The Best Game I Played: April 2018 | Halo: The Master Chief Collection

May 04, 2018

By: Max Cannon

A lot of different games flash across my TV, some of them good and some of them are not so good. If you're looking for a great gaming recommendation you are reading the right article. Each and every month I'll give you the update on my favorite game I played over the last 30 or 31 days. Some of these games will be newer releases and some will be ancient games that I dug out of my dusty old cabinet but they'll always be something I'm passionate about.

This month's game is...

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Halo: The Master Chief CollectionCourtesy of Xbox

Halo is inarguably one of the most important franchises in gaming, and while players aren't as thrilled with the most recent entries in the series as far as single-player campaigns go, the multiplayer legacy of Halo is what gives the games their legendary status. Xbox's flagship series was one of the first to truly standardize how we play online games on console back when Halo 2 took Xbox Live by storm.

The upgrade to Halo 2's cutscenes raises the quality of the story immensely.

Every fan of the Halo series has their own personal crown jewel, maybe you're a fan of the original game or the 360's massively popular Halo 3? Unless you're looking to play Halo 5 or Reach (fingers crossed Reach is added later to the MCC,) The Master Chief Collection is the best bang for your buck way to play Halo, especially now that we've gotten past the game's rocky launch.

What's Old is New

Halo: The Master Chief Collection includes Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4. Though these aren't exclusively simple ports, Halo 3 and 4 both benefit from increased resolution and frame rate while Halo 1 and 2 are the Anniversary versions of the games, meaning that the visuals had been remade from the ground up even though the first game is simply a port of the 360's anniversary game. Halo 2 is obviously the star of the show in this repackaging with new cutscenes, next-gen looking recreations of maps, and even reworked sound, but if you're nostalgic for the truly original experience in either 1 or 2 a simple button press will immediately switch your audio and visuals to the original take (though at a higher frame rate and resolution.)

Aside from the recent Halo 5, every one of the Master Chief's adventures is available in this package.

That's a lot of technical jargon but it basically means that developer 343i went out of its way to make the best possible package of classic Halo games and the recent announcement that the team plans to do even more work on MCC means that it's only going to be better as time goes on.

Halo 5's lower rating means players of all ages got to enjoy it.

Heads up! While these games were initially rated [kwlink 31026]M for Mature[/kwlink] back in the original Xbox days, many could argue that the multiplayer of the series is more family-friendly and similar to something like [kwlink 30993]Fortnite[/kwlink] especially considering the most recent entry in the series got that coveted T rating. So to really decide if the game is appropriate for you, check out the game's ESRB page, check out gameplay, and decide with a parent if the game is age-appropriate for your household.