The Windows Mixed Reality ‘Halo’ Experience Isn't A Game
343 Studios is bringing a Halo experience to the Windows Mixed Reality platform, but it's not what you hoped for. Halo Recruit isn't a game, it's just a short experience.
Yesterday, Microsoft held a press event to reveal what we can expect on October 17, when the company launches the Windows Mixed Reality platform. Microsoft’s event was filled with surprised announcements, such as Samsung’s Odyssey Windows MR HMD, the acquisition of AltspaceVR, and the announcement of a Halo title for the Win MR platform called Halo Recruit.
The Halo Recruit announcement had us excited, and we speculated that it “may be the killer title that Windows Mixed Reality needs,” but it seems we let hype get the best of us. 343 Studios was somewhat more forthcoming with the details about Halo Recruit than Microsoft was. The studio revealed on its blog that Halo Recruit is not a game—it’s a short, five-minute experience the developer built to familiarize itself with the world of Windows Mixed Reality.
“Let's be clear, this isn't a game or even a part of a game - it is a light introduction to the world of Halo and some of its most iconic characters... oh, and its weapons and maybe a Warthog.”
Halo Recruit may not be a game, but we would hazard a guess that it's going to be something special for anyone who's a fan of the Halo franchise. It will probably be reminiscent of the Batman Arkham VR experience that came out with the PSVR system (and later came to Oculus Rift and HTC Vive). It's not likely something that you'll do often, but true fans of the series should get a kick out of it.
343 Studios said that Halo Recruitwould be available for free on the Microsoft Store on October 17. The experience requires a Windows Mixed Reality headset from one of the six announced vendors: Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung.
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Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
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cryoburner Reply
That could probably be used to describe half the VR "games" out there right now... : P20238365 said:...it’s a short, five-minute experience the developer built to familiarize itself with...
Anyone expecting this to be anything more than a quick shooting gallery was probably expecting too much. Until VR headsets have an install base well in the millions, I wouldn't expect much in terms of full-length AAA games designed explicitly for the platform.