14 DAY TRIAL // Halo: The Master Chief Collection is set to be launched in less than two months on the Xbox One and the development team at 343 Industries says that this is one of the most ambitious titles that it has created, designed to appeal to both long-term fans of the franchise and to newcomers.
Frank O’Connor, the leader of the team, says that his team envisioned a new version of the classic titles in the franchise since it was working on the Anniversary edition of the first one, but lacked the resources to create one until now.
He tells VG247 that the new package will be appealing to collector’s because it offers a range of new experiences and details about the universe, while newcomers can experience the entire story at once if they have the time and the energy to follow all of Master Chief’s adventures.
O’Connor states, “And there’s another set of people we tend not to identify, which is weird: maybe you only got into Halo with Halo 3 on the 360, and you missed Halo 1 and 2 completely. I do that with a lot of franchises.”
Xbox One is the best platform for a remake
The Xbox One introduces more hardware power and that means that developers at 343 Industries can easily upgrade the look of the first and second Halo titles in order to make them more appealing to modern audiences.
Less attention will be lavished on the third experience because it already looks pretty good and includes a range of features that the other two titles lack.
Frank O’Connor adds, “Halo 2 Anniversary is probably the most ambitious piece of this offering. Because we remastered all the campaign; we redid all the audio, all the music; we’ve got switch mode; and a bunch of new stuff in there, including an entirely new multiplayer mode that was built from scratch.”
Halo 5 is coming next year
Halo: The Master Chief Edition is set to arrive on November 11 on the Xbox One, and the team at Microsoft has been promoting the fact that gamers who pick it up will be able to see the new Nightfall live action series, which will offer more details about the universe, and will get rewards for the next title in the series.
Halo 5: Guardians, which will include both a new story and new mechanics, is set to arrive on the Microsoft home console in late 2015.
