The opening of Reach is sedate, but soon makes way for what Halo does best; a combination of intense, close-quarter firefights, driving segments that seamlessly link together combat encounters, and exploration of environments that mix the industrial heft of Aliens with the bright lights and colours of The Grinch’s Whoville.
This is the ideal opportunity to take a masterclass in shooter design.
Playing Reach in 2019 proves that these elements are timeless. If this will be the first time you’ve ever played Halo: Reach you may find the signposting a little lacking, but in general it’s easy to play that first mission and recognise why Bungie are so lauded for campaign design. In the space of half an hour there’s a tension-building quiet stretch that erupts into battles, which flow into cross-country vehicular segments, pause for a wave defense encounter, and finally concludes with a night-vision shootout. It’s impossible to be bored, despite Reach’s best set pieces being nowhere to be seen in that opening mission.“
Despite this, Master Chief Collection on PC does have a painful drawback: the shooting. And that’s not something I ever expected to say, having adored Halo since its earliest days. But returning to Reach after so many years really highlights how far video game gun handling has come, especially when contrasted against Bungie’s own Destiny 2, which is one of the best feeling shooters on PC. In comparison, Reach’s shooting feels light and spongy, with no kick to its rifles. While it was to be expected that returning to a game from 2010 would bring with it some rust, I didn’t expect verdigris to have collected on the element that I most enjoyed back in the day.That’s not to say that soft gunfeel ruins the experience, just that those - like me - who are returning almost a decade later may find that their memories have been augmented by years of Destiny. Those who are experiencing Halo for the first time may need to adjust their expectations considering the series’ legacy. But there will also be many who played hundreds more hours of Reach than I did, and I suspect for those people this PC version will fit like a favourite pair of sneakers.
Even if you are taken aback by the fact that Bungie’s shooting didn’t always feel as good as it does in Destiny 2, though, there’s still plenty to love in Master Chief Collection. It’s impossible to over-emphasize how great this world looks in 4K running at 60 frames per second. And, of course, it's all scored by one of the best music compositions in all of video games. After years of neglect and poor Windows Vista-locked ports, it’s fantastic that we get a version properly built with care and attention. And with some of the best built campaigns in the history of shooters, this is the ideal opportunity to essentially take a higher-than-high-definition masterclass in shooter design. Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.