Halo Infinite

***Halo Infinite*** is a first-person shooter gamedeveloped by 343 Industries, Certain Affinity, and SkyBox Labs, and published by Microsoft Studios. It is the sixth mainline entry in the *Halo* series, and the third in the "Reclaimer Saga" following *Halo 5: Guardians* (2015).

The campaign is set one year after the events of *Halo 5*, and follows the human super soldier Master Chief, who is attempting to stop The Banished, the latter of which have occupied the Forerunner ringworld Zeta Halo, and intend to fire the installation.

## Playthrough

On February 4th, 2022, Chris, Lyle and Tomar began their Halo Infinite playthrough by singing the Halo theme. During the Battle for Installation 07, Master Chief is deboned by the Banished leader Atriox and is saved by pilot Fernando Esparza (who Chris compares himself to) sixth months later. Since Chris didn't play any Halo game past the third, he had to be brought up to speed with the lore. Lyle explains that during the events of Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians, Cortana had sacrificed herself to save Chief from a rogue Forerunner, but had survived and became evil, attempting to enforce her will throughout the galaxy, and that his bones is a phone.

Chris complains about Microsoft's decision to call their virtual assistant Cortana, suggesting Bill Gates and Clippy as replacements. He then gets amazed by Chief's new movement-based abilities, such as his grappling hook and sliding. After being killed, Tomar makes fun of Lyle for selecting Normal difficulty, much to his chagrin. Unable to deactivate the enemy vessel's stasis beam, Chief overloads the ship's engines. During his escape, Chris compares the ship's destruction to Titanfall 2's third campaign level, which prompts Lyle to claim that it's "one of the best, like, first-person-shooter campaigns he's ever played."

Tomar says that he loves the Grunts compared to Chris, who hates them. As the second mission begins, Chief kills an Elite, which worries Chris, but Lyle explains that the Elites aren't a monolithic culture and should still be cool with Chief. Tomar reaffirms his love for the Grunts, which makes Chris suggest getting himself a Grunt-themed plush-light. Chris wishes to explore the open-world section of the game, and complains how the opening to Halo campaigns are paced terribly, which contrasts Lyle's thoughts, as he likes the things he hates and hates the things he likes.

Chris and Lyle discuss the saying "have your cake and eat it too" and how confusing and poorly worded it is. Lyle blames the inventor of the phrases friends who spread the phrase around, to which Chris compares themselves to the Shark Tank investors, who say the phrase is a "shit idea". Chris and Tomar roleplay their Shark Tank pitch, where they  unveil their newest idea: Shark Ocean, an even bigger version of Shark Tank, with Dwayne Johnson and Bill Gates joining the investors. This would end with the entire room lit on fire and Epstein stepping out of the shadows, revealing his master plan.

Chief locates the Weapon, an AI designed to imitate Cortana to capture her for deletion, who keeps making "Tik Tok faces" every time she speaks, much to Chris' anger (they later dub her "TikTana" accordingly). While the Weapon states that she was successful in her mission, she has failed to self-delete as per her directives. The Bois talk about the oversaturated market that is streaming services, and how it's becoming like Cable. Tomar mentions how he still pays for a few, and shares them with his friends and family. Chris and Lyle then pretend to be his mother discovering his friends watchlist, consisting of Porn Quest 8 and Narcutos (The unofficial Naruto/Narcos crossover).

After venturing through underbelly of Zeta Halo, Chief, TikTana and the Bois finally enter the surface of the open-world. They proceed to mess around, shooting Brutes, grappling around like Spider-Man and falling into ravines. While driving a Warthog, Chris noticed that the vehicles aren't flipping over every time they fall. Lyle takes this as a challenge, and attempts to flip the Warthog. Several attempts and existential crises later, they manage to "Flip the Hog". In a fit of rage, Lyle proceeds to blow up the Warthog with his rocket launcher, ending the playthrough.

## Episode

1. HALO INFINITE
2. TikTana in HALO INFINITE
3. Flippin' Cool Warthogs in HALO INFINITE

## References

1. ↑  https://halo.fandom.com/wiki/Forerunner
2. ↑  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office\_Assistant
3. ↑  https://titanfall.fandom.com/wiki/Into\_The\_Abyss