The Master Chief Collection is the best way for old Halo fans and new to experience the breadth of the space marine’s career
Genre: First-person shooter.
What it's about: The Master Chief, an elite space marine cyborg, battles the alien forces of the Covenant.
Why we should care: Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 are all together in one place. The Xbox One does not play older Xbox 360 discs, so this is the best way to replay classic Chief missions. Plus, it's like a recycled Bee Gees collection, it's the Master Chief's Greatest Hits.
What happens in the first hour: This is actually variable, given that every mission from all four games can be played in any order. I decide to go old school and start from the very beginning. (The first game, Halo: Combat Evolved, was published waaaaaay back in 2001.)
We're back on board the Pillar of Autumn, the giant space cruiser that's home to a bunch of space marines and the titular Master Chief. We're awoken from cryo-sleep and the diagonistics – a cleverly disguised tutorial – are under way.
Then, an explosion! The Covenant have arrived, and it's time to fight them off the ship.
A cutscene shows Master Chief talking, which throws me for a loop. I don't remember him saying anything at all in the first game, way back in 2001. I'm wondering if George Lucas isn't the only one who endlessly messes around with his legacy creation.
I pause and do a quick search, only to find out that – whattaya know? – Master Chief did indeed talk in the first game, albeit sparingly. Satisfied that the developers haven't bastardized all of Halo history, I press onward.
It really is a stroll down memory lane, and I recall how much I enjoyed the first Halo. Master Chief may not have said much, but the constant salutations, praise and thanks he received from the other characters around him was a fantastic way of building his status. We knew he was a legendary warrior without him having to say so.
One of the other things I remember liking was the seamless flow of the game from one mission to another. That's unfortunately been changed here, with a stats page intersecting each mission to tell you your kill numbers and so on. Thumbs down.
Onto the next mission. I'm barrelling down on some Covenant grunts when I accidentally hit the "back" button on the controller. All of a sudden, the graphics magically shift backwards in time to the visuals from the original game. One second, the corridors are gleaming and colourful, the next they're dark, drab and primitive.
One of the key selling points of this remixed edition – as it was with the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition in 2011 – are enhanced graphics for the high-definition age. It's cool to play the same older game but with modern visuals. That said, it's even cooler to quickly and seamlessly switch between the two, to see the often dramatic differences.
Now I'm distracted from the actual gameplay. Flipping between old and new graphics turns out to be more fun. It's an excellent way to see just how far Halo – and video games in general – have come.
Further to that, I decide to jump out of the original game and try some Halo 4. Released in 2012, it's the most recent in the series and wow, is the difference ever jarring. Even with jazzed up graphics, the first game can't hold a candle to where games were at even two years ago.
Aside from graphics, there are other big differences. Halo 4 has big cinematic set pieces and scripted quick-time events that require timed button presses. I didn't really notice these the first time around, but when set in direct contrast to its 13-year-old predecessor, it's clear how much Activision's Call of Duty games – known for set pieces and QTEs – have influenced Halo.
My one-hour playthrough completed, I decide I'm going to go back and binge play the whole quartet of games from front to back. All these years later, I figure it's the only way I'll finally be able to make sense of the story. (Update)
Highlights: The graphics shifting between old school and new is a great feature. Games generally don't age well thanks to rapidly changing technology, but the gameplay holds up surprisingly well. It's a testament to how advanced the original game was.
Lowlights: In-between-mission stats screen disrupts the cinematic experience.
Time suck factor: Four full games plus online multiplayer, plus the ability to create custom mission playlists? This one will keep anyone busy for a while to come.
Worth more than an hour? The cynical take is that The Master Chief Collection, which really doesn't have anything new, is just a recycled cash grab. But if for some reason you've never played previous Halo games, or have fond memories and are looking for an excuse to replay them, this is a pretty great way to do it.