Halo Infinite vs. Battlefield 2042 beta comparison

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Image: Microsoft / EA

The holidays come a little early this year for first person shooter fans. On November 19, EA will release Battlefield 2042, a game about how, in the wake of catastrophic climate change, everyone shoots each other for leftovers. That is followed on December 8 by Halo Infinite, the sixth lead entry in Microsoft’s flagship series of Xbox games about a tall dude named John. But if you could only save one from a fire, what should it be?

Both games saw short bouts of gameplay by the public. For three weekends this summer, developer 343 hosted technical tests (which they would simply call beta for ease) for Halo Infinite. The first pitted players against unexpectedly realistic robots, the second against other human players, and the third against twice as many other human players. Meanwhile, developer DICE opened Battlefield 2042 in a public beta that was even more open to gamers who paid for certain monthly game on demand services. (You have two extra days of game time.)

Hence, two highly anticipated first person shooters. Two widely played test periods that were available around the same time. Two release dates in the middle of the holiday rush. Obviously, comparisons need to be made.

Of course, while both games exist largely in the same genre, there is a galaxy of differences between them. Halo scratches the itch for arena-style gameplay, while Battlefield falls more into the role of depicting big battles on big fields. But comparing things is fun as hell, so fuck it, let’s do it.

Guns, guns, guns

First person shooters live and die thanks to their arsenals. These games are both crafted by hundreds if not thousands of talented developers at some of the best-funded gaming companies on the planet. It’s not even remotely surprising to say that the shootings are stellar across the board here, that every gun is cool to shoot (and sound just as good).

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But, at least based on what was available in these betas, Halo Infinites’ arsenal stands out, all thanks to a number of creative offerings: an instant-eliminating harpoon pistol, a loaded pistol that fires orbs of homing energy, a firearm that fires a steady stream of purple needles. By comparison, Battlefield 2042’s guns … fire bullets.

Cmon, when you see this (in Battlefield 2042), your mind immediately thinks of the D-pad, right? Screenshot: EA

For its part, Battlefield has the unique gimmick of allowing players to customize their weapons on the fly. It’s hugely interesting on paper – by opening up a nifty game menu, you can swap between sights, grips, and clip sizes in the middle of the conflict, rather than on the loading screen, but in practice maddeningly unintuitive, with little guidance on how to use the feature . In fact, I spent my first few games pulling out the options menu as I was baffled about how to make changes, in all cases leading to my death as I recklessly pushed the D-pad in various directions. (Turns out you use the front buttons to make changes ?! Weird.) Maybe once trained in a player’s muscle memory, this will prove to be a decent inclusion, but for the beta it was just confusing.

Point: Halo Infinite

grapples

The Halo Infinites grappling hook (technical name: grappleshot) is a limited-use piece of equipment that you may or may not encounter during a match. Battlefield 2042s is tied to a short cooldown and you can spawn from the beginning.

Point: Battlefield 2042

Connectivity

It’s the story of every online game these days – not how well the game works, but whether or not you can play it in the first place. The first beta of Halo Infinites, which took place over the weekend between July and August, jumped out the gate. Just before the test was scheduled to launch, 343 had to perform a complete redeployment of the global server, postponing the start time indefinitely. It took a full twelve hours for connectivity to open across the board, and testing remained a bit shaky over the next two days. (The second and third beta ran smoothly.)

Those pink needles in the distance are Halos’ visual language for your death. Screenshot: Microsoft

Battlefield 2042 had a few hiccups (I personally had about 15 minutes of server errors while trying to boot) but nothing compares to Halo Infinites’ first weekend. Also consider the difference in circumstances. Halo was open to a limited number of guests and was only available on two platforms (Xbox and PC). Battlefields, meanwhile, was completely open to all players and was playable on virtually any platform that doesn’t rhyme with Wintendo Witch. The exact results are not yet publicly available for both betas, but the Battlefield test is imagined to have had a larger player base.

Its apples and oranges, and also not quite fair judging those metrics in the current state test server capacity is the exact spot to host these pre-release sessions but, to credit, the Battlefields beta has held up better. to the influx of players. Let’s see how they stack up to full release.

Point: Battlefield 2042

General sense of chaos

Look: it’s not even a fair comparison. On PC and next-gen consoles, Battlefield 2042 can accommodate up to 128 players in a single game. Each of these players has hopes and dreams about the chaos they want to wreak and many tools at their disposal to wreak it. For every squadmate who decides to command two fighter fighters from one of your squads, you’ll see two more piloting a small fleet of attack helicopters, jeeps equipped with turrets and outlandish tanks. And thanks to the revamped gear system, anyone can spawn with a rocket launcher. Now couple all of this with the series’ long-standing destruction physics, explosives can tear down the walls of most structures instantly and, yes, whatever you’re imagining in your head is how most of the events unfolded. Battlefield beta games. Plus, at any point during the only map available, a huge tornado could go through the battle, sending debris, vehicles, and players flying everywhere.

Yes, there is a constant firefight in Halo, but the general unpredictability of Battlefield, the idea that, at any given moment, you could be sucked into a tornado, or have the charred remains of a fighter jet exploded on the your head has no equal.

Point: Battlefield 2042

Maps

The Battlefield 2042 beta was released on a map called Orbital. A fitting name, since it’s so big you should be in orbit to see the whole thing. Some players gawk at him. Others, like me, get irritated by the unique Battlefield experience of sprinting five minutes to get to the action only to die immediately when you get that experience that defines roughly half of any match on Orbital. Fantastic tornado, though.

Halo Infinite, on the other hand, came out swinging with not one but three maps. Recharge and Live Fire both featured tight spaces and different levels of verticality. Bazaar channeled players into an open area in the center with almost non-stop action. For the second two betas, 343 introduced a fourth map, Behemoth, which without exaggeration could be one of the best-designed Halo multiplayer maps in series history: fully symmetrical, filled with jump pads and hoverbikes, and a small area in the center that looks like to the Star Wars scene where Luke finds out who his real father is (noooo). Then, during its third weekend, 343 added Fragmentation, which bore a strong resemblance to Valhalla, a fan-favorite map that first appeared in Halo 3.

Point: Halo Infinite

Mark my words, Behemoth will be one of Halos’ all-time great maps. Screenshot: Microsoft

mode

At the end of its beta run, Halo featured two broad modes: arena (four versus four) and big team battle (12 versus 12). Both were playable in capture the flag, zone control or typical deathmatch variety. And you could choose whether or not you wanted to play against humans or against robots pretending to be human.

Read More: Why Do Halo Infinites Bots Be Like People?

Officially, the Battlefield 2042 beta featured only one mode: Conquest, a zone control mode. Unofficially, he had a second: jump into the tornado as soon as it appears and see what happens. That mode sounded exactly like it sounds.

Point: Halo Infinite

Tornado

Halo Infinites beta didn’t have a tornado.

Point: Battlefield 2042

It’s all fun and games to make a big list of pros and cons, but at the end of the day get ready for a cowardly coward both games are in a great state. Halo Infinite definitely plays more with expectations, bringing a much-needed glance to a series that has been absent from any new entry for years. But some Battlefield fans have long wanted a return to the modern, near-futuristic style of games like Battlefield 3 and 4, rather than historically-inspired Battlefield V and 1. Battlefield 2042 offers exactly what those players want. Here we all win.

If comparisons are to be made, the biggest contrast in my mind will be that of availability. Yes, Battlefield 2042 launches on multiple platforms, but it does so as a premium-priced game with no campaign. Meanwhile, Halo Infinites’ multiplayer – elegant, expansive and expensive as it is – will launch as a free-to-play standalone mode. This is one hell of a retail outlet.

Following the results of the raw points from an insignificant set of metrics that I decided based solely on arbitrary topics I wanted to write about, yes, sure, Battlefield 2042 scored a size 43 win. But if you allow me to make the whole exercise completely meaningless by imposing my personal taste above all other petty considerations: by the time the Battlefield 2042 beta wrapped up on Saturday, I had enough. When the Halo beta ended, I found myself completely excited, ready to count the days before I could return to the battlefield.

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