Alright, so I've played quite a bit now and even gone through and 100% unlocked a week's challenges so I feel qualified to talk on the various things.
Campaign isn't out yet, but as far as multiplayer goes, this is FUN. For the most part I'm going to be assuming you're familiar with the Halo games and using them as a reference point.

First off, the feel of the game; it plays fantastically, incredibly smooth (once you get your video settings right, more on that later) and satisfying. 343 has really nailed the feel of the older halo multiplayer and removed all the jank with the stuff they've learned making halo 4/5/2A's multiplayer. As you would expect from a halo game, you can jump really high, movement is liberal but not floaty, and guns all have a nice feel to them.

It's a very "mordern" shooter though, for better or worse, so if you're looking for something really serious then I'd stick with MCC. I like what they've done here, but I'll definitely be switching between MCC and this based on my mood. They've made this game very easy, and I mean that in a good way, it's just they way things have progressed over the generations.

Super accessible, so things like

• you're always on team blue VERSING red from your perspective, no confusion as to what team you're on from the last match,
  
• all dropped/spawned items on the map have a superimposed outline &/or hologram signage,
  
• weapon spawns have countdown timers,
  
• energy weapons now have ammo that is scavengeable (if you're wielding a grav-hammer and walk over another, your hammer will be recharged), and
  
• ALL players have an outline, and you can always see all your team through all terrain

that makes things very simplistic.
They've added a ping system, unrestricted sprinting, and wallclimbing that works very well. Think Apex or Titanfall (without the wallrunning).

My one gripe is with matchmaking. MCC you can matchmake on [a set of] specific gamemodes, Slayer, CTF-type objectives, Area-control type objectives, et cetera AS WELL as setting a specific game size. Infinite ONLY LETS YOU CHOOSE GAME SIZE. That's right, you can only pick between 4v4 & 12v12 (I imagine FreeForAll is coming, NB this release is touted as "Beta" still) and whether you get into a deathmatch or objective (let alone which type of objective) is luck of the draw. There is also a separate an against-bots and an event matchmaking mode (which at the moment is Fiesta). This is really disappointing.

The game is GORGEOUS, with textures that are ridiculously detailed and an engine that has fantastic lighting and effects. Think Titanfall 2 if it came out today (so amazing now in 2021 as that was for *insert year*), remember what it was then, and you'll get that same feeling of awe now. Art-wise 343 have finally realised, in no small part thanks to MCC, that adding to the Halo franchise you need to keep to the feel of Halo. If you want to make everything metallic, and grey, and glowing, and..urgh then you should make a different IP. Infinite is a return to forme, BUT it's not the same old thing, they're iterating properly just as Halo 3 was a jump from 2, Reach from 3 et cetera.

Big open vistas are back, and the skyboxes on big-team-battles are amazing. Lots of green foliage for The Ring -based arenas and the original architecture style of the forerunners has made a welcome return. New things come in the way of the Banished setpieces and weapons, and they feel like they really fit in the game, unlike all the promethean gunk from Halo 4. Armour and vehicles are less lights-neon-shiny-shiny with stupid frivolous detail-lines and cuts everywhere and much more, I don't know how to describe it, simpler. But not "simple", they look great and a return to older art-style sensibilities but there's a tonne of detail but it's more in the high-poly models than highly contrasting texture elements.

Just note that this is very much an OG Crysis scenario, dont just crank all the video options up to 11, it will kick your computer's arse, and this is not due to any perceived un-optimisation. Even all on medium/low (which I was discovering trying to get performance up) the game looks great. I think it's just that high and ultra in this really are just that, and super future-proofed.

The biggest culprit I found to be the Ultra setting for textures. Unless you're not going to be playing big-team-battle at all, do not put textures past "High", "Ultra" just tanks performance on the bigger maps. Other than that, on my gtx2080 with a 2560x1440 (59Hz :( ) screen, I'm always getting my top framerate running 125% resolution (so 3200x1800), everything Ultra/High, except texture filtering and antialiasing. NB you cannot disable AA in-game, which is bonkers since you can do supersampling: go into Nvidia (or equivalent) Control Panel and force-disable it from there so you're not wasting resources.

Finally, I've seen a lot of complaints about the progression system and visual unlocks for your character/gun skins. I haven't had a problem with it, and disclosure, I haven't put a dime into this game, and I think they way it drip-feeds really small cosmetics to the unpaying customers isn't an issue. MCC is much better, but that's because you BUY the game. 343 needs money, mang. The progression itself is very similar to MCC with the key difference being that you don't earn points to spend on specific items in a tier. The items you can unlock are 1-by-1 set in stone per level attained and 100% linear for everyone for the season.
That said, if you couple the weekly challenges (that can be game-mode specific) with the inability to actually select your gamemode (see above matchmaking gripe) you can be in for a very frustrating time, even though there's no penalty for leaving matches, it's really not something that should be encouraged but is at the moment the only respite for this specific issue.

All-round this is a fantastic entry and 343 have really pulled together the best bits of the new, improved on the old, and more importantly, humbly let go of the poorer decisions from their other newer games. It's great fun, give it a go!

Alright, so I've played quite a bit now and even gone through and 100% unlocked a week's challenges so I feel qualified to talk on the various things. Campaign isn't out yet, but as far as multiplayer goes, this is FUN. For the most part I'm going to be assuming you're familiar with the Halo games and using them as a reference point. First off, the feel of the game; it plays fantastically, incredibly smooth (once you get your video settings right, more on that later) and satisfying. 343 has really nailed the feel of the older halo multiplayer and removed all the jank with the stuff they've learned making halo 4/5/2A's multiplayer. As you would expect from a halo game, you can jump really high, movement is liberal but not floaty, and guns all have a nice feel to them. It's a very "mordern" shooter though, for better or worse, so if you're looking for something really serious then I'd stick with MCC. I like what they've done here, but I'll definitely be switching between MCC and this based on my mood. They've made this game very easy, and I mean that in a good way, it's just they way things have progressed over the generations. Super accessible, so things like [list] [*]you're always on team blue VERSING red from your perspective, no confusion as to what team you're on from the last match, [*]all dropped/spawned items on the map have a superimposed outline &/or hologram signage, [*]weapon spawns have countdown timers, [*]energy weapons now have ammo that is scavengeable (if you're wielding a grav-hammer and walk over another, your hammer will be recharged), and [*]ALL players have an outline, and you can always see all your team through all terrain [/list] that makes things very simplistic. They've added a ping system, unrestricted sprinting, and wallclimbing that works very well. Think Apex or Titanfall (without the wallrunning). My one gripe is with matchmaking. MCC you can matchmake on [a set of] specific gamemodes, Slayer, CTF-type objectives, Area-control type objectives, et cetera AS WELL as setting a specific game size. Infinite [b]ONLY LETS YOU CHOOSE GAME SIZE[/b]. That's right, you can only pick between 4v4 & 12v12 (I imagine FreeForAll is coming, NB this release is touted as "Beta" still) and whether you get into a deathmatch or objective (let alone which [i]type[/i] of objective) is luck of the draw. There is also a separate an against-bots and an event matchmaking mode (which at the moment is Fiesta). This is really disappointing. The game is GORGEOUS, with textures that are ridiculously detailed and an engine that has fantastic lighting and effects. Think Titanfall 2 if it came out today (so amazing now in 2021 as that was for *insert year*), remember what it was then, and you'll get that same feeling of awe now. Art-wise 343 have finally realised, in no small part thanks to MCC, that adding to the Halo franchise you need to keep to the feel of Halo. If you want to make everything metallic, and grey, and glowing, and..urgh then you should make a different IP. Infinite is a return to forme, BUT it's not the same old thing, they're iterating properly just as Halo 3 was a jump from 2, Reach from 3 et cetera. Big open vistas are back, and the skyboxes on big-team-battles are amazing. Lots of green foliage for The Ring -based arenas and the original architecture style of the forerunners has made a welcome return. New things come in the way of the Banished setpieces and weapons, and they feel like they really fit in the game, unlike all the promethean gunk from Halo 4. Armour and vehicles are less lights-neon-shiny-shiny with stupid frivolous detail-lines and cuts everywhere and much more, I don't know how to describe it, simpler. But not "simple", they look great and a return to older art-style sensibilities but there's a tonne of detail but it's more in the high-poly models than highly contrasting texture elements. Just note that this is very much an OG Crysis scenario, dont just crank all the video options up to 11, it [i]will[/i] kick your computer's arse, and this is [i]not[/i] due to any perceived un-optimisation. Even all on medium/low (which I was discovering trying to get performance up) the game looks great. I think it's just that high and ultra in this really are just that, and super future-proofed. The biggest culprit I found to be the Ultra setting for textures. Unless you're not going to be playing big-team-battle [i]at all[/i], do not put textures past "High", "Ultra" just tanks performance on the bigger maps. Other than that, on my gtx2080 with a 2560x1440 (59Hz :( ) screen, I'm always getting my top framerate running 125% resolution (so 3200x1800), everything Ultra/High, except texture filtering and antialiasing. NB you cannot disable AA in-game, which is bonkers since you can do supersampling: go into Nvidia (or equivalent) Control Panel and force-disable it from there so you're not wasting resources. Finally, I've seen a lot of complaints about the progression system and visual unlocks for your character/gun skins. I haven't had a problem with it, and disclosure, I haven't put a dime into this game, and I think they way it drip-feeds really small cosmetics to the unpaying customers isn't an issue. MCC is much better, but that's because you BUY the game. 343 needs money, mang. The progression itself is very similar to MCC with the key difference being that you don't earn points to spend on specific items in a tier. The items you can unlock are 1-by-1 set in stone per level attained and 100% linear for everyone for the season. That said, if you couple the weekly challenges (that can be game-mode specific) with the inability to actually select your gamemode (see above matchmaking gripe) you can be in for a [b]very[/b] frustrating time, even though there's no penalty for leaving matches, it's really not something that should be encouraged but is at the moment the only respite for this specific issue. All-round this is a fantastic entry and 343 have really pulled together the best bits of the new, improved on the old, and more importantly, humbly let go of the poorer decisions from their other newer games. It's great fun, give it a go!