Halo: The Master Chief Collection Official Review

**KENT HAMMER** Sat Nov 08, 2014 6:59 pm

Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Developer: 343 Industries
Publisher: Microsoft
Reviewer: Kent “The Arbiter” Hammer

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is the best and most comprehensive remaster ever released and truly sets the bar astronomically high for all future fan service re-releases and HD upgrades of this generation.

Its a lovingly created and polished homage to the fans. You get all the first four Halo games in the package from the HD remaster of the original game then onto the jewel in the crown which is Halo 2 and of course 3 & 4 follow. This is to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Halo 2, which was the motivation for this package to be put together in the first place.

You also get to play any mission from any game in any order you like right from the get go! Plus with over 100 multiplayer maps making this a collection that any gamer should want to own. You see you can play around, try things out, jump back and forth between modes and missions, Shoot up the bad guys and have some fun!

The cinematic cut scenes for Halo 2 truly make it seem like a new game in the series. I was honestly blown away by the epic story and movie like quality of them. The in game graphics have been polished beyond belief too and if you press the back button it will show you the original graphics of all the games so you can compare. It happens instantly on the fly, so you can switch back and forth and impress your friends with the visual feast, “look at that bit!, its gorgeous!” There is even a cheeky achievement for playing each level in original and new shiny HD graphics, you only need to change back and forth once on each level to get it too, not play the whole thing. See I am even giving you point whoring tips while you read my review *-)

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Official Review H4-62010

Actually, speaking of gamerscore we get a whopping 4000G on release with a further 500G added for free in the form of multiplayer achievements. This really does make the compilation a must buy for the fun that can be had trying to max out this bad boy! I am sure even more achievements will be added when Spartan Ops releases in December as another free DLC. We are talking value for money here people!

Another nice touch is that the game itself tracks all the achievements for you and shows a progress bar of how far along you are with each. But here is the genius bit, it also lets you click on an achieve and then takes you to the optimum campaign mission to complete it! Surely other games in the future will cut and paste this great idea.

The Campaigns have really had me gripped as I worked through them solo, but I am even more excited to jump back in again hopefully with a few of you guys for some legendary four play co-op action!

Now lets talk about the multiplayer in abit more detail. As in some ways this the most feature intensive portion of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. As like I said before you get over one hundred maps for four games and all their downloadable map packs included.

For Halo: CE , instead of replicating the classic multiplayer maps in the Halo: Reach engine as they did before, they have included the entire original Halo: CE multiplayer map and feature set, including maps that only previously appeared in the PC version of the game, all playable on Xbox Live for the very first time.

Halo 2 brings both the full suite of classic multiplayer maps in the exact original engine, as well as six multiplayer maps re-imagined with modern tech to evoke the spirit and fun of original Halo 2 gameplay.

Plus of course all the maps from Halo 3 & 4 to round out the full collection nicely.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Official Review H1-62010

I must also touch on playlists, not to be confused with multiplayer lists, these are pre curated selections of missions, built to capture certain themes and elements from across all the games and tie them together within a common theme or goal. Playlists are mostly designed around an individual game in the collection, but they have also thrown in some themed cross game playlists.

Of course you can customize your armour and make avatars and clan tags. Plus make and share screenshots and videos as you have done in the original titles.

Now onto some of the extras included in this package-

Halo: Nightfall is a digital web series created in collaboration with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free productions. Its basically a series that tells the story of a group of operatives from the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI).

The Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta is also available and will start on Dec 29th 2014, beginning with three weeks of rotating content designed to give players a look at Halo’s new “arena” multiplayer experience as well as your first taste of the Halo 5 engine and new features.

So in summary this is without doubt my game collection of the year or any year for that matter! In fact I am quite sure I will be playing it through for a long time to come in my quest for the full 4000G. If you're new to the Halo series, this is a must buy, if you are a long term fan then you will no doubt have already ordered it. If you fall into neither of those groups then buy it anyway you weirdo!
So, that being said I shall award this collection a perfect 10/10.

Colne Crusader Sat Nov 08, 2014 7:11 pm

Good work Arbiter.

I certainly want this package even more now.

Guest Sat Nov 08, 2014 7:12 pm

A 10 is the only score for what is not just a game collection but a massive slice of gaming history. FPS on consoles owe everything to these games
Top work friend I love reading your reviews

Fatboy Geezer Sat Nov 08, 2014 7:46 pm

That was a great read Kent, its really got me even more pumped for this next week!

Waggly Bean Sat Nov 08, 2014 7:49 pm

Nice review. I love it when games have achievement tracking lists - really all games should have it, I'd probably complete a few more if they did! The idea of taking you to the ideal level your that achievement is very smart too, I hope that feature does catch on!

I can see that this is an incredible package for any Halo fan. Wish I liked it more now! Razz

**Tricky34** Sat Nov 08, 2014 9:30 pm

Belting review mate, of a game i'm really looking forward to working through.

stubbymite Sat Nov 08, 2014 9:46 pm

This is a great review mate and like others have said before me making me want this even more now.

I like the idea of the tracking element and for me multiplayer is a massive part of why I loved these games and good to see that they have mixed in so many maps.

I think this is gonna be one of the games of the year on the xone and with so many cheevs thrown in its a win win

I may have to finally go and pre order this as I cant wait to get back to some big team battles on halo

Kev Lar 1 Sun Nov 09, 2014 1:53 am

Great review Kent. Can't wait for my pre-order.

Guest Sun Nov 09, 2014 10:54 am

thanks Kent

looking forward to getting my copy next week now

**minkey_monkey** Sun Nov 09, 2014 11:43 am

Great review chap

Stee01 Sun Nov 09, 2014 5:47 pm

Great review Kent. Got it all on my hdd ready to go.

Guest Sun Nov 09, 2014 7:22 pm

Stee01 wrote:Great review Kent. Got it all on my hdd ready to go.

i checked my digital pre order and it has gone up to over 59 gb so it has updated mate

Sedgendary Sun Nov 09, 2014 8:47 pm

Good review, this is going on my birthday / Christmas list. Not sure when I will be able to play it though Dragon Age will likely eat up a lot of my time for a while

dazzamann Mon Nov 10, 2014 7:56 am

Great review mate, got to wait for Christmas for this though

Ba5sett Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:19 am

Great review mate and thanks for the achievement tips can't wait for my copy to be delivered!

Fatboy Geezer Mon Nov 10, 2014 12:22 pm

Apparently, according to Minks, mine has turned up, so I will start installing tonight and fingers crossed, it'll be all downloaded and installed by the end of the week Smile

Gabhlan Mon Nov 10, 2014 12:34 pm

Great review Kent. I'm looking forward to my copy of this arriving sometime between Tuesday and Friday. Coming at just the right time for me too. Played far too much destiny and is finally start to feel a little stale so it'll be nice to have this to tide me over until the DLC comes out in December. I'll still be doing some raids etc though in Destiny looking for more loot and trying to get others to level 30 so we can try the HARD raid too Very Happy

RabidHellBunny Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:18 pm

Nice review Kent. This is one for my Christmas / birthday list. Bought a car this month so can't really justify games too!!

Guest Fri Nov 14, 2014 7:12 pm

Just played my first two multiplayer match made games and won both. I should switch it off and walk away with my head held high while I have the chance

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