Halo: The Master Chief Collection Review

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Publisher: Microsoft Developer: 343 Industries Platform: Xbox One Release: 2014 Players: 1-4 (Campaign), 2-16 (Multiplayer)*  Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 9.3 \ 10.0: Outstanding

*Player counts vary by each campaign and each multiplayer mode

A scene from the remastered version of the Halo 2 mission Regret.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The aspects of individual games in this compilation will not be thoroughly discussed in this review. Reviews of each game can be found here.

The Halo series has seen a dip in quality ever since 343 Industries became the developer responsible for it. Their original Halo content may not be at the same level of quality as Bungie's work on the franchise, but 343 has done a fantastic job at celebrating the series's history with Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

This compilation includes includes almost all of the content from Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2 (which has been remastered), Halo 3, and Halo 4. Halo 3: ODST's campaign is available a piece of $5 DLC, meaning that Halo: Reach is unfortunately the only Halo FPS released as of 2014 not to receive representation in the collection. Each game now runs at 1080p 60 FPS, a framerate and resolution that none of the games had achieved on their original platforms. I have played MCC exclusively on the original model Xbox One, and the framerate remained mostly stable, but I did experience somewhat frequent drops to about 30 FPS when playing split screen or online. This instability never made the game unplayable, but I was noticeable. This issue is most likely not as prominent on the Xbox One S and X models.

The star of the show is Halo 2. This anthology was released on the game's tenth anniversary, and it received remastered graphics and music, CGI cutscenes done by Blur Studios, and new terminals. The upgraded visuals are absolutely stunning. Halo 2: Anniversary is one of the best-looking games I have ever played and undoubtedly the best-looking on the Xbox One. The incredibly well-detailed textures are an important factor in this, but the beautiful lighting and shading, and the vibrant color palette are what truly sell the look. The new cutscenes look so good that they verge on photorealism,. The human characters did have a slight uncanny valley effect, but to deny the fidelity of the cinematics would be unfair. Halo 2's score is a wonderful mix of epic orchestra and intense rock, and it is easily one of my favorite soundtracks to any piece of media. The remastered tracks are slight improvements in most cases, but choir is used to such an extent in several tracks that it sometimes detracts from the overall quality of the music. The new terminals did provide interesting additional context to the events of the game, but I was unable to view some of them because I would receive errors from the Halo Channel app which opens on your Xbox when you interact with them.

As I mentioned earlier, you can download the campaign of Halo 3: ODST for a mere $4.99. While it is quite short compared to the other Halo titles, but it is easily one of my favorites in the franchise and is well worth purchasing. It's a shame that the Firefight mode from ODST was is not available to purchase, as it is one of my favorite horde modes in any shooter and not seeing it represented in what is supposed to be the ultimate Halo experience feels wrong given the mode's popularity.

Several changes have been made which apply to all of the campaigns, but they do not modify gameplay; any mission can be played at any time regardless of whether you have completed the others, and any skulls can be activated even if you have not collected them in each game. As someone who had completed every Halo game prior to purchasing The Master Chief  Collection, I appreciated these features, as I was able to experience my favorite moments from the franchise without having to replay each game (which, being a huge Halo fan, I eventually did anyways). In fact, no changes whatsoever have been made to the actual gameplay, and I wish that they had been. The Flood missions in the first three games are infamous low points in the series, and shinier graphics don't make them any less tedious. It would have also been appreciated if tweaks had been made to Halo 2's brutal Legendary difficult which is well known for being outright unfair due to the high number of Jackal snipers who can instantly kill the player. All of the games are still incredibly fun without these changes, and these are simply nitpicks.

For those seeking an experience designed strictly for co-op, all 50 chapters of Halo 4's Spartan Ops mode can be played in any order you wish. This mode is worth experiencing, but its repetition of environments, unnecessarily lengthy chapters and sometimes absurd number of enemies make it weak compared to the collection's other PvE offerings. You can create loadouts that can be used both in this mode and Halo 4's PvP multiplayer, and every perk and weapon is available from the start. Given that some of the most powerful items were unlocked far too early in the progression cycle of the original version of Halo 4, it hardly makes a difference that nothing has to be unlocked here. The large number of armor sets from Halo 3 and 4 are also all immediately wearable, but you are unfortunately unable to swap out individual pieces (if, for example, you want to wear the Hayabusa armor in Halo 3, you must wear every single piece of it, you couldn't also have ODST shoulder pads or the MJOLNIR Mk VI chestplate).

When it comes to offline multiplayer, The Master Chief Collection has enough content to stay enjoyable for years. Every single map from the four games, including DLC, is playable (except for several maps exclusive to Gearbox Software's PC port of Combat Evolved which were ripped from the campaign and were mediocre as result). Additionally, the Forge modes for both Halo 3 and 4 are playable, and a new one has been added for Halo 2 Anniversary. Because of the incredible number of options that are available for creating custom maps and gamemodes, I wish that there was a file browser, something that was present in both Halo 3 and Reach, but the only way to share content is to upload it to your profile where friends can then download it.

When this game first launched, its matchmaking was near-unplayable due to terrible servers. This issue has since been resolved, and new playlists have been added. There are playlists for each of the staple gamemodes such as Slayer and Capture the Flag, and each game has its own ranked and unranked playlist with a variety of gamemodes. The game used to allow a vote between potential maps and modes before the match began, but this has strangely been removed and you are now instantly placed in a match without any choices which slightly disappointed me.

Whether you are a Halo veteran or newcomer, The Master Chief Collection is well worth owning and is easily the definitive way to experience each game it includes. The convenience of having a set of some of the greatest shooter campaigns, multiplayer maps, and content creation tools of all time in one package is well worth the price, and the enhanced visuals are the icing on the cake. Several aspects of the original games have been slightly downgraded, but almost all of my issues with this title are nitpicks that can easily be overlooked.

Ups
Phenomenal replay value
All games looks amazing and mostly run at 60 FPS
Halo 2's remastered soundtrack is mostly improved
All missions, skulls, and armor can be accessed from the start
Controls can be changed for each game
New Forge mode added for Halo 2

Downs
No content from Halo: Reach is included
Occasional framerate drops
Halo Channel app rarely works
Gameplay issues left unchanged
Veto system removed from multiplayer
No file browser for Forge creations

ESRB: M Content: Blood & Gore, Language, and Violence Price: $29.99 (Retail / Digital)

Halo 5: Guardians Review

Halo 5: Guardians

Publisher: Microsoft Developer: 343 Industries Platform: Xbox One Release: 2015 Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 8.8 / 10.0: Fantastic

Above is Locke battling a Promethean Knight

Halo 5: Guardians is a tough game to review. As a first-person shooter, it's a must-have for all Xbox One owners, but as a Halo title, it's a disappointment. Having become a huge Halo fan shortly after this game's reveal, I was incredibly excited as new announcements were made. What the Halo fanbase got was a title that, while still very solid, did not live up to the hype generated by intriguing trailers, a TV series starring centered around a new main character, and a web series that described the events leading up the game.

The campaign begins several years after the events of Halo 4, and much has happened since the Didcact was defeated by the Master Chief. After a brief prologue taking place in Dr. Halsey's lab. While this opening cut-scene contains a  subtle nod to the Halo novels, things don't get interesting until you're introduced to Fireteam Osiris. This squad of Spartan IV soldiers comprising of leader Jameson Locke, Halo newcomers Olympia Vale and Holly Tanaka, and fan-favorite former ODST Edward Buck, has been sent to rescue Dr. Halsey from the clutches of Jul M'Dama, the leader of the Covenant Remnant. This first mission kicks of with a bang, starting with an action-packed cutscene that seems to be heavily inspired by the Avengers films. Right off the bat, you'll notice a few significant additions to the gameplay.  First off is Smart Scope, a feature for all weapons that is the equivalent of the aim-down sights mechanic that most modern shooters use. Scoping while midair allows you to slowly hover periodically, allowing you to line up shots with precision weapons more easily. (You still have a reticle when unscoped, so Halo veterans will fare just fine if they choose to ignore this feature). You can now clamber onto ledges and slide by crouching during a sprint as well, which brings up more comparisons between Halo 5 and your garden variety modern shooter. Guardians also ditches Armor Abilities in favor of a handful of Spartan abilities that you have access to all at once. These are boost, which allows you to travel faster or move to side in any direction to avoid projectiles; Spartan Charge, which can be used to slam into enemies send them flying; and Spartan Slam, which enables you to bring death from above without risking fall damage. I initially thought that these agility-centric abilities didn't fit the Halo franchise, and while I had a hard time getting used to these changes, I soon found myself boosting across the battlefield, scaling small cliffs, and sending enemies flying with well-placed charges and ground pounds. The default controls have also been tweaked to resemble (insert title of currently popular FPS here), so I recommend that longtime fans change the button layout to the Halo 4 setting, which is as close as you'll get to traditional Halo.

After completing the first mission, you're placed in control of Blue Team, which consists of the ever iconic Master Chief and his lesser-known teammates Frederick, Linda, and Kelly. Chances are you've never heard of these Spartans, but as someone who's read the majority of the official Halo novels, I was super excited to see them in the game. Halo 5's campaign includes a lot of fan service, but those who have only played the games will learn next to nothing about the Chief's teammates. They met each other when they were abducted into the SPARTAN II program at the age of six and they're practically family, but only a few scenes in the entire game even imply such a bond between these soldiers. I'm glad Blue Team is in the game, but it's a shame that they only serve to give your co-op partners unique characters to control.  Speaking of co-op, this is where Halo 5 begins to get ugly. It was revealed awhile before the game's release that Guardians would not feature splitscreen play for the campaign, matchmaking, or even custom games. If you wanna play with a pal, it has to be over Xbox Live or via system link. I had a blast playing through the game with my friend online, but I had another friend without a copy of the game that was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to play the latest Halo game with me. The lack of splitscreen would be nothing more than a nitpick in other games, but depriving a beloved franchise of a feature that has allowed my friends and I and many others others unforgettable gaming experiences is inexcusable.

Now, to continue my summary of the story: Midway through the mission, Blue Team is ambushed by a pair of hunters who destroy the bridge upon which the Master Chief is standing, causing him to plummet to the bottom of a large pit. While unconscious, he sees Cortana, who tells him that she in fact alive, and tells him where to find her, draining all the shock value from the previously heartbreaking ending of Halo 4 (millions of tears were shed in vain!). This is where the plot, which is usually a strong point of each Halo title, starts to get a bit dull and confusing. When the Chief awakes, he orders that Blue Team abandon their mission and search for Cortana, and, being his close friends, they are fully willing to oblige. What follows in the campaign is a decently lengthy series of levels with some excellent setpiece moments that's dragged down by a overabundance of missions where you play as Fireteam Osiris and a few extremely brief ones where you simply walk up to a character and trigger a cutscene.

There are still plenty of positives: While the story certainly isn't the greatest the franchise has ever seen, things do get more interesting towards the end of the game, and while I won't spoil anything, there is a scene involving Cortana that's almost as heart-wrenching as Halo 4's ending. Additionally, despite all these modern features, Guardians also goes decent lengths to appeal to longtime fans; the Covenant once again speak English, and there as many well-hidden humorous lines as there were in the original Halo trilogy, and as with the earlier games, the 13 gameplay altering skulls aren't available to use right off the bat and must be tracked down first.

When it comes to presentation, Halo 5 is great. While industrial environments are more common than I would like, the graphics are still well-detailed, and the missions taking place on the Elite homeworld of Sanghelios are visually stunning. It's also worth noting that this is the first Halo game to run at a silky-smooth 60 FPS on a console, and while I certainly appreciate this change, I'd gladly play at 30 FPS if split-screen was a possibility. The game's orchestrated soundtrack is fantastic as well thanks to Halo 4's underappreciated secondary composer Kazuma Jinnouchi, whose work with that game was much closer to traditional Halo than Neil Davidge's arrangements. Snippets of classic Halo tunes are also included to further please longtime fans.

Despite the lack of splitscreen, the online matchmaking is the most polished aspect of this game. The mutiplayer playlists are divided into two categories; Arena and Warzone. Arena is a mix of all the gamemodes you know and love (Slayer, Infection, Grifball, etc.), while the Warzone modes are new to the series. In Warzone, two teams of 12 Spartans face each other in a battle simulation in which they must gain points by defeating a variety of Covenant and Promethean bosses and capturing territories. If one team holds all three capture points, the shields protecting the enemy base will be disabled, giving them a chance to destroy the core within and win instantly.

Warzone heavily implements the new Requisition system, which is the equivalent of the Supply Drops in Call of Duty: Black Ops III and the Loot Boxes in Overwatch, two other currently popular shooters. By logging in daily, leveling up, winning matches, you receive Requistition packs (REQ Packs for short). These packs award you with random gear. Reward packs usually contain little more then single-use weapon, a vehicle, and boost cards, but you can buy more valuable packs using the REQ points you acquire from finishing matches (Or you could use real money, though I strongly discourage this). Inexpensive Bronze Packs are practically useless, but Silver and Gold Packs have a chance of containing permanent unlocks including Spartan armor, emblems, armor mods, and upgraded loadout weapons, the latter two of which can be used only in Warzone. These REQs can be be used in both traditional Warzone and Warzone Firefight, a refreshing spin on the fan-favorite wave-based survival mode. Rather then being tasked to simply kill enemies, your team of 8 Spartans (a step up from one to four players) is given five minutes to complete an objective in five increasingly difficult waves. (Warzone Firefight, sadly, cannot be played in a custom game) Although the Requistition system isn't very balanced, Warzone is a lot of fun.

Another new gamemode is Breakout. This is a fast-paced battle simulation where death is permanent, and teams of Spartans must work together to eliminate the enemy soldiers or win instantly by securing the flag loctaed at the heart of each arena; think of it as if Counter-Strike had a Capture the Flag mode.

An update to the game unexpectedly added an all new Custom Game Browser. This great new features allows you to browse and download user created content easier than you could in Halo: Reach and also enables you to host and join customized matches. Some fun player-made modes I played included Jenga City, in which half the players must survive as the other half ram into the fragile towers upon which their enemies stand with ships; Death run, which will be familiar to anyone who's played Garry's Mod; and Demolition Derby, which places players into an arena filled with Warthogs and has players push each other into fiery pits.

While the online gameplay is very entertaining, your Spartan customization options are very mediocre. While the last few main series games have allowed you to customize every armor piece of your Spartan from chest pieces to knee pads, Halo 5 limits you to just helmet and body armor. Additionally, you must unlock premade emblems from REQ packs rather then being able to make your own. Being forced to level up to unlock emblem foregrounds and backgrounds in Halo 4 was aggravating enough, but this is ridiculous.

My only other complaint is that this game's Forge mode is much less accessible then before. This is made up for by the vast selection of tools available to Forge users that have alllowed them to create the incredibly impressive aforementioned custom modes.

I had a lot of fun playing Halo 5: Guardians, but it doesn't even come close to fulfilling the hype generated by the marketing. Despite the flaws, this game is a great addition to the library of any Xbox One owner, whether they've played Halo for years or never played it at all.

Ups
New Spartan abilities are fun to use
Great visuals and soundtrack
Nostalgic callbacks to the original Halo games
Entertaining new Warzone gamemodes
Custom game browser

Downs
Mediocre plot with underdeveloped characters
No splitscreen mutiplayer
Customization is limited

ESRB: T Content: Blood, Mild Language, and Violence Price: $59.99 (Retail / Download)

Halo 3: ODST Review

Halo 3: ODST

Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Bungie Platform: Xbox 360 Release: 2009 Players: 1-4 (Campaign), 2-16 (System Link / Online) Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 9.0 \ 10.0: Excellent

Above is Rookie battling Covenant on the streets of New Mombasa with a silenced SMG
 

Awhile ago, Halo fans may have wondered what it was like to be a UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST). When Halo 3: ODST was released, they wondered no longer. The game takes place during the events of Halo 2 (that makes me wonder why the game's title isn't Halo 2: ODST). The Covenant have discovered the location of Earth and are launching an all-out assault on New Mombasa, a port city in Kenya, Africa. Since the Master Chief is somewhere on Delta Halo, a squad of six ODSTs is dropped in pods from thousands of feet in the air into to New Mombasa (that's where the "Orbital Drop" part comes in). This squad consists of Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck, Captain Veronica Dare, Rookie, Dutch, Mickey, and Romeo. Rookie, like Noble 6 in Halo: Reach is anonymous, and with the exception of grunts and shouts, Rookie never says any word aside from a rare "ow". The latter four have real names in the Halo universe, but they're not mentioned in the game. When you crash down in Mombasa, you start off as Rookie, and you've been separated from the rest of the team. Throughout the campaign, you will switch between each soldier, with each interesting object Rookie finds leading to a flashback from the perspective of the ODST who dropped it. Up until the last two missions, Rookie's segments are rather boring-- they're 25% action, 75% strolling towards through the streets of Mombasa towards your objective point. However, the sights of the streets can be breathtaking, and little touches such as car alarms blaring and ATMs malfunctioning add to the desolate tone. The game is visually impressive the majority of time, and the sight of Mombasa at night is especially beautiful. The Halo 3 engine was reused for this game and looks better than ever, but it does show it's age occasionally. The action doesn't become the traditional intense and nonstop stuff fans are used to for Rookie until the last couple missions. ODST presents a new feature: the Visual Intelligence System, Reconnaissance (VISR). Activated by pressing the X button, the VISR lights up dark areas as well as highlights enemies red and allies green. By pressing Back, a menu will be opened up that allows you to view the mission map, mission objectives, and listen to the game's hidden collectible audio logs. This is an awesome feature that I'm disappointed hasn't been seen since. By discovering enough of the 52 audio logs documenting Mombassa escapee Sadie Endahsa, you can unlock perks such as an armory room and Mongooses, all of which make Rookie's segments a little more interesting and enjoyable. The campaign is difficult, a feature that is present in all Halo games, but it's not particularly lengthy. Of course, it's still very fun. Gunning down hordes of Covenant with a turret as Mickey, soaring through the night sky in Buck's stolen Banshee, blasting Banshees and Phantoms with a missile pod manned by Romeo, and racing down the coastal highway of Mombasa in Rookie's Warthog are some of the highlights of my experiences with shooters. While it's not my favorite campaign, it has more incredibly fun setpieces like this than any other game in the series. While I've become use to saving the universe as the Chief, I still enjoyed the noire style of the game, especially the moody jazz soundtrack that goes with it. If you're bored with the campaign, you can play  other modes that come on the second disc in  all of Halo 3's DLC maps: Of course, there's Matchmaking; You can make your own maps in Forge mode from Halo 3; host your own matches in Custom Game mode; and you can survive waves of Covenant in the new co-op Firefight mode that is included on Disc 1. Firefight is can feel repetive when solo, but it's a blast with buddies. Halo 3: ODST isn't my favorite Halo game, but it's still an incredible title that series fans shouldn't miss.

Ups
What's it like being an ODST? Question answered!
Tons of fun campaign moments
Game comes packaged with all Halo 3 DLC maps and modes
New Firefight mode

Downs
Campaign is shorter than usual
Rookie's segments are boring
The visuals are bland on rare instances
Firefight gets repetitive solo

ESRB: M Content: (DISCLAIMER: I disagree with the Mature rating, as there are just as violent games and movies with lower age ratings) (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains intense violence, large amounts of realistic blood, bad language, and scary scenes) Content: Blood, Language, and Violence Price: $19.99 (Retail)

Halo 4 Review

Halo 4

Publisher: Microsoft Developer: 343 Industries Platform: Xbox 360 Release: 2012 Players: 1-4 (Campaign), 2-16 (System Link / Online) Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 9.0 \ 10.0: Excellent

Above is Master Chief battling Prometheans with an assault rifle.\

The five-year wait for Halo 4 was made less boring by the first ever Halo strategy game Halo Wars, a look at life as an ODST in Halo 3: ODST, series prequel Halo: Reach (the first Halo game I played, and still the best), and a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved (the latter of which was developed by 343 Industries,). In 2012, that wait was put to an end. Many fans were relieved, but some were skeptical because of the new developer. However, 343 Industries did a great, but not perfect job of crafting a massively-anticipated sequel.

The story leaves off exactly four years, seven months, and 10 days after Halo 3, with Master Chief in cryo-sleep onboard the UNSC vessel Forward Unto Dawn. He is awakened by his AI companion, Cortana, when she discovers a that Covenant fleet has boarded the ship. Minor spoiler alert, the first foe you encounter is an Elite. Yes, a treaty was made with the Covenant in Halo 3 after the destruction of the Ark, and a truce with the elites was formed months before that, but this is the Covenant Remnant which cares not for the Arbiter's leadership. Near the end of the mission, it seems that Cortana malfunctions. After this, you must battle the Covenant Remnant in low gravity on the outside of the ship. During this sequence, the beloved battle rifle, which has returned, floats through space for you to snatch. You are then sucked into a gravity well and stranded on the Forerunner planet, Requiem.

Upon landing, Cortana reveals that she has attained rampancy, which causes AIs that have been active for over seven years (she has been active eight) to quite literally think themselves to death. It would be like a human thinking with so much of their brain that they would forget other crucial bodily functions, such as breathing. Master Chief than makes it his mission to get Cortana back to Dr. Halsey, but the Covenant aren't the only ones in his way. Now, he must battle the Prometheans, beings constructed by the Forerunners. He must also defeat the Ur-Didact, one of the last living Forerunners. The Didact is planning to use a super-weapon called the Composer to wipe out Earth's population. He sees them as the largest threat in the galaxy because of the Human-Forerunner War from long ago. the missions that follow this make up what is among the best campaigns in the series, and its conclusion will shock you.

The graphics are gorgeous, but the game doesn't offer many truly beautiful sights as Halo: Reach did. However, the attention to detail in the objects you interact with is astounding in campaign; from the dents and scratches on the Chief's armor, to the scaly skin of the Covenant, the visual features were a treat fro my eyes, as were the  and nearly photorealistic CGI cut-scenes. However, the Wii is capable of more impressive explosion effects, and the Spartan models in multiplayer look a little plasticky because of the slightly cartoonish visual style and lack the fantastiv armor detail presented by Reach. As a huge fan of platformers, a have no problem with cartoonish aesthetics in general, but it feels out of place in a shooter where this look isn't intentional such as Borderlands.

If you're bored with campaign, you can play three other modes in Infinity. Here, you can battle online or with friends in War Games (this has nothing to do with the classic movie of the same name-- it's Matchmaking renamed); make your own maps in Forge; or engage in the fun Spartan Ops mode, a secondary campaign of sorts in which you engage in brief ops as your customized Spartan. In Spartan Ops, your Spartan is referred to by his / her primary armor color (I'm called Crimson). However, Firefight mode, which hold some of my greatest Halo memories, has been scrapped in favor of Spartan Ops. Reach solved the problems faced by the lack of co-op matchmaking, but Infinity does not allow you to play co-op matches for the campaign or Spartan Ops. Additionally, you can only gain experience playing Infinity modes, while Reach allowed you to rank up by playing the campaign. You can only unlock armor through leveling up, rather than purchasing it with cR. You can now customize your own weapon / ability loadouts to use in War Games, which is a nice touch. However, rather than putting all of the   A great new feature is the arsenal of new Forerunner weapons. My two favorite of these weapons are the binary rifle, a rifle with incredible sniping capability that can instantly incinerate nearly any opponent (a laser sight does give away your location when using the scope); and the incineration cannon, a heavy piece or artillery that fires a massive long-range projectile that explodes upon impact, dealing incinerating those nearby and and showering more high-damage sparks. If you're not careful, you can incinerate yourself with the weapon! Speaking of weapons,  the sound design in this game is incredible. The rattle of the battle rifle, the boom of the shotgun, and that awesome shoom you hear when you fire a rocket, and everything all sound intimidating. The game also introduces many Armor Abilities, including Hardlight Shield and Promethean Vision. On the downside, 343 has scrapped nearly every feature added in Reach, most noticeably game types. The new Dominion mode, which is essentially intense slayer with base-building, is very fun, but it doesn't make up for the loss of Invasion (which this has replaced), Headhunter, and a co-op playlist. You may also notice that a few features of the multiplayer are borrowed from Call of Duty, such as some of the perks and ordinance drops. All of the Covenant foes have been remodeled, and the new forms are significantly uglier. This is meant to up the fear factor, but I don't like it. I truly don't understand these changes, as nearly 70% of 343's employees previously worked for Bungie. Although the flaws are mainly due to the fact that 343 Industries doesn't fully agree with Bungie's ideas, they've done an excellent job of making a Halo game, and a new developer is nothing to be skeptical about. Fans definitely should not skip by Halo 4 for that reason.

Ups
One of the best campaigns yet
Gorgeous (but sorta cartoonish) graphics
Spartan Ops mode
Customizable loadouts
Forerunner weapons and new Armor Abilities

Downs
Not as many beautiful vistas
Nearly all content introduced in Reach is gone
Disc 2 requires a large amount memory to download
Covenant foes have been remodeled

ESRB: M (DISCLAIMER: I disagree with the Mature rating, as there are just as violent games and movies with lower age ratings) (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains intense violence, large amounts of realistic blood, bad language, and scary scenes) Content: Blood,  Language, and Violence Price: $19.99 (Retail)

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Publisher: Microsoft Developer: 343 Industries / Saber Interactive Platform: Xbox 360 Players: 1-2 (Campaign), 2-16 (System Link / Online) Release: 2011 Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 9.0 \ 10.0: Excellent

Above is a comparison of the new graphics and the original graphics.

In 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved was released alongside the original Xbox and was very well received by consumers and critics alike. Before this game, people doubted there could ever be a truly great shooter on a console. Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark are two notable exceptions, but been they suffered from awkward and control schemes due Nintendo 64 controller having only one analog stick. Bungie proved the doubters wrong, hence the astounding 95.54% average score on GameRankings.com. However, I think this massive praise was mainly due to how revolutionary the game was at the time. I still very much enjoy it, but I'll explain later why I think Combat Evolved is slightly overrated.

When I finally became a Halo fan, I went on to play nearly the whole main series in mixed-up order. In the end, the first game in the series is the last one I played... the anniversary version, at least. When Bungie ceased developing the Halo franchise, Microsoft-owned developer 343 Industries kicked off their company with a remake of Combat Evolved. The story is incredibly fresh and original: The year is 2552, and a military space vessel called the Pillar of Autumn has just escaped the planet Reach, which was destroyed by a alien alliance known as the Covenant. They believe that the destruction of humankind is the will of their gods (later games reveal that these "gods" want quite the opposite). The ship is carrying extremely valuable cargo: Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, the seemingly last supersoldier left in the SPARTAN-II program. Covenant forces board the Autumn, and the Master Chief is woken from cryo-sleep to evacuate the ship. They then land on a strange ring-shaped world, a Halo. This game has some of the best universe building of any series debut, and the story was further explored when the novel The Fall of Reach was released soon after the game.

The game plays almost exactly the same as before, and even starts off with original visuals. A notable feature is that you can press the Back button at any time to switch from the classic graphics to the beautiful (albeit a little cartoonish) remade high-def visuals. The lip-syncing is a bit off and there are occasional framerate drops and texture pop in, but the truly breathtaking sights of the Halo ring make up for this. Having both graphical styles is made technically possible by overlapping the original game engine and a modified version of the Halo: Reach engine. This feature allows you to see how much visuals advanced over the course of a decade. My only problem with this feature is that it takes several seconds to switch visuals, and you can easily be killed while doing this in the presence of enemies. I believe that the old graphics, although primitive by modern standards, look great by 2001 standards. You are also able to switch to the remastered soundtrack primarily composed by Tom Salta. The new tunes perfectly match Marty O'Donnell's brilliant arrangements, but the orchestra is more powerful and moving than ever.

After playing this game, I learned that it has some nifty features that haven't been present in the series since. For example, when operating a vehicle with marine passengers, your allies' health will be shown. Alongside your shield meter is your health meter, which has only appeared in Halo: Reach since, and is a feature that I think adds a touch of realism, and requires you to be more careful. It prevents you from being able to simply hide in a corner when your shields are down and be in perfect condition seconds later if you've been shot while unshielded. However, it can be frustrating to be stuck on checkpoint with your body health critically low.

The main draw of this remaster is that the gameplay has been left untouched, and given this game's age, this doesn't always work in the favor of the game or the player. For example, the grenade fuses are still unreasonably long, there's still copious amounts of backtracking, and I would have liked to see upgraded AI and proper ragdoll physics added to the game. When in remastered mode, it's laughable to Elites dive off ledges to avoid grenades or see bodies fly through the air flailing their arms and curling up when they hit the ground. 343 had the right idea leaving the game be-- everything from taking cover to let your shield recharge then reemerging to mow down Covies with an assault rifle to storming a beachfront with a squad of marines feels every bit as good now as it did in 2001; it just takes away from the experience to suddenly think "Man, this game really is old". The campaign, although excellent, can be frustrating very frustrating at times due to the health system as well as the not-so-fondly-remembered missions in which you must battle the deformed victims of the parasitic Flood infection. There have been two new additions to the main game: Skulls and terminals. Skulls alter the gameplay just as they have as before, and must be tracked down like in Halo 2 and Halo 3.

Additionally, one or more terminals are hidden in each mission. They come in the form of objects, such as computers and control panels that are hidden in plain sight and have always been part of the game. When activated, terminals show a beautifully painted animated cut-scene that explores the backstory of Halo. The terminals depict events that Master Chief didn't witness, such as 343 Guilty Spark's reaction to the crash of the Pillar of Autumn, (minor spoiler alert) the transformation of Captain Keyes into a Flood, and some even hint at the plot of the then-unreleased Halo 4. Both these features can only be accessed when the new visuals are being used, and are welcome additions. Another improvement over the original is the addition of glowing panels on the floor. While the copy-pasted hallways and rooms are lazy as ever, the folks at 343 Industries at least have the decency to make the the infamous mission "The Library" a bit more tolerable. When you crack open the case of Combat Evolved Aniversary, you'll notice the game comes with a free download card for Halo: Reach DLC. By entering the code on the back, you get the Anniversary Map Pack and a new Firefight mission. It's a shame that only seven of CE's maps have been remade, leaving a lot of fan favorites such as Death Island excluded  It's a good thing Blood Gulch was remade in Reach, or the fanbase might have started petition. While the maps are few, the Anniversary Classic matchmaking mode really does feel like the online component Combat Evolved couldn't have. In this game type, the gameplay has been tweaked to be as similar to the original game as possible; The gravity has been increased, melee attacks are weaker, and the magnum is ridiculously powerful and seems to miraculously target heads -- it's the same experience, but with fancy high-def graphics and Reach's stellar customization and leveling systems. Overall, Halo: CE Anniversary is an incredible remake that no series fan, new or old, should miss, but it will do nothing to convert those that dislike the series.

Ups
New HD visuals
You can easily switch between new and old visuals
Old features return
Very fun campaign
Includes free Halo: Reach DLC

Downs
Game feels as old as it really is

Sometimes frustrating
Long visual-switch time

ESRB: M (DISCLAIMER: I disagree with the Mature rating, as there are just as violent games and movies with lower age ratings) (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains intense violence, large amounts of realistic blood, bad language, and frightening scenes) Content: Blood & Gore, Mild Language, and Violence Price: $19.99 (Retail)

Halo 3 Review

Halo 3

Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Bungie Platform: Xbox 360 Release: 2007 Players: 1-4 (Campaign), 2-16 (System Link / Online) Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 9.3 \ 10.0: Excellent

Above is, from left to right, the Arbiter wielding a carbine and Master Chief wielding an assault rifle

Halo 3 isn't my favorite Halo game (that would be Halo: Reach), but it's pretty darn good, and critics certainly agree. The game is set soon after its predecessor in the year 2552. Mankind is currently losing the war against the alien alliance known as the Covenant. The game begins with Master Chief, one of the last soldiers serving in Dr. Catherine Halsey's SPARTAN-II program, crash-landing while his armor is locked in the middle of a jungle in eastern Africa. Here, is confronted by Sergeant Major Johnson and his squad of UNSC marines. Upon regaining consciousness, Master Chief notices nearby movement, and rushes toward the potential assailant to find that it's a Sangheli, a species of Covenant, better known as Elites. Master Chief holds his magnum to the alien's chin, but Johnson hurriedly informs him that that this Elite is the Arbiter, a disgraced Covenant Fleetmaster. The Arbiter was stripped of his rank by the Prophets, the Covenant's religious leaders, and  made the Arbiter, a warrior who gains honor through death. However, the humans had formed a treaty with the Elites. This is because, in the previous game, the Prophet of Truth deemed the Elites unfit for duty due to their failure to protect the Prophet of Regret, and they were replaced by the Brutes. After this, the Elites discovered their religion was a lie. The Covenant believe that they can embark on a "Great Journey" by activating Halos, massive rings built by the ancient alien race, the Forerunners, the Covenant's gods. When activated, a Halo will wipe out all sentient life in a massive radius, which the Covenant are unaware of. The  rings were built as a last resort against the zombielike parasite known as the Flood, which is infesting Earth. The Flood are not affected by the Halos, but without sentient life to feed on, they will all eventually starve. Master Chief's mission is to destroy the Flood and its monstrous source, Gravemind, and to stop the Prophet of Truth from activating a Forerunner Artifact called the Ark. The Ark is located outside of New Mombasa, a Kenyan port city. When activated, the Ark will fire all of the Halos, wiping out all life in the galaxy. This is one of the series' deepest and most compelling plots yet. This is a pretty bad jumping-on point for players such as myself that are (in my case, were) fairly new to Halo, but it doesn't matter. But be warned, if you played Halo: Reach right before this like me, you'll be wondering why that Spartan fell from the sky and why that Elite that you would have killed in Reach (and also, by the way, let the attack on Reach) is now your ally. The game's campaign is very fun, but it can be frustrating. The difficulty level never rises much, but is always sometimes frustrating, and the game is already  pretty tough on the Normal difficulty. A nice touch in campaign is the still hilarious Covenant dialogue in battle. For the first time in the series, the game supports up to four-player co-op. This time around, everyone isn't just a carbon copy of the Chief. Every player assumes a different character, and if you're joined by someone playing as the Arbiter, the dialogue between him and the chief will become more personal. If you're tired of the campaign, players with an Xbox Live Gold Membership can treat themselves to online fun with Matchmaking in a variety of modes. As fun as playing online can be, the ranking system is very irritating. You gain experience when you win and actually rank down if you lose. This is extremely unfair, as your chance of victory relies heavily on your teammates, who can leave at any time and be penalized. Overall, Halo 3 offers both a solid online and local multiplayer. You can host a versus match with up to three of your buddies in your own home, and even more by inviting Xbox Live friends or using System Link. There's Forge mode, a new feature to the series. This mode which allows you to modify existing maps by deleting and adding weapons, vehicles, objects, and more. However, you can't place unlimited objects on your map, which is probably to prevent lag. Additionally, the mode isn't taken full advantage of, as none of the maps, are completely blank canvases. Lastly, there's Theater mode, in which you are able to view clips of recent games, and save your favorites for bragging rights. Using the new File Share, you are able to upload your Forge maps, films, screenshots, and custom game modes, of which can now be now be much more thoroughly modified. If you like what you find, you can download it for yourself. Halo 3 introduces a couple more new features. You can now detach turrets from their stands. You can also rank up in matchmaking. The game features detailed and vibrant visuals which hold up well today, and an amazing soundtrack. The collection of maps in this game exceeds the quality of that in other Halo game. The game includes remakes of fan favorites such as Last Resort (Zanzibar remade), and great originals such as Valhalla and Pit Stop. Halo 3 is an incredible game, but it doesn't hold up nearly as well as Reach. That does not at all mean that Halo and shooter fans should shy from this game, not at all. If you're and Xbox 360 owner that's allowed to play M-rated games, this is a must-have title.

Ups
Compelling story
Fun campaign
Covenant dialogue still hilarious
New modes
New abilities

Downs
Very difficult campaign
Forge item list is hard to navigate

ESRB: M (DISCLAIMER: I disagree with the Mature rating, as there are just as violent games and movies with lower age ratings) (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains intense violence, large amounts of realistic blood, bad language, and scary scenes) Content: Blood & Gore, Mild Language, and Violence Price: $14.99 (Retail / Download)

Halo: Reach Review

Halo: Reach

Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Bungie Platform: Xbox 360 Release: 2010 Players: 1-4 (Campaign), 2-16 (System Link / Online) Genre: First Person Shooter Rating: 9.4 \ 10.0: Excellent

Above is a player wielding an assault rifle attacking an enemy piloting a Ghost

Halo: Reach is a prequel to the original Halo trilogy. You witness the fall of the planet Reach, something fans have been waiting for since the 2001 release of the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach. It's ironic that, sadly enough, this is the last Halo game developed by Bungie, yet it falls at the start of the main series' timeline. Reach is set in the year 2552, when mankind is at war with an alliance of alien races collectively known as the Covenant. The Covenant claim the destruction of humans is the will of their gods, the long-extinct Forerunners. The aliens are opposed by the  UNSC (United Nations Space Command) army, which genetically alters a small number of selected soldiers into supersoldiers called Spartans who don powerful suits of armor with a rechargeable shield. The armor enhances reaction, strength, and jump height. (Halo fans, remember that this takes place before Master Chief is one of  the last Spartans still serving in the UNSC) The campaign begins by shows the ruins of the planet Reach, the UNSC's military stronghold. The battered and dirty helmet of your customized Spartan lies on the ground. Immediately followed by this is a flashback to a UNSC camp on Reach, where Spartan Noble Six, the character whom you assume the role of, meets Noble Team, a squad is composed of five other specially selected Spartans. Your teammates are Noble One, Carter, the bold, no-nonsense leader of Noble Team; Noble Two, Catherine (better known as Kat), the team’s techie who has a robotic prosthetic arm (it was lost in a prior battle); Noble Three, Jun (pronounced "June"), the team’s sniper; Noble Four, Emile, a witty but sometimes silent soldier who has a dome-like helmet with a  skull painted on it and carries around a machete; and Noble Five, the bulky Jorge, who’s brutal in battle but has a big heart.

Noble Team’s first mission is to investigate distress signals coming from a farm. The action takes awhile to heat up, but when it does, you’ll realize that, even on Normal difficulty level, this game is no cakewalk, especially when you try to tackle it on your own. You’re sure to encounter frustrating moments. You can engage in two-to-four player co-op, which eases the trouble, unless you have the world’s worst partner (my brother), who sabotages the mission in any way possible. The battles in this game are on a larger scale then ever before. You can see the charred remnants of mountain ranges and cities, and look up at the sky to see dogfights between Banshees and Falcons. It's even possible to be crushed by Banshee debris. Something you’ll notice right away is how amazing the game looks by Xbox 360 standards, especially during cut-scenes. I’ve found that I’m one of the only people I know who enjoys cut-scenes or even the campaign. The campaign’s story, while not very deep, is compelling and has several twists. But the campaign isn’t all there is to the game. Of course, for those who have an Xbox Live Gold Membership, there’s Matchmaking-- online multiplayer. There are a massive number of game types in Matchmaking, including old favorites like Slayer, Capture the Flag, and Oddball. There's also a handful of new modes, my favorite of which is Headhunter. In this game type, every player starts off with the possession of a single flaming skull. More skulls are scattered throughout the map. To earn points, you must deposit these skulls at a zone. Upon dying, you will drop any unbanked skulls you have on you, and if you hold the maximum number of 10 skulls, your location will be revealed to enemies. There is also a new co-op playlist that allows you to play the campaign or Firefight in a matchmade game for the first time. Nowadays, games are focused on having solid online multiplayer, and not only does Reach do that, but it delivers some of the best local multiplayer options of any game I've ever played. Returning from Halo 3: ODST is Firefight, a mode in which you’re given 10 lives (bumped up from seven) to fight for your life in various sub-modes. You are now able to customize nearly every aspect of the game, from the loadouts to the traits of Spartans and Elites. You can also host a Custom Game, which allows you to play any Matchmaking mode offline with friends, or invite your Xbox Live friends. You can set your own rules and also save your presets as a new game type. This feature allows even those that hate shooters to have some fun. You can turn Reach from an FPS to a racer to first-person hide-and-seek; as the countless Halo: Reach game nights you can view on YouTube show, the possibilities are near-unlimited. Furthermore, there's Forge, a mode returning from Halo 3 which allows you to modify  maps with limited supplies and play on them with pals. Forge has been vastly improved, as you can now create structures. Lastly, there's Theater, in which you can watch and edit films of recent sessions, and pause to take screenshots of your favorite moments. Pics, films, maps, and custom game types can all be uploaded to the File Share for other Reach players to enjoy. You are still able to recommend a file to all your friends by selecting a single option, You can now obtain credits (cR) in order to purchase various items and also level up. This includes armor, which is just to look awesome; Firefight voices, if you don't enjoy Noble Six's voice in Firefight; and armor effects. There are daily challenges that give you a chance to earn cR. However, a large amount of these challenges can only be completed by playing Matchmaking, which I only sometimes. Your military rank can now be increased outside of Matchmaking, so you don't need to play Matchmaking for people to know how good you are.  There is a handful of new weapons, including the designated marksman rifle (DMR), the grenade launcher, the target locator (human weapons), the Plasma Repeater, the Plasma Launcher, and the Concussion Rifle (Covenant weapons). However, it's missing a few old favorites, such as the battle rifle, the submachine gun (human), the carbine, the beam rifle, and the Brute shot (Covenant).  You can't even dual-wield handguns (nor could you in Halo 3: ODST, released the previous year)! There are two new vehicles: the Falcon, a helicopter with two turrets (human), and the Revenant, a sleek, red vehicle equipped with a plasma mortar, boosters, and a passenger seat (Covenant). But the game is missing the Hornet (human), the Chopper, and the Prowler (Covenant). Even so, it's more important what a game does have over what it doesn't. However, the game suffers from occasional but brief frame rate drops despite the annoyingly lengthy load times, which are there to pre-load the games and prevent lag. Last of all, and this is self-explanatory if you've played a Halo game, the aforementioned visuals and orchestrated soundtrack are absolutely amazing. Halo games have always had great graphics, but the engine was drastically overhauled over the course of development. Halo 3: ODST doesn't have much on Reach in the visuals department! The vistas are gorgeous, and the character detail has been vastly improved. Examples of this are the dents and scratches on Spartan armor. The musical score is arguably composer Martin O'Donnell's best work yet, and while many of the tracks sound similar, they're all epic and intense. From gameplay, to graphics, to content diversity, there are few times when Halo: Reach ceases to amaze. If you’re an Xbox 360 owner who’s of age to play M-rated games (even though this game shouldn’t be rated M), then this game is a absolute must-have.

Ups
Great campaign
Content diversity

Don't like shooters? Not a problem!
Amazing visuals and soundtrack
New weapons and vehicles
Tons of new content

Downs
Sometimes very difficult
Daily challenges are overly focused on Matchmaking
Missing weapons and vehicles
Lengthy load times

ESRB: M for Mature (DISCLAIMER: I disagree with the Mature rating, as there are just as violent games and movies with lower age ratings) (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains intense violence, large amounts of realistic blood, bad language, and scary scenes) Content: Blood, Language, and Violence Price: $19.99 (Retail)

Destiny Review

Destiny

Publisher: Activision Developer: Bungie Platform: Xbox 360 Players: MMO Release: 2014 Genre: First-Person Shooter / RPG Rating: 8.8 \ 10.0: Fantastic

Above is a Warlock unleashing a nova bomb, its Super Charged attack.

From the company behind the Halo franchise (up until Halo 4) comes another sci-fi shooter, which is an MMO, interestingly enough. The story begins in the present, when astronauts discover  an alien being on Mars. The discovery of this being is followed by the Golden Age, an era of peace, exploration, and technological advancement. During this period, humankind spreads throughout the Solar System and develops colonies on other planets. After several centuries, the humans are pursued by alien races that seek to extinguish the power that the aforementioned alien being, the Traveler possesses that is known only as Light.  These aliens drive humankind nearly to extinction. This power is wielded by a group known as the Guardians, who are now the human's only defense against the "Darkness" wielded by the aliens. Following the "Collapse", a group of Guardians are salvaged by the Traveler, and are gathered on Earth at a place known as the Tower. You assume the role of a long-deceased Guardian who has been revived by a Ghost. A Ghost is floating AI that much resembles Halo character 343 Guilty Spark in appearance, and is very similar to Cortana in its purpose. This and other elements from the Halo series are present in this game.

You must pick from one of three classes, each of which offer two subclasses. Your options are Titan, a bulky class that draws influence from Halo's Master Chief and Stormtroopers from Star Wars; Warlock, which uses attacks that resemble magic; and Hunter, which is based on "space cowboys", particularly Han Solo. Each class has an extremely powerful Super Charged attack that can be used after a meter gradually fills, which can be sped up by getting kills. This attack is used by pressing the left and right bumpers simultaneously. Each subclass also has its own melee attack and grenades. I prefer the Warlock class, because the scatter grenades and nova bomb Super Charged attack are very effective at clearing groups. That's just my opinion. After you complete the first mission, you are taken to the Tower, located in the last city on Earth. The Tower will serve as your hub for many things. You can purchase weapons, speak to the master Cryptarch decode engrams, accept bounties (side-quests and challenges), store gear, speak to the Vanguards, who are the highest-ranked of the Guardians, purchase new vehicles from the shipwright, and many other activities.

As you advance, the Vanguard of your class, the Gunsmith, and the Cryptarch will give you rewards. Weapons and armor can also be earned as a reward for completing an objective, a reward from completing a mission, or from opening a loots chest. There are hundreds of weapons and pieces of armor to obtain. You can hold three weapons at once: A Standard weapon, a Special weapon, and a Heavy weapon. Any equipment that is ranked Uncommon or rarer can be upgraded. You will also eventually obtain a vehicle that can be summoned anytime aboveground. You start off with a Sparrow, which looks and sounds just like a Landspeeder from Star Wars. The rewards yielded from leveling up usually are not that great, but it's very satisfying you get to higher levels and gain access to Legendary and Exotic gear. When I became level 20, I was thrilled to finally be able to use a Legendary machine gun that I had been holding onto for what seemed like forever, and was also rewarded with Legendary boots that had more defense points than my chest armor! There are three types of missions: Story missions, which progress the game's plot; Strikes, which are "boss raids" that must be played with the assistance of two fellow players and require Xbox Live Gold; and Patrols, which allow you to explore the world freely and complete small objectives as you go. Everywhere you go, you'll likely encounter other Destiny players, as this is an online game. It's not uncommon to stumble upon another player's battle, and enjoy helping out a player in need. By pressing the arrows on the controller's D-pad, you are able to dance, point, lie on the ground, and perform another action based on your class. If you're facing the direction of another player when you activate one of these emotes, it will be brought to their attention on their screen. Each of the game's three enemy factions are reminiscent of those in Halo. The Fallen are similar to the Covenant, the Hive are similar to the Flood, the Vex are similar to the Sentinels and Prometheans, and the Cabal are similar to Brutes and Jackals. If you don't really fancy completing missions, you can head down to the Crucible for some PvP action. The Crucible is enjoyable, but it's very unbalanced due to the fact that higher level players have extremely powerful weapons and armor and are often put in games with players they can easily dominate. The game's visuals are beautiful, and push the Xbox 360 to its graphical limits. Anyone seeking the most visually impressive version of Destiny will be satisfied with buying the game for any console, as the new-generations. versions bear no noticeable improvement over there previous-gen counterparts. Many of the game's muscial tracks are good, but the score is inferior to Martin O'Donnell's work with the Halo series, as this is one of his weaker performances, in my opinion. This will also likely be Marty's last soundtrack, as he has been terminated from Bungie's staff "without cause".

Destiny is another great sci-fi shooter from Bungie, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. How could I be unhappy with the spiritual successor to the better Halo games? This game is certainly not without flaws. My explanation of the plot makes it clear that the story is clichéd at parts, and much is left unexplained. Furthermore, the game updates too frequently, with the occasional compatibility packs taking hours to upload. The servers occasionally suffer connection issues, which possibly the largest annoyance. Do you know how frustrating it is to be told five times in a row that "Destiny has lost connection to your partner services", despite the fact that I have perfect Internet connection when playing online in other games? At that point, I just pop in one of Bungie's Halo games and hope tomorrow will go smoother. You'll meet plenty of people when playing the game on the 360, but there is no cross-system play, which limits your social experience. Those seeking to play with others will prefer to play on another system, as I can only assume that the Xbox 360 version has the least players. This is because not only do people prefer new-gen systems nowadays, but PlayStation owners get additional content, which I hate! The less players there are, the longer it takes to make matches. Those who love the game can download its first expansion, The Dark Below, for $20. Destiny isn't as good as Halo, but it still is incredible. It's oozing with potential, but it's got a few flaws that need fixing. Any Halo fan that misses Bungie's work on the series such as myself will be satisfied.

Ups
Tons of gear to unlock
Awesome Super Charged moves
Satisfying progression
Various mission types
Lots of Halo influences
Social features

Downs
Clichéd and partly unexplained story
Updates are too frequent
Occasional server connectivity issues
Xbox 360 version has least players
PlayStation versions have more content.

ESRB: T Content: Animated Blood and Violence Price: $59.99 (Retail)

Halo: Reach (PC) Review

Halo: Reach (PC)

Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Bungie (Original) / 343 Industries Platform: PC Release: 2019 Players: 1-16 (Varies by mode) Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 9.0 \ 10.0: Excellent

Above is the game running at a high field of view with a centered crosshair, which is only possible in thus port.

NOTE: This review will mostly be comparing the original version of Halo: Reach to this port, rather than evaluating Reach as a whole. For my more detailed but slightly outdated thoughts on the game, check here.

I've been a huge Halo fan for years, but my interest in console gaming, especially when it comes to Xbox, has significantly reduced since getting a gaming PC in 2016. Because of this, I was absolutely thrilled by the announcement that Halo: The Master Chief Collection would be coming to Steam, now including Halo: Reach, my favorite first-person shooter of all time and the only main game in the series to have not yet been added to the compilation. The prospect of being able to play one of my favorite games at a high resolution, framerate, and field of view with my preferred method of input on my current favorite platform was extremely exciting, and I felt more anticipation for this port than I have for most other games. My sky-high expectations were not quite met, but I am definitive satisfied with the end product.

Almost every bit of content from the original release is present, including the great campaign, every multiplayer map (DLC included), and the excellent horde mode, Firefight. The only significant omission as of the time of writing is the map-editor, Forge, which will be added in the future. Other minor features, such as the File Share browser, the campaign co-op and multi-team matchmaking playlists, and the daily challenges have also been left out, but these are by no means deal-breaking changes. The most disappointing exclusion, and one that is not guaranteed to return like Forge mode, is split-screen play. Given the sheer number of indie games available on PC that are intended to be played with friends by your side, it surprises me that PC ports of triple-A games more often than not choose to omit the ability to play in split-screen even when it is available in the console versions, and Reach is sadly the latest victim of this trend. This may not be a necessary feature, but Halo is a series that is much more closely associated with local multiplayer than most others, so I was hoping that it would return in this port.

The most obvious changes in this port are the technical improvements; as mentioned previously, you can play the game at a high resolution and framerate if your PC can handle it, and the game has run without any hitches for me. It even performed smoothly on my fairly weak laptop, which was a present surprise. Although this is a well optimized port, the lack of graphical options is baffling - the only settings that can be tweaked are the resolution and the overall graphical quality, which is ridiculously bare-bones in a day and age in which most PC ports allow to modify every aspect of thee visuals, from anti-aliasing to texture detail to shadow quality. To give the developers some slack, the lack of options may bee a result of how difficult this once Xbox 360-exclusive title was to make compatible with hardware it was never meant to run on, but it is disappointing nonetheless.

One of my favorite additions, and one that applies to all games in The Master Chief Collection, is the ability to search for multiple game types at once. I enjoy most modes in Halo, and being able to search for whichever modes I feel like without searching for only one at a time keeps the gameplay varied and reduces queue times. I was mildly annoyed by the fact that selecting any of the variants of Slayer in my search practically guaranteed that I would be placed in nothing but Slayer matches, but this is simply due to the mode's immense popularity.

For the most part, my online matches were free of noticeable lag, but there has been an issue that has appeared in far more of my matches than I would like - kill trading. Despite the majority of the game's weapons being hitscan (meaning that, rather than simulating a projectile, the bullets are programmed to immediately hit their target when the trigger is pulled), it is possible for two players to kill each other at the same time with these weapons. This has happened to me only a few times, but a much more common issue is melee trading - if two players attempt to land a melee death blow at about the same time, it's more than likely that both of them will die. This has happened to me dozens of times, and despite not seeing many reports of this phenomenon online, all my friends with whom I've played the game have experienced this as well. This isn't a game-breaking issue in my eyes, but is could definitely turn PC players who are less tolerant of technical issues like this away from the game.

Some features have been altered rather than removed, most notably the progression system. Reach has many detractors for a variety of reasons, but one aspect of the original game that was near-universally liked was the credits system. Players earned credits for playing every mode in the game that functioned as both experience points and currency. These credits were spent on new armor pieces for players' customizable Spartans, and more pieces became available to purchase as players' leveled up by earning more credits. The prices of armor pieces were unreasonably high at times, but this is still a functional system. Some major changes have been made to the progression system in this port; you can earn experience points exclusively through matchmade games, and will receive one season token upon leveling up. All the armor pieces from the original release are still present, but they are now unlocked in an entirely linear order reminiscent of the battles passes present in a variety of contemporary titles. One season token can be exchanged for a piece of armor that is unlocked in a set order. You must buy a piece to be able to buy the next, thus rendering the tokens a completely pointless middleman. Although I am grateful that Reach's excellent customization was not compromised for its MCC remaster in the same manner as Halo 3 and 4, I am disappointed by this new unlock system that removes all the player agency that was present in the Xbox 360 version.

Overall, the PC version of Halo: Reach is absolutely worth purchasing. It has its issues, but the already excellent gameplay has been enhanced by the visual upgrade with very few downsides. Whether you've played the game extensively or never touched a Halo game before, this is a port that is definitely worth checking out.

Ups
Keyboard and mouse controls feel fantastic

Support for uncapped framerates, 4K, and high field of view

Almost all gamemodes, maps, and DLC are present
Multiple multiplayer modes can be searched for at once
The gameplay has remained practically untouched

Downs
Minor features from the original release were omitted
Lack of graphical options
Completely linear armor unlock system
Server issues lead to frequent kill trades

ESRB: M Content: Blood, Mild Language, and Violence Price: $9.99 (Digital)

Halo 2 Review

Halo 2

Publisher: Microsoft Developer: Bungie Platform: Microsoft Xbox Release: 2004 Players: 1-2 (Campaign), 2-16 (System Link / Online) Genre: First-Person Shooter Rating: 9.1 \ 10.0: Excellent

Above is Master Chief battling Covenant at a temple with a battle rifle

In late 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved was released alongside the Xbox to much acclaim from both gamers and critics. In 2004, along came the sequel. The game's plot resumes right after the end of Combat Evolved, with the Halo destroyed and the UNSC celebrating their victory. The game opens in the Covenant's mobile capital city, High Charity. Thel Vadam, the Elite shipmaster that led the attack on reach, has been put on trial by the Prophets of the Covenant. The Elite is stripped of his rank and branded a heretic for failing to protect the Halo. Meanwhile, the Covenant launch an attack on Earth, and it's up to Master Chief to stop them.

The campaign has a twist-- for the first and only time in the series, you get a glimpse of the other side of the war, as several missions put you in the shoes of the new Arbiter, the disgraced Thel. The Elite shipmaster was absolved of his heretic status and made the Arbiter by the Prophet of Mercy. The Arbiter is a Covenant warrior that is chosen to gain honor through death. The Arbiter's missions include killing the leader of the heretics and retrieving an artifact called the Index from a newly discovered Halo. Some of the missions face the Arbiter with battling the human and Covenant victims of the zombielike parasite, the Flood. When the Arbiter isn't fighting Flood, he's battling the Covenant, because (minor spoiler alert), the duties of the Elites become the Brutes', and the Prophet of Mercy orders a genocide of the race, sending most Elites into hiding, and the Brutes on a hunt. This entry in the series introduces many new weapons (most notably the battle rifle and the SMG), as well as the ability to dual-wield handguns (why remove that from the series, why?). The mechanic of hijacking has also been added. It feels super satisfying to kick an enemy off its Ghost or ripping a passenger out of a Warthog, and even more satisfying to cram a grenade down the cockpit of a tank and watch it explode or to tear a pilot from its Banshee.

The plot of this game is by far the most intriguing in the series. The campaign is not only the one of the most difficult, but one of the most entertaining in the series, in my experience-- except for the mission Quarantine Zone. When you're not playing the campaign, you can engage in two-to-four player competition in Split-Screen mode, or up to 16 players via system link. There's also the new Xbox Live mode, which allows players to play team matches in a variety of sub-modes against other Xbox Live users from around the globe. This mode has been credited with defining modern matchmaking. Sadly, the mode was discontinued in 2010, along with the original Xbox Live service. I will never get to experience this mode in its original form, but I have since been able to play a near-perfect emulation in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The game features visuals that hold up well today, and rank among the best of the sixth generation. The soundtrack is spectacular, and even some of the rock songs such as the Mjolnir Mix of the Halo theme and "Follow" (by the band Incubus) are enjoyable. Although the campaign is very fun, it's occasionally very frustrating, and I can't imagine how insane Legendary difficulty is (I assume one-hit-deaths abound and individual checkpoints taking hours to reach). Additionally, sorry if this somehow spoils things, the campaign's cliff-hanger ending is disappointing. Even so, there's no denying that Halo 2 is a classic sci-fi shooter that can't be missed by fans, and if you weren't able to play the game back in 2004, it's still worth playing now.

Ups
Fun campaign
Great plot with surprising twists
You get to play as the Arbiter
Great visuals (for the sixth generation, that is)
New Xbox Live mode(?)

Downs
Rock tracks not as good as orchestrated ones
Inconveniently located health meter
Frustrating campaign (yes, it's fun at the same time)
Disappointing cliff-hanger ending

ESRB: M (DISCLAIMER: I disagree with the Mature rating, as there are just as violent games and movies with lower age ratings) (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains intense violence, large amounts of realistic blood, bad language, and scary scenes) Content: Blood & Gore, Language, and Violence Price: $19.99 (Retail)

Half-Life 2 Review

Half-Life 2

Publisher: Valve Developer: Valve Platform: PC Release: 2004 Genre: First-Person Shooter / Puzzle Rating: 9.3 \ 10: Excellent

Above is Gordon battling Antiloins on the coast of Highway 17

Whether the best PC games of all time or even the greatest games in general are being discussed, Half-Life and its sequel are bound to be brought up. In 1998, the classic first-person shooter revolutionized the genre by introducing a fascinating style of storytelling and setting high standards for setpiece moments in future action titles. A few years later, Halo: Combat Evolved refined this concept, and a few years after that, a sequel came along and, to an extent, perfected scripted shootouts. Let me begin by saying that I feel that Half-Life 2 is a tad bit overrated. While it is a spectacular experience, it has too many flaws for me to consider it the greatest game of all time as so many others do, and I'll explain these issues later.

The game begins with a speech from the mysterious G-Man. Around two decades after placing protagonist Gordon into stasis at the end of the previous game, the interstellar agent decides to wake the silent scientist. Now seeing the world through the eyes of Freeman, you are suddenly placed aboard a train getting off at an eastern-European city. This, as scientist-turned overseer Dr. Wallace Breen will soon inform you via a massive screen, is City 17. Quite a lot has changed since Gordon unintentionally opened a portal to an alien world at the Black Mesa science facility. An alien race known as the Combine took notice of this and invaded Earth, and they managed to force the planet to surrender in a matter of seven hours. They're now draining the planet of its resources, and the remaining population has been forcibly spread out among an unknown amount of numbered cities where they live in pseudo-slavery. The enslaved humans now have to decide between facing unfair beatings and raids by the Combine Overwatch's Civil Protection forces or risk death by attempting to escape from the cities. A Suppression Field surrounding the city prevents human reproduction, which is why you won't see a single child throughout your journey. Soon after getting off the train, Gordon is taken into an interrogation room by a Combine soldier who reveals himself to Barney, who once worked as a security guard at Black Mesa and was the protagonist of the Half-Life expansion Blue Shift. Barney uses a video terminal to call  Dr. Kleiner, one of Gordon's fellow Black Mesa scientists who is thrilled to see them both. After making his way through the streets of the city, Gordon enters an apartment building where he witnesses the wrath of Civil "Protection" firsthand, and soon finds himself running across the rooftops while being pursued by armed Metrocops. He is cornered by the Combine and struck with an electrified baton, temporarily blinding him, but is rescued by an unseen figure who is revealed to be Alyx Vance, daughter of another of one of Gordon's coworkers, Eli. She escorts the scientists to Kleiner's lab, where he is finally reacquainted with his Hazardous Environment Suit. All is well, and the group is preparing to teleport to the hidden Black Mesa East facility where they'll meet up with Eli; but Kleiner's pet Headcrab Lamaar messes with the teleporter, sending Gordon to a variety of locations, | including Breen's office. Gordon is spotted, and the Overwatch is alerted of his presence. He finally ends up outside the lab, where Barney tosses him his trusty crowbar and bids him good luck in making it to Black Mesa East. This lengthy introduction sequence, although fairly slow, was surprisingly fun and captivating. Looking back, I think the main thing that kept me content during the intro is HL2's attention to detail; most of the citizens have a thing or two to say when you get near them, almost every object not rooted to the ground can be interacted with in some way, and angering the metrocops is super fun. There are even two achievements that you earn by either obeying or rebelling against a Metrocop who prompts you to throw a can into a trash bin. However, the game isn't paced slowly for much longer. After a couple more minutes, you'll come across a couple being cornered by a pair of CPs, and you'll finally get your hands on a pistol.

It is from this point that you'll get to experience one of my favorite aspects of Half-Life 2: the combat. There's almost always a creative way to approach each encounter, whether you decide to conserve ammo by shooting a conveniently placed explosive barrel (of which there are too many to count littered throughout the campaign, but blowing stuff up is fun, so I can't complain) or fling crates using the Gravity Gun you will acquire partway through the game. Another thing I appreciate about HL2 is that the firefights require you to think before you act; as much as I enjoy other sci-fi shooters such as Halo and Destiny, being able to fully regenerate your health after avoiding fire for several seconds detracts heavily from the tension shooters should have. While Gordon can take an unbelievable amount of punishment even on "Hard" difficulty, all injuries will remain unhealed until he can find a medkit or a health station. This allows you to learn from your mistakes, and soon enough you'll go from charging at turret tripods, crowbar in hand to strategically lobbing grenades at them from behind the protection of a wall. You don't have to be extremely careful, though; the HEV Suit will absorb more than half of the damage caused by projectiles that strike you until its energy is depleted, at which point you'll need to find an energy capsule or charging station. However, the suit can't protect you from long falls or drowning. The way weapons are used in the Half-Life franchise is unique among shooters as well; rather than being limited to only a couple firearms at once like most games in the genre nowadays, you can hold onto every single one of the near dozen weapons you come across and switch between them on the fly. As an avid Halo fan, I was initially thrown off by this feature, but came to enjoy it very much. I only have a few complaints with this aspect of the game when compared with the original Half-Life: First off, the arsenal is smaller than the original game's, and the few new weapons (with the exception of the Gravity Gun) are either carbon copies of or are very similar to old ones. Also, despite the shorter length, there are more sequences when you are encouraged to use certain weapons then I would like, and the hints as to what tool in your arsenal will be the most useful at a given time are far from subtle.

If you went into to Half-Life 2 knowing nothing about it, you may be shocked to hear that it was released in 2004 -- this game is a technical marvel. This was the first game to use Valve's Source engine, and the results are beyond stellar for an early-2000s game. The graphics are what stand out the most. The character models and textures may no longer look stellar, but the realistic facial expressions of NPCs are impressive to this day, the environments are thoroughly detailed, and the water looks practically real! (And when a game makes you talk about how good the water looks, you know it's doing something right). This is also one of the first titles to employ the sophisticated Havoc physics engine. The aforementioned Gravity Gun is one off the most accurate examples of Newton's Laws ever seen in a game. Havoc also allows for hilarious ragdoll deaths. However, I sometimes felt that Valve was trying  too hard to show off the power of its fancy new engine, as evidenced by the physics-based puzzles sprinkled throughout the campaign which bring your journey to a halt and serve no purpose but to show that the Source engine can successfully emulate the physics of a makeshift teeter-totter. Additionally, the fact that there is an achievement for completing the mission "We Don't Go to Ravenholm" using only the Gravity Gun does little to hide that the horror-themed level is a glorified showcase of the weapon. While I wish the game didn't flaunt its physics so much, you can't deny the realism.

In addition to being a visual spectacle, HL2 sounds great in every possible way. One element of this game that will never age is the voice acting, which surpasses the quality of some movies; each one of the sci-fi sound effects from the button press to suit recharge the  are as iconic to gamers as Star Wars sounds are to film fans; and the intense techno tunes will help to boost your adrenaline as you battle the Overwatch forces.

I have only a few other complaints about Half-Life 2, first and foremost being that there's not much incentive to replay it. There's no achievement for beating the game on a higher difficulty, and because this is a linear shooter, there's nothing more to discover in subsequent playthroughs other than a few secret areas and brief G-man cameos. However, this is the type of game you play again when you have the time because it's that good. Another issue I have is with the story, of all things. The game has a strong plot, but it's ridiculous how highly regarded Gordon is. In the original Half-Life, Gordon was an every-man. He may have slain an evil alien overlord, but he was just a normal scientist like everyone else at Black Mesa. Now everyone from Gordon's coworkers to the NPCs treat him as some sort of messiah (which is even explicitly referenced by Breen). My last quibble is that the campaign ends on a massive cliffhanger, and the story ark's conflict hasn't been solved even after the release of two additional episodes. (Chances are you've heard of the "Half-Life 3 confirmed" meme)

Overall, Half-Life 2 is an incredible game that should easily appeal to fans of shooters, sci-fi or otherwise. The visuals, physics, story, and combat have all aged gracefully, and at a price of only $9.99, you have little reason not to experience what some call the greatest game ever made.

The System Difference: There are also a couple technical inferiorities exclusive to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game available via The Orange Box (I originally played the game on 360). The first disadvantage of playing the game on a console is that the load times are longer than what the vast majority of PC hard drives are capable of. The other thing I noticed is that there were occasionally very brief framerate drops when one or more explosion was onscreen at a time. The PS3 port, which was clumsily developed by Electronic Arts, reportedly has much worse frame rate issues. If you own a computer that's several years old or less, it will probably be able to run Half-Life 2 on high graphical settings, but if you're not one for playing on computers, the console version will suffice. Besides, the controller vibration in the console version adds a little to the experience.

Also available on Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PlayStation 3 (via The Orange Box bundle)

ESRB: M (PARENTAL WARNING: This game contains intense violence, large amounts of realistic blood, swearing, and frightening scenes) Content: Blood & Gore, Language, and Intense Violence Price: $9.99 (Standalone) / $19.99 (The Orange Box bundle) (Retail / Download)