The Eccentric Vehicles of Halo Wars 2 Echo Halo Infinite’s Unrealized Potential
Every open-world game needs hulking beings of metal
After studio Bungie’s exit, 343 Industries nailed its third attempt at making a flagship Halo title. Halo Infinite features tight gunplay in an expansive playground and spotlights intimate stories with universe-altering repercussions. And while I loved my rodeo across Zeta Halo, I missed the bombastic setpieces of earlier titles.
Halo’s setpieces have always relied on its garage of iconic vehicles.
Take Halo 3’s iconic Warthog Run. Or Halo: Reach’s subversive space mission in a Sabre. The games’ massive Scarab walking assault platforms served as mini-stages themselves.
And in an open world to get lost in, vehicles are a way of life.
More vehicles would elevate Halo Infinite’s sparse arenas
Halo Infinite’s gunplay nails the spirit of a walking tank zipping across Banished squads and decimating them with ease. What Master Chief lacks is a compelling set of vehicles to move from point A to B. Truthfully, Infinite does have the basics covered.
But we’ve been driving UNSC Warthogs and Covenant Ghosts for decades.
Fans have been itching to pilot Spirit and Phantom troop carriers ever since the Covenant dropped Elites into the field. Picture stocking up on Marines and heading to one of Halo Infinite’s Banished bases. Making your own organic setpieces is a core tenet of the Halo experience, after all.
With co-op support rumored to drop this May, vehicular mayhem better be on the menu.
Vehicles let players forge their own stories
While Halo Infinite’s creative Forge mode is still a work in progress, reports suggest that it will integrate a full scripting system in the vein of Battlefield 2042’s Portal. Add a roster of distinct vehicles and you have a recipe for battles straight out of fanfiction. I’d personally love to face a Banished Blisterback from Halo Wars 2.
A full-scale AI battle between the Banished and what’s left of the UNSC?
It’s a dream that’s begging to be realized.
Master Chief dodging plasma fire and grappling onto a Banshee to take on a Scarab sounds incredible on paper. But watching friends or fellow Marines take it out first with Rocket Launchers would serve as icing on the cake. This might sound MMO-esque (Massive Multiplayer Online) and at odds with Halo’s lone wolf tendencies.
But with next-gen consoles and blazing fast SSD drives, large-scale battles could be the rule, not the exception.
More vehicles in multiplayer? Yes, please
Fragility issues aside, vehicles remain a staple of Halo Infinite’s sweaty arena multiplayer component. Its free-to-play multiplayer introduced Fractures, reinterpretations of the Halo universe that sit alongside established canon. There’s no better opportunity to introduce bizarre vehicles and beloved favorites.
Want a Ghost Race mode? All you have to do is ask.
See you on the broadside of a Phantom cannon.
