The remastered Halo: Reach is a significant improvement on the original, suggests Chirinjibi Thapa.
Nine years after Halo: Reach (Rs 349) was released solely for Xbox 360, the remastered version of the popular first-person shooter has now been released as the first -- and for now the only -- title of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One.
Halo: Reach is the 2010 prequel to the Halo series.
The events take place in the year 2552, when humanity is in a war against an alliance of aliens called the Covenant.
A small group of super-soldiers, the Noble Team, is sent to a planet, Reach (colonised by humans), after communication relay from the planet breaks down.
The soldiers find a Covenant invasion taking place there.
The player steps into the shoe of the soldier, Noble Six, and through 11 intricate missions, the soldiers try to fight off the Covenant onslaught while safely evacuating the human population.
Don't delve into the game expecting too much in terms of graphics.
It is, after all, a remastered version of a 2010 game.
Even so, it is a significant improvement on the original.
It runs much smoother and the visuals are sharper, courtesy the 60 frames per second gameplay and enhanced resolution.
Among the innovations are the Ultrawide display support and the FOV (field of view) slider, which allows the player to control his peripheral vision.
The game can run on up to 4K Ultra HD.
However, only three pre-set graphic options are available: Original, Performance and Enhanced.
For now, one can play the regular Campaign mode, the Firefight mode (fight for survival against endless waves of enemies) and the multiplayer on the PC.
Players can also access the millions of community-created maps and game types.