While the original lacked online play, Halo 2 followed it up with the anticipated online play and a wonderful single-player campaign. Then Halo 3 and Halo 4 extended the universe and drew more players to the franchise. Bringing these titles back to life on the Xbox One is something I have been looking forward to since the announcement, and I'm happy to report that this does not disappoint.
This package contains all four main Halo games and this is the first time that Halo 2 has been available in high definition.
The menu of for the Master Chief Collection allows you to play any mission from any game at any time, which is interesting and could leave some with the age old of question of, "Where to start?" It also pulls together the idea of "playlists" the combine various missions from all four games and put them together in new and unique ways. In short, this is much more than just a simple remastering of these games.
The multiplayer aspect has had a great deal of attention paid to it. With over 100 multiplayer maps to choose from (including ones from the original, which as mentioned lacked online play originally) this game will keep you busy for hours upon hours. While you might find some of the gameplay mechanics in a first games a little out of date, they are still fun and being able to flip back to the original graphics (and sound) is quite amazing and quite shocking at the same time.
If all of that content wasn't enough, there is more! A connection to the new Halo Channel is there which opens you up to a new world of Halo content, and the inclusion of "Halo: Nightfall" is just like extra icing on a cake already iced up and ready to eat.
Many potential problems (like control issues) have been addressed I think as well as they can be. You can customize each game for different controller styles or keep the same across each experience. For those that have somehow missed out on the original games, playing this from beginning to end is going to be an incredible overall experience.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a perfect example of how remastering games, and putting them into a collection should be done. It's excellent value for your money and whether you want to experience the games solo or with friends you are going to find something to love here.Finally, if you needed more, you will get access to the Halo 5 beta which becomes available near the end of December. If you are a Halo fan, this will be a treat for you to go back into the games and enjoy them in a new way and if this is your first time I think you'll end up being a Halo fan in the end. How could you not be?
- Syd Bolton
Follow @sydbolton
The Good:
- Amazing value for the money, how did they fit all this stuff on a single Blu-ray?
- Great re-mixing of original content with enough "new" to make it feel fresh and exciting
The Bad:
- Playlist idea is great, but are only provided by 343 you can't make your own or share with others
- I experienced a strange bug where the controls got changed or messed up, but as a disclaimer: I'm playing with early review code. It was minor, but I needed something else to complain about
Syd Bolton surrounds himself in thousands of classic video games as Canada's top video game collector playing his games on a 80 inch Sharp Quattron Plus TV. He is also the founder of the Personal Computer Museum (http://www.pcmuseum.ca) in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
