The Halo franchise has a checkered history, to be sure. Some view it as the revitalization of the first person shooter, while others point to it as the final blow to "classic" FPS even before 343i got their hands on it. Whatever the case, its influence is undeniable: The two-weapon system, regenerating health, and online console multiplayer can all point to this series as common ground, and it ended up being an anchor for Microsoft's XBOX series moving forward. But you didn't come here for a history lesson, you came for a review. Do these old games live up to the legend nowadays?

For the most part, yes. Every single one of these games is more than serviceable as a shooter, and each of them has had its original image maintained (although Gearbox's slight bungling of CE's PC port has been preserved instead of the original XBOX, frustratingly). If you've been living under a rock, the premise of Halo is pretty simple: Aliens exist, they're jerks, and you play as a green guy called Halo on a mission to stop them from nuking the whole galaxy because they're jerks.

The graphics on the originals are mostly what you would expect (4 still has some slight issues with the lighting), but where the MCC shines compared to the classic PC ports is the addition of the "Anniversary" modes, where you can spruce up the graphics on Halo 1 and 2 at the tap of a button. For 1, this doesn't do all that much, and it honestly feels a little phoned in, but Halo 2 Anniversary is rather nice to look at and does seem slightly more like what the "developers intended". The PC version has a few graphical options, but do not expect the opportunity to do much tweaking if you're not sure if your computer meets specs. The framerate can be unlocked, though this sometimes causes some minor cosmetic issues in my experience, and some of CE's mocapped animations were clearly not meant to be viewed past 30.

What appeals to me most about the PC version of the Master Chief Collection is how seamlessly the mouse and keyboard operate. Outside of a little menu difficulty, there's none of that "I can tell this was designed for a joystick first" weirdness that sometimes hounds games like GTA. It just, for lack of a more descriptive phrase, "feels good". You can plug in a controller and play them just like you would on an XBOX if that's more your speed, but it felt amazing to track heads before popping them without having to deal with a clunky aim assist.

Where the aim assist is less desirable is the multiplayer component, where you'll probably end up having to play mixed inputs if you want to find matches reasonably often. It is more or less empirical evidence that it's "easier" to kill people on a controller in Halo, but that did not stop me from throwing down some absolutely disgusting stomps in old favorites. Unfortunately, despite the nearly-unanimous love I have for Halo 1 and 2, most people seem to only play Reach and 3 online, and I could never find a match in 2A or 4 without waiting for a while with only them on (or in 2A's case, never). Around launch, the multiplayer progression system encouraged players to idle and be dead weight in games, but this seems to have been cleaned up by 343 following launch.

Speaking of the progression system... This will either make or break your opinion on the collection if you're a Halo veteran. 343 Industries has torn out how you used to earn armor parts in Reach, instead putting them on a 100-level-long pseudo-battle-pass that rations out which pieces you get based on arbitrary restrictions. In later "seasons", they added more of these which provide new cosmetic skins to weapons and vehicles in Halo CE and 3. Now, as I write this, their plan is to mess with Halo 3's multiplayer systems a little more-- again, entirely in cosmetic ways-- that some people are very irate about. You can opt out of this embellishing content through a menu if you wish, but between the changes to Reach and other content (ODST Firefight characters being noteworthy) being unlocked through these progression treadmills, things might be frustrating for you if you're more used to how the old systems worked.

So what's my overall opinion? Well, here's a tl;dr: If you've never played Halo, the Master Chief Collection is a steal to see what set up the "modern" shooter genre. It is probably one of the best values I have ever seen, and a powerful tool for nostalgia on top of that. I'm currently a little iffy on whether the multiplayer will stick around for years, but you get so much that solo and cooperative offerings would probably placate you even if if doesn't.

The Halo franchise has a checkered history, to be sure. Some view it as the revitalization of the first person shooter, while others point to it as the final blow to "classic" FPS even before 343i got their hands on it. Whatever the case, its influence is undeniable: The two-weapon system, regenerating health, and online console multiplayer can all point to this series as common ground, and it ended up being an anchor for Microsoft's XBOX series moving forward. But you didn't come here for a history lesson, you came for a review. Do these old games live up to the legend nowadays? For the most part, yes. Every single one of these games is more than serviceable as a shooter, and each of them has had its original image maintained (although Gearbox's slight bungling of CE's PC port has been preserved instead of the original XBOX, frustratingly). If you've been living under a rock, the premise of Halo is pretty simple: Aliens exist, they're jerks, and you play as a green guy called Halo on a mission to stop them from nuking the whole galaxy because they're jerks. The graphics on the originals are mostly what you would expect (4 still has some slight issues with the lighting), but where the MCC shines compared to the classic PC ports is the addition of the "Anniversary" modes, where you can spruce up the graphics on Halo 1 and 2 at the tap of a button. For 1, this doesn't do all that much, and it honestly feels a little phoned in, but Halo 2 Anniversary is rather nice to look at and does seem slightly more like what the "developers intended". The PC version has a few graphical options, but do not expect the opportunity to do much tweaking if you're not sure if your computer meets specs. The framerate can be unlocked, though this sometimes causes some minor cosmetic issues in my experience, and some of CE's mocapped animations were clearly not meant to be viewed past 30. What appeals to me most about the PC version of the Master Chief Collection is how seamlessly the mouse and keyboard operate. Outside of a little menu difficulty, there's none of that "I can tell this was designed for a joystick first" weirdness that sometimes hounds games like GTA. It just, for lack of a more descriptive phrase, "feels good". You can plug in a controller and play them just like you would on an XBOX if that's more your speed, but it felt amazing to track heads before popping them without having to deal with a clunky aim assist. Where the aim assist is less desirable is the multiplayer component, where you'll probably end up having to play mixed inputs if you want to find matches reasonably often. It is more or less empirical evidence that it's "easier" to kill people on a controller in Halo, but that did not stop me from throwing down some absolutely disgusting stomps in old favorites. Unfortunately, despite the nearly-unanimous love I have for Halo 1 and 2, most people seem to only play Reach and 3 online, and I could never find a match in 2A or 4 without waiting for a while with only them on (or in 2A's case, never). Around launch, the multiplayer progression system encouraged players to idle and be dead weight in games, but this seems to have been cleaned up by 343 following launch. Speaking of the progression system... This will either make or break your opinion on the collection if you're a Halo veteran. 343 Industries has torn out how you used to earn armor parts in Reach, instead putting them on a 100-level-long pseudo-battle-pass that rations out which pieces you get based on arbitrary restrictions. In later "seasons", they added more of these which provide new cosmetic skins to weapons and vehicles in Halo CE and 3. Now, as I write this, their plan is to mess with Halo 3's multiplayer systems a little more-- again, entirely in cosmetic ways-- that some people are very irate about. You [i]can[/i] opt out of this embellishing content through a menu if you wish, but between the changes to Reach and other content (ODST Firefight characters being noteworthy) being unlocked through these progression treadmills, things might be frustrating for you if you're more used to how the old systems worked. So what's my overall opinion? Well, here's a tl;dr: If you've never played Halo, the Master Chief Collection is a steal to see what set up the "modern" shooter genre. It is probably one of the best values I have ever seen, and a powerful tool for nostalgia on top of that. I'm currently a little iffy on whether the multiplayer will stick around for years, but you get so much that solo and cooperative offerings would probably placate you even if if doesn't.