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

This review was conducted of the Halo: Master Chief Collection multiplayer suite on multiple networks and Xbox Live accounts over a period of three weeks. GamesBeat previously ran a review of the campaign components upon release. –Ed.

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Halo: The Master Chief Collection could be the best multiplayer experience of next year.

It’s been a turbulent few weeks for 343 Industries, Microsoft Studios, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection, a compilation of sci-fi shooter classics and arguably their biggest release of the year. Since its Nov. 11 launch, the collection’s marquee multiplayer component has been largely dead on arrival. During this time, it’s been difficult to conduct a fair assessment of the Master Chief Collection.

The issues that persist and plague the multiplayer suite cripple half of the Master Chief Collection experience. But 343 Industries’ weekly patches, updates and fixes have began to alleviate some of these ailments. The original vision and promised experience may still be months off, but for now, at least, there appears to be a plan of action.

Despite a matchmaking system that simply does not work to a degree anyone would deem agreeable, I’ve attempted to soak up as much of the intended experience as possible. And amid the muddied cloud of dropped connections, jumbled uneven teams, and a party system that does more to frustrate than foster connections, clear flecks of brilliance shine through.

In those brief but welcome moments, you’ll get a glimpse for what 343 Industries was trying to do and still might deliver. Months from now, Halo: the Master Chief Collection is a no-brainer for fans of multiplayer shooters — but today, it’s just a heartache.

What you’ll like

Everything and the kitchen sink

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is an ambitious and hefty thing. It touts the complete multiplayer trappings from Halos one through four, bound and woven into a singular experience, and synced together through a universal interface. With the exception of Halo: Reach, if you’ve ever heard a story, experienced a moment, or recalled a memory from an online match of Halo multiplayer in the last decade, you can find it in this collection.

So what does that mean exactly? Well, each of the four games are represented in the exact same condition you would have encountered them upon release. You’re able to boot up a match of Capture the Flag in Halo 2 on Zanzibar, and use the exact same strategies you did in 2004. That means every game mode, from every Halo, on any multiplayer map ever appearing in a Halo game can be yours in one connected multiplayer suite. It’s madness.

Something for everyone

That same spirit of all-inclusiveness can be said for the matchmaking playlists that are integral to any Halo multiplayer experience. As a compilation, The Master Chief Collection’s playlists support not only a number of game types, but a number of games themselves. For example, you can hop into the Big Team Battle playlist for large-scale warfare across all four Halo games or stick to a playlist solely composed of Halo 2 multiplayer and its modes.

The obvious downside is that with so much more variety — dozens of modes on over 100 maps across four distinct games — the select combinations of modes, maps, and games you want to play have much more competition in the rotation. To that effect, the popular voting mechanic is back allowing players in the lobby to vote on one of the three options available at the start of the round; the chances of seeing at least one option you’re drawn toward are pretty good.

That new (multiplayer) game smell

Like the campaign portion of the offering, the Halo 2: Anniversary component is the marquee feature on display in The Master Chief Collection. As such, 343 Industries selected six classic Halo 2 multiplayer maps and dipped them in the same anniversary treatment. The results are fantastic as old maps come to life with a new look, tweaked cover placement, and new mechanics that will speak to Halo 2 veterans.

The suspended catwalks of Lockout have long been a fan favorite, but in the Halo 2: Anniversary treatment, Lockdown’s hallways rest under stalactites of ice that can be shot loose and dropped on players for an environmental kill. The reimagined Blood Gulch, dubbed Bloodline, finds each base housing an EMP that knocks out vehicles in the vicinity when detonated after a lengthy charge. Again, as with the single-player portion of Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 2 diehards will appreciate the care that went into both the overhauls and the fresh coat of paint on their memories.

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.