Halo:The Master Chief Collection PC Review, Spoiler Free 

By Brycen Cray

Halo has been evolving and having huge releases on the Xbox since its beginning release on Nov 15, 2001. But sadly, Halo one and two would release

late for PC, then after that a Halo would never release on PC again. Until now!

Halo has many movies, books, and in game lore that tell a huge and complex story. But to sum it up, the main story is about the Human-Covenant war. A war fought between a defending humanity and an aggressive cult(covenant) that want to genicide every human world in order to collect ancient artifacts that were left by an ancient race of aliens known as the Forerunners. You take control of a genetically modified soldier,Master Chief, with experimental armor and A.I., the player uses an assortment of alien and human weapons to slaughter the different enemies, while dealing with the different story situations in the games. 

Halo: The master Chief collection (MCC) is a collection of halo 1-4, including Halo Reach and Halo ODST. Custom games, multiplayer, firefight, and, of course, the Campaigns are included too and all for 39.99 + 9.99(Halo Reach addon). Halo wars 1 & 2, as well as Halo 5, are not included. Halo: MCC was originally released on Xbox, but it’s been enhanced and ported to PC, along with an HD version of Halo: Reach being added in. The Enhancements to the games being ported to PC are 4k resolution, V-sync, field of view changer, Fps changer and of course, mouse & Keyboard key settings. Graphics settings are set for Performance, which is for people with lower end PC’s, Original, which is the original unchanged graphics, and last there is Enhanced, Which is a more detailed, HD setting. 

“ Playing it again for the first time in many years, I think it’s still a shooter worth experiencing in 2019.” – Wes Fenlon, PC Gamer Journalist, Halo: Reach review 

Halo:Reach – Halo Reach is a prequel, but it’s actually the last Halo, the company Bungie(the OG Halo creators), made before handing it over to Microsoft’s 343 industries. Reaches Campaign is GREAT…. It’s about a team of Spartans(Human super soldiers), you control Noble 6, who defend an important human military and research planet from the invading Covenant.  

Reach’s Gameplay is a solid halo experience. In a FPS style, You shoot through waves of Covenant at various difficulty levels making standard Fps decisions, while exploring the beautifully detailed planet of Reach, from small farms to Cities, and even space for a little. 

All of the story is through campaign levels, which use cut scenes to transition to the next gameplay areas. Multiplayer is fun, fighting is based on player aim skill and game sense(one’s knowledge of how a game works). Graphics looks nice, being a HD enhanced version of the original and the audio sounds nice, with little bugs.

Halo CE – Halo Combat Evolved, is the first halo game made by Bungie. It takes place after Reach, where super soldier Master Chief, his A.I., and a human ship crash land on a Halo ring while being chased by Covenant ships. The story is pretty good with a surprise twist, a new parasite type enemy(The Flood)  that changes the standard halo gameplay and makes it more unique and scary. 

Changing its music from action sci fi soundtrack to a screechy sharp music loop, while also transforming open environment alien shootouts, to CQB situations that involve being flooded with the parasite. This Halo was revolutionary for its time and in this remastered version, the feeling stays. 

The graphics are improved significantly, but are still not that good to today’s standards. The audio is mostly the same with minor improvements. The multiplier is enjoyable  a classic Halo experience.

Halo 2 anniversary – Halo 2 anniversary (H2) is the second Halo made by Bungie and takes place after the events of Halo CE. The campaign is longer and is my favorite, reaching 9 hours and is mostly a classic Halo Fps experience with the added ability to dual wield weapons. 

They focus on the story and cutscenes greatly. But it throws another twist in its gameplay which is amazing. In the campaign you get to play as a Sangheili(Elite) who becomes the covenants arbiter. This feature is also available in multiplayer, allowing players to choose between humans and elite characters. 

The graphics of this remaster are beautiful and the audio sounds clear with not bugs.The Cutscene are absolutely stunning as well.  The Multiplier is another classic halo experience, but with the new elements of gameplay involved. Overall it is a very fun game, and is up there with Halo Reach in terms of being my favorite. 

Halo 3: ODST – ODST is also a very good halo game, as well as being the fourth Halo game made by Bungie. It has no multiplayer but instead focuses on campaign and a survival firefight mode.The campaign has you playing as an Orbital drop shock trooper defending a city during the events of Halo 2. You lose your squad and piece clues together to find them. 

The gameplay is different because, instead of playing as a super soldier with armor, you play as a normal human with low health and armor. The game is more slow, which perfectly matches the slow jazz soundtrack that plays in the background. The Graphics are not very touched up on but definitely not the worse. The audio isn’t that bad as well. 

Halo 3 – H3 is the third Halo game made by Bungie and is regarded very well by the community. Halo 3 follows the Master Chief after Halo 2, and has a heavy theme on ending the flood parasite and having a new alien be the main race for the covenant. H3 is basically the same as H2, but with better graphics, for the time, and better audio. The Multiplier is the same as H2, but like with the campaign, it just has better sound and graphics. Even though it’s like this, I find the game still enjoyable and worth the play. 

Halo: 4 – H4 is an outlier in the Halo: MC. Its the first Halo made by 343 industries. Many Halo fans dislike this Halo based on its more realistic art style and the gameplay trying to be more “actiony” and “call of dutyish”. The story also follows master chief after the events of H3 and is very story driven. 

The story seems interesting, but I dislike how action movie-ish they went. The Graphics and audio are very good, and the cutscenes are very well made. The multiplier is enjoyable, but it’s more realistic art choice and more movement action based gameplay is making the game not feel like a Halo. 

All and all I recommend every Halo in the Halo:MC collection. Even though Halo 4 is disliked, for being in a bundle with 5 other games, its a pretty good deal.