If you can’t tell from my most recent articles, I’ve got an ASUS ROG Ally. While setting it up and evaluating its capability, I randomly decided to install Halo Infinite. I thought a few rounds of Team Slayer would be a fun way to put the little machine through its paces.

The first match I joined was on a map I had never previously encountered. So were the second and third round’s maps. Like a lot of people, I hadn’t played much Halo for the last few months. They added a lot of new content while I was away. Check out the news section of Halo’s Waypoint site for all the latest info.

In addition to interesting new map content, customizations seem to be unlocking faster than when I last played.  The slow rolling of play-based unlocks has long been a complaint against 343’s stewardship of the iconic franchise. This time around, I was able to unlock several armor pieces, weapon charms, and color packs in a four-hour session without purchasing the premium battle pass.

It took me a while to find my rhythm and get my head to play Halo instead of Call of Duty. Halo’s time to kill is longer. Emptying a full clip without getting a kill is not a rare occurrence in this game. Multi-kills almost always require reloading in between targets. Shields, agility, and speed, mean that your opponent has a fifty-fifty chance of escape, or a reverse attack after you have opened fire. This type of play encourages extended one-on-one battles that can be intense, especially if both combatants are skilled Halo enthusiasts.

I think a lot of the negative vibes you see on-line stem from players whose FPS experience is rooted in other titles. They dominate at their preferred games and are expecting to drop into Halo and win, but the time to kill throws their rhythm off. They fire what would be an appropriate amount to frag their target in most FPS games and move to the next, only to have their efforts reversed.

Some tips for those playing on an Ally. I set both joystick dead zones to zero. I also turn up all the look sensitivities to the middle of their scales. I make these changes in Halo’s settings menu.  In the Ally’s controller profiles menu (auto-mode), I map the rear buttons to sprint and melee.

I am impressed with how the ASUS ROG Ally handles the game’s demanding graphics. Plugged-in, set to max performance mode, with Halo at 1080P-low settings, the Ally held a steady 94 fps. The smaller screen translates to a high DPI for that resolution, and the game looks great. The Ally is a marvelous machine for playing on the couch, or in the car, or anywhere.

Snagging an S7 sniper rifle off the map’s spawn point and decimating the other team with it is still one of my favorite feels in all of gaming. The complex new maps provide plenty of ambush and crossfire zones. The new armor customizations and updates seem to have pulled people back into the matchmaking queues. Getting into a game is taking less than a minute on average.

343 has also introduced a new play list. Squad Battles features some of Halo 3’s most popular maps that have been completely remastered for modern graphics and sound. In addition to the maps the new playlist also returns 8v8 matchmaking.

I personally feel that Halo Infinite is one of the best Halo titles to date. The variety of game types, graphics that run on most systems, free-to-play unlocks, and new content make it one of the top FPS titles available on the market today. If you haven’t played, or stepped away for a while, consider giving Season 4 a chance.