Performance is mostly sound, then. However, perceptual performance in cutscenes and with in-game animations was an issue in the preview build and has not been corrected for the final game. Also bizarre is that while the game runs at 60fps or 120fps on Series X, facial animations seem to run at half-rate, creating a serious visual continuity. Let's be clear, the composition and detail in the cutscenes is excellent, but their choppiness in motion is seriously off-putting. Put simply, camera and character movement doesn't appear fluid, while facial animations look off. The renderer is updating as it should, but there's something seriously wrong in the update of the content itself. Thankfully, 343 has contacted us via Microsoft PR to tell us that this is being addressed in an upcoming, post-launch patch but it is surprising to see it at all, especially as reviewing Halo Infinite marketing materials from the controversial 2020 gameplay trailer and even earlier cutscene showcases reveals none of these issues.
In-game, there are other puzzling technical problems. We've talked in the past about reloading and mantling animations running at lower frame-rates (again, not present in the 2020 gameplay reveal) but also strange is how lighting interacts with dynamic objects. Playing through many scenes, you get the impression that enemies don't fully blend in with the environment - so an enemy character in a red room appears to be lit white by an invisible light source. Going back to prior Halo games, I didn't see any equivalent issue, to the point where I wonder if this is an attempt to improve visibility. Also curious is how the view weapon and Master Chief's hands warp in motion - but only in the open world. This one is interesting in that it can also be observed in older Halo titles.
Other issues? I wonder if there are some memory management problems 343 need to address. Several time during my gameplay experience, Halo Infinite would freeze for a short while for seemingly no reason. It looks and feels like a crash, only the game comes back and works just fine several second later. It's very, very bizarre when it happens but it seems like something that could be fixed. Also, after extended play, I started to notice textures visibly loading and unloading when simply turning the camera.