Halo: The Chief Master Collection
Producer: Microsoft Studios
Release Date: November 11, 2014
Platform: Xbox One
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Wheel in the Sky
Written by Jesse Seilhan
Halo is the first and potentially greatest franchise in Microsoft’s console library. When it debuted alongside the original Xbox in 2001, it helped put the budding console on the map with the best first-person shooter experience since Goldeneye. In the past decade, there have been multiple sequels, spin-offs, and remakes, but the four main (and numbered) Halo games have been compiled to create the Master Chief Collection. Packed in with each campaign is every single multiplayer map ever made for these four games, including the remastered ones in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition, totalling over 100 maps in all. Combine this with an upcoming multiplayer beta for Halo 5: Guardians as well as the made-for-Xbox episodic series Halo: Nightfall, and you have the near-perfect collection of all things Halo. But is it all just rose-colored nostalgia or does it still hold up in a post-Modern Warfare world?
The one thing the original Bungie games did best was combat. In this collection, the weapons still feel great as ever and the combat puzzle and its unique encounters still create anxious moments with near-perfect balance. While the original Halo got the remaster treatment a few years ago, Halo 2 is the belle of this game’s ball. Halo 2 has been given more than just an audio and visual upgrade, as all of the cutscenes have been remade by Blur studios, a premiere digital media company. Playing this once underwhelming game again is much sweeter with the improved graphics and helps boost potentially the weakest of the four entries. Halo 3 and 4 have been given smaller improvements, mostly in the framerate arena, giving all four games an extremely fluid feeling of motion. Together, the epic saga of Master Chief is one grand story that makes way more sense after giving each campaign a go.
Multiplayer is as authentic as can be, giving fans the original maps and the remastered maps made for Halo and Halo 2. But, honestly, all this freedom can be somewhat confusing. Remembering which games have dual-wielding, overshields, and crazy physics can become difficult when playing different titles in quick succession. It doesn’t help that the pre-made playlists can range from one to four different games, drawing from over a hundred maps and dozens of weapons and systems. Luckily, the map-making Forge is back, allowing players to craft their own worlds and rules, going beyond prior iterations with way more options and space to create. Halo multiplayer is tough to compare to other shooters, as it has a pace and balance all its own, but those who lived and died playing in the days of the gigantic original Xbox controller will find themselves going to sleep with visions of flying Warthogs in their mind.
Honestly, there hasn’t been a collection like this since Valve’s The Orange Box many years ago, giving gamers more for their money than any other product this year. Playing through each campaign should take over 15 hours, if you take your time and look around to find each hidden nook and cranny. Score and time attack modes are built in to keep things competitive with your friends and earn achievements, giving you even more reason to play through missions over and over. But if you really enjoyed Halo in the past decade, the multiplayer is the real draw. Being able to customize your favorite game types of old, hop in and out of different games, and play massive battles like you once could is a unforgettable experience that has been faithfully recreated. While the initial launch was hampered by server woes, when the game works, it an unflappable experience that few games have surpassed in the past 13 years. If you ever played one of these games or wondered what all the fuss was about, buying The Master Chief Collection is a no brainer. It is now the gold standard for all remakes and collections.