The download time is a small price to pay for quality

Oct 22, 2014 23:09 GMT  ·  By

Halo: The Master Chief Collection might be just a compilation title, but the experience is one of the biggest launches of the fall season on the Xbox One and the fan community who wants to get to play the remade titles as soon as possible is a little annoyed that it needs to first wait for a 20 GB big day one update to be downloaded and applied.

But Frank O’Connor, who is leading the development process at 343 Industries, claims that the decision to offer such a big patch was made in order to spare gamers from having to get a two-disc package which asks them to continually swap them around.

On NeoGAF, he explains that “The game is designed to run as a single, unified product, digital is seamless obviously, but we also wanted disc users to have the same experience, without swapping discs. Since the bulk of it is MP or MP related, the logic is sound. There will ALSO be a TU in there, but that in itself is a tiny fraction of the content.”

Those who need to wait a while for Halo: The Master Chief Collection to get its update will be able to play all the single-player missions included, which allows them to get re-acquainted with the core mechanics before they jump into multiplayer action.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a quality package that will occupy a lot of play time

O’Connor also says that the inconvenience is balanced by the quality of the experience his team is offering, and he believes that fans will spend a lot of time with the new release.

He adds, “I’ve been playing the whole enchilada for a week now and the ability to sample, jump from aspect to aspect, customize with skulls and playlists has been absolutely addictive and mesmerizing. I think I would have enjoyed a box set with the same fidelity, but the way it all connects has for me at least, made it more than the sum of its parts.”

Halo: The Master Chief Collection will be out on the Xbox One on November 11 and gamers will get remastered versions of the four core titles in the franchise.

Those who pick it up will also gain access to the beta for Halo 5: Guardians and they can also experience the new Nightfall live action series, which explores the origins of Agent Locke and expands the scope of the Halo universe.