| Hands-On Impressions von DF |  |
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6cFMNtW27A]
[https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2021-halo-infinite-tech-preview-a-promising-campaign-with-tech-issues-to-address]
In terms of visuals, let's get the basics out of the way. Series X has two modes - quality and performance - which aims for a dynamic 4K in quality mode targeting 60fps, while performance targets 120fps instead, with a substantial cut to resolution. Series S is cut to a surprising degree. Quality mode looks to be 1080p at 30fps, while performance mode removes the frame-rate cap, allowing for up to 60fps at a dynamic 1080p. We'll go into depth on visuals in our full tech review, but the video embedded above should give the impression of a game that has improved massively since last year's reveal. Lighting and material quality is improved, the jarring level of detail pop-in is similarly addressed, and enemy modelling looks good.
However, while there is a big improvement in so many areas, there's the sense that the game still needs significant polish. Halo Infinite kicks off with a cinematic pre-rendered movie that's washed out in HDR and runs choppily, leaving a bad first impression in a game where we really want to see 343 put its best foot forward from the off. Gameplay is mostly very smooth, but cutscenes have profound issues. Interestingly, they do run at 60fps, but elements like camera motion and animation seem to run at arbitrary update rates - and it looks poor. Facial animation seems locked to 30fps, which doesn't make sense for a game that runs at up to 120fps. Looking back at Halo 5, the cutscenes may have been locked to 30fps but they exhibited none of the issues seen in Infinite. It's so jarring that we do wonder whether a 30fps cap may be the best temporary fix to eliminate the many visual discontinuities seen here - and the illusion of a game running its otherwise impressive cinematics at an inconsistent 30fps or even lower.