campaign infinite aura It will be available December 8th on Xbox One and Xbox Series X | S and PC as well as on mobile devices via Xbox Cloud Gaming. Prior to its release, several select media had the opportunity to play a preview copy of the game giving access to the first four missions of the title.
Obviously, Digital Foundry has been around and today they are giving their first impressions.
Active open world
Experts start by giving their opinion at the beginning of the game as it offers two levels very similar to what the first games offered. Both in terms of structure and visual ambiance, the interiors look successful. Shutter integration as well as rifle play was also appreciated.
Then come their impressions of the open world part which are however a bit more contrasting. Jon Lineman said he’s very relieved that we’re not dealing with a game that uses the Far Cry mode in the sense that the open world doesn’t seem full of unimportant points of interest.
It emphasizes for example the fact that some tasks can achieve something in accomplishing the main tasks. Batman Arkham or Crysis games are mentioned to illustrate his feelings.
Hounds are also popular because they give an interesting feeling of freedom as well as access to certain areas.
Premiere Testing on Xbox Series X.
Regarding the visual aspect, the interior environments are highlighted as well as the different models of weapons or enemies. As for performance, the first tests on the Xbox Series X also look decisive.
As a reminder, the game offers two graphics modes to enhance the quality or performance. On Xbox Series X in Quality mode, the game is at 60 frames per second and selects 4K dynamic resolution thanks to DRS technology.
In performance mode, the game targets 120 frames per second at a resolution downgraded to 1080p. It is emphasized that this reduction in resolution is quite noticeable but understandable given the frame rate displayed.
Xbox Series S version a little below
On the Xbox Series S, on the other hand, the game in quality mode only delivers 30 frames per second and aims at 1080p. There is no doubting here the benefit of the 1440p resolution and experts say they were quite surprised by the result. In performance mode, it is possible to enjoy a frame rate of 60 frames per second in dynamic 1080p.
Scenes and problematic animations
Several negative points are then brought up by Digital Foundry. First of all, the pre-show cinematics of the beginning of the game are criticized for the lackluster picture and unstable frame rate. Then an in-game cinematic in which the frame rate is also unsatisfactory is conjured which is here due to an animation rate issue. Concretely, if the game is at 60 frames per second, then the animations of characters, objects and other camera movements are not.
For the reasons mentioned, John Lineman considers the cinematic scenes of Halo Inifnite to be of lower quality than those of Halo 5 released in 2015.
Scenes must be stuck at 30fps
Face animation and lip syncing suffer from the same issues that occur at 30fps while the game is running at 60fps. It is noticeable that it is more annoying when playing in 120fps mode. For Digital Foundry, scenes should be blocked at launch at 30 frames per second to reduce these unwanted effects.
Several recurring in-game animations such as throwing grenades, reloading, or even using a grappling hook to name a few, showcase the same interests and affect the experience. Experts assure that it is not about the problems with the power of the consoles but the development options and that they will also be present in the PC version.
Remember, this is a preview of the game and a first impression of the Digital Foundry. A full analysis will be found after the final version is released on December 8th, and hopefully, these few bugs will be corrected.
