What I'm excited for: Halo - The Master Chief Collection.
As a gamer, it's easy for me to get excited for a new game hitting the market. But with the current generation doing more and more in terms of remasters and collections, it's hard to get excited for something I've played, beaten, and left behind. True, there may be a handful of games I'd happily go through again if remastered, but I don't hold a candle for it actually happening.
What Microsoft and 343 Industries has done is peaked my excitement for a collection. To put it plainly, it's the grandmaster of all collections. Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
John-117's greatest adventures in one package.
With Halo 5: Guardians on the books for Q4 2015, fans like me were clamoring for an adventure with Master Chief on the Xbox One. To calm the fan base and give us something to keep our controllers busy, 343 Industries is putting Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition, Halo 2 (with an "anniversary edition" makeover), Halo 3, and Halo 4 on one disc.
Due out November 11th, 2014, The Master Chief Collection puts all the bells and whistles together for one of the best collections ever released. When Halo 2 multiplayer was shut down a few years ago, fans fought for as long as they could to keep it alive. 8 players who stayed logged in after the servers shut down were able to keep playing until their internet disconnected them or they powered their system down. They held out, but eventually all 8 were booted offline somehow and Halo 2 multiplayer was a thing of the past. A memory for all Halo fans of one of the best multiplayer experiences ever.
I loved Halo 2 multiplayer. Back in 2004-2005, I would grab a 2-liter of Mountain Dew (I was 20 at the time of release and didn't always have access to booze), some Taco Bell (another poor choice), and hit Halo 2 multiplayer until the wee morning hours. Those were amazing times with a lot of cool people on Xbox Live. This was before the days of douchebag kids on Call of Duty shouting racial and homophobic slurs. This was just a bunch of people playing Halo 2 online. Plasma Swords, battle rifles, and melee attacks were on the docket. And it was good.
Well, like Surge, it's coming back. 343 Industries is bringing back the full Halo 2 multiplayer experience in the Master Chief Collection. All maps will be included, all remastered in glorious HD graphics. All original modes are back, which has me extremely excited. I've never had as much fun playing an online shooter as I did Halo 2. Halo 3 and Reach were fun because they were Halo, Gears of War had it's moments when playing with friends, and CoD/BF were decent when you weren't getting called the n-word, but Halo 2 was the granddaddy of them all. So I'm beyond excited to get back into it online.
Dual-wielding, son.
All four games will run at 60fps in 1080p resolution. Can you say "gorgeous"? There will also be lighting upgrades to make things really pop.
The Master Chief Collection is going to keep me very busy until Halo 5: Guardians drops. It has been a long while since I've played Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2. I'm very confident the story will pull me back in like it did over 10 years ago.
If you own a Xbox One, the Master Chief Collection is a definite buy. The amount of content in this collection is top of the line and the multiplayer on all 4 games is some of the best ever, with Halo 2 being my personal best ever. And if you've never played Halo before, you're in for one of the most entertaining gaming experiences ever. Master Chief is the face of the Xbox franchise and this collection will once again show why. 343 Industries has outdone themselves, making a fan like me happy of the treatment Halo is getting after Bungie walked away from the franchise.
November 11th, I return to Halo 2. Get out your plasma pistols and take aim, folks. Because I won't miss.
Game on.
-ML
