Hail To The Chief | The Halo Master Chief Collection Review

<p><em>Halo<&sol;em> has been around for over a decade&comma; it was the game that defined and saved the Xbox two generations ago&period; The game has spawned numerous sequels and has made more money than some Hollywood blockbusters&period; The franchise as a whole has also gone through several developers&comma; the original Bungie moving onto their <em>Destiny<&sol;em>&comma; and 343 who now holds the mantel&period; 343 has been doing a great job&comma; <em>Halo 4<&sol;em> was a smash success&comma; and this <em>Collection<&sol;em> will be an amazing centerpiece for any Xbox One owner&period; The disc or download that you will purchase nets you <em>Halo<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Halo 2<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Halo 3<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Halo 4<&sol;em> and hundreds of multiplayer maps&period; The monumental content in this game will keep you from enjoying other games on your docket&period; Master Chief has not lost his luster over the past decade&comma; he&&num;8217&semi;s only getting shinier and this <em>Collection<&sol;em> has me looking forward to <em>Halo 5<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;12&sol;05055612&sol;e3-2014-halo-2-anniversary-cairo-station-welcome-to-cairo-station-0bcb5a6854fc429f8432c0e8b030304c-d94a3f7d8eef400da987298e3c40db05&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-69598" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;12&sol;05055612&sol;e3-2014-halo-2-anniversary-cairo-station-welcome-to-cairo-station-0bcb5a6854fc429f8432c0e8b030304c-d94a3f7d8eef400da987298e3c40db05&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Master Chief" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"360" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The first item on my list that I dived into right away was the <em>Halo<&sol;em> campaign&comma; sadly 343 didn&&num;8217&semi;t beef this version up to Xbox One standards&comma; but it was really nice to play it with 360 graphics and the ability to change to original Xbox graphics&period; I found myself doing that quite often&comma; flipping back and forth&comma; which caused me to die multiple times&period; The game plays just as well as it did 12 years ago&comma; the controls are tight&comma; the weapons are great and the Warthogs are epic&period; Then&comma; without beating <em>Halo<&sol;em>&comma; blasphemy I know&comma; I went on to the <em>Halo 2<&sol;em> campaign to see the set piece for this <em>Collection<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A lot of time went into revamping <em>Halo 2<&sol;em> for the Xbox One&comma; and it shows&period; The graphics look great as do the cut scenes&comma; and the controls are as perfect as they were a decade ago&period; 343 Studios was even nice enough to toss in some cut scenes that link <em>Halo 5<&sol;em> to the original trilogy&comma; which will definitely pique interest in the most astute <em>Halo<&sol;em> players&period; I also took a look at <em>Halo 3<&sol;em> and <em>Halo 4<&sol;em>&comma; and I was somewhat disappointed in their transference&comma; perhaps it is my fault&comma; but I was under the assumption that 343 had remastered all of the games for the Xbox One&comma; not just <em>Halo 2<&sol;em>&period; While I was let down that there was no graphical upgrade for 3 and 4&comma; that was not a deal breaker&period; The games are still masterpieces&comma; maybe 343 will remaster them for the Xbox Two in ten years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At first I dabbled in the campaigns solo&comma; then some buddies to joined me in the co-op campaigns&period; Years ago I beat <em>Halo 3<&sol;em> on Legendary with some friends and I remember loving every minute of it&period; Things had not changed&comma; I played through missions with my friends on the hardest levels and honed my Covenant killing skills&period; I also attempted a few couch co-op levels with my second controller&comma; I have no one to play with so I tried to direct Master Chief and friend around&comma; which was difficult&comma; but I wanted to see how it played&comma; and it played just fine&comma; aside from my clumsy fingers&period; This co-op adds hours and hours of gameplay onto an already massive amount&period; There are 45 campaign missions that you can play solo&comma; or with friends&comma; and after you beat them once you can try with Skulls active and on different degrees of difficulty to beat certain challenges&period; These challenges consist of time trials and high scores&comma; all of which add to hefty content&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;12&sol;05055602&sol;gamescom-2014-halo-2-anniversary-sanctuary-faceoff-962e37887e26434c93ee8f859f2b8641-8f8f59dd34bb4cb184ec3f3d03fb0960&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-69609" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;12&sol;05055602&sol;gamescom-2014-halo-2-anniversary-sanctuary-faceoff-962e37887e26434c93ee8f859f2b8641-8f8f59dd34bb4cb184ec3f3d03fb0960&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Master Chief" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"360" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At launch time the matchmaking system was broken for multiplayer&comma; I received my copy after the patch had been released&comma; so it extended my install time by days it seemed&period; Thankfully after a certain point in the install I was allowed to play the campaigns&comma; sadly multiplayer was the last thing to install&comma; so I had to bide my time with the excellent campaigns as I watched the install percentage number slowly grow&period; The wait was totally worth it&period; I jumped in on the Team Slayer lobby&comma; and since 343 hadn&&num;8217&semi;t quite perfected the matchmaking yet&comma; I waited for a good ten minutes&period; During this time the lobby searched for players and once the players were selected we were thrown into an original <em>Halo<&sol;em> map&period; The map wasn&&num;8217&semi;t upgraded visually&comma; but it was still so much fun to play&period; I died a lot&comma; but always with a huge grin on my face because it was such a blast&period; Unfortunately&comma; I haven&&num;8217&semi;t even scratched the surface of all the multiplayer maps and games&comma; but I can&&num;8217&semi;t wait until I can dive back in and see how poorly I do against a human enemy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The Master Chief Collection<&sol;em> is a game that everyone Xbox One owner and every <em>Halo<&sol;em> fan needs to own&period; The memories that are unleashed when the music fires up&comma; replaying those campaigns from yesteryear and blowing away the Covenant with friends almost brings one to tears&period; I cannot gush about this <em>Collection<&sol;em> enough&colon; it has hours and hours of entertainment for your hard earned money&comma; it has four of the best first person shooters ever created&comma; and it has the multiplayer that put XboxLive on the map&period; I plan on spending lots of my holiday season with Master Chief fighting The Flood&comma; and so should you&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;