Looking for a detailed review of Halo: The Master Chief Collection? This comprehensive article covers all the features, improvements, and value of the iconic collection.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection Review
It’s hard to believe that we’ve grown to empathize so much over the years with a faceless hero. Halo: The Master Chief Collection invites us to relive the adventures that have marked the progress of the Xbox franchise. You can’t see him because of his visor, but the Chief has put on makeup for the occasion...
ORIGINAL TEXT: It’s been 12 years since the first Xbox introduced us to the Master Chief with Halo: Combat Evolved . The world of video games has changed a lot since then, but the fight against the Covenant , the Flood and the Forerunners has evolved alongside it. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so interesting to launch into this Halo: The Master Chief Collection (called Halo: The Master Chief Collection beyond our borders), which collects the 4 adventures starring Spartan-117 . But it’s also interesting for another important reason: because it offers us a devilishly long and juicy pack.
As we mentioned in our preview of the game , the fact that four games are included, so far apart in time, means that their proposals and technical performance are very different. Let’s take a closer look at what’s included.
- Halo Anniversary : As you may recall, this is a special version (released 2 years ago) of Halo Combat Evolved , which was originally released for the first Xbox in 2002. This special version includes more detailed scenarios and characters, better textures, and a new sound master, among other improvements.
- Halo 2 Anniversary : Following in the footsteps of the previous one, a special version of Halo 2 has been created for the occasion , which was released on the first Xbox back in 2004. The graphics and sound have been significantly improved, and in addition, much more attractive and longer video scenes have been created, including some extracts directly linked to the future Halo 5: Guardians .
- Halo 3 : It’s the same game we saw a few years ago on Xbox 360. There are no changes, beyond more current graphical performance, at 1080p and 60 FPS.
- Halo 4 : Same thing as Halo 3.
- Apart from the campaigns of these games, you can access all the multiplayer modes and maps of the same, as well as playlists (series of levels with some development in common, such as being in vehicles). Oh! And you can’t forget the achievements and medals, which you can accumulate in your service record .
All levels and skulls are unlocked by default, so you can jump right into reliving that fondly remembered duel or chase. And if you want to take the plunge and beat a game from scratch, just select Quick Start … and relive the whole adventure in one go, no matter what game it is!
Another option is to use playlists . These are sets of missions that have something in common, such as escaping from an area. There are simple ones, but others may suggest, for example, completing a bunch of levels on Legendary difficulty in one go. There are playlists for each of the 4 titles, but there are also other crossovers , which mix levels from all 4 games.
If you do the math, that’s 45 long chapters (dozens and dozens of hours of gameplay), 106 maps for multiplayer modes , and Spartan Ops challenges (special multiplayer missions outside of the main story). Add to that the Halo 5 Early Beta Pass that will be included, as well as all the videos from the Halo: Forward Unto Dawn series (the prequel series to Halo 4) and the new Halo Nightfall , which will continue despite the closure of the Xbox Entertainment division that was in charge of its production. And in case you were wondering: yes, the pack has 4,000 achievement points to offer.
If you haven’t figured it out, Halo: The Master Chief Collection is long. Really long. Even if you only went for the campaigns and the occasional multiplayer match, you’d have plenty of fun for weeks. Plus, you’re bound to end up “biting” into some of the extras at some point…
While there’s a lot to get through, the game’s menu helps us navigate through all of the content without any issues, as levels from all 4 games (single and multiplayer) can be accessed in a single interface with just four button presses.
The Boss likes contrasts
Without a doubt, the most irregular point of this compilation is, precisely, the very different nature of each of the 4 games. If you remember, in the preview we said that the base of Halo 3 and 4 is, logically, more advanced than that of the other games, since they were created for a higher console. Thus, the movements of the characters are more fluid, the vehicles and weapons are more worked on… But of course, Halo 1 and 2 have been “hypervitaminized” recently, while Halo 3 and 4 are presented, practically, as we knew them at the time… The result of this hodgepodge is somewhat curious: the lighting system and the graphic detail of the new versions of Halo 1 and 2 has remained above that of Halo 3 in some points, but, at the same time, it does not hide the deficiencies at the design level that these titles had.
While Halo 2 holds its own by today’s standards, Halo 1 (no matter how many “visual patches” are put on it) is a bit dated in its level design and, above all, in its gameplay. How many times we get stuck in dead ends because we don’t know where to go! It’s not boring, far from it, but its pace is by far the most irregular.
By the way, remember that in both Halo 1 and 2 it is possible to switch at any time between the new graphics engine and the original graphics engine, simply by pressing the View button (the one with the two little squares on the left; no, we don’t know them yet either). Thus, we can see that not only the lighting and textures have been improved, but also a good part of the environments have been redesigned so that they don’t seem so empty. We have prepared a couple of examples for you with Halo 2:
Halo 3 , on the other hand, shows signs of age in terms of lighting and character modelling, but the open environments and the designs of the ships and structures are still a delight. In addition, its narrative is the most balanced and “climatic” of all. Halo 4 , on the other hand, being only a couple of years old, perfectly preserves its spectacular graphics and refined mechanics, although its story is not the best.
So, if we had to make a graphical performance ranking (yes, we know you like rankings, you rascals), Halo 4 would come in first place, followed by Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 1. As for gameplay mechanics, our ranking would be Halo 3, Halo 2, Halo 4 and Halo 1. This, of course, is open to the subjectivity of each user, but what is clear is that the 4 titles in the pack are very different from each other, on several levels.
If you’ve only played the first few games, you’ll be surprised at how talkative Master Chief and Cortana have become in Halo 4, while if you’re a youngster and are discovering the original games for the first time, you might be surprised at how much more important many of the human characters were in the beginning. It’s even striking how much the Chief’s armor and helmet have changed! By the way, did you remember that in the first game, in addition to our energy shield, we had health units that had to be replenished with medikits? Aa …
I need a weapon… I mean, I need a weapon
In the preview for Halo: The Master Chief Collection , we already talked about another very heterogeneous aspect of this pack: the dubbing. To sum up: Halo 1, Halo 3 and Halo 4 are dubbed into Spanish, while Halo 2 is in English with Spanish subtitles. The reason? I’m sure many of you remember: Halo 2 was dubbed, at the time, in the so-called ” neutral Spanish “, which is actually more of a kind of South American accent that sounds very strange to Spanish ears. The move was heavily criticized back in 2004.
In view of its “rebirth” in this pack, Xbox Spain had 3 possibilities: keep that dubbing and endure the storm, create a new dubbing in Spanish (which would have increased costs and caused the game to be released later) or leave it in English. Finally, the latter measure was chosen. Although we would all have liked to see a dubbing at the same level, the truth is that it is understandable that the most practical option was chosen, although at the same time, this has generated more confusion: Halo 2 comes with English subtitles and English voices but, thanks to the patch that is now available, the English subtitles are changed to Spanish subtitles .
The problem comes when we discover that the subtitles only appear in cutscenes, but not in the dialogues during the game . So, those who do not know English may miss some clues in the heat of battle, although it is generally not too difficult to find one’s way around.
The other three games retain the Spanish dubbing we knew at the time, which means they have very little to do with each other. The dubbing of the first game, although sufficient for a title from 2002 (not everything has always been dubbed, friends! In the past, that was a luxury!), is a bit “shabby” for today’s times, with some actors who seem to be distracted while reciting their lines. The dubbing of Halo 3 and 4 is much more competent, especially that of the last game.
It’s not just the voice acting itself that makes the difference, but the amount of voices. In the more recent games, the soldiers that accompany us in many of the battles have quite a few lines of dialogue to praise how cool we are and how tough the fight is, but in Halo 1 , they keep repeating the same phrases over and over again, which gets tiresome. Wow, it seems we’ve taken it out on Combat Evolved today…
Each game has a special “halo”
Regardless of what you take from each adaptation, there is one thing that remains unchanged, no matter how many years pass: the variety of challenges we face and how much fun it is to overcome them. Whether it’s using the sniper rifle for the first time in Halo 1, discovering the greatness of the Scarab in Halo 2, embedding a grenade in an anti-aircraft cannon in Halo 3 or firing Forerunner weapons in Halo 4, the Master Chief never stops discovering new challenges, which do not always have to be related to shooting in a subjective way.
It’s true that some resources have been overused (how many times have we ridden a vehicle to escape a collapsing structure?), but the overall result is an adventure in which the pace never stops changing and surprising us. Of course, the huge amount of vehicles and weapons that we find throughout the battle deserves a special mention, and the best thing is that they all have their own special charm. From the veteran Stinger to the Spartan Laser , from the simple Warthog (have you forgotten how revolutionary its control system was, based purely on sticks?) to the beastly Scorpion , they have all provided great moments throughout our career as gamers. And of course, reliving those moments causes us to smile more than once while thinking “oh my, I had forgotten how cool I was about this part.”
The character development is also largely to blame. I’m sure that, from the outside, Halo is a “shoot in space” saga, with marines and aliens, and that’s about it. But when you get into the story, you discover what the personality of The Inquisitor or Cortana , for example, is all about. OK, the latter has been centrifuged too much, but it’s still cool. There’s no simple Manichean battle between humans and aliens here, but rather many mini-factions facing each other and mysteries that gradually come to light.
In this respect, it is worth highlighting the spectacular video sequences of Halo 2 Anniversary and Halo 4, which present an astonishing aesthetic and level of detail. Even so, I still prefer the strength of Halo 3 and its soundtrack. I’m an old-fashioned fan, what can I do…
His Majesty multiplayer mode
We still had to cover the other great pillar of the Halo saga. For many, the reason for its existence: multiplayer mode . Over the years, dozens and dozens of maps have expanded the experience in each of the games (in fact, Halo 2 had a multiplayer map pack that was sold separately, something really unusual in a console game of the time). Well, here we have them all, so, altogether, we have more than a hundred. In fact, 6 Halo 2 maps have been rebuilt for the occasion (such as Zanzibar or Sanctuary ) , which means they have a finish much more in keeping with our times.
It was overdue, as the original maps, while still functional in gameplay, are visually very empty and feel dated. All 4 games retain all their original modes: Race, King of the Hill, Wacky Ball … The updated versions of these Halo 2 maps, as well as the Halo 3 and 4 maps, are not included on the disc, but are obtained with a free update that is already available and, yes, it weighs 15 gigabytes .
By the way, Halo 3 and 4 offer the very fun Forge mode , in which we can modify the multiplayer maps by placing vehicles, objects and weapons, even in the middle of a game. They have even allowed themselves the “plus” of adding the new maps from Halo 2 Anniversary to Forge, so only Halo 1 is left without that mode. There is also the Theater mode , from which we can replay videos of our games by moving the camera as we wish.
Oh! And all 4 games run on dedicated servers , so there won’t be any issues with fluidity when you set up games of up to 16 players with the arrival of this pack in stores. We’ll continue to update the information as all the modes become available, but as long as they’re the same as in the originals, we’ll have, quite possibly, the most complete multiplayer mode of the current generation. And of the last one, if you push us!
The circle closes
If you’ve read this review all the way to the end, you’re probably already filled with facts and expectations about a ton of facets of the game. Halo: The Master Chief Collection is almost limitless, an experience with plenty of content to excite both those who want a complete solo experience and those who want fun with company. If you enjoy both, then we’ll just forget about it…
The question is, is it worth it if you own the original games? Well, if you’re just going for the Campaign mode, the pack probably won’t give you enough. Now, if your expectations include multiplayer (let’s not forget that the servers for the first games have been closed for a long time) or delving into other aspects of the Halo universe (live action series, documentaries, the Halo 5 beta, etc.) or, if you’re simply missing one of the 4 games in the collection, you can’t and shouldn’t resist.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a monument to the shooter genre and a sci-fi spectacle that only gets better with each new foray. Most of the credit for the first three games goes to Bungie , but 343 Industries has managed to live up to the material it pays homage to.
Okay, as we’ve already said, it’s not as homogeneous in each of its 4 “sections” as we would have liked (for that matter, why haven’t they improved the lighting in Halo 3 or added new CG video scenes to Halo 1?). Also, there’s no automatic save for when we turn off the console (there are checkpoints , but they “expire” when the game ends), so we always have to resort to the Save and Quit option , which can be a pain for our current mindset, accustomed to autosave. And, finally, there’s the already mentioned problem of the lack of dubbing and subtitles in Halo 2…
But these are aspects that do not in any way diminish the feeling that we have a brilliant package, longer than the Quixote written by Kanfort. Stop dawdling and load your assault rifle, Spartan. You have a lot of fun ahead of you.
Bonus track: How we analyzed the original games
We don’t want to say goodbye without looking back once more. The games in this compilation have been improved in many ways, but what did we think of the originals at the time? You can see it below, in the PDF versions of the reviews we did in Hobby Consolas magazine . Aaaay, how much time has passed and how young we were!