Review: Watch Combat Evolve in Excellent ‘Halo: The Master Chief Collection’
This is not the Halo you’ve been waiting for.
That game is Halo 5: Guardians, the next original entry in the series, and it’s not coming out for another year. But Microsoft wasn’t about to let the Xbox One’s first full holiday season pass without an appearance by its famous helmeted hero, so it did what any shrewd company would do when it’s not quite ready to ship a new product: reuse, recycle, and remaster an old one.
Or, in this case, four old ones. The good news is that Halo: The Master Chief Collection is more than just a regurgitation of the core Halo games. It’s a smartly built Halo mix tape, the most convenient and graphically appealing way to experience the spectacular Master Chief saga from start to (temporary) finish.
The Collection includes Xbox classics Halo and Halo 2, and Xbox 360 blockbusters Halo 3 and Halo 4. While other games like Halo: ODST and Halo: Reach are just as legit, those focus primarily on other characters in the Halo universe, so they’re not here.
Instead, we’ve got the sprawling tale of Master Chief, his A.I. buddy Cortana, hordes of pesky Covenant aliens, the irritating hive-like Flood, and those dangerous Halo rings, all in one handy place. Microsoft wisely unlocked every game from the outset, letting players tackle any level in any game at any time. You can barge through chronologically, of course, though it’s really tempting — and more fun — to cherry-pick levels from the various games and time-travel through Halo history.
Microsoft makes it easy to do just that by way of themed Playlists. Want to play through every vehicular level across the four games? Or play only the Arbiter missions in Halo 2? All the sorting has been done for you.
All four games benefit from the move to the Xbox One, but the graphical overhaul is most evident in the older games. Halo: Combat Evolved was already gussied up in the 2011 Anniversary Edition, and it looks great here, but the real gem is its sequel, Halo 2.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Halo 2, and it’s been given a serious makeover. At the touch of a button, you can instantly flip back and forth between the original game’s graphics, warts and all, and its gorgeous update, replete with new lighting and character models. This works with the cutscenes, too, which have been thoroughly overhauled by a separate developer. It’s awesome. It was all I could do to stop flipping back and forth admiring the scenery and actually focus on shooting stuff.
I had a bone to pick with Halo 2 when it first came out, in part because it frustratingly ended on a cliffhanger that wouldn’t be resolved until the following game arrived on a different system. But Halo 2 proved to be the franchise’s real game-changer. It was the first Halo with dual-wielding, the first to allow you to play as a character other than Master Chief, and, crucially, the first to introduce online multiplayer (the original Halo could be played only locally). Playing through it again, I was as taken with its mature storytelling and universe-expanding backdrop as its stunning, refreshed visuals. It’s the highlight of the package.
Halo 3 and Halo 4 certainly aren’t slouches, either, and both play better than they did on the Xbox 360, courtesy of the smoother framerate and tweaked engine. They stand in stark contrast to the first two titles, both in their advanced game mechanics and their shift to a darker, more personal tone. And they’re both just as fun as you remember.
Where The Master Chief Collection really finds its stride is in its multiplayer. That’s long been Halo’s calling card, and somehow the developers managed to keep each game’s unique multiplayer quirks intact. Like the solo game, custom map playlists can shuttle you from game to game. It can be jarring to suddenly lose your jetpack when you go from Halo 4 to Halo 2, but it’s kind of thrilling, too.
The downside to all this content? It eats up a ton of room. The Master Chief Collection requires 45 GB of space, but you’ll also need to grab a 20 GB patch to get multiplayer working. (Note: It’s actually not working very well right now.) It’s a good thing Microsoft has finally enabled external had drive support for the Xbox One, because that 500 GB of built-in storage is looking awfully small these days.
I’m also a little bummed Microsoft went so light on the extras. There’s an embarrassment of gameplay riches here, but for a collection all about honoring the past, it skimps out on “making of” material. There are some goodies to be found in the separate Halo Channel app, but the scant selection of bonus content takes some of the punch out of the package.
But what a package it is. The four games in Halo: The Master Chief Collection were stellar when they were first released and are just as good now. This is a first-person shooter primer, Halo history class, and a helluva lot of fun to boot. It’s not the Halo game you’ve been waiting for, but it’ll do.
What’s Hot: Tons of content; Playlists; Halo 2 remaster is incredible; authentic multiplayer
What’s Not: You’ve probably already played these games; a little skimpy on extras
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