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Halo: The Master Chief Collection
About this item
- System requirement your device must meet all minimum requirements to open this product OS Xbox One architecture x64
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Product information
ASIN | B00KSQHX1K |
---|---|
Release date | November 11, 2014 |
Customer Reviews |
4.8 out of 5 stars |
Best Sellers Rank | #11,747 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games) #308 in Xbox One Games |
Pricing | The strikethrough price is the List Price. Savings represents a discount off the List Price. |
Product Dimensions | 0.5 x 5.3 x 6.7 inches; 1.6 Ounces |
Binding | Video Game |
Rated | Mature |
Item model number | RQ2-00010 |
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
Item Weight | 1.6 ounces |
Manufacturer | Microsoft |
Date First Available | June 8, 2014 |
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Product Description
*The DLC (Downloadable Content), Trials/Subscriptions may or may not be included and are not guaranteed to work* The seeds of our future are sown in his past. For the first time ever, The Master Chief's entire story is on one console. Featuring a re-mastered Halo 2: Anniversary, along with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4, new digital series, Halo: Nightfall, and access to the Halo 5: Guardians Beta, this is the definitive Halo experience.
WARNING:
From the manufacturer

Halo: The Master Chief Collection
XBOX Game Pass Members – Download and play by selecting 'Halo: The Master Chief Collection' under 'In this bundle'. For the first time ever, The Master Chief's entire story is on one console. Featuring a re-mastered Halo 2: Anniversary, along with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4, and new digital series, Halo: Nightfall, this is the definitive Halo experience. The Complete Master Chief Story – Honoring the iconic hero and his epic journey, the Master Chief’s entire story is brought together as Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4 are all included with a total of 45 campaign missions plus more than 100 multiplayer (including the original Halo Combat Evolved maps) and Spartan Ops maps. Now updated with Xbox One X enhancements to provide up to 4K UHD and HDR support, this is the collection Halo fans have been waiting for!*
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Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2019
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First, I personally love TMCC. I love it because it was the single-player campaigns that drew me to the series in the first place, and it is still what gets me most excited about upcoming releases. I love Halo's story, its characters, its writing, its pacing, its presentation, etc immensely. Very few gaming series delivers the incredible feeling of adventure, mystery, and discovery the way Halo does. I love it so much that I've devoured most of the extended fiction as well. If you are predominantly a fan of single-player Halo as I have always been, then TMCC is a wonderful product that is and has always been definitely worth purchasing. That is something I have not and will not budge in with regards to TMCC. I have never experienced any problems whatsoever with TMCC's SP content. Whether it's the stellar Anniversary editions of Halo 1 and 2, or the upgraded 1080p/60 fps Halo 3 and 4 campaigns (with Halo 3: ODST {I believe that stands for "Omnipotent Deities Serenade Turkeys"} soon to join them), the collection has been a dream come true for me. Everything plays smooth and runs like a dream, looks better than ever before, and the fact it's all in one convenient place like this is fantastic. You easily get your money's worth just with the single-player content alone. That's my opinion anyway.
HOWEVER, that leads to my second point. The collection's myriads of unfortunate, inexcusable online MP problems are well-known by now. A lot of them have been ironed out, sure, but I implore you to read the reasonable reviews on here that are critical (key word being "reasonable," and they are rare, trust me). That's the beauty of Amazon: their review system will expose you to differing views from people with their own perspective and backgrounds. For me, I approach Halo with a single-player first priority, but it's good to get a well-rounded perspective from people who view it from the MP angle, and there are plenty on here worthy of consideration. The top review on the collection is pretty good in that regard, if a little harsh in my personal opinion. Still, it's always good to get other perspectives. That will help you make sure your hard earned money isn't wasted.
Lastly, this review is ridiculously long. Honestly, it was super long on its own, but given the bizarre and unusual circumstances surrounding The Master Chief Collection and its launch period it has become WAY longer because of all the updates I've had to write about it. I've labeled my review so you can easily skip all these and go straight to the original review at your convenience. Sorry for the length, but again, because TMCC is so unusual, it feels like you'd get an incomplete picture of this release if I just deleted all but one update. So there you go. Hope that clears things up and you enjoy this review. Have a wonderful day. Toodles.
*Update 6/22/15: There have been many new additions to TMCC since I last updated this review. First (and best) of all, Halo 3: ODST is now available for download. If you played the game before 12/19/15, you get to download it for free. If not, it's only $5. Yes, five bucks for one of the most inspired, unique, and interesting Halo campaigns ever made. Seriously ODST is a superb little game with an amazing sci fi noir mood, a great cast of characters (Nathan Fillion's Buck is returning in Halo 5!!!), a really unique story, and a soundtrack tied with Halo 3 as the very best in the series. It's very much worth $5 if you ask me. They also added in Spartan Ops from Halo 4 finally, but there is no matchmaking for those missions. You either have to play solo or with friends. They also added "Remant," a Halo 2 Anniversary remake ofthe classic Halo 2 map "Relic" to matchmaking. It is free to all. Last night I played several different playlists online and had a great time. Matchmaking works really well for the most part, with very little-to-no connection issues. There seem to be new playlists added from time to time, and a ranking system is being added to others. All-in-all, very nice. The ONLY problem with matchmaking in TMCC now is low population of players. Many of the people who quit long ago when the collection wasn't working well seemingly have not returned (probably too busy yelling at 343 and using stupidly vague, confusing hashtags, I kid I kid). Overall, TMCC is a pretty fantastic package at this point. 4-stars.
*Update 1/28/14: Well, here we are, a few months after release day and TMCC works very well now. It's just too bad it had to take months to get this game up to a level where it should have been at release. 343 are constantly releasing updates and patches that makes the online component work better in various, incremental ways. Overall, TMCC is worthy of a purchase now, but I don't think it's worthy of anything higher than 3-stars, just because of the principle of it all. The biggest upcoming patch is actually going to be offered to select Xbox Live members as a BETA to test it out before it's released to public. I'll let that sink in for a moment... Yes, 343 are literally holding BETAS for CONTENT UPDATES for TMCC, TWO MONTHS after its release date. Wow. You cannot make this stuff up. I understand that 343 originally wanted to just make Halo 2 Anniversary and Microsoft essentially forced them to take up the mammoth task of making this a collection of Halo 1-4, with each game getting their own various updates. To do this, 343 essentially had to contract out each component of the collection to other companies, with Saber Interactive making H2A, Certain Affinity handling the MP and H2A MP updates, Ruffian Games handling the collection's ports Halo 3 and 4, etc. 343 DID work on the online networking and interfaces, however. Evidently they did test the online components prior to launch, but weren't prepared for the huge load on their servers after release day and ended up having to rebuild them from scratch. This is all very unfortunate and, for me at least, it's easy to feel bad for 343 given the circumstances. It was extremely unlikely that a release of this scope wouldn't release with significant problems, and as it turns out, it did. I don't think 343 are the evil harbingers of Halo's doom the way so many people rush to accuse them of being. The Halo 5 beta proved to me that they're passionate about the series, listen intensely to fan feedback, and want nothing but to give Halo the hyperbolic treatment a legendary series like this deserves. Weirdly enough, I'm more confident in Halo 5 than I've ever been after the beta. Still, this does not excuse the terrible launch of TMCC, a release that should have been legendary unto itself and one that could have cemented people's confidence in 343's stewardship of the series. Sadly, that's not what happened. It just makes me sad. So yeah, TMCC is quite good overall now. It's probably 4-stars good objectively speaking (even though me, Single-player Halo guy would give it 5-stars because I really do "love it" as Amazon says that rating means).
*Update 12/27/14: The title says it all. The game is working better every day. The value here is pretty astounding. There's just SO MUCH content for $45-55, even with its (increasingly disappearing) issues. AND if you were an early adopter of the game, you'll get to download Halo 3: ODST's campaign in 1080p 60FPS (one of my favorite Halo games ever!) AND the classic Halo 2 map "Relic" remastered all H2 Anniversary style. Very classy response by 343 to a very unfortunate flub on their part with such a major release, but things are thankfully getting better every day, and I am merciful. What's there now is a very good value. The single-player campaigns are more than worth it by themselves, the MP is quite fun now, and most of the smaller bugs have been totally ironed out. Hopefully the Halo 5 MP beta runs smoothly on the 29th. We shall see. Until then, take care, and toodles.
*Update 12/19/14: Another small update is in order. Many of the multiplayer issues that I experienced for the first couple weeks of the game's launch have been largely ironed out. The truth is, this game is worth the roughly $45-50 it costs right now based on the single-player content alone IN MY OPINION. Just playing through these campaigns alone will take you about 40 hours to do. To say nothing of the substantial updates that Halo 2 Anniversary has, as well as the smaller visual updates and performance improvements all the other games received. As far as multiplayer goes, the online functionality is much, much better. It's becoming harder and harder to fixate on the failings of the collection now. Of course, many are irrationally going around down-voting any positive reviews simply because they refuse to stop being crybabies, pretending as if the game's problems are still there even after having been fixed. To say this collection is irredeemable and only worth 1-star is nothing short of childish and irrational. Grow up. If you're a fan of Halo's SP like I am, this collection has always been a good choice, and if you love Halo for its Multiplayer like many are, then this is definitely worthy of consideration now. It's only getting better each week too. All that's left to fix are smaller bugs that don't really hamper the experience much anymore.
*Update 12/2/14: This will be a smaller update. After the last few updates/patches, the online MP is working a lot better for me now. Some playlists are better than others, but I haven't had a pretty good time finding matches and staying connected (Maybe I'm just lucky, lol). The BTB and Slayer playlists are the safest bets, it seems. So yes, things are working a bit better than they were before. It's not perfect though. From what I understand 343 has another big patch for later this week. Hopefully that irons out the rest of the problems, but we'll see. Again, single-player/story fans of Halo will be very happy with this package. Even with its issues, it's hard not to get your $60 worth with four fantastic campaigns (with one receiving a full-on Xbox One makeover and the rest receiving nice visual and performance enhancements) and a bunch of neat extras. I've beaten all the main campaigns on heroic difficulty, found all terminals and skulls, and am going through again because it's just so fun. HOWEVER, if you want this purely for MP, it's true that things are better now but I'd still wait a bit for them to make it perfect. Thanks for reading my review. I hope you find it helpful. Take care. Toodles
*Update 11/25/14: Whoo boy! Two weeks, a full-on update patch, and several smaller updates later and we're barely closer to functioning matchmaking online than we were on release day. In fact, it seems that where some issues were fixed, others popped up to replace them. I don't know what to tell you guys. From what I understand, the main cause of the problem is that the matchmaking has to juggle four different games (five if you include Halo 2 anniversary MP), with each one having its own unique engine. I have also read that they've brought in major Microsoft (not just Xbox) engineers in to fix their servers. They evidently tested the game before launch, but not under the kind of load a game this hyped would inevitably bring. For shame 343. To try and make good with players who bought the collection and had to deal with these issues, 343 is planning on giving everyone some sort of compensation. My fingers are crossed for free downloads of the SP campaigns from Halo 3: ODST and/or Halo Reach at 1080p 60 fps), or Halo 5: Guardians at a discounted price and/or with extra content, but who knows? They do say it'll be good enough to make every Halo fan happy, which is a tall order considering the chaos and rage that rules the fanbase these days, lol. As always, I'll update my review as things come to light. While a lot of these explanations about the issues make sense, they're still inexcusable for such a major release for such a major franchise from such a major company. Again, the single-player stuff here absolutely kicks ass and if you love Halo for that, like I do, then this is a great collection. However, it's becoming harder and harder to grant 343 and this collection mercy as these completely inexcusable online issues persist. I know this update isn't much, but for what it's worth, I hope this, the other updates, and the review itself was helpful to you. Take care. Toodles.
*Update 11/18/14: Wow, a week in and STILL the MP problems have not been resolved. To be fair, there have been SOME improvements over the course of the past week, but as it stands, the online matchmaking is still in shambles. I REALLY hate to do this, but I'm going to have to dock another star off my score until these issues are fixed. A whole week of this is simply unacceptable and unprofessional. Thank GOD I bought this for the single-player campaigns, because those have been nothing but stellar. However, if I was like the majority of people who bought this for its MP, I'd be furious as well. If you want this collection for the SP campaigns, story, and local co-op, then this is an awesome collection. If you want this collection for MP, WAIT. From what I understand, 343 is planning a massive patch for later this week that will hopefully fix everything, but until then, I cannot in good conscience give this anything above 3-stars for now. I hope you find my review helpful. I really appreciate you taking the time to read it, even if there are a bunch of crybaby haters downvoting all the top, vaguely positive reviews because of their frustration with the collection, and not based on the quality and merits of the reviews themselves (grow up please, lol). Take care. Toodles
*Update 11/13/14: I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to take off one star from my score due to the egregious multiplayer mess-up so far. I don't know if 343 wasn't ready for launch but didn't want to delay it past Halo 2's anniversary date or what, but they probably should have delayed it anyway. I am astounded at how badly 343 botched the online MP for such a hugely anticipated release. The online matchmaking is virtually non-functioning at this point, casting players into the limitless void of lobby purgatory with no hope of joining a match in anything resembling a reasonable amount of time. I have no doubt once they figure out the server issues, then things'll be great, but as of now, it's very hard for most to find a MP match. It's a damn shame, because everything else about the collection is fantastic. So there you go. Once 343 fixes the matchmaking issues, then I'll edit this review once again to 5-stars without hesitation. IF you want this collection primarily for the multiplayer, then I'd recommending holding off until its problems are fixed. If you're like me and you love Halo most of all for its single-player campaigns, co-op, and story, then this collection is, right now, top-of-the line quality and most definitely a MUST-BUY immediately. I hope that helps. It's been very sad for me to see all the anger and negativity surrounding this game. Everyone should be happy and celebrating Halo together right now, not turning on the game, 343, and each other, but alas, that is the world we live in these days. Thanks for reading my review at any rate. Also, thanks to all the haters giving out kneejerk downvotes to the top/positive reviews based on them enjoying and scoring highly a game you don't like, rather than the actual quality and helpfulness of the reviews themselves (Remember, reviews are, ultimately, subject to a reviewer's personal opinion/experience. Time to grow up ladies and gentlemen). Take care. Toodles.
*Original review*
Once in a blue moon, the gaming industry can bestow a gift that seems almost too good to be true. When I had read about the rumors of this collection before its official announcement, I laughed derisively. I thought there was no way a collection THIS good could possibly see the light of day. AT BEST, I thought MAYBE we'd get Halo 2 Anniversary, and we did. We also get something much more grand along with it. I love the Halo series. It is definitely in my top 3 favorite gaming series of all time, and I've played every entry within it to death. Now, I get to play it all again, and boy is it glorious. Fair warning: I'm going to try and keep this review concise, but I do want to be informative to all those wondering exactly what is in The Master Chief Collection, and whether or not it's worth its asking price (spoiler alert, it is, ten times over). If you don't like long reviews, you may want to skip this one.
*Halo 2 Anniversary*
I don't know about you, but it has always been the single-player campaigns and their great stories that have captivated me about Halo, and Halo 2 is no exception. As a matter of fact, Halo 2 is my favorite game in the series largely because of its SP campaign. It took the great sci-fi adventure format introduced in the first Halo and expanded it to new heights and depths. I always loved the overall melancholic, pensive mood in Halo 2's campaign. New characters, the Arbiter in particular, were really awesome additions to Halo's lore. It also refined and expanded on the gameplay in wonderful ways, and cemented Halo's place as THEE console first-person shooter. To be able to play its campaign with brand new visuals and audio is thrilling beyond compare. I had high expectations for this remake, as Halo 1 Anniversary is my golden standard for what a remake can and should be. Needless to say, Halo 2 Anniversary has not disappointed me. In fact, to my shock and surprise, it has exceeded my expectations.
If you played H1A, you know what to expect here in H2A. The updated visuals were built from the ground up for the X1 and are incredible. They are faithful to the spirit of the original while also updating things to make it feel brand new and to connect it more to games that came after its initial release in 2004. Awesome. The audio is likewise fantastic. The sound effects, including those of all weapons, have been redone and while they sound faithful to the original, they definitely pack a lot more punch than before, which I love. The incredible soundtrack by Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori was also rerecorded by Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and it sounds incredible. Perhaps the most impressive upgrade in H2A is that they hired Blur, the studio who made the stunning CG cutscenes in Halo Wars , to remake EVERY cutscene in Halo 2 in CG. Words cannot describe how breathtaking these are. It is almost literally like watching a live-action Halo movie at times. It's incredible.
Something to note about Halo 2 Anniversary is that it, like everything else in the package, plays at a smooth 60 FPS. While the rest of the package is all in 1080p (1920X1080), H2A alone has a resolution of 1328 X 1080, so not quite true 1080p. This is due to the fact its constantly rendering 2 engines simultaneously. It's still gorgeous though. Like I said, there are two engines running at all times during H2A. One is the actual, unaltered original game engine, which is constantly running so that the game plays EXACTLY as it did when it first came out, and then overlaid on top of that are the new visuals/audio/additions of Anniversary mode. Like in H1A, you can hit a button on the controller and the new engine disappears entirely, leaving you with the original Halo 2 in all its 2004 glory, old visuals, sound, and cinematcs in all. Unlike the 360 version of H1A, however, the switch between classic and anniversary mode is instantaneous. You can even do this during cutscenes, which shows just how advanced the new CG ones are by comparison. Awesome.
Just as in H1A, there are some new additions to the game to refresh things too. In addition to the classic skulls, they added in several new ones that are unlocked by default that change the game in various ways, which keeps things refreshing. There are also terminals hidden in each level ala H1A and Halo 3 that, when found, unlock videos that greatly expand on the lore surrounding Halo 2, with the Arbiter being the biggest focus. Since the Arbiter is one of my favorite Halo characters, I loved learning more about him. You can never have too much Arbiter! The terminals also offer glimpses of where the series is heading in Halo 5. Great stuff. There's also online co-op for the campaign, which is always swell.
Something I LOVE about 343's Halo remakes is how they update and enhance the original game's experience, while also showing great respect to the source material so as not to change/ruin any of it. You can tell they're cognizant of the original's greatness and celebrate it by updating all that has aged. I applaud this. Actually, they did that more here than they did in H1A, which had used some of Reach's art design to change the look of elites. Not here. Elites and their rank are only reflected in their armor color. Personally, I liked what they did with H1A, but oh well. They still did a great job.
*Halo 1 Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4*
While Halo 2's campaign obviously received the most attention in this package, the other games were not left in the lurch. You also get H1A, Halo 3 , and the more recent Halo 4 , great games all. Each of these play exactly as they did before, but now in 1080p and 60 fps. Each game has seen some other visual upgrades too, mostly in the form of enhanced lighting and shading effects. For some games, this will only make them prettier. H1A still looks great in my opinion. Halo 4 already looked like an Xbox One title to begin with, and these small enhancements only make it look more fantastic. The only game that looks noticeably aged is Halo 3. While it still has the same great art design it always had, and all the visual enhancements certainly make it look nicer, it's definitely the odd-man out compared to the rest. Here's hoping we get a Halo 3/ Halo 3: ODST Anniversary collection in 2007 *fingers crossed*. Each entry's co-op mode is included and they all play online. There's not much else to say about these games really. They're awesome games with upgrades ranging from marginal (lighting/shading) to massive (the new framerate). For me, the single-player Halo guy, the inclusion of all of Master Chief's games really elevates what was already an awesome package.
*The Multiplayer*
While I've always loved Halo for its single-player and co-op most all, I do have a long history of enjoying its famous multiplayer as well. I don't usually play games for their MP, instead viewing it as a nice diversion once in a while at best, but Halo is one of the very rare video game series where I've sunk countless hours into the MP component. Within the collection, you will find the entire multiplayer modes from Halo 1-4 mostly intact, especially with regards to custom games, matchmaking less so. The engine from each game is perfectly preserved. Every Halo MP map ever is here, and that includes all expansion packs and even previously PC exclusive maps for Halo 1 and 2. That's over 100 MP maps to play on! The menu system is fairly intuitive and easy to use, so you'll be able to pretty much jump into any general type of Halo MP experience you'd want. The amount of playlists are decent, with most matches giving you several options of maps from across that playlist's games to vote for. Each of the MP modes get their own dedicated servers, so theoretically you can play the entire MP suite on display here online in matchmaking! For Halo 1 players, this is a first on console! I have to say, the memories of 16-player LAN parties with huge, clunky SD TVs playing Halo 1 and 2, or being in awe at playing against other people online when I first bought Halo 3, have come flooding back. It's pretty awesome.The ONLY problem, and it is a BIG one, as of now as that the severs are virtually non-functioning. It takes FOREVER to find a match, if you can find one at all. This is unacceptable. I'm sure once these issues are fixed, it'll be great. Now though, this is probably the only blunder in the package.
HOWEVER, I do want to point out that when I say these are the original MP modes, I do really mean original in every way. That means the graphics from each ORIGINAL game is perfectly preserved, including clunky, aged 2001 Halo Combat Evolved graphics. So if you expected them to remake all the MP with this console generation's graphics, you'll be disappointed. Still, for the sheer amount of quantity and quality of fun to be had here, it's hard to complain. I like the nostalgia factor, personally. Like I said, the memories just keep rolling in, and I love it.
In addition to the original Halo MP modes being present, they also included a Halo 2 Anniversary MP mode. This features 6 classic Halo 2 maps, remade from the ground up in a new engine for the Xbox One. They even brought back developers who had worked on the original maps way back in the day to do this. Not only is it incredible to play these classic maps with spectacularly gorgeous visuals, they also freshened up the gameplay as well. Most of these remade maps feature "gimmicks," for lack of a better word, that would have been impossible in 2004. These really mix things up and keep matches very interesting. This mode also features online matchmaking. Personally, I really enjoyed the Halo 2 Anniversary multiplayer mode included. It's pretty awesome.
Oh yeah, and then there's also a little thing called the Halo 5 MP beta included as well. Obviously it's not out yet, and once it is, it will be for a short, limited time, but still, Halo 5 MP Beta guys! Awesome.
*Miscellaneous schtuff*
There are a few things to address that don't really fall under any of the earlier categories, so I'll just stick them here. The collection features some new cutscenes that tease Halo 5, which is neat. Each Halo gets their own entire set of new achievements and 1000 gamerscore to unlock. Some are limited to a specific game, others are tied to the collection as a whole, and others are tied to MP. So, in this collection, you get a grand total of 450 achievements and 4500 gamerscore. Crazy! A lot of them are brand new to the series too. Everything in the game is accessible from one central menu system, so it's not like you have to select which game you want to play and then reboot to get to the others, which is great. They included playlists for the SP campaigns as well, such as one where you play all vehicle-focused SP levels across all games in a row, or play from the beginning of Halo 1 all the way to the ending of Halo 4 in one sitting (and one that adds all skulls active on legendary, wow, lol). When you factor in the ridiculous amount of MP playlists, as well as the expansive Forge options you get in the game, you get a collection that pretty much caters itself to every Halo fan. That's true for the controls as well. You can set a control scheme for each game individually, or one across all games. I appreciate that level of customization.
*Day One Patch*
Finally, I figured I should give you guys fair warning about something. There is a MASSIVE patch you have to download when you first pop in the disc. From what I understand, this was to keep the collection experience seamless, as there's so much content it would have taken two discs to fit it all. So, yeah, day one patch that is roughly 15 friggin' GB big. It is a pain to have to wait while it downloads, but once its on, everything's gold. I'm glad they did it this way as opposed to just printing 2 discs that I'd have to switch between frequently. Delayed gratification is the name of the game here I suppose. Once the patch is downloaded, everything runs smooth.
Whew... this collection is quite a package. I bought my copy at a midnight release party and have played it for several hours now, testing each part of the collection. I've played all of this content for countless hours before in their original format, so I feel I'm more than qualified to judge the quality of this collection. It's really common sense. Now I've peeled myself away to write this review. TMMC is absolutely bursting at the seams, filled with a ludicrous amount of content for something costing $60. Honestly, I'd have paid that much JUST for Halo 2 Anniversary alone. Not only do we get that, we also get the ultimate Halo multiplayer collection, Halo 1 Anniversary, Halo 3, and Halo 4 which all received some pretty nice additions and upgrades, a ton of new achievements, new skulls, hints of Halo 5, the Halo 5 beta, the Halo Nightfall TV series... I mean, it just goes on and on and on. I am absolutely floored by the sheer value on display here. Even Microsoft/Halo-haters have to admit this is an astoundingly good value when you weigh the content versus the cost. Just like Halo 1&2 Anniversaries have set my golden standard for remakes, so The Master Chief Collection has set my standard for gaming collections. Many game collections will come and go through the years, but I doubt any will be able to top this one for a good long while. If you're a Halo fan, buy this IMMEDIATELY, you will not regret it. If you've never played Halo before and want to get into the series, this is the perfect way to do so. This is, in my opinion, an absolutely essential purchase for every Xbox One owner. In fact, I JUST bought my Xbox One the other day specifically for this collection and I have no regrets. It's a superb collection at a splendid price. So buy it, prepare yourself for some incredibly awesome gaming ahead, and enjoy the ultimate omnibus of a legendary sci-fi game series.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have more Halo to pla
I am one of those hardcore fans that have been playing since the original Halo: Combat Evolved on Xbox. And this collection feels like it was made just for me.
*What it Includes*
First of all, before release, I was curious what the physical copy included exactly. I wasn't sure if it would be four separate discs, one for each game, or what. It is one disc inside a standard size Xbox One case, and download codes for things like the upcoming Halo 5 multiplayer beta (begins December 29th) and the Halo Nightfall video series. No extra frills or fun stuff, unfortunately, and no special/collector's/legendary/etc edition to dump money into for fellow hardcore fans. Amazon pre-orders also got an exclusive skull download code, but that's not that big of a big deal since in a month or so it will be available to the general public. Just to clarify, you are getting Halo 1 Anniversary (re-release of 2011 Xbox 360 re-release of original Xbox 2001 release, and includes both original and updated graphics), Halo 2 Anniversary (brand new re-release of original Xbox 2004 release, includes both original and updated graphics), and Halo 3 & Halo 4 (both releases in higher 1080p resolution with silky smooth 60 frames per second, textures and polygons are the same as original release though). It does not include the two games which were spin-offs of the Master Chief story: Halo 3: ODST & Halo: Reach.
*Physical vs Digital*
I am glad I purchased the physical version simply for the sake of having a visually complete Halo collection on my shelf with all my other Halo games. I also like the feeling of actually owning something physical that I can lend to a friend or resell (I won't be selling this one though). Being the Halo nerd I am, I also purchased the digital copy, which gives you the benefit of being able to launch it without switching game discs, and that is a legitimate plus.
*Download/Installation*
This thing takes up 60-80GB of your hard drive space. When you run out of space, you'll eventually need to start deleting games, then doing the whole shuffling game. If you delete Halo MCC and want to re-download/install it again, prepare to give up an entire day waiting for that to complete. It takes FOREVER. The Day 1 update alone was around 20GB. Maybe it depends on your region, but my Xbox Live caps at around 10mbps on my very reliable 50mbps connection. Even overnight while sleeping for 8 hours you'll be lucky to be finished by then.
*Experience*
I started playing through the campaign playlist right after the midnight release, and played nearly all day since I was lucky enough to have Veteran's day off of work. It was an incredibly enjoyable and nostalgic experience, though there were a few hiccups along the way. A new feature is campaign playlists, which group various campaign missions into one themed session. There's one for all the boss missions across the four games, for example. I just started a co-op Master Chief Saga playlist, which is every single chronological campaign mission of the four games. We went through Halo 1 without a hitch, but midway through Halo 2 things began to get weird. Achievements stopped unlocking, we had some co-op (XBL, not split-screen) disconnects, trouble re-inviting him back into game, and at one point our co-op game became out of sync, and we weren't in the right spot in the game. It was both hilarious and frustrating. Our movements were still registering across the network, but our character positions were all wrong. I was walking around in a field, but on his screen it was showing me stuck way earlier in the level walking into a wall like an idiot. Dying didn't fix this, so eventually we just quit out and restarted the mission, and that fixed it. But it took about 10 minutes for us to get connected and back in.
I think half of the issues were Xbox Live related (apparently other games experienced difficulties and achievements not working, etc), and half were due to issues with 343 Industry's servers. I do appreciate that within 24 hours they had acknowledged and took full responsibility for the issues, and even had an in-game main menu pop-up acknowledging the complaints and promised speedy fixes. We ended up taking a break at the peak of the issues and resuming the next day, and everything was working much smoother. There are still some bugs they need to iron out, and they have already promised they are working on them, so I guess we'll see what happens, but I'm pretty confident they will be addressed.
*Multiplayer*
Halo has always been my favorite multiplayer experience, which makes this collection nearly perfect. You can select any of the four Halo engines to play multiplayer on, which is amazing. They all have their own quirks and features. I tried each of them, and they each brought me back to a different era of nostalgia. The original Halo was always fun due the skill involved in pistol sniping, as well as the quicker, more responsive, and indestructible vehicles. But additedly, these types of characteristics are also what may be frustrating to those that never played the original. Halo 2 brought us our first online multiplayer and matchmaking, which was truly revolutionary. It also added dual-weilding, the energy sword, noob combo, and an excellent collection of maps. Halo 3 added abilities, armor customization, a bunch of new vehicles, and FORGE (which is usable across all four games in this release)! Halo 4 continued to expand the collection of weapons, vehicles, abilities, maps, and added a whole new race of enemies: Promethians. In Halo MCC, you can select whichever spot along the evolution of Halo multiplayer is most to your liking. In all cases, you can create endless custom maps (Forge) and gametypes (with hundreds of settings & tweaks) which alone give nearly infinite replay value.
*Replay, Value, Replay Value, Bungie, and Destiny*
Speaking of replay value, let me tell you why I think this is the greatest deal currently on Xbox One. As a huge Bungie fan, I was also thrilled for the Xbox One release of Destiny this September. It was fun, and I sank more time in it than I should have, but MAN what an overall disappointment. After the extremely short campaign (done in four hours), all that's left is grinding for materials, grinding for gear/loot, grinding for bounties, and the Vault of Glass raid. That raid is legitimately fun, and a great team experience, but beyond that, there's nothing substantial left to do in the game. Bungie promised the world and delivered Idaho with that game. The Master Chief Collection, on the other hand, delivers at least about 25 hours to get through the campaign once. Then there are 4500 points worth of achievements to collect (by far the highest of any single initial game release). These include revisiting the campaign missions at various difficulties, using various skull combinations, doing a variety of tasks to complete missions in untraditional ways, and discovering a plethora of easter eggs. It's an incredible value. Halo 3 & 4 also expand co-op from 2 players to 4, which is a fantastic standard team size compared to Destiny's general limit of 3 per co-op team ("sorry friend, only room for three here, and you've been voted the lease favorite!"). As far as the story, the Halo saga is captivating, innovative, and even emotional at times. Destiny's was, well, it would be a lie to even claim there is a story there.
Comparing Destiny's PvP (Crucible) to the Halo MCC PvP is an even starker difference in both quality and quantity. Destiny's Crucible offers *no* local, split-screen, or system link multiplayer. System link LAN games were a huge selling point to me for all of the Halo games. I love some good XBL multiplayer, but when you can gather a big group of friends and family into one room, there is no replacement for the in-person energy and smack talk involved in a good LAN game. Destiny also has absolutely *no* custom games. It's just five game types that are all variations of the "kill people for points" formula. No CTF, no King of the Hill, just kill people. There is a mode which gives bonus points for controlling spots, but even that mode amounts to getting to a point goal first, and kills give you points in all modes. Destiny has no pure objective types where kills only act as support and don't give points towards winning. It's extremely barebones. When you then compare Halo's gametype library, which is extensive, along with all the possible custom games and maps (MCC's 100+ maps compared to Destiny's NINE), it's really hard to even comprehend that both games cost the same amount. Add Forge custom maps to the mix and Halo is even better of a deal. They always add some really fun and fresh community-created maps to the multiplayer playlists.
*Summary*
Here's what I love about Halo: The Master Chief Collection:
[+] Huge campaign with 2-4 player co-op
[+] Biggest collection of multiplayer maps I've ever seen (over 100)
[+] Includes even Halo PC maps which most have never seen before, many are surprisingly good
[+] Completely remastered visuals for Halo 1 & 2
[+] Upscaled 1080p visuals for Halo 3 & 4
[+] Silky smooth 60fps framerate upgrade from original versions (more on this below)
[+] Custom game types and custom maps with Forge for all four games
[+] Infinite replay value
[+] Some of the best music ever released in a video game (with Halo 2's audio newly remastered as well)
[+] HUGE achievements list to encourage even more different ways to play and goals to work towards
[+] Plethora of customization options for campaign, multiplayer, custom modes, armor/character, etc
[+] Captivating story from beginning to end
[+] Local and system link multiplayer, which seems to be a dying breed this generation
[+] Best value on Xbox One *by far* as far as how much gameplay time you can get for $60
What I don't like:
[-] Some launch day server issues & other bugs
[-] Takes up an ungodly amount of space on your hard drive and takes forever to download/install
[-] Sadly does not include Firefight/Spartan Ops modes (not sure if this will come later)
[-] Framerate sometimes drops during Halo 2A split-screen multiplayer
Other thoughts:
[*] I would LOVE the same treatment with a Halo ODST & Halo Reach bundle and/or DLC. I hope they can make this happen.
[*] Not sure how much support this collection will have with Halo 5 on the horizon. I'm hoping they keep Halo MCC a priority as far as bug fixes and new content. Even after Halo 5 comes out, I will definitely spend a good amount of time switching back to MCC.
*Conclusion*
At the MSRP of $60, I think this is by far the best value right now on the Xbox One. When you think that in a few months it will likely drop to $30-40, it's even more of a no-brainer purchase. 343 Industries has, in my opinion, done a great job and continuing the Halo legacy. When I see what Bungie has accomplished with Destiny (very little), it makes it easy not to feel so bad that they left Halo in the hands of a new company. This collection is the best fan service release I have ever seen, and I am looking forward to years of fresh and fun gameplay to come.
Join me for some classic Blood Gulch CTF, XBL Gamertag: Xyjar.
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1. En Halo 1 y 2 puedes cambiar los gráficos para ver el juego como era originalmente, sin embargo en Halo 3 y Halo 4 no existe dicha función y tengo la sospecha que el Halo 4 son los mismos gráficos originales de Xbox 360.
2. El juego es compatible y necesario para jugar Halo 3: ODST versión remasterizada, aunque está tiene un costó adicional y es de $65.00 MXN, precio relativamente bajo, aunque existían rumores de una remasterización de Halo Reach ya no se comentó nada y creo nunca llegará a estas alturas.
3. Hubiera estado mejor que no solo agregaran objetivos, gráficos, etc, en los juegos si no pequeña jugabilidad que sería novedosa y agradable para volver a pasar los niveles como por ejemplo poder correr en Halo 1, 2 y 3, tal vez que en Halo 1 la espada de energía se pudiera usar o el Wraith fuera jugable, etc.
