PC's new Halo Combat Evolved tested: the Master Chief Collection expands – but how good is the port?

Another piece of the puzzle slots into place as PC owners receive a new title for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The original Halo Combat Evolved – or more specifically, its Anniversary Edition – is now available. Overall, it’s a good port of the existing Xbox One edition of the game, bringing with it a range of options never seen before on the existing PC version. However, by extension, as an Xbox One port, this also means that a host of smaller but heavily criticised issues inherent to console version make their way across to PC too when we really would have loved to have seen these problems properly addressed once and for all.

In this freshly minted port of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition, PC owners get access to a number of features from the original remastering effort, layered on top of a conversion of the original experience. Important is the inclusion of the remastered graphical presentation from Saber Interactive, filled with screen-space ambient occlusion and shadows, character models from Halo Reach and new textures. I’ll lay my cards on the table here – I’m not a big fan of the changes to the art and the shift to the overall mood brought about by this remaster, but it’s just as optional as it was in the original release. Users can toggle the presentation between OG and remastered visuals in real-time simply by pushing the tab button on the keyboard. Alternatively, players can choose which version to play from the get-go via the options screen.

However, new to this version is the option to change to the ‘original’ soundscape in the game, the audio that shipped with Halo from the original Xbox game, as well as the standard Anniversary Edition mix. This leads us on to the first problem I can see with this port. Yes, you get the source Xbox audio, but what you get is the far superior EAX audio mode that shipped with Gearbox’s Halo conversion way back in 2003. Watch the video below and you’ll see – or rather hear – that a fundamentally superior audio mix is available but not included. Also strange is that the original soundscape mode on PC seems to randomly insert shield or plasma pistol charge sounds at random. Hopefully both of these issues can be corrected.

In terms of play, PC users finally get the ability to experience Halo in campaign co-op, something that was unfortunately omitted from the 2003 release. It works flawlessly and I love it. Unlike my experiences in Halo Reach, my coop partner and myself did not have to put up with any hang-ups or stuttering – and most importantly there was none of the perceptible input lag I experienced in the Halo Reach conversion.

It works wonderfully and shows off just how amazing Halo is all these years later. I particularly love the details, like how the hammer slides back and forth when shooting the pistol, or how you can watch the assault rifle’s ammo counter deplete during combat if you watch your coop partner closely. My only regret? Split-screen coop – a key aspect of the Halo DNA – is not in this release, just as it was omitted in Reach’s PC port. Sure, the PC isn’t exactly renowned for local coop play, but Halo definitely – and this is the platform that can pull it off beautifully without having to worry about CPU or GPU resource issues.