The Halo franchise is Legendary and poised to be forever etched into the annals of video game history. Today, we celebrate another momentous occasion for the franchise as the Remastered Halo 2 arrives later today for the PC version of the Master Chief Collection. While many have differing views regarding 343i‘s entries with Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians, both games performed well and maintained a healthy fanbase. One of their biggest and most divisive projects was the jam packed Master Chief Collection, which was originally only available for the Xbox One family of consoles.
The MCC didn’t have the greatest of launches. In fact, the early life of the collection was plagued with such severe networking issues that its multiplayer suite was rendered nearly unusable for a large portion of the player base. Fast forward a few months and 343i managed to vastly improve and negate many issues, finally bringing the collection up to par with its expected level of quality. The remastered campaigns are nothing short of magical. Improved resolutions, framerates, lighting, and overall performance buffs make retreading these classic stories more than worthwhile. Swapping between the original game’s aesthetic then back to its remastered version with the touch of a button will always make me smile.
Multiplayer is just as important to Halo’s DNA as its Sci-Fi space opera narrative. Countless hours have been invested from Combat Evolved all the way through Halo 5 by millions of players, myself included, over the years. However, this was mostly relegated to console owners. On PC/Mac, the only official releases of Halo were for the original game, which was developed by Gearbox Software (Halo CE was then released as a stand alone multiplayer client with dedicated servers), then Halo 2 in 2006 for Windows Vista.
This changed recently as 343i brought the MCC over to Windows 10 and Steam last year in December. Only the remastered Halo CE, followed by the excellent Halo Reach have been available until today. PC players have been chomping at the bit to have more of the core Halo games available, and what better way to sate that hunger than with one of the most popular entries into the series.
Halo 2 is undoubtedly my personal favorite of the franchise and holds some of my fondest multiplayer memories. Mastering the grenade grabbing of Lockout’s Sniper Rifle, locking down your enemies in the second floor hallway of Ivory Tower, making ninja like plays during tense Assault matches on Zanzibar, and groaning in agony as you had to hoof it across Coagulation’s gargantuan landscape were all part of the experience; and we loved it.
H2 also pushed the expectations of how cinematic an FPS campaign could be. In-engine cutscenes highlighting the spectacle of the war and Master Chief’s heroic exploits would bookend huge, multilayered levels filled with all manner of skirmishes that tested the mettle of the most hardened players. Toss in co-op and you have the recipe for a guaranteed hit.
Halo 2 also brought faster gameplay, the ability to dual wield weapons (a first for the franchise), more bombastic story mode set-pieces, a full suite of online mulitplayer modes, and of course everyone’s favorite Sangheili, The Arbiter. This is a good time for the game to hit PC as there haven’t been many traditional FPS experiences lately. Most big titles have been veering towards Battle Royale or Team Based ‘Hero’ genres, so being able to jump into some good ol’ fashioned Rumble Pit and Team Slayer is more than a welcome change. Halo 2 will be available at 8pm PT for PC today via Windows 10, Steam, and is included in Game Pass for Game Pass Ultimate subscription holders.
“There are those who said this day would never come. What are they to say now?”
–Prophet of Truth