I would like to share my thoughts on MCC. It is a bit lengthy but it is from the heart and unbiased. If you're interested, read through and see what you think.
Lets begin with the pros. Regardless of if you want to like it or believe it, there are many positives to The MCC.
Halo: CE is playable on a home console over Xbox Live. This in and of itself is worthy of a purchase at full price alone. The game that started it all runs at a smooth 60 frames per second and is just as fun as it ever was before. Matchmaking also seems to be the most seamless here. Finding and getting into games is relatively quick and easy. When it comes to CE, my complaints are minimal. In fact, I only have one truly legitimate complaint while all others are just a matter of me wanting it my way. More on that in the cons portion.
Halo 2. Probably my all time favorite Halo but its close between it and CE. Either way, the Anniversary is quite amazing. The campaign cutscenes are top notch. Blur who did them for Halo 4 is back and they've really outdone themselves. Those guys have most certainly earned the seal of approval. The Anniversary multiplayer is not a direct port of Halo 2. Instead, they brought back old maps and really polished them well. The Anniversary looks gorgeous, sounds really good, and plays at 60 frames consistently. By consistently I mean I have around 25-30 hours on it and have never seen even the faintest glimpse of slow-down. Between Halo: CE and Halo 2 Anniversary, The MCC is the best bang for your buck deal in gaming right now. Possibly ever but that's debatable.
Halo 3. I actually have not played any campaign or a single multiplayer match on it. I had 2 or 3 level 50 accounts and ran through the campaign back on 360 but for the purpose of this assessment, I cannot give pros or cons on it.
Halo 4. Again, just like Halo 3, I have played zero multiplayer on it since the 360. However, I have played the campaign and credit should be given where credit is due. This game looks amazing. 343, I am not a fan of the multiplayer and hence stopped playing the game altogether a few years ago but even then it was a sharp looking game on 360. Now, with the power of The Xbox One, it is fully realized. It is gorgeous. Plain and simple. Nothing is wrong with the sights or sounds. Its awesome and I have no reason to knock it. Still not interested in the multiplayer as the sounds and visuals weren't my gripes with it originally. It was the mechanics of the game. So, I'll leave Halo 4 alone and just say that the campaign is pretty much top notch.
Now, for the cons..
Listen, I was about 14 or 15 when I played Halo: CE for the first time. I really don't remember if I got an Xbox for Christmas, birthday, or if I bought it myself. All I know is that when I got it, I got Halo: CE with it. I spent years having massive LAN parties at my house, going to massive LAN parties at other peoples homes. Doing the local competitive tournaments in and around my area and the east coast. In short, I got Halo and i've played every one of them since. I know what im talking about and cannot accept these cons as anything less than developer/franchise leader(s) failure.
Halo: CE
No ranking system. The one playlist that I can count on to work the best and the most often and its left without a ranking. I understand that the focus is left. intentionally on The H2 Anniversary playlist which I play quite a bit of. It's 343s baby as they built it themselves for The MCC. That's their way of promoting it. I get it. I just don't understand how much longer CE and the other playlists are going to remain unranked. My other problem, and the one that irks me the most is the fact that the game does not end the very moment the last person on the opposing team quits. I cannot fathom the logic of the one(s) in charge of the multiplayer who thought it was okay to allow a game to continue despite having nobody except your own teammates to shoot at. So, instead, you're left to quit yourself and take a loss, or spend the longevity of the absent of an enemy team game avoiding betrayal from your inevitably bored teammate(s). In all honesty, they played to shoot at something. In a way, I can't fault them for shooting at me. I mean, the game should be over but for some inexplicably bad reason its not. This problem is so elementary in comparison to the others that it almost seems like laziness or sheer disregard for it. Either way, it's very inconvenient and extremely frustrating.
Halo 2 Anniversary: Lets start with the audio lagging. When the sound works it's quite good. Its loud and crisp. Really makes me feel like im not just playing the Halo 2 remake but that im in an actual war with and against other Spartans. Honestly, this is currently my favorite game on Xbox. The Anniversary is simply badass and a lot of fun. It's much more intense and realistic than its ever been. Its great. Just tell me why when I go to reload my BR there is no audio cue during the animation. I'm reloading and the sound just never happens. I go to upload a video clip from Anniversary, and it saves fine. I watch and listen to it before its uploaded and everything is in sync. I upload and rewatch it and the sound is pretty much always ahead of the visuals. I would say its just me but it only happens during Anniversary. CE and Halo 2 don't have that problem in any of my clips. Every now and then there will be clips of Anniversary that have no sound at all. This glitch or whatever it is isn't a deal breaker but it too is very annoying and likely nowhere near as complex to fix as other issues.
The re-appearing ice and explosives on Lockdown is also a bit much. The shield on Zenith is one thing. The waterfalls on the Sanctuary remake are another. Neither mentioned can kill you. The explosives and the falling ice on Lockdown can. The fact that they are respawning elements is aggravating. Good ideas to have on the map but is it really necessary to have them come back throughout the match? Im a level 25 and i've worked for that legitimately. When I run alone and my teammates are giving up 4-5 deaths each from the elements of the map and we lose because of it, I feel like that's a deterrent on me. I've become aware of the maps little treacherous traps. Apparently not everybody else has. Unfortunately, I get stuck teaming with all of the people who have not.
Why is there a radar? People are gonna camp regardless. Do you know how much easier it makes things when you have a radar, you have sword and/or rockets and you're able to see when people are running up to you? An easy kill becomes even easier. Skill in the only playlist that's ranked now takes a back seat because of that. How ironic, ranking which is supposed to be an indication of skill becomes irrelevant..
Rank resets. My friend has been reset twice now by my count. He is a legitimate player. He doesn't cheat/hack/exploit or anything like that. Why is he being reset? What is he doing that he should stop doing to prevent this again?
Matchmaking and partying up is not impossible but simply improbable most days. You know this. I know this. The whole world knows. No need to really explore that. Please, for the love of all things good and holy, fix this issue. Let me party with my friends. Let us search and play without getting booted/split up. Stop making us hard quit the game every 2 games because "one or more players are not ready for matcmaking" when we just finished a match 30 seconds beforehand with all of the same people.
Halo 3 and 4: Haven't played them on multiplayer. Don't care to. I mentioned that already and I'll mention it again.
Now, for my final cons of The Master Chief Collection. After spending somewhere around 40 hours with MCC, i must say, it is probably the best $60 i've ever spent. When it works. If it was a 100% functional product, it would be worth buying an Xbox One for. It just doesn't work well enough to truly warrant that statement. Could it? Potentially. If 343i makes the proper adjustments then definitely. They did a great job. As frustrated as I am with things, the blueprint is there. They nailed the essence. They just failed in the net code.
Lastly, no Midship. That is just inexcusable.. I don't care that its in Halo 5. That isn't Midship. It's a remade version for Halo 5. The Anniversary should've had it before Halo 5 ever did. That's unfair and it actually makes me feel a little cheated. Midship, Lockout, and Beaver Creek were some of the best maps in H2. Unfortunately, only one of the three is present in Anniversary. Warlock and Sanctuary do help me feel better about things. Zanzibar and Ascension do not. Those 2 maps are not competitive. Look at MLG back during the H2 era. Neither Zanzibar or Ascension were used on the pro circuit. They're silly maps. Plain and simple. Now, part of the compensation for the online failure is a Relic remake.. Relic. Dude, come on.. That is such bull. Im done. You've heard/read/firsthand seen the issues. Please fix them. Thank you.
*Yes, I am aware that this is not 343i's website.
