Halo Infinite's New Radar Sucks

In a first, Halo’s multiplayer radar only registers fast-moving Spartans

Over the weekend, 343 Industries ran a technical test for Halo Infinite, allowing the wider public a chance to go hands-on with one of the year’s anticipated shooters. By most measures, Infinite’s multiplayer component shows promise, somehow both capturing that Halo quintessence while also feeling like a totally new game. There’s just one thing wrong: The radar’s all messed up now.

For years, Halo’s radar has followed a specific set of easily understood rules. If you walk or run, you show up on an enemy’s radar. If you crouch, you don’t. There have been some permutations over the years—including a loudly pilloried tweak to its effective range in Halo 5—but that’s the basic framework of how it’s worked.

In Halo Infinite, those two commandments are out the window. Now, you only show up on an enemy’s radar if you’re sprinting, shooting, or otherwise moving fast. (I took this to mean things like falling, or perhaps zipping somewhere with the new Grappleshot item). Put another way, you can walk at a totally normal Spartan walking speed and still not register on an enemy’s radar.

Against AI enemies, I didn’t really grasp the full breadth of changes. Though Infinite’s bots are savvier than expected, they didn’t appear to make use of human tools like the radar or having actual eyes. But for a few hours on Sunday evening, 343 Industries added Arena Slayer—a game mode that pits two teams of four human players against each other—to Halo Infinite’s beta. And while going up against real-life human players, the changes became immediately apparent.

With the new radar, it is far, far too easy to get overwhelmed by an entire enemy team now. You could see an enemy poking their head out of cover across the way, and want to head over, confident you could win in a one-on-one shootout. But if their other three teammates are simply moving around at base speed—with, again, no tactical disadvantage for doing so—you’ll have walked directly into a two-, three-, or four-on-one. You might be pretty good at Halo. You’re still probably losing that fight.

Read the full article on Kotaku