Halo: The Master Chief Collection - Review
There were rumours swirling for ages that Microsoft was working a collection of the Halo games for Xbox One, the only thing no one really expected was just how far they would go.
When you first load into the game you are presented with a really simple menu, it offers up everything that the Halo games have had in years past, only the numbered games of course, ODST and Reach are not present here; Maybe in the future. The first menu will let you experience the full story of the Master Chief from the time he is unfrozen on the Pillar of Autumn to the ending of Halo 4. Each mission is here for you to explore, with Halo 2 getting the full anniversary treatment this year, as it has been 10 years since that game was released.
Halo: Combat Evolved has been updated from its Xbox 360 release and now runs more smoothly than it did there. I never bothered with the anniversary port a few years back, so jumping in here and seeing what the team has done with that was fun. The game is as solid as I remember it being, which as I have not played the original game in over 10 year’s means a lot. The game is also really fast, swapping at any point between the new look and the old is instant, there is no delay in that at all. In fact the only delay you will encounter is having to move your finger to and from the button. The other element that is fast is the load times, they are hardly here, the game just loads that fast. This port however is not perfect, there are some issues when you are in the watching cutscenes of the background experiencing tears and stutters, minor stuff but something that you will see often.
Thankfully, the cutscenes of Halo 2 are impeccable. Each of the major story sequences are delivered by all new cgi that was created by Blur studios specifically for this game, there is even a few extra scenes that help lay the ground work for next year’s Halo 5 Guardians. While the quality of the cutscenes cannot be disputed, the games load times are quite above the average and you will notice it more when you come from Halo CE. The only explanation I can find for this is that while you will always want to watch the new versions of the cutscenes, you can actually swap back to the old style at any point, something you could not do in Halo CE. Once you are in game, the loading is not an issue, but be warned that loading into a level is.
Of course one of the best elements about Halo 2 was the ability to see two different stories from both the Human side and the Covenant side, which is enhanced a little more here, with those new cutscenes. When the E3 demo was shown and dual wielding was introduced, I remember people went bananas for it and understandably, it is really nice to have two different, or two of the same weapons firing at once. I bring this up, because the remastered audio track is even more of a star than the remastered visuals. At any point when you swap back to the old look, you can get the classic audio as well, and when the music is playing or in a firefight, hearing just how far the audio has come is a treat for the ears. If you are a purist and believe that the new audio does not sound as good as the old, then you are catered for here as well, you can set the audio to be the old audio track but with the new visuals, or the reverse of that if you want.
Halo 3 and 4 are optimised for the Xbox One, but outside of that not much is different from the original releases. Halo 3 is now running at full 1080p, rather than the odd 960p from when it launched but that is about the only change. One element that did change from Halo CE to Halo 4 was the controller, as many should know the controller for the original Xbox is very different to the 360 and even again on the One and 343 Industries have taken that into account. You can customise your control scheme to suit your preference, there are plenty of pre-sets that you can choose from, but you can then go in and change how the triggers act or how the bumpers work, depending on your play style. But as each of the Halo games had a slightly different control scheme from the rest, you can now set your preferred style of play for each game. So if you spend 5 minutes sorting it out in Halo CE then you can set it for 2, 3 and 4, a simple addition but one that is much appreciated.
Of course, if you did not ever play Halo 4 or maybe you did not finish it, you can actually start from any point you want, there is no locked content here. If you have 100% each of the games in normal, you can go back now and play them with any combination of skulls turned on for perks and tweaks, even if this is your first time playing Halo, you can play it however you want. The same is true for the multiplayer, every map from Halo CE, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 is present, with the perk of the PC only maps from Halo CE now making their console debut here as well. If you are playing team slayer on a map from Halo 3, you can then take the players into Halo CE without having to swap a disc out and once you are done there you can jump on over to Halo 4, no problem.
Of course, most players are going to go straight for the Halo 2 Anniversary maps and why not, they are amazing to play on. Each of the 6 maps that have been remastered can now be used as bases in Forge and in Theatre mode as well, the old Halo 2 and Halo CE maps can’t be used in this way sadly, but it just shows how much effort has been put into these maps. Playing in the multiplayer mode was straight forward, the games leader choose a game mode and then either selects a map or puts up a select list for a vote. These lists are built by 343 and provide the best maps for set game types, but you don’t have to do that if you don’t want to. Playing the Halo CE maps online had me feeling that old nostalgia of LAN parties where everyone had to bring their TV, Xbox and cables, it was just so much fun.
Even if multiplayer is not your cup of tea, you can always put sometime into the playlists. These are custom lists created by 343 that offer up selections of the various games for you to play and they range from all of the levels where you drive a warthog to all the flood levels, these will also be updated overtime as 343 sees what players are into. But even with 4 full single player campaigns and over 100 multiplayer maps, there is still more in this collection, by now most people should be aware of the Halo 5 Guardians beta that is coming later in the year, owning this collection is your access into it. The access to that option is located in the extras menu, where you will also find the Halo Nightfall series, which will be released one a week in the lead up to the Halo 5 Guardians beta.
Halo as a series is one that has reached over multiple home consoles, phones and the PC, it has extended itself into books and comics and offers up one of the most incredibly detailed universes ever created. Anyone who has even a slight interest in Halo can’t go wrong in picking up this collection, it is the ultimate compendium of Halo knowledge and with its links into Halo Waypoint, players can learn even more about this fantastic universe. If you own an Xbox One, you simply need to own this game.
The Score
9.5
Review code provided by Xbox Game Studios
The Pros
+Offers incredible value for money
+The Halo 2 Remaster makes the game even better
The Cons
-There are some minor graphical issues to deal with across the board
-Halo 2 may look amazing now, but it has long load times to match
