Halo: Master Chief Collection Announced

Halo: Master Chief Collection Announced

Originally Posted on the Official Blast Away the Game Review Facebook Page

Written by Dustin Murphy

 With the newest entry to the Halo franchise right on the horizon, we were't surprised when we learned that Halo 5: Guardians is getting a bit of a highlight, and that highlight is Halo: Master Chief Collection, which will be coming to your XBox One this November 11th at the affordable cost of $59.99. These games will all come on a single disc and will include Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4. What else does it include instead of just the throwbacks? Well the most interesting part, but not unexpected, was the fact that Microsoft has decided to include a beta to Halo 5: Guardians, which will allow for a mutliplayer beta. This to us is normal since it follows the past Microsoft trend they have with the Halo series.

 What peaks our interest the most is the fact that all of the Halo titles will run at a steady 60 frames per second at 1080p. This is something we are quite interested to see how it plays, but also how it looks, given the fact we've not seen much in the means of 1080p and 60fps on the XBox One so far. What's the most unique thing about this connection? It contains all formerly released DLC for each title, but also includes all the original achievements that players could want and new ones for Halo 2 Anniversary. 1,000 per game, counting up to a grand total of 4,000 achievement points. For those to looking to expand their Halo achievements, this is definitely worth something grasping. The part that interests us? The games themselves will work with Halo Waypoint will be supported by this release as it heads this way. What Halo will you go for first? If anyone had to choose, we'd suspect Halo 2 from most fans, and guess what? Fans can do so. They can truly hop around each game at their own regard. Does this mean you can grab your hands at the multiplayer of each game? From what we understand, yes you can, and that is something you'll be able to enjoy. What else does that mean? All the problematic unbalanced mechanics are still fully intact, and that includes my favorite thing ever from Halo, BRX. So mash away and feel free to pistol whip your friends. How will this work? We aren't sure if the multiplayer will be in each game or a separate multiplayer hub that players can choose, but we are interested to see how the multiplayer will be fully integrated into the system.

 You can access multiplayer maps across the titles by their gameplay type (like Team Slayer, for instance), and 343 will create playlists within individual games as well as all of those in the Collection. For example, these playlists round up all the final four levels of each title. Custom games are included, but 343 says it's not sure if The Forge map editor will be offered. The company did say, however, that dedicated servers would be used for the title's multiplayer.

 With the new announcement, there is no surprise or shortages of what we can want, Halo 2 Anniversary is there. In all of the full blown re-done glory. What does this mean? Beautiful HD rendered graphics that will hopefully give you, the players, a true Halo 4-esque graphics. Interested in playing an old version like Halo Anniversary: Combat Evolved? Well you can. Fortunately, they have announced that players can actually choose to switch between the old rendering and the new with the single press of a button. What does this mean? Hello Halo 2 classic! This will however tie into the upcoming Halo 5 series, but how?

 This can be seen as a prologue, which will feed players the ability to play the previous games, and work their way forth to the Halo 5 title, and of course understand what happened. For those who are interested in buying it, you will not be short on surprises, 343 and Microsoft have also announced a digital series called Halo: Nightfall, which as before, will appear as a weekly release, which of course gives it a bit of a time to build up anticipation. We can only hope that Nightfall will build up to Halo 4 like it should, and will give us a look inside of why we saw Master Chief in the desert.