Essential buy for diehard Halo fans

AS HAS been pointed out elsewhere, the video game industry now does what the music and film industry cottoned on to several years ago with remastered albums on CD and getting videotape users to switch to DVD and then Blu-ray. But while it is easy to be cynical about the first four Halo games being repackaged on one volume, along with several extras and access to a beta version of the multiplayer mode for the yet-to-bereleased Halo 5: Guardians, this is incredible value for money.

For about the price of what one Halo game used to cost – and depending on where you shop even less – you have everything at your controller-calloused fingertips. The important point is that this time all four games – running at 60 frames per second – are ready for big HD televisions. The first game, Halo: Combated Evolved, is the 10th anniversary remastered edition, so no significant surprises. But what will get the fans excited – and that includes me – is having the same treatment done to Halo 2. And it does look – and sound – great.

But that’s still not the best thing for any Halo dieheard, let alone a player new to the series. All the levels of each game are unlocked and you can pick and mix the levels from each and play them in any order you wish. It might not make a lot of sense in terms of the Halo story, but it does give something new to old hands who have played the campaigns over and over.

Fans of multiplayer will also be falling over themselves as it features more than 100 multiplayer maps.

Also bundled are several cool extras. It includes a link to stream live action Halo series Halo: Nightfall from Ridley Scott’s production company.

While we can now only imagine how Sir Peter Jackson and filmmaker Neill Blomkamp would have made their live action Halo movie, this will sate most people’s appetite.

If you enjoyed playing the first four Halo games, but have no desire to play them again, there may still be some value in The Master Chief Collection, due to being able to mix the games and levels. But the real value of the collection will be to those who have played and replayed the series since its inception and never tire of blasting aliens or driving a warthog Jeep. This will be essential.

And I envy anyone who buys this for their first Halo experience. Get ready for many late nights.