- Drew Beausoleil

The Halo Master Chief Collection is an incredible feat. A game that was once started as Halo 2 Anniversary, has since grown into something magical!

The Halo Master Chief Collection is now a collection beyond all collections for Halo fans of old and new. The collection holds - Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 4 plus so much more. This is the perfect collection to start off anyone for their first time with Master Chief, or if you’re a returning fan of the series looking for a nostalgia fix of where Master Chief began his legacy, it is all here. Everything is open from the beginning as well. Don't want to play the beginning of Halo 2, skip ahead to level 5-Metropolis or Start by playing Halo 4 and work your way backwards it’s all open from the beginning and entirely up to you as to where you want to start.  Maybe you just want to return to where the world of multiplayer started and jump into a match of Capture the Flag on Blood Gulch. With over 100 multiplayer maps including DLC map packs as well as tweaking gameplay options for each game...Halo The Master Chief Collection comes fully loaded for everyone!

Visuals have been fully upgraded from their original game and are now running at a stunning 1080p, 60fps that makes even Halo 4 look better than its last gen original. The audio has also been enhanced, but not to worry, if you still want everything to look and sound how the originals did when they first launched you can do that as well. Flip back and forth between new graphic enhancements and audio upgrades to old school graphics and audio, these are just another touch that adds to this giant collection. The menu screens are clean and well designed to allow player to freely choose their course of action. Having the Options and Career section quickly accessible to check your stats, customize your characters and more.

I'll admit, at first playing Halo: CE I found it was rather difficult to go back to the control scheme as the FPS genre has evolved rapidly.  No run button...unheard of in today's FPS games, but back when Halo first arrived on the scene this feature would be something that would come in the future. Even holding the analog to crouch became cumbersome and I was in desperate need to change that in the Settings menu. Everything is customizable to make you feel right at home when playing Halo. 343 really has gone the distance when making sure we the fans, will be getting the complete package.

The campaign is only the beginning of Halo: Master Chief Collection as we've barely scratched the surface of the multiplayer and all of the extra content with this collection and not to mention the Halo Channel that will be easily accessed through the games menu.

Multiplayer - for many fans the memories of playing against friends on the couch is something that carries the Halo experience with us all. Now you can relive those moments - once the multiplayer is fixed. An issue with connectivity and joining a lobby unfortunately became our experience. Though now fixed after waiting for too long before posting our review I'm glad to say our mp experience ran and looked incredible. So many game modes, maps and theatre modes to choose from it only becomes a matter of how much time do you have to play everything.  One of the extras of getting the Halo Master Chief Collection is getting into the Halo 5 multiplayer beta, something fans are dying for.

With a collection of this size and so many other games that are releasing weekly, this collection can be a little overwhelming if you are looking to relive the entire Halo experience. You are definitely getting your monies worth as Microsoft chose to stay with the $60 dollar price range, a higher price tag could have easily been the path Microsoft chose but they didn't and to experience the Halo universe again is something no one should live without.