In the past few years, Xbox fans have been worrying that the franchise is crumbling under the extreme pressure of competing with Playstation. However, this year Microsoft shut up the doubters by delivering the new game, “Halo: The Master Chief Collection.”

343 Industries and Microsoft created the gamers’ Holy Bible for all Halo fans. For this collection, they compiled all the previous Halo games and stuffed them all into one game disc for the price of one. The games included are:“Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary,” a completely remastered “Halo 2” (the Anniversary game), “Halo 3” and “Halo 4.”

With this game, one can play every single Master Chief mission in existence. One can seamlessly switch from one campaign to another with a press of a button. Also, when one plays the campaign on “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” and “Halo 2 Anniversary,” he or she can go back to ’01 and ’04. By pressing another button, one can choose between the new-age movie graphics or relive the nostalgia of the original graphics.

There are many good things about this game. One thing that proved 343 Industries went above and beyond expectations is the unbelievable graphics, specifically on the “Halo 2” campaign. Another thing that is a great addition is the matchmaking capabilities. One can play on any map in any of the games. It brings joy to huge Halo fans because it has been 10 years since they have been able to play against friends on a “Halo 2” map.

In addition, there were a few drawbacks. The game itself took around a full day to completely download and it took about five minutes to find an opponent on matchmaking. Those were minor hiccups in the grand scheme of things, though.

Overall, 343 Industries really outdid themselves with this game. This game exceeded expectations and showed to the world they aren’t just another franchise that cares about money, but that they care about and listen to their fans.

4.5/5