Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsNot a day-one game
Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2014
Alright, let me begin by saying that I LOVE Halo, and this is the collection I had been hoping for. Four games and their respective online multiplayers in HD and 60 FPS all for just $60? How could I say no? But, I love the franchise enough to acknowledge that while it is a good game series, it is certainly not worth the hype it was plumped up with. I can take my Halo beer goggles off and pick on the weaker aspects of this game while praising the better ones.
Now, this is NOT a "Day-one" game, and this is expected with titles rushed out the door like this, especially before the Holidays. I knew that there were going to be problems the first week it was released, and I saw those negative comments flooding the message boards. Now, I see a lot of people here trashing 343 for dropping the ball here. Now, try to remember who is jerking 343's short leash around with all these harsh deadlines and urgency to rush their product out the door - The Microsoft Corporation. Blaming 343 would be like blaming Rareware for Perfect Dark Zero and Banjo Kazooie - Nuts and Bolts, victims to rushed deadlines and hard pressure from their corporate masters. This game could have been a great launch title for the Xbox One, but instead is an unfortunate victim in Micro$oft's bid to sell this and their $50-off discounted console before the holidays were out. In fact, a recent infoleak on attests that it was in fact M$ that rushed MCC out the door, hence it's glitchy state.
The singleplayer aspects were all remarkable as per usual, but the multiplayer? I'd have more fun pulling my own teeth out than wait hours on end just to find a game. When the MP did work, it was a blast from the past for the most part, but even that wasn't without problems, what with the framerate drops and deplorable lag you'd get from time to time, you'd be lucky if you weren't outright dropped from the f***ing game. Even worse, I was FURIOUS to know that something like this did not get dedicated servers. The first few weeks of this were DREADFUL, and even worse, it was the ONLY reason I got my Xbox, and my frustration boiled to where I was a hair's length away from selling my Xbox One back to GameStop and get my money back and maybe get a Playstation 4 instead.
A month or so later, when the patches arrived, this made the multiplayer a LOT less frustrating, and I may be sitting for a few minutes or less before I get paired up with players. Otherwise, it takes me right back to the good old days.
The Multiplayer is what everyone got it for, I am certain, so I'll talk about it. Halo 2 and Halo 2 Anniversary have their own individual games and matches, so Halo 2 classic wasn't replaced. Unfortunately, Halo 2 Anniversary only got six or seven remade maps, which is lame. I was happy to know that Halo 1 got it's own multiplayer too, however it never got the anniversary treatment like it's campaign did, but you are quick to overlook that when the nostalgia settles in. Halo1 and Halo 2 Classic both got exclusives from the PC versions, namely levels, weapons and vehicles. Halo 3 and Halo 4 have their own multiplayer as well, and it's the same as before in their own separate, standalone titles. However, customization is limited to just armor sets rather than individually customizing each part, like, you want the CQB armor? You get the chest, shoulder and helmet in one set, ect.
Halo 2 Anniversary is the big selling point for the game, so I'll go off and say that Halo 2 Anniversary was well done, Certain Affinity and 343 put their hearts into re-envisioning everything in the game, it looks and sounds beautiful. Even better, that you can instantaneously switch between the old graphics, music and sound with the new ones, even though some of the music tracks are... Unpleasantly different, like "Follow" and "Blow me away" aren't in the anniversary mode, like they couldn't get the rights for it, but still have the originals in the classic mode? This confuses me.
Even better; unlike the original game, (which was meant to have it, but got left out at the last minute, sadly) campaign has online coop, you and another buddy can tackle the covenant together, or mess around and search the levels for glitches and other fun easter eggs leftover from the old days (namely, the Scarab gun on Metropolis).
At face value, it's a three out of five, it would have maybe been a four or four and a half out of five had the glitches and server problems been hammered out before the release. Sure, the patches fixed a lot of the problems, but M$ fails to realize that first impressions count, and it can be costly, I mean for God's sake, I was so close to trading my Xbox in for a PS4 the online issues annoyed me so bad.
Bottom line; good game, now that the patches are here, but if you plan on getting it, I'd say wait until after the holidays, you can already tell that a game like this will go down in price within a few months.
