Halo: The Master Chief Collection is must-own multiplayer … months from now (review)

What you won’t like

Finding a match

If you have an Internet connection and a heartbeat, no doubt you’ve heard of Halo: The Master Chief Collection’s matchmaking woes. Unfortunately, most of those troublesome stories are true, with multiplayer matchmaking undergoing several stages in the two weeks since launch — all of them some shade of broken.

Initially, it was next to impossible to even find a game, with 15 minute to 30 minute waits the rule rather than the exception. Then with some 343 backend tinkering, more players joining the fray and a reduction in playlists — more on that in a bit — matches started to connect more frequently. But just as quickly as things were beginning to look up, they went to hell again. Halo: The Master Chief Collection has thus far been a collection of frustrating nights spent looking for multiplayer matches that perform as you would expect them to.

Connecting to a match

The good news is you’ve been paired with nine other players. Gears are turning. You’re taken to the match and mode screen where the game type is selected and teams divide. Something’s not right: It’s 6-on-4. When you get into the game, it’s actually 2-on-1, as seven other players succumbed to the matchmaking void and perished in the journey.

While this is an extreme example, it’s indicative of the state of affairs in The Master Chief Collection multiplayer. It’s difficult to describe just where the issues lie, because the assortment of something’s-not-right nagging troubles are as varied as they are spontaneous and fickle. Sometimes, the matchmaking works as intended, and you’re launched into rounds of nearly uninhabited play, but long sessions of faultiness eclipse these moments.

Dwindling lists and lack of ranks

In order to cope with these issues, 343 Industries has pared down the promoted and promised launch playlists to a scant seven options, three of which are centered solely on Halo 2: Anniversary. The effort is to ostensibly funnel more players toward each other, but it comes with the cost of freedom of choice. At the moment, it has no dedicated Halo: Combat Evolved or Halo 4 playlist; they’ve both been removed. What’s available is excellent, as the designers behind Halo have always chosen good map and mode combinations for rotation within a list, but it has a noticeable absence of potential content that is, for the time being, only accessible in custom games. Fortunately, 343 has already demonstrated the flexibility of adding and removing playlists, so this could change wildly in a very short time frame.

Similarly, Halo: The Master Chief Collection touted a rank system reminiscent of the numeric scale in Halo 2 — it’s only available in one playlist. The rest of the playlists are all unranked, which is something of a blessing in disguise as dropped matches, teams stuck with too many players or not enough, and all manner of miscellaneous shenanigans that imbalance and ruin a match are far, far too common to realistically foster a competitive community at this point.

Conclusion

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a fantastic compendium of the high-points in recent shooter history. With four complete multiplayer suites and over 100 maps, it’s more than a bargain, it’s a steal. The groundwork 343 has laid in this colossal experience, the scope of what it might still be, is truly something to admire. If the driving minds behind the collection can dedicate the kind of care and customer attentiveness that’s always been associated with the Halo brand, and pull off the original vision, Halo: The Master Chief Collection multiplayer will easily be deserving of high praise equal to its campaign.

Unfortunately, that’s not the experience on tap at this time. Know that the single-player components of Halo: The Master Chief Collection are excellent and well worth the purchase; however, if you intend to spend months tearing through multiplayer, reliving glory days or forging new conquests in sci-fi shooter perfection, you’re going to be sorely disappointed right now. At best, you may find things beginning to work while you spend the majority of your time in custom games or campaigns; at worst, you’ll be waiting until these matchmaking issues are addressed on an indeterminable timeline.

For everything the Halo: Master Chief Collection multiplayer suite aspires to and might fulfill, it’s enough to hold over understanding and patient players. For those wanting multiplayer mayhem immediately with no interest in the lofty story, you should absolutely wait for a better time to pick it up.

Score: 65/100

Halo: The Master Chief Collection was released Nov. 11 for Xbox One. The publisher provided GamesBeat with a digital copy of the game for the purpose of this review.