Halo Infinite's Brute Choppers can't stop taking flight

A halo soldier shoots at a big red alien motorcycle — (Image credit: 343 Industries)

As befitting their gorilla-like riders, Halo Infinite's Brute Choppers are tough, rugged alien motorcycles. Two blade-like wheels strapped to a chair, with guns plugged into the side and a ton of heavy steel armour weighing it down. Certainly not the kind of thing that you'd expect to float off into the sky like a child's discarded balloon, right?

Sift through all the complaints about battle passes on the Halo subreddit, however, and you'll rapidly find that some Spartans are playing fast and loose with the laws of physics to send these hefty choppers skywards.

emping_a_chopper_midboost_will_cause_it_to_go from r/halo

The trick involves using Infinite's new Disruptor grenades, which send out electromagnetic pulses to drain player shields and, more importantly, immobilise vehicles. But the Chopper, having both wheels and a slight hover element, appears to be confused by this EMP charge, yeeting it skywards to hilarious effect.

hijacked_a_chopper_it_decided_its_true_dream_was from r/halo

Choppers aren't quite at home in the clouds, of course, and most attempts see drivers careening out of the map boundaries. But I reckon it's only a matter of time before we see someone manage to score a kill in this way—and with air vehicles like the Banshee and Wasp being a relative rarity, getting an early vantage point with a Chopper could find its uses.

so_thats_why_theyre_called_choppers from r/halo

It's a daft, if ultimately harmless bug, one that reminds me of countless Skyrim bears getting punted into the stratosphere after a shout. All things considered, Halo Infinite's multiplayer launched in a surprisingly stable state (though Tyler C reckons the absence of a Slayer-only playlist is unforgivable).

That said, I'm still wary of Halo Infinite's campaign. Last month we got an extended look at Master Chief's open world adventure, featuring Far Cry-style bases and an edgelord alien with a robot arm, both of which raise a fair few concerns. That campaign arrives as a full-price DLC for Halo Infinite on December 8th.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.