been using the same map design team this entire time which is why all of their games have such forgettable maps. They are yet to make even one single iconic map. You'd think they would get lucky at some point.
Yup. Bungie was constantly changing their map design. Halo CE has some of the weirdest maps in video game history but it shows that they took risk. Halo Reach was sort of dipping into Halo infinite maps design especially the big dull grey box look, but Reach maps are still 10x better. For every "good" 343 map there are 10 master pieces of maps from bungie.
On launch site you can actually jump to the top platform using the man canon. Tried that jump with a friend for a while because it seemed so close and eventually succeded. IIRC we ended up jumping into the man canon and pushing either to the left or the right midflight to sometimes reach those little parts standing out at the other side. This was just from experimenting around I am sure there is a consistent way to pull that off.
As a warthog driver main the only og btb map I like is fragmentation, the other two are waay to open to do well. but I do agree there are bumps and tight spaces that make driving fluidly very frustrating. Not to mention the vehicles take so little till they blow up. But that's a different discussion
Infinites maps look and play ok, but heres the problem: the equipment/gadgets of Infinite make man cannons pointless, and the unstable servers make sure to desync you off a cliff/into a pit of death
what was fun about classic halo multiplayer maps were the rooms/places you could camp/hide in with friends until a nade or rocket blows everyone up. 343 forces fighting at all times for the sake of being competitive.
Your explanations are accurate. You use the map available and show the pros and cons. You illustrate your point. It is a genuine attempt and honest. I do agree on your approach. I play competition learning the trades of every map. The more variety the better. Halo infinite is a product where people with high accuracy skills have a say. But great fun maps is another discussion that YOU address well. Thank you for such contribution.
I love a ytber who asks me at the END of the video to like and sub, because If your vid is good enough for me to watch through to the end without clicking off, you will have earned your like, Subscription and comment. Great video.
Weirdest gripe I have with Infinite maps, that I didn't experience to the same degree in older games, is that I regularely spawn with absolutely no idea where I am. Or even thinking I am in a completely different location until I round a corner or so. Streets is probably the biggest offender.
Halo Infinite really has no large open maps, in a game with a heavy emphasis on vehicles. Even campaign which is "open world" seemingly only has narrow vehicle paths and if you try to drive off them, you'll either drive off an incline, or run into a tree, or a rock. Everything 343 does, they do badly, it's almost impressive.
Yep a lot of modern map design seems to focused on making no part of the map “overpowered”. But that was part of the fun of the old Halo games. Everything wasn’t clinically and carefully designed to be the same as everywhere else on the map.
hard disagree on Breaker. the vehicle paths are wide but unless someone’s IN the path (they almost never are) you can’t shoot anyone, and if you can, they can usually sprint to cover before dying. What’s worse to me is the litany of camping spots. I played a game of CTF where our team couldn’t use the upper bridge because one guy camped and cheesed with repulser and smacked people into the lava. Once someone finally stuck him he just spawned, grabbed repulser again and went right back. There was no way to flank him, no jet pack to use as a hard counter to camping, can’t shoot him from the low side of the pit, and the corner he was hiding in was too deep to place nades near him and kill him without you having to round the corner and get smacked into the lava. Literally one of my LEAST favorite maps.
Really like this video. And agree with why the bad maps are bad. But I disagree with your thoughts on Recharge and your desire for a lot of waist high walls for cover options. Then you’re just stuck in more floating jump or clambering animations.
Halo Infinite'a my first Halo and my second FPS (1st one's TF2) and idk how to feel about some of your criticism. For me, the absolute hardest part of learning infinite is understanding nowhere is absolutely safe. Instead, positions are only relatively safe based on your opponents' positioning. For example, Live Fire has a lot of power positions that are exposed from certain spots, so the skill is understanding where your opponents are and only taking those spots when you're confident they're safe. It's something I've grown to enjoy about the game. At the same time, I don't really have an issue putting more cover in many of these spots. Playing around corners is fun and I'd be fine with a number of these alterations. Maybe it's because I'm so new to Halo but I genuinely love a lot of things going on in Infinite. I can play it all day no problem.
BTB is my love and butter. And I have HUGE plans for Infinite's Forge that focuses on BTB and bring classic Halo feel to Infinite. Since it's not out yet, your really SHOULD check out my Halo5 map called: Waukeka. It should give you a good idea of what I'm aiming for with Infinite. But the H5 map may cause lag due to it's size and lightmap. I've been work on it (as well as my LAVAL & Whiteout maps) for 6 yrs and badly need testing. I have recently uploaded walkthroughs on my channel.
Missing time stamp for Live Fire, is currently included in the Breaker section of the timeline. Same problem with Bazaar timestamp, is included in the Aquarius section.
Dude... bravo. I was actively trying to find points i disagreed with, per your starting comment of everyone thinking you're wrong, and i could not find anything! i agree one hundred percent with your criticisms and additions. i loved halo 3 big team, i can't bare to play a single match in infinite and run around with a pistol for half an hour. recharge analaysis was great too, i like that one as well. really well done sir.
Thankyou very much! Comments like this keep me going. I'm working on my next video all day tomorrow I can't wait to get it published. Thank you very much for watching!
@@MR.AlIEN8ED also loved your comparison to the older maps at the beginning. Great clips, made me so nostalgic seeing all my same favorite maps again. Why can't something good stay good?
Hey guys the discord has gone live! Join and come chat we will be having community game nights!
discord.gg/64vDZhYy
One point of feedback as I'm a few minutes in. The music is distracting from the great commentary you provide. Halo dubstep can be pretty distracting when combined with a commentary video hahaha
Holy shit it's the act man. What a nice notification to see at 2:30. Thanks so much for watching the video I'm honored I've been subbed to you for years
Also I'll take to dubstep out of the next vid lol
The act attorney always wins his case, unless it involves legislation.
At least put it lower in the mix and maybe raise the volume slightly for transitions.
" THE ACTMAN HERE " Welcome back good sir!
It's weird how some people say Halo Infinite has too many walls, while other people say it has too few. I think what the real issue is is that the walls are in the wrong places
It haves in fact many walls, but it feels like the opposite some times since people can snipe you with the sidekick or even with the assault rifle at long distances, so even if there are many walls, there's always a gap where someone it's going to down your shields with the sidekick before you react and move, so you feel like you're always exposed.
The only solution to this would be a literal box with 1 door so you can cover on the laterals, wich it's going to lead to someone throwing 4 grenades inside and still killing you anyway, so yeah you're still exposed.
I think it has to do with how much more effective guns are at long range than the older games. The high amount of walls do lead to more boring game environments, but they’re also kinda necessary as Infinite’s weapon sandbox makes it incredibly easy to kill people at long range in open areas. It’s really a lose-lose situation here.
@@trevordavis6830
Negatory on the lose-lose. Plenty of games where any weapon will one hit you have maps that don't leave you exposed 90% of the time while still being fun. having actually lethal weapons isn't the issue, it's 343s attempts at map design. Most of the time spawn killing and other unfun things to experience result from peoples willingness to be scummy combined with inherent flaws in map design that allow for it. Good games get wrecked hard by bad map design or implementation all the time, it just so happens Infinite is a mediocre game with bad maps.
I think the true issue is that de-sync gets us shot through the walls, unlike every other halo prior :-(
@@fake_butters
Desync has always been a problem in previous Halo titles, only you had to be lagging immensely. Infinite has desync regardless of connection XD
Sorry, I feel pedantic today.
Infinite’s maps feel too sterile. They were clearly catering to making them esports friendly. Especially with weapon pickups being on the walls instead of naturally along the ground as in previous Halo games. Infinite’s map design lost its charm and feels like a generic arena shooter. I am cautiously optimistic for Forge however.
I am as well. I believe in the community and their abilities
@@MR.AlIEN8ED As do I but I'm afraid most people who have given up on the game won't be coming back to check it out. Which is extremely unfortunate because Halo deserves better than how it is being run.
I have faith that the forge community will come back to try out the new system
@@ianhall6614 Halo has been straying further and further from what it once was, from what made it special. Infinite's the closest in some aspects, yet the furthest in others. For me the online is only a shell of what it used to be, and I find no joy in it. Forge alone won't make a big difference, personally.
What does esports friendly even mean? How is that any different than the og maps that were actually used in esports? After quake, Halo is the *definition* of generic arena shooter, so I don’t see how it could have lost its charm when its charm is exactly the same as it used to be
I don't disagree. I feel like some of the maps are purposely built to make use of the grapple but problem is we don't get starts with grapple so only a few players at a time can get the zoomies... I think forge may fix many of your gripes. Good video btw.
I cant wait for forge! Thanks for watching!
Help us Forge, you're our only hope!
But I'm with you-I'm betting a few forge re-designs will make these maps come back alive.
I say no one asked for grapple hook to begin with... they should keep it in campaign and even there I would toss it. In classic halo no one complained about not having a sprint ability and other bs we didn't need also. Of course, now that we have it, people are going to say we need it. Again, classic halo is still thriving for a reason. Modern Halo isn't going to have the same success, clearly.
The zoomies 💀
This was a great breakdown! Haven't heard enough people talking about infinite's map design and how it needs to be improved.
Thankyou so much! I appreciate you watching the video! Forge will bring a lot of improvements and life back to the game for sure
@@MR.AlIEN8ED I definitely like your points and even as a competitive player we’d welcome some more cover so certain spots aren’t no man’s lands.
The highest rank I hit was onyx 1708. I've playing competitively for years. With this title I had to give it a break though unfortunately. I think the game will improve over time for sure
This game will only be great when 343 gives us the tools to make it our own. Until then, 343 is going to continue proving themselves to be the worst AAA developers in the game
I miss some of the quirks of older halo maps, even if sometimes that made them asymmetric and "not competitive"
I love your points about how open to gunfire a lot of positions are. I constantly feel like I’m being beamed no matter where I am and on any map.
You’ve enlightened me on how much cover played a big part in my favourite Halo maps of old.
I appreciate this comment. I get so frustrated while playing infinite and I didn't understand why so I've started this channel to try to figure it out
Yeah there’s literally no where on any of these maps where I can’t be shot from 3-4 angles.
Some of Halos most popular maps are extremely open. Think about Midship, Warlock, Sanctuary, even Pit and Narrows are very open. You can easily spawn kill on these maps and shoot one side to the other. No the problem with Infinite is the opposite: it’s too closed. Even big maps like overgrowth you rarely fight cross map and all the geometry gets in the way on purpose. Because of closed sight lines people run in packs and fights end up close quarter creating constant chaos which = sweat.
@@CDX7 the weapon sandbox in previous halos didn’t allow such a thing
@@CDX7 I never liked Midship or Warlock for that reason actually. The Put had loads of cover, railings, indoor sections, an entire middle structure that separates the sides.
For me maps like Bazaar and Aquarius are bad because you walk 3 seconds out of spawn and it’s just open air. Open sight lines.
Maps like Sanctuary, The Pit and narrows all have a separation on sides, a break of sight lines (I never liked Midship nor Warlock)
And as far as sown killing, that only happened when you faced a good, coordinated team, which wasn’t the usual gameplay experience for me, mostly I played social because the sweatiness makes the game feel like a chore rather than fun
i gotta say, a lot of the issues come from the stimple fact, that 343 removed ALL dynamic objects like boxes, explosives, barricades, and whatnot from the game. those, at least in the old games, were the cover you are missing.
This is great, you offered some interesting critiques that I see the community or even 343 making changes on. With forge coming out soonish, we might see some community edits to the vanilla maps, and even some better map creations.
Thanks for watching! Forge should turn things around. I still want the devs to add some more classic styled maps as well
343 only knows how to make "three lanes with a middle split" arena maps. Gone are the unique layout natural feeling maps that feel like they would exist in a real world. Not everything has to be so damn symmetrical. There may be a few boxes, rocks, or bridges around, but the map layouts are all essentially the same. Whatever happened to closed-off rooms? Whatever happened to elevation and multiple stories of height? We may not have jetpack like Reach and 4, but we have grapple hook. Make taller maps. Stop putting out of bounds kill zones in BTB just because I'm standing on a rock. There is pretty much no room to fly or drive. 343 is obsessed with trenches that a Scorpion can't even maneuver through.
facts
Name any beloved map from the old halos and I guarantee it’s three lane. I’m not even trying to defend infinite but how can you people spew so much hypocrisy.
@@bakes1324 Blood Gulch, Lockout, Guardian, Ascension, Valhalla, Hang 'em High, Ivory Tower, Countdown and many others. Even something simple like The Pit has more than 3 lanes. So simply put, you are wrong.
@@bakes1324 ironic
exactly.
Ok, first thing I can say is, the fact that the two maps you enjoyed are the two most recently added maps is a good sign. That means that the map designers are actually getting better, so we can be hopeful that further maps will follow the design ideas of those.
I hope so. Bringing back some modern versions of the classic maps will make a lot of the player base a lot happier. Thankyou for watching!
Good point. Didn't notice that but yes.
Those maps are even worse
They were also the only maps not designed by 343 though, Certain Affinity was brought in to make them lol
@@julianfarnam6246 Though at this point, whatever it takes.
I and a few others actually talked to the designer of Launch Site in a voice channel in the Halo Mods discord. He said the goal of Launch Site's design was to capture the style of cautious gameplay found in Counter Strike without having to rely on that game's lack of respawns. I reckon he succeeded as it does remind me of Counter Strike in retrospect, but I don't think that was a good design goal to have considering he was working on a game designed around an entirely different pace and style of combat.
I like the machima style format with the spartan headbob! Classic! It's a nice touch. Also, I appreciate this being focused around the balance of more casual play and not super competitive. So much competitive and ESPORTS is shoved down your throat in games these days and its pretty god damn annoying. 😮💨 ot makes things toxic. For infinite's maps, I really don't like when there's an objective in a small area as there's so much grenade spam. That tunnel on breaker...Holy hell, man! The maps in infinite feel kinda boring and less inspired. They play it safe and we miss out on some cool maps that we used to have. Map interaction was something so cool and I miss it. The maps I actually enjoy a bunch in infinite are streets, Aquarius, and maybe recharge. Catalyst is pretty good, but most of the others get really annoying. Bazaar is like freakin 2fort with its death pit and annoying sniper towers! It's not fun, man! So many open angles! Btb maaps are weird and don't feel big enough or designed for vehicles, and the vehicles in infinite are pretty doo doo, not gonna lie! 😆
I REALLY miss the covenant themed maps! It feel like a good chunk of the map themes are just missing. There's like a couple foreunner maps, and then the rest are mostly gray or basic, human environments. The maps I like have some color. I've need some curvy purple covenant maps, man!s great stuff here, man! One critique, though... the background should be background music! It's hard to understand your commentary with the loud and a bit distracting background music. 😅Overall, good stuff!😁👌🏻
Thanks for watching! And yes I'd love to see some purple covie maps as well. The music was bad in this video but I've fixed that in my new video lol. Thanks for the comment!
People are blaming esports style... the maps aren't bad for that reason, they just suck, period. They're not even good for esports. Spawn killing is bad for casual playing and esports. And if you're not playing to be somewhat competitive, then why not play campaign which is clearly not meant for esports. People don't want you on their team if you're not going to be at least somewhat competitive. Player Vs Player is competitive in nature regardless of the game. If you're playing a game of checkers, you're not playing just to slide pieces around, the goal is to win. The only difference in esports is they have more practice. It's like playing football or any sport and trying to change the rules of the game because you aren't as good as the pros.
Also keep in mind the pros are playing these maps because they have no choice like the rest of us, I'm sure they'd be happy to go back to the H2 and 3 days, when esports was amazing
@@otallono yeah, many of the maps feel devoid of any soul if that makes any sense. I miss some of the old maps and I too would definitely like to have some of em back. But yeah, you can play multi-player pvp and have it be competitive in nature, that goes without saying, but it doesn't feel fun when the game puts you in reoccurring sweaty matches and players. It's starts to feel like a meat grinder and it's not fun when you feel you have to do your best _all the time._ I just feel that games these days focus too much on being the next esport and not a fun game first like the core idea of old Halo CE and others going foward. 😅👍🏻
thanks for pointing out how close everything feels - these Infinite maps feel like arenas rather than just being a cool location to fight in - no doubt i will be making hella maps when Forge comes out
Yes! I look forward to seeing them! I want to make videos about my subscribers forge maps
@@MR.AlIEN8ED Lockout2 is out and ready to be played on Lockout2 by xISAUROx check it out
I'll add it to the game nights. Discord is coming soon
It seems 343 is afraid to add remakes even though they would be a very welcomed addition, like it would be nice to add 8 or so remakes and double the size of the map rotation
I hate it when the company that adopted the franchise tries doing their own thing with it.
We aren’t playing the game for them.
They have no problems using reach item models, so why not
The old maps wouldn't adapt well with the movement mechanics is the issue
@@SaturdayWinter Give us the old maps and forge and we'll figure it out ourselves.
@@blaniac6591 Exactly, it blows my mind that 343 hasn't figured this out yet. You did not make the series popular, it arguably peaked fifteen years ago. Nobody gets excited for Halo 4 maps in MCC matchmaking. The fanbase didn't scream about black body suits for a literal decade. They're so up their own assses, and it almost led to their total downfall. Hopefully they figured that out as of recent.
You hit all these point perfectly! One thing I’d add is that I miss the empty feeling of maps from the older games. Having music play at the beginning and end of each game, as well as constant alarms and AI chatter makes it feel crowded. Sometimes when I’m playing multiplayer I just wanna feel the map and appreciate the atmosphere, which I think really helps with the overall play
Thanks for watching! I have a similar video coming out in a few days that focuses more on the classic maps and their gameplay dynamics. Stay tuned for that!
You'll like my new vid about the maps I think. Here's the link
ua-cam.com/video/uqHje0lOy9s/v-deo.html
One way they could improve Streets is by adding wider sidewalks so 3 friends or more can walk side by side and not feel like their dragging behind.
Thats all.
Fantastic video! Really loved the attention to the editing. You've definitely earned a new subscriber. For the most part, I couldn't agree more as a casual player. Catalyst and Breaker are legitimately fun (and while it's flawed, Recharge is my personal favorite), Live Fire and Streets are basic but functional, Launch Site feels very strange and experimental, and Behemoth is beautiful to look at, but it's maybe my least favorite map to play in any AAA first person shooter. In fact, the only thing I disagree with is the idea that there are any casual/laid-back matches in Infinite! Even when I play the "dumb fun" modes like Fiesta, the focus on competitive, skill-based matchmaking turns EVERY GAME INTO A TOTAL SWEAT FEST instead of a fun, social game (and I think that's what takes such a toll on Aquarius, since I agree that it has all around solid level design).
Thanks man! It really is hard to find a match that feels light and fun on infinite. Thanks for watching!
One thing I hate that isnt about the maps themselves but greatly ruins their memorability is the Variable Weapon Spawns,
in previous games weapon spawns gave specific parts of the map inherent value and built a reputation of their own for what they offered players, which for me greatly added to the character and enjoyment of each match.
With Variable Weapon Spawns I dont know what I'm going to get which in turn dilutes any value to any of the areas that weapons spawn in, which makes all the maps inherently less memorable.
I remember the little hideout underneath the Turret in The Pit BECAUSE the Sniper spawns there.
Same goes for the Rocket in the Middle
Or the Over shield in the under passageway on the top of the map.
These things add character and memorability to each Map.
In Infinite all of the maps are just some ambient indistinct mush because nothing is consistent.
I agree. There's a lot of personality missing from the maps in infinite
@@MR.AlIEN8ED I like the variable weapon spawns, personally. It sakes up the gameplay a bit. Having a Gravity Hammer or Energy Sword spawn gives the gameplay the same effect. Most of the maps just don't feel "sci-fi" enough imo.
We need midship again
@@sterlingarcher74 I'd like it if they atleast like pulled up the map like on gears, and showed you what weapons are on the map
@@freeziboi3249 Yeah that'd be a good addition.
The "Streets" Map has a lot of little extra areas that are blocked off by doors and other things that likely either were meant to be moved or could be within forge. I think Bazaar has some as well with doorways going into Antennae and Palm Tree Rooms being blocked off by boarded up doors and lockout gates that if removed would Greatly help in giving extra options for approaching a team that is set up well. I actually feel like raising up the Newspaper stand in the middle into a two floor building would help break up the sightlines way more than just some random extra cover in specific places, the stand has a t or cross bar shape so just raising it up along Vertical / Length (Where the middle split of the map is from Tower to Truck) would still allow some of the angles to tower from lockers but likely cut off from seeing the opposing side. Grenades could still be thrown easily over it and making it not too high so you can maybe jump and shoot over it would work for the best... IDK I can't really make it in forge yet or I would.
I like your take on this
Aquarius also has a little area underneath the middle bridge. There's a vent on each side about the size you could crouch or slide into and inside is a little room that is fully decorated. Feels like it was part of the map but maybe they worried campers would be too annoying
My contribution to this is that it seems like with the exception of like, one map, Infinite's map design seems like it's geared more towards creating a setting for a world than it is creating an environment for combat
343's map work has been my biggest complain about them ever since their first Halo, they clearly don't know what they are doing with any aspect of Halo, their maps have always been atrocious and random.
The issue isn't with Infinite's maps themselves (barring Breaker, Highpower and Deadlock).
The issue is these maps are all highly specialized for specific gametypes and MMR. Bazaar is purpose built for high competitive CTF, Recharge is built for Strongholds and Slayer, Livefire seems purpose built for Oddball and Slayer and Launch Site is purpose built for 1 Flag (To varying degrees of success tbf).
None of the launch maps were built for particularly casual gameplay, especially not for standard FFA, the best map for FFA from launch was and remains as Recharge, Catalyst works decently enough as well.
I think most of the maps cater to their gametypes really well, there just isnt enough maps to cover all the gametypes and playstyles effectively. Diversity is the real problem, we have 12 total maps and we're 3/4th of the way through an entire year of the game being released.
If you're wondering what my issue is with the initially mentioned maps its
1. Breaker is a campfest, vehicle play is neutered by being funneled into admittedly large but also fairly tight and linear paths, dynamos and plasma grenades continue to dominate vehicle plays as well as the proliferation of sniper rifles.
2. Highpower disadvantages waterfall side always, its weapon pads are also still bugged and are not equal.
3. Deadlock's obsession with buttery slippery rocks and retaining walls that can not be clambered leads to consistent frustration.
your spot on- the maps mostly play fine w/ their intended game types- the game basically needs more content across the board
I don’t think it’s that maps are too open, plenty of halo 3 maps have huge sight lines, it’s the fact that the BR is hitscan. It is a laser beam, it’s too easy to use. Even the AR is a laser beam
Amazing video, love that your coming at it from a casual POV since Halo should be for both pros and casuals.
I heavily agree that the BTB maps are somehow extra large yet feel claustrophobic at the same time. There are so many parts of the new BTB maps that never get used or that are a waste of space and driving is about as bad as it was in Dead Rising 3 or Halo Infinites campaign imo.
Thankyou very much for watching! I decided to cater to the casual crowds because I think the casual chaos is what makes halo great. As good as competitive play is in all of halos history, the casual memories of playing with friends is what makes this game so special.
As someone who has mostly played Big Team Battle since 2010, I was holding out for your thoughts about the launch maps. The fact that you aptly summed up the issue (tight, winding grenade pits and a lack of drivable spaces) AND included all three maps corporately literally made me start clapping and nodding in my chair. Great analysis. I was also floored by your saying that it's like Bazaar doesn't want anyone to play on it - everything about Bazaar works on paper, but it just feels like there's nowhere good to play from on that map and I could never put my finger on it.
I don't share your love for Streets and I have an inexplicable soft spot for Behemoth, but thank goodness someone finally called out Live Fire. Streets, Aquarius, etc have problems but can still be fun, but Live Fire just... kinda sucks, for all the reasons you mentioned.
This video was great, and very refreshing. Your love of Halo was obvious from the nostalgic opening, but you were able to talk through it and apply what you loved from past titles to criticism of Halo Infinite, without being crushingly negative. Keep at it!
...This might be my favorite comment I've seen for this video. Thanks for watching!
Great vid. Personally I just wish there was an 8v8 game mode. I feel like 12 v 12 just feels a bit more chaotic which I think is cool but I always liked the way 8 v 8’s played although I don’t think any of the btb maps would cater to it sadly.
All we need is a sandtrap and headlong and 8 v 8 would run beautifully. Thanks for watching!
When you mentioned good Infinite maps, my mind instantly went to Catalyst. It gives me Halo 3 vibes in both aesthetics and design.
You don’t need that much cover man
Mainly I just want more space and breathing room. We will see once forge comes out what everyone's favorite versions of the maps are
Great video man and it's cool that the act man commented on your vid 2 LOL heck yeah keep up the good work!
Thankyou very very much! Just bought a new microphone to improve the audio. I can't wait to upload again! Thanks for watching!
@@MR.AlIEN8ED no problem! Excited for you
So, I actually agree with a lot of your tweaks, but I disagree with the core thesis that Infinite's maps aren't "Haloy", because all of the maps you cite as examples as being emblematic of Halo's map design are specifically from Halo 3. Not that Halo 3's maps aren't valid examples to be citing, they are, but when your sample size is just one game rather then the broader franchise as a whole, I don't think it's justified to act as if those design principals you pick out represent the entire franchise. I think this is an issue a LOT of discourse around what "makes Halo feel like Halo" has, Halo 3 is always the go-to example even though, even just looking at the Bungie games, or even just looking at the original trilogy, it is still just 1/4 to 1/3 of that selection. As it applies here, I think CE and Halo 2 have a significantly different approach to map design then Halo 3 did.
I'm gonna be focusing CE, 2, and 3 here, and on 4v4 maps just to prevent this from being like 20 paragraphs long (and also because I think the fact that Infinite's BTB maps have a lot of enclosed lanes and hallways that limits vehicle mobility is pretty inarguable), but 4v4 maps in CE obviously range from more experimental and gimmicky maps like Chiron, Boarding Action, and Rat Race, to Arena style maps like Wizard, Prisoner, Derelict, Chill Out, etc. Pretty much all of the latter maps are symmetrical, with a lot of overlapping instances of elevation and walkways, but with relatively limited places to actually change your elevation, but the map design is dense enough that you can get around to staircases or lifts or teleporters or other rooms fairly fast.. Halo 2 has a lot more asymmetrical maps, but also way less gimmicky ones: Almost every 4v4 map in Halo 2 is sort of sweaty arena maps. There's less overlap of different elevation floors, but there is WAY more opporunities to move up or down in elevation spread all across the map, and also more cover and geometry, and a lot of skill/trickjumps, making Halo 2's maps feel like combat jungle gyms with constant flanking and high mobility, and is less forgiving, in part also because of how broken the BR is.
Halo 3's 4v4 maps are a lot more conductive to vehicle use then in prior games, and as a result many are more wide open then in past games, and feel more spread out: High ground, Isolation, Snowbound, Standoff, etc. Even the infantry only ones like Construct, The Pit, and Narrows feel larger and landmarks on the map take longer to access. There's also less accesability verticality as a result: Not just in the Halo 2 sense with being able to jump up to higher platforms wherever, but also in less overlap of floors in general. There's also some more experimental choices in the DLC, with Rat's nest, Longshore, and Orbital, which I can only describe as sort of race tracks; and some more traditional CE/2 style arena maps like Ghost Town, Assembly, and various remakes, though I don't think they really feel as dense as CE or 2's versions either.
To put my biases on the table, I am a Halo 2 fanboy, and I love the jungle-gym, platforming heavy nature of those maps and to a lesser extent the sort of verticality CE's maps have. I've never really liked Halo 3 scaling those elements back and inflating the maps, and as a result I found it very ironic that people accused Halo 5 of "stretching the maps out" when if anything it was a return to form to 2's maps with a big emphasis on verticality, being able to hop up and between elevation layers easily anywhjere on the map, trickjumps, and sweatier map design with dense geometry conductive to flanking. (Also, while I like the sweaty nature of these maps, I wanna stress I am NOT a comp or even a big ranked player: I'd like to, but I enjoy the varied weapon sandbox too much and prior games had stuff like the AR just as bad guns for bad players, and in 5 and Infinite while the sandbox as a whole is solid now, not just precision weapons, now I don't have friends to match with and in Infinite there's not even a ranked playlist that's not HCS settings, and I'm not gonna play a mode with no radar without a team to communicate with)
As it applies to Infinite, I feel like the maps are sorta a combination of 5's and 3's (TBH Infinite's MP in general does) Like 3, stuff tend to feel sorta open and spread out, and there';s some other similarities I can't quite put my finger on, but I think it's noticably more vertical, sorta like CE, 2, and 5's, but there's not really overlapping vertical layers like in CE, nor is there a lot of points to go between elevation levels like 2 and 5's.... at least in the same way: Those spots exist all over the place, but require clamber, and result in you just sort of climbing onto buildings and structures, since there's no criss-crossing platforms to platform off or or between, wheras in Halo 2 or 5 you were jumping up and down off of a whole bunch of things. Not sure I explained that well, but like, clambering up onto the balconies on Bazaar, or the tower or the base side that opens up to the central hall if you jump down from the firing range area by the crates on Live Fire, or doing the same on Recharge from the lower powerup spawn onto the crates towards the tower; or off the moving pillars to the hallway overlook on Recharge, etc, isn't quite the same as jumping up onto the rooftaps and walkways on Turf or Sanctuary or all the crazy stuff you can do on Plaza or The Rig.
All that said, I do think your suggestions for Infinite's maps are good, but I also think they're plenty fun to play on already (Including Behemoth!) I just do wish that there were more walkways a la CE and platforms to jump off and across those + walkways a la 2 and 5... and yeah, the BTB maps need to have smoother floor geometry and open up more so that warthogs and ghosts and choppers don't get stuck on everything
How would you rank the maps in Infinite? Also, what do you think of Reach and 4's map design? really enjoy most of Infinite's maps, though I do agree with the points he had on Launch Site.
Halo 3 sold the most copies out of any Halo game thus the gold standard for the vast majority as that's when Bungie really got it all right for all map sizes.
343 has an identify crisis trying to make Halo a competitive game first, fun second.
OG Halo was always fun first, competitive second with MLG tweaked maps and game modes.
@@duncansiror5033 For arena maps, Recharge is easily my favorite, and aside from specific modes, Bazaar and Launch Site would be my least favorite. As far as Reach and 4, I think they largerly stick to Halo 3 esque map design in that they do feel like Halo maps, but have the verticality and platforming largerly restricted to specific spots on the map instead of being all over the place like in 2 and 5. Reach in particular I think has the worst maps in the series.
Ooo the cinematic with the video is honestly really really amazing, like kept my eyes glued to the screen because it was like camera ASMR 🤙 also I miss the old maps
Thankyou so much! I love it so much when someone appreciates the visual structure of my videos. I'm going to continue making machinima style intros. If you want go check out my spartan laser video I uploaded two days ago. The entire intro is a machinima. Thanks so much for watching!
8:39. Behemoth is large, but there are plenty of ways to get around, like grappleshot power ups and vehicles, and shortcuts, like using the Repulsor to jump up a level from the bridge where the Active camo spawns, or jumping through the hole from ground level into the pit. The map is actually a joy to move around in.
People hate on this map but I love it.
Bazaar. This map is a nightmare with BR starts, when movement just slows to a crawl and everything turns into a campfest.
Behemoth always felt like a chore to me personally
Same man, I love behemoth you have to pick your movements wisely or you will get lit up.
I also like Behemoth. Don’t see why people hate it, there are lots of ways to navigate it.
Bazaar is the worst map in the game.
I would like to have some classic maps thrown into the mix
The thing about Bazaar for me, it also highlights a massive difference between Infinite and classic Halo games - the absolute dependence on clambering/traversal just to even navigate the basic areas of this map. It's terrible.
I'm surprised you take such a liking to Breaker, because I'm simply not having fun with it. Objective game modes play really bad, especially CTF.
The lanes on either side of the map have little to no room to strafe or navigate, you get spammed with nades in one and sniped by the 3-4 enemies camping their base when you take high ground to cross the other. You go below, you're a sitting duck or get splattered. The bases themselves have so many platforms and clambering areas and I don't get why, when nothing happens inside of them it just feels like a gymnasium. I'm struggling to enjoy any games I land in that map.
I made a comment about the same thing. You fight for your life to get the bulldog just to realize you can’t flank without clambering and it’s just tedious when you get this map in the rotation all day since there’s barely any maps in the game
@@franksakowski873 If you exclude the payed DLC, Halo 3 has the same number of arena maps as Infinite.
They could literally port over every halo 3 map and I’d never stop playing infinite
This is a man with his shit together
I agree with most of what you said, especially the part of the btb maps should feel way more open and let the sand box play out, but you know also as much as im not to crazy on the base vanilla maps they all have a common theme where they are really forgeable and just simply that would really change gameplay experience, i feel like they purposely did that.but good video !
Thank you for watching!
This is essential watching before beginning any Forge map. Do what Infinite didn't - give space to breathe in a room, add protected areas with cover, break up sightlines without clogging flow
Quality vid, the big thing that I'd change about streets is definitely the A to B route. That little curved road. Feels like it's just a meat grinder going up there, and the only reasonable counter is having a teammate flanking B from mid or C. I'd add a wrecked truck or something there, just to give some form of cover to that route
I agree. That spot is a bowling alley for grenades lol
Well said. I mainly want Lockout, Turf, Guardian, The Pit, and Construct remakes (they may need slight scale or other small adjustments) added to ranked. I know people will do forge recreations of those maps, but I hope I can actually play them easily and regularly.
Ideally, we could vote in the pregame lobby... throw in a curated selection of the best of the best forge maps (complete originals + remakes) and use the data from the votes to weight how often a map will show up in subsequent voting lobbies... while also continuing to rotate in new forge maps to try out.
Or, a separate playlist where the above happens and then the absolute favorites get thrown into main ranked rotation. That would probably be better... would make the game crazy dynamic and perpetually interesting.
Yes absolutely. I'm very excited for forge and the endless possibilities but I want 343 to recreate the og maps for us. I think that the textures would look noticeably better that way vs the forge materials and I think they kind of owe it to us at this point as well. I know we will get plenty of forge versions of every halo map in history but to get a fully built high res version of some of our favorite classics is what I prefer. Thankyou very much for watching and I appreciate your thoughts on this
The main reason will always be sprint. Ever since it’s inclusion in Reach, the maps have turned awkward and forgettable. Also these “Ordinance drops” severely hinder the multiplayer. I think I can speak for everyone that no one asked for them or continues to want them.
I think ordinance drops make last spartan standing really unbalanced because players who havent leveled up or don't also have powerups are at a huge disadvantage especially when up against someone with overshields. I thought the point of the game mode was to prove who was better at starting from scratch not looting every drop on the map like a battle royale.
(I literally saw a player loot 1-2 times after every kill and by the time he won he had an overshield, camo, 4 grenades and then some )
@@aliasunkown3211 You just proved why I didn’t even bother to try that game mode.
very well done video. i haven't commented on a video in years but this deserved praise for a smaller channel
Thankyou so much that means a lot! Thanks for watching!
I'm noticing a lot of your proposed alterations include a lot of extra cover to increase survivability with allocations for a more strategic form of play, which is something I don't believe infinite is really designed for. The speed of movement and the short-mid range weapon sandbox seem geared more to a constant rushing style, you move or you die, claustrophobic slugfests are the norm with weapons serving as a way to close the gap or draw attention just as often if not more then outright killing players (which would work significantly better if they added collision with other players, but I still have some fun with it), the gameplay is all knee jerk reactions and high pressure. And while this does have merit, I personally understand why some would say that in comparison to the rest of the series, it doesn't really feel like Halo.
Very good take. One commenter pointed out that there are no strong power positions anymore. It's just a constant rotation. I'm learning a lot from all these comments. Thank you for watching!
@@MR.AlIEN8ED I also find infinite has very few medium strength power weapons. Even AR starts are about as competent at dealing damage in this game as most weapons you pick up on map and are a lot more versatile. This combined with grenades being bouncy and going VERY far with huge blast radiuses makes the game feel like it has lost a lot of that mid range 'dance' identity that Halos of the past had.
@@lockevalentine997 I think the nerfs to BR and frag grenades in the recent update have gone a way to remedying some of these problems, but the AR does still feel rather powerful.
@@iratepirate3896 I think they took the wrong approach to balancing grenades. I think Halo 3 grenades were the pinnacle of them in halo games, and instead of making infinites more like those they just made them have an even longer fuse time. They really don't feel like halo grenades anymore, they feel like COD or Battlefield grenades.
Great vid 🙌🏻
I personally think that Fragmentation is an all-time great Halo map, but that doesnt mean that the rest of Infinites BTB maps need to feature restrictive lanes running throughout them. We also need some wide-open maps thats promote the use of vehicles (Blood Gulch, Avalanche, Sandtrap, etc)
Yes! I thinkDeadlock is alright. I just want some changes on it. A sandtrap remake would be awesome. Thanks for watching!!
I actually quite like a lot of Infinites maps (not a btb guy btw):
Catalyst - great all round
Aquarius - great all round aswell imo
Live fire - ok for 4v4, great for ffa or 2v2
Bohemoth - its ok but way too open
Breaker - fun for LSS
Bazaar - not a fan of death pit but can be fun in a good CtF game
Launch site - agreed very weird. Could be alright with a man cannon on both sides.
Recharge - pretty great
Streets - pretty great
(as a side note I think a lot of the death pits on these maps could be better if in Ranked you only spawn with 1 frag grenade instead of 2, not a great way to start a game with 8 nades coming at you imo)
I appreciate your well thought out opinion on this. I will say that I do enjoy every single map in the game for ffa. They play well with only 8 total players on free for all
Ratio
I thoroughly enjoy your videos. Keep them up man!
Thankyou so much! Some big ones coming out soon!
@@MR.AlIEN8ED awww shitttttt
I feel this was a bit exaggerated but I completely agree with most of your points, I still find the game fun tho
Honestly really good video, the only thing I differ in opinion is that I like deadlock, but the other btb maps should be adjusted as you stated
Disagree, tbh I think most of the maps are fun except recharge and at times streets can become a little boring. Love infinites maps and catalyst is such a banger, we just need mroe
I agree we do need more. That will help a lot. Preferably some classic styled maps. I really want them to bring back the pit and gaurdian
@@MR.AlIEN8ED ohhh yea guardian would be so fun , sweaty , but fun😂
Great video friend. Loved your takes on the maps. Very informative
Thankyou very much! I look forward to chatting again!
The maps of Halo 2-Reach play a lot more interestingly than Infinite’s. I pretty much only play solo social, and find Infinite’s maps to be pretty bland
I don’t hate them, but they do suck the life out of the game a bit
They certainly have less soul without a doubt. These new maps don't have nearly as many unique moments happen on them during matches
Reach had mostly low quality maps. Many of them were simply copy/pasted from campaign because Bungie was in a rush to leave Microsoft.
@@JohnSmith-ti9uq actually the maps were made for multiplayer first and then pasted in to Campaign, but I do agree compared to H2/3, Reach’s maps are a step down for sure
7:51 Yes. This map needs more walls big time.
Bazaar is one of my favourite maps when I used to play Infinite regularly. I used to shred on this map.
Streets sucks. There's no cover anywhere and you get grenade spammed to oblivion.
Maps are overly wide, spacious. Too many hallways. Too much running around. And they all feel "sameish". No interesting sightlines or positioning. It's just a bunch of hallways connecting basic flat rooms. Compare it to CE's maps (which I've grown to love) where it's like, every 4v4 map has some unique arrangement of cover and pathways that leads you to navigate around combat differently. When I play "Damnation", and I'm slipping in and out around the pillars with the shotgun and flanking enemies, or when I'm going "stealthy" in a map like Wizard or Derelict by taking the bottom and obscuring my hitbox using sightlines, the environment totally changes the way I play from map to map. But when I play Infinite, I don't get this feeling. Combat feels totally detached from the environment because the environments feels so basic. And it strips out one of the coolest thing about Halo's gameplay. What makes older Halo work is the sense of "flow" to the combat changes from map to map and creates variety. With newer Halo, it's like you're playing the same game regardless of map.
Bazaar's biggest problem outside of the forced flow from palm tree side (seriously, that route underneath needs to be opened) is the fact it requires clamber to navigate the map at any given time.
I'm not saying that lowering the entire map and adding ramps would suddenly make Bazaar goated, but the map would play significantly better. Like imagine if Sanctuary required you to jump, let alone clamber the front of the base 🤢
The clamber problem is amplified on Basement side, which is just so terribly designed I can't believe it even got approved.
Yes! You're exactly right. There has to be ways to get the hell out of bottom mid. It's an unplayable area that creates a giant trap in the middle because there is no quick way to get the hell out of there. Great point you made here. Thanks for watching!
I don't know know if anyone has said it yet, but I truly love that you are doing the recording in a machinima style. That truly makes me happy
Thankyou so much! The machinima intros are my favorite part of my videos. Go check put my video I uploaded last night. I think you'll like it. Thanks for watching!
It also doesn't help that props aren't all dynamic. We need more crates, exploding trucks/forklifts, and more open space for vehicles in BTB. There's very little stuff that you can actually interact with. The loot doors on Fragmentation are cool, but they're nothing compared to the bridge on Zanzibar/Last Resort. They don't change the flow of a map permanently. It also doesn't help that weapons, power ups, and vehicles are artificially withheld from us on pads, drop pods, or pelican drops. A proper BTB map needs a Warthog spawn, two small vehicle spawns, a heavy spawn, and an aircraft spawn all at the two bases at all times. BTB isn't as chaotic when the tanks are withheld until later in a match. I can't wait for the Forge community to one up 343 within the first few weeks of Forge being released.
100% agreed
Really loving your videos man, keep up the great work! I shudder everytime I have to play Bazaar, especially with BR starts
Hey man thankyou very much! I'm learning a ton about this game talking to you guys. It's making me a better content creator. This has been a lot of fun I look forward to seeing you on the next video!
New sub. I appreciate you actually playing the game before making a video about the topic. I can tell you put work into this and your ideas, which some were great and I agreed with.
Its hard to say if I agree with the smaller maps but as a highly competitive person I go on BTB to chill out. You said it perfectly that the BTB maps don't feel open and its a damn shame. good video all around.
Fun Fact: Splitgate got Forge before Halo Infinite
I agree with quite a bit of what you said about the maps, but besides the maps I personally think they should put friendly fire back.
Both for a fun casual thing to mess with your friends but also for comp to actually watch your fire around them
That would help make people a bit more conscious of nade spamming for sure. It's nades all the time in this game
Breaker has a big ctf problem imo. I feel like it ends in a 0-0 tie most of the time. Flags are placed too open so it’s hard to grab without getting shot from multiple directions.
Yeah, Breaker is more interesting than the other three BTB maps, but it ain't good. Valhalla, which he compares it to, was intentionally designed such that you _couldn't_ just stand atop your own base and shoot the enemies as they spawn in theirs. Breaker significantly suffers from this issue, especially when one team has a talented player on their sniper and shock rifle.
You had me at "nade heavy." I hated going against the Explosives perk in halo 4. Halo Infinite feels like that times ten.
this is a great take, when infinite first came out i loved the smaller maps on fiesta, but they simply do NOT have the replayability that the older ones do.
Very well put together video you deserve more subs man
lmao that halo dubstep caught me off guard, good vid.
Lol thanks I'm not using that dubstep anymore. It's obnoxious
This is a great video you're putting into words why Halo Infinite can feel more sweat on some maps than older halos
My only gripe with catalyst is the lack of weapon that spawn in the bases. Almost everything is in the center or edges of the map.
I really like the br and commando spawns. I do kind of want a grenade spawn on top mid though. It would make sense given that it's the highest point in the map.
This is a really good vid. There were a lot of points you made which made me realize why I'm not too big a fan of half the maps. I really think cover and momentary down time is important to halo.
Absolutely. In the classic games it felt like almost every match told a story. Especially btb games on h2 h3 and reach. Now it's just kill die kill die kill die
@@MR.AlIEN8ED it's one of the main reasons I can't play halo 5 for more than two hours because there is no time to relax on any of the maps. Like on plaza the sight lines are crazy.
Yeah I think a lot of 343 maps are missing actual power positions. There's no positions to hold anymore and be safe and establish control. Just look at live fire Aquarius Bazaar and Behemoth. It's just constant spawn rotating chaos. Some h5 maps are like that as well
I havent been playing halo much past few months but i like your perspectives on the maps on infinite.You earned a sub my friend haha
Thankyou so much for watching! I don't play as much anymore either but I'm still very passionate about the franchise.
@@MR.AlIEN8ED me to for sure for sure
Very interesting to here your perspective from a casual player point of view, I only play ranked so I have very different opinions on the maps lol
New maps feel pretty time wastey. Pretty but feels like no one knows where things are or where they should be and you never get satisfying Halo combat.
At best you might have some fun chaos and some interesting encounters but its almost always you surprised an opponent because of random happenstance. But never that classic 1 team is clearly trying to gain a position that the other team understands they need to not allow.
Man your video gives me such good rvb vibes but also is an actual good video as well
The love I'm getting in the comment section makes me so happy. Thankyou so much for watching! I'll keep the machinima vibes going in future videos!
@@MR.AlIEN8ED I also wanted to say based on your video I’d say your good at judging a map so if you play halo 5 I have a work in progress map I would like to see you eventually critique altho it isn’t finished yet as I made it a while back and it’s my first map so I need to update it
Keep me updated!
@@MR.AlIEN8ED well I was gonna rework my old map but honestly it’s kinda trash so i have restarted from the beginning so Yeah
@@stalledzeus3915 don't give up on creativity ever
2 Changes that I think will significantly improve halo Infinite multiplayer maps would be changing a lot of the hit scan weapons to projectiles and nerfing grenades by reducing blast radius and adding a delay before you can throw them, this would make grenades a lot harder to spam. GREAT VIDEO.
Yes the nades seem like they have a tracking ability and it's annoying. Also chill out the br a little. Thanks for watching!!
Or decrease to spawn time to 5 seconds
@@projectsinclair I think you replied to the wrong comment mate. Haha
I agree with your stance on many of the maps and with alot of suggested changes. But the whole time i was thinking that alot of what was said could have also been said for one of the best maps in halo history. H2 lockout, like the lack of cover in the entire mid, base to base easy shooting ect lol. so as many small suggested changes would help, overall weak map design is the biggest problem in all newer halos i think. Getting back some old school remakes or at least spiritual successors would be much needed.
Live Fire is my favourite map because it’s the only map in Ranked to have a sniper, which is crazy when you think about it. Construct, Narrows, and The Pit all had sniper rifles, with two of them having multiple snipers and giving us intense cross-map battles.
The main issue with Infinite’s map design isn’t the lack of cover, it’s the lack of power positions. Lockout had BR tower, Midship had pink tower, Guardian had sniper tower, Construct had lobby, etc. The current maps do not have a power position that teams should strive to gain control of, rather they’re designed for constant movement and rotation. This does create a faster pace of play, which most people do prefer I suppose, but to me that’s not what Halo is about.
Call of Duty is fast paced and run and gun; Halo is positioning and teamwork. I feel like at all times on every map I never know which position I should try and hold, and whenever I do try and hold a spot, I’m too easily naded out of that spot. This forces me to play where I’m constantly sprinting around and I don’t like that. The BR is a laser beam so I can’t even get the distance advantage on someone when I do get the sniper, which as I mentioned, is only on one map anyways.
You know what? I'm learning more and more about this game from comments like this. You're exactly right. There aren't any decent power positions. Recharge has top and bottom control and top glass but even then they are so easily naded that you're lucky to even hold those positions for more than 45 seconds. Thank you I appreciate your take on this.
These maps really do cause a constant rotation that makes gameplay frustrating
I feel like 343 has been using the same map design team this entire time which is why all of their games have such forgettable maps. They are yet to make even one single iconic map. You'd think they would get lucky at some point.
Yup. Bungie was constantly changing their map design. Halo CE has some of the weirdest maps in video game history but it shows that they took risk. Halo Reach was sort of dipping into Halo infinite maps design especially the big dull grey box look, but Reach maps are still 10x better. For every "good" 343 map there are 10 master pieces of maps from bungie.
On launch site you can actually jump to the top platform using the man canon. Tried that jump with a friend for a while because it seemed so close and eventually succeded. IIRC we ended up jumping into the man canon and pushing either to the left or the right midflight to sometimes reach those little parts standing out at the other side. This was just from experimenting around I am sure there is a consistent way to pull that off.
I didn't even know about that. That would make flag rotations waayyy more efficient
@ 10:58
I just wanna have a good time ok?
I felt that 😢
As a warthog driver main the only og btb map I like is fragmentation, the other two are waay to open to do well. but I do agree there are bumps and tight spaces that make driving fluidly very frustrating. Not to mention the vehicles take so little till they blow up. But that's a different discussion
I hate dynamos effect on vehicles lol. It's like a grenade you can throw to stop everyone else's fun lol
Infinites maps look and play ok, but heres the problem: the equipment/gadgets of Infinite make man cannons pointless, and the unstable servers make sure to desync you off a cliff/into a pit of death
That happens to me on launch site all time lol
what was fun about classic halo multiplayer maps were the rooms/places you could camp/hide in with friends until a nade or rocket blows everyone up. 343 forces fighting at all times for the sake of being competitive.
Your explanations are accurate. You use the map available and show the pros and cons. You illustrate your point. It is a genuine attempt and honest.
I do agree on your approach. I play competition learning the trades of every map. The more variety the better. Halo infinite is a product where people with high accuracy skills have a say.
But great fun maps is another discussion that YOU address well. Thank you for such contribution.
dude these takes are fantastic. Thanks for the breakdown!!!
Thanks so much!
I love a ytber who asks me at the END of the video to like and sub, because If your vid is good enough for me to watch through to the end without clicking off, you will have earned your like, Subscription and comment.
Great video.
Thankyou so much! Gotta earn it! 💪
Catalyst is my favorite too. I'm glad to hears others say it.
Great minds think alike
Weirdest gripe I have with Infinite maps, that I didn't experience to the same degree in older games, is that I regularely spawn with absolutely no idea where I am. Or even thinking I am in a completely different location until I round a corner or so. Streets is probably the biggest offender.
Halo Infinite really has no large open maps, in a game with a heavy emphasis on vehicles. Even campaign which is "open world" seemingly only has narrow vehicle paths and if you try to drive off them, you'll either drive off an incline, or run into a tree, or a rock. Everything 343 does, they do badly, it's almost impressive.
Great video brother. Nice humor sprinkled in.
Yep a lot of modern map design seems to focused on making no part of the map “overpowered”. But that was part of the fun of the old Halo games. Everything wasn’t clinically and carefully designed to be the same as everywhere else on the map.
hard disagree on Breaker. the vehicle paths are wide but unless someone’s IN the path (they almost never are) you can’t shoot anyone, and if you can, they can usually sprint to cover before dying. What’s worse to me is the litany of camping spots. I played a game of CTF where our team couldn’t use the upper bridge because one guy camped and cheesed with repulser and smacked people into the lava. Once someone finally stuck him he just spawned, grabbed repulser again and went right back. There was no way to flank him, no jet pack to use as a hard counter to camping, can’t shoot him from the low side of the pit, and the corner he was hiding in was too deep to place nades near him and kill him without you having to round the corner and get smacked into the lava. Literally one of my LEAST favorite maps.
Really like this video. And agree with why the bad maps are bad. But I disagree with your thoughts on Recharge and your desire for a lot of waist high walls for cover options. Then you’re just stuck in more floating jump or clambering animations.
These things definitely have to be tested. And with how passionate the forge community is I'm sure they will make some very good versions
Thankyou for watching I love talking with you guys about all of this
Halo Infinite'a my first Halo and my second FPS (1st one's TF2) and idk how to feel about some of your criticism.
For me, the absolute hardest part of learning infinite is understanding nowhere is absolutely safe. Instead, positions are only relatively safe based on your opponents' positioning. For example, Live Fire has a lot of power positions that are exposed from certain spots, so the skill is understanding where your opponents are and only taking those spots when you're confident they're safe. It's something I've grown to enjoy about the game.
At the same time, I don't really have an issue putting more cover in many of these spots. Playing around corners is fun and I'd be fine with a number of these alterations.
Maybe it's because I'm so new to Halo but I genuinely love a lot of things going on in Infinite. I can play it all day no problem.
BTB is my love and butter.
And I have HUGE plans for Infinite's Forge that focuses on BTB and bring classic Halo feel to Infinite.
Since it's not out yet, your really SHOULD check out my Halo5 map called: Waukeka.
It should give you a good idea of what I'm aiming for with Infinite. But the H5 map may cause lag due to it's size and lightmap. I've been work on it (as well as my LAVAL & Whiteout maps) for 6 yrs and badly need testing. I have recently uploaded walkthroughs on my channel.
You hit the nail on the head, the BTB maps are just not fun for vehicles, which was a huge part of what made the Halo sandbox so crazy and fun.
Now all btb consists of is dynamo grenades and shock rifles and you in the middle of all of it with a pistol that can't shoot more than 45 feet
Missing time stamp for Live Fire, is currently included in the Breaker section of the timeline. Same problem with Bazaar timestamp, is included in the Aquarius section.
Nade heavy is the perfect description for infintes maps. Super facts.
I was just about to say that he kinda reminds me of act man and see that act man already commented on the vid. Nice vid man
I couldn't believe the notification when I got it lol. Thankyou for watching
@@MR.AlIEN8ED your very welcome
Dude... bravo. I was actively trying to find points i disagreed with, per your starting comment of everyone thinking you're wrong, and i could not find anything! i agree one hundred percent with your criticisms and additions. i loved halo 3 big team, i can't bare to play a single match in infinite and run around with a pistol for half an hour. recharge analaysis was great too, i like that one as well. really well done sir.
Thankyou very much! Comments like this keep me going. I'm working on my next video all day tomorrow I can't wait to get it published. Thank you very much for watching!
@@MR.AlIEN8ED also loved your comparison to the older maps at the beginning. Great clips, made me so nostalgic seeing all my same favorite maps again. Why can't something good stay good?
Thanks man. I like to make machinima type intros for my videos now with halo 3 theatre