As some of you know, I took the plunge a few months ago and bought myself an Xbox One. The main drivers being Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2 and the Rare Replay collection. I had also seen some positive buzz for Halo 5 and knew Quantum Break and Gears of War 4 was also on the horizon.
So when I got my Xbox One, Halo 5 was on clearance too so I managed to get a brand new Limited Edition version for under £20, along with Sunset OverDrive for £15 and Rare Replay for £15 and Gears of War's remaster was bundled in as a download with the console.
So on to the topic at hand, I actually bought an Xbox um... original? on release for £299.99, before MS desperately slashed the price within weeks to £199.99 and among the games I bought at launch was Halo, though I really wanted it for Project Gotham Racing and Jet Set Radio Future. I enjoyed Halo, it seemed "alright". Fun to play in multiplayer and the physics were fun to mess around with. But the game itself? Always seemed a bit generic/average.
Fastforward almost 15 years, and I found trying to play Halo 5, that it wasn't really clicking at all. Felt really wtf?! So I decided maybe the right thing to do would be to grab the game I passed on when I got my XB1 due to monies. On Monday I picked up Master Chief Collection for a whopping £12... (that's right, £3 per Halo!) and since then I've spent a lot of time reliving the first Halo.
My impressions surprisingly being far more positive than when I first got my original Xbox back in 2002. This time I played a game that even in 2016, actually felt fun and fresh. The physics satisfying, the large battles feeling epic. The vehicles just fun to drive. And don't get me started on that soundtrack, that "sounded up it's own arse" to me back in 2002. The Halo Anniversary game has actually been the most fun I've had with an FPS in a good while.
The universe and Story, having 4 separate factions by the end of the game all fighting it out against each other makes the scurmishes intense. Every level genuinely progresses the campaign, and adds something different. You can replay each level over and over again to appreciate it does something slightly different with that wonderful game engine.
Maybe it was just too far ahead of it's time for me to truly appreciate originally. But I have to say, re-playing the original Halo has been thrilling, fun and at 60fps? Fluid! Enjoyed every minute of the campaign (the fact I have finished a full campaign in less than a week despite working full time really hammers that home for me)
So Bungie, I'm sorry for always criticising Halo as a mediocre FPS with a great physics engine. I guess I was just too young to truly appreciate just how special this game was.
I hope moving onto Halo 2 will do exactly the same for me! (I never even finished that the first time around)...