Halo MCC Play-Through Part 1: Halo CE

So to get this party started I’ve finally begun pursuing these entries. In case you’re wondering why it’s been a while I’ve been busy playing. I’ll admit the game has bugs and lots of them. Some of my achievements do not unlock even though I have completed the requirements to unlock them. As a result the in-game unlockable that comes with that achievement like a new avatar or skin does not unlock either.
A real shame but it shouldn’t be permanent. I’m not going to complain to 343, I’ll let them do their job. They’re aware of the issues and I don’t really care what company manages the Halo series. As long as I have a Halo game with a good story, and I can shoot enemies and other players for a few hours I’m happy.

So these reviews are mainly based on the storyline of each game. Gameplay doesn’t change often except a few additional controls and new weapons but I will share my thoughts on gameplay as well.

I think I’ll say a few things about the gameplay, I love how we can have 600 rounds in total for the assault rifle but I hate how the waves of the Flood are endless. It seems that you’re trying to go down this hall to your objective and Flood keep jumping in your way. You have two options: speed run or shoot everything that moves. As much as I like the story I found the gameplay in the campaign to be my least favourite because there were quite a few levels I found to be really annoying. The Library is extremely long. The last two parts of The Maw are a pain: jumping on those platforms to shoot rockets into the vents (and you have to do your jumping right because falling a long distance if you miss is fatal, I hate how the Mark V armor is weaker), then having only 6 min to escape the ship and drive your way through tight turns only to fall out of your vehicle numerous times when it flips upside down if you go down a ramp or try to jump a gap. I hate driving warthogs even though they have good guns. The one part of Assault on the Control Room, that makes me wanna break the controller is when you have to cross that ice bridge (the natural one, not any of the man-made ones).

Now, everyone hates The Library because it seems like a pointless level, but in my opinion, Two Betrayals is worse. The level starts off with Sentinels shooting at you, and there’s no cover. In fact, there’s barely any cover during the time you make your way out of the structure, and there’s many other parts of the level, where there are open spaces. This level is basically Assault on the Control Room in the opposite direction. You’re alone the whole time, in open space as if lost. Even though Chief is known for going solo. But wait, it gets worse! All I can say is, Flood with rocket launchers. They never miss, and the ones that piss me off the most are the ones you encounter in the tunnel you fly your banshee through, and the ones in the room through the broken blast door, which is in a room that doesn’t have much cover on the bridge. By the time you have to get another banshee, I had enough of the level so I just ran straight through the warzone to grab one and nearly died. Apparently, you can get a ghost over the ledge, which I never thought of.

There were some surprising moments I encountered, such as the time I found Captain Keyes and how he was tortured and all. What sucks is that you can’t pick up energy swords when you kill an Elite who’s carrying one because they vanish. Oh and piece of advice to anyone who hasn’t played yet. If you’re an achievement hunter the terminals are so easy to spot because they’re flashing. I watched the Legendary ending and thought it was so cute how Sgt. Johnson hugged that Elite. I wanna hug an Elite. Now I’ll get to beating campaigns on Legendary someday but right now I’m trying out Heroic on Halo 3 to start with. More on that later.

Up next is Halo 2, and I have a lot more to say because of the anniversary and it is  one of my favourites.

-Emily