QCF: Halo 5: Guardians

he Halo franchise is nowhere near the fever pitch that it once was, but that hasn’t stopped 343 from attempting to launch a chapter of the lore that’s worthy of the prestige that most hold the Halo dynasty of games in.

Halo 4 yielded a mixed response of sorts from the community at large, but there was a universal consensus on thing, and that was some of the bold changes that the studio took to the series in both gameplay, and narratively.

Halo 5: Guardians is no exception; I would go further as to say that 343 may have finally nailed it with this entry, and may have finally outdone what many consider to be Bungie’s (albeit underrated) Magnum Opus to the franchise that was Halo Reach.

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QCF: Halo: The Master Chief Collection

efore military shooting affairs were all the rage, Microsoft penned all of its hopes on a series, one that  eventually become the flagship brand that defined it—a space marine fantasy filled with as many guns, aliens, and bits of action that could fit on to the disc; Halo set the first-person shooting genre on fire.

That was then though, and like it or not, the shooter landscape has long moved on from the prime of Bungie’s galactic odyssey, and even in spite of 343’s development of Halo 5; the relevance of the franchise is arguably still up in the air as far as mainstream shooting appeal is concerned.

Enter the Master Chief Collection, an ambitious collection that containing upgraded revisions of the four main titles, complete with online integration that allows for a combination of the various elements and nuances of from each entry to experiment and customize with.

Indeed, questioning the value offered within this arrangement of games itself, is a hard-pressed argument to counter; but considering the jump to better hardware and age of these particular games being hyped here—the expectations are respectively loftier the second time around.

So it’s sad to say that when it comes down to it—The Master Chief Collection barely justifies it’s worth beyond being anything more than a budget bundle with a savvy price tag—the reality is that it’s simply a glorified revision of games that scantly improve upon the originals that we’ve all played to death years ago.

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