Fahzgoolin

I bought an Xbox One just for this and per-ordered the collection. I think the longevity of this collection will be a lot longer than Halo 4.

Halo 2 for sure. I will be going into Halo 1 and Halo 3 on the side for sheer enjoyment, but for hardcore weekends...Halo 2 baby

I decided to post it because Frank muddied the waters in an IGN interview where he said that it will be cross-game matchmaking. In the context of the question and answer many got the impression, including myself, that there wasn't an option to just go into a Halo 2 matchmaking hopper. Praise the sun indeed my friend

This is SUCH great new for me...this is what really irked me and they are listening! Source: https://twitter.com/Brav/status/476135947277324288

I really hope they eventually add a stand alone matchmaking hopper for each game, so you don't always have to play a different game each time you go into matchmaking. Part of what makes Halo so satisfying is mastering it. Each game is a drastic enough change from each iteration that switching to each game would be extremely jarring and probably annoying... I remember when I was still in love with Halo 2 and then jumping to Halo 3 was awful. I would suck for the first 30 minutes at least because you had to lead your BR shots, you had to aim more for the neck area, and you could no longer "swipe shot" the sniper as easily as you could in Halo 2. Halo 3 felt slower and heavier while Halo 2 felt more fast paced. Imagine jumping in playing Blood Gulch in Halo CE and then playing a Team Slayer game in Halo 4. I honestly would hate it so much. Lets hope there are easy ways to find custom games, like a server browser, so we don't have to be locked into that one matchmaking system...

Yeah man, I really hope they consider re-implementing it. Landing a plasma grenade on someones face and hearing them yell profanities is just so satisfying.

Apparently the original maps will NOT be remastered--just scaled to 1080p with no new textures/skins. It will be the pure Halo 2 experience online--good or bad idk. Only the select few (5 or 6) maps will be re-imagined like stated above. So far Zanzibar, Lockout and Ascension are confirmed. As for the art style in Halo 2 Anniversary campaign..from what I saw the Cairo station looked great. Yeah, it's not a texture to texture remaster, but a new skin with more modern Halo art sensibilities...Halo CE anniversary did that as well and I think it turned out great. If you aren't a fan of it, at least you get to play the original in 1080p and 60fps which is already a great bonus and worth replaying them just for that IMHO.

Dude proximity chat is so needed. I don't know why they stopped after Halo 2. It added so much tension and hilarity in almost every game. Prowling around and hearing what the enemy is saying is just so freaking AWESOME. WHY OH WHY DO THEY REMOVE THESE GREAT FEATURES. lol

I don't know what the fuss is about. You usually can't have certain skulls on to do a legendary run. Either way, who cares...if someone wants infinite ammo to cheeze through the campaign and ruin it for themselves, let them.

Frank I think is referring to it in a very layman's terms sort of way, which is why we are quoting him. It seems that some of the actual geometry is shifted due to them raising the resolution to 1080p. Some minor geometry had to be changed apparently, which in turn "shifts some pixels" which is why some super bounces might not work. And look, we all love Halo, and want our classics back. It's no different than, say, Valve making a new Counter Strike. The core game is very similar, but with better graphics. Many Counter Strike players refuse to budge to a newer title. Minor changes to some are MAJOR changes to many. So yes, we are more than willing to pick up an outstanding package filled with all of our favorite games running at a higher resolution and frame rate, with NO HOST PEER TO PEER advantages, dedicated servers and the same multiplayer experience we MISS and love.

I know some people above answered, but I figured I would chime in as well because I share the same concerns you have. 1.) They said they are looking into system link, but said it's more complicated now and have to work out some issues before they consider it to make it into the final product. Hopefully system link can occur so competitive play (like MLG) could once again play Halo 2 or Halo 3 for competitive. 2.) Split screen is actually confirmed and they are even adding online co-op to Halo 2. 3.) I hated this too at first. In fact I was super pissed. Frank mentioned, I believe in the IGN interview, that because of Xbox One's enhanced connectivity with the community and the use of dedicated servers, custom games will be easy to find and join out in the wild. That means if you want some Halo 2 team snipers on Terminal and Headlong, you will probably be able to find it. Also, the community behind all of this is pretty massive, so you could assume you could easily find Halo 2 MLG games etc. Frank also said that there will be an option to use control schemes that can be used in all games so it's not so jarring. 4.) Yeah that sucks too. However I don't remember them giving the exact reasons for not including them. 5.) It has been confirmed that all the glitches should remain in tact, except a few might not work because they relied on a few pixels just in the right spot, and is not something that is easily recreated due to it being a problem with the Havoks physics engine. Frank said that when they upped it to 1080p, pixels shift and move and it causes some super bounces to possibly not work. As a side note, it's entirely possible that since it's running on the same engine, new super bounces might be found. 6.) The Halo 2 ranking system would be nice, but maybe that have something better? Also, since it seems to be a unified matchmaking experience, having a strict ranking system like Halo 2's spread over the broad range of Halo games would be rather terrible IMO. They would have to give a separate rank just for Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo CE. 343 cares about the playlists, but doesn't want some of them to end up vacant. Remember what happened to Halo 3 when it received a ton of new playlists? The community was spread thin and it was hard to find matches, which sucked. In the end, the unified system will probably be for the best. If you want good competitive play, start up some customs or find one in the game of your choice. I'm sure many, including myself, would be anxious to play Halo 2 all day long for weeks. I share your same concerns man, and I hope some better solutions get put in place. But honestly, I think this whole thing is an outstanding value anyways and it's PRIMARILY there for everyone to experience all of the story at once before Halo 5 lands. Frank admitted during the IGN interview that they will learn or take into consideration the behavioral patterns of the community and what they seem to prefer. This will help influence game decisions in Halo 5.

May you please provide a source to that? I would be thrilled if all the maps are indeed remastered..however from the sources that I have seen (including HaloWaypoint screenshots), there doesn't appear to be any evidence that the original/classic maps are indeed getting a graphical overhaul. Thanks man

Thank you for your insight, if valid (no sources, but that's okay). I am certainly not complaining, this deal is astounding to me. I don't feel like asking for more restricted play lists per Halo game sounds like too much to ask though. It would seem to be more work to do the cross-play feature (which I am excited to use, mind you). I'm sure I won't mind playing on the old maps, but I would like them to be re textured, much like the campaign is. This is where having this game on the PC would be great...would allow the same game to be updated by the community through mods forever.

the fact that they aren't remastering some of the multiplayer maps to maintain the same fidelity of the campaign is dissapointing to me. It's not going to keep me from buying the game, it just seems like a missed opportunity. Let's just hope Halo 5's multiplayer is more like Halo 1-3. Keep loadouts and armor abilities out (Frank has confirmed armor abilities are not in Halo 5). thanks for the good post

Interesting...cuz I read at several websites that there will be original Halo 2 multiplayer maps, but only 5 will get the anniversary treatment. If that is the case, that's very disappointing to me. For example: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo-the-master-chief-collection The only map that looks updated is the accension one, terminal looks the same as it always has. Also, the above tweet seems to clarify that there is specific matchmaking, as "voting for a map" (in the context of the question) is only in matchmaking itself. I really hope so. Being forced to play Halo 2 matchmaking and them jump into Halo 4 would drive me nuts if I'm not in the mood for that.