Getting caught up in too much nostalgia is something to be avoided at the best of times, but in trying to assess 343 Industries’ attempts to revamp and repackage the Master Chief saga to date, it’s hard not to get swept up. The Halo series under Bungie’s guardianship was often at the pinnacle of video game narrative design and more or less created the template for online multiplayer shooters for years to come. These games are historic and The Master Chief Collection carries that weight very well. In fact playing these classic missions and multiplayer maps again, it’s odd that the older titles (Halo 2 celebrating its tenth anniversary with a new HD lick of paint) feel as relevant as ever.
The Halo games have been reliably on the scale from good to excellent. Playing Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary on Xbox 360 was proof enough that these titles can stand the test of time with a few small tweaks. So we could come into this collection with some degree of confidence that Halo 2 wasn’t going to look a mess. As it happens, it sometimes puts the other games on this disc to shame. We’re not often wowed by the quality of cutscene CGI, but Blur – the production company behind Halo 2’s new cinematics – has done a spectacular job. It’s not just a matter of seeing how much better they look compared to the originals, which you can do with a quick tap of the View button. These scenes are some of the best CGI you’ll see anywhere. Period. They elevate the drama, sell the story and bring new life and intensity to the gameplay that follows every time.
The Anniversary treatment through the rest of Halo 2 is just as impressive as it was with Combat Evolved and getting to switch between visuals is just as entertaining. What is perhaps not as pleasing at times are some of the audio ‘enhancements’ that have taken place. Some of the musical score has taken on a decidedly cheesy rock flavour that wasn’t as noticeable before, particularly during some of the Arbiter’s early missions. In places, the AI also took a bit of a nose dive, which is a shame because on the whole Bungie’s original Grunt, Jackal, Elite structure works really well, as Destiny players have rediscovered. That said, virtually all other aspects of this chapter have been greatly improved with the crisp 60fps delivering a silky-smooth experience and the lighting in particular bringing atmosphere and texture to what was once a rather grey, flat, but still fun playground of destruction.
Sticking with the single-player just a short while longer, it was really Halo 3 and 4 that we had the most concern about, receiving no headline enhancements and potentially looking a little dated next to their more recently revamped forebears. Thankfully, while Halo 3 can look a little rough around the edges, the smooth frame-rate and resolution give it just a little extra and it’s long been one of the stronger of the series for setpieces and level design. The Scarab battle and final escape have lost none of their luster with time. Likewise, Halo 4 was a pretty great-looking game to begin with and, thanks to having been designed with amazing vistas in mind, it managed to deliver some of this collections most stunning landscapes.
And so as we attempted to wade back into the waters of Halo multiplayer, exploring its evolving ideas across these four main games, it was interesting to note how it felt both old-fashioned at times and on the cutting edge. Having spent most of the year playing the fast-paced Titanfall and then transferring to the bouncy, light gameplay of Destiny and Call Of Duty, the core feel of Halo online is incredibly familiar. The rest of the FPS world has apparently remembered that these games were supposed to be about having fun and working as a team, but Halo never really forgot that and The Master Chief Collection benefits from that steadfast vision.
With 100 maps to try and pick your way through, getting exactly the game you want may take a little time, but there’s no shortage of options. It does make getting the same map over and over especially infuriating though when it’s not one of your favourites. The trouble as you will no doubt know by now is that at launch The Master Chief Collection was dogged by online connection issues and poor matchmaking. When we could get a game going it was as glorious as ever, but it was sullied by the knowledge that the next game may prove a challenge to start. Fans have been rightly upset by this glaring issue, but at the time of going to press we remain confident this will be a short-term issue.
Most of our attention was placed on the new maps, redesigned from Halo 2 and perhaps holding some clues as to the direction 343 will be looking to take Halo 5: Guardians next year. Being able to compare and contrast with the originals makes this task much easier, but its clear to see that between 343 and Certain Affinity, there’s a comfortable balance to be found. The maps are not only kinetic and tightly bound, but porous enough to allow for fluidity of players, random occurrences and new ways of navigating. These were already among some of the best multiplayer maps ever made and these tweaked, rebalanced and remade versions have maintained their verve. The same can be said for the collection as a whole, if not the online connectivity.