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Halo: Reach On PC Gets The Job Done, But It's Clearly A 9-Year-Old Game
It's exciting to see Halo on PC, and while it runs great, there's nothing particularly different or special about the port, especially compared to other shooter titles that have either made the jump to PC or started off on PC in the first place. Screen Rant recently had the opportunity to go hands-on with Halo: Reach at E3 2019, and we played 10 minutes of the game's "Tip of the Spear" mission on Heroic (players are given the option of choosing which difficult to play on).
Showcasing Halo: Reach at E3 makes sense since it's the newest addition to the Master Chief Collection. However, it was the least Halo-like game in the franchise when it first released all those years ago, and even though being forced to activate a sprint ability to run - if that was the ability players had equipped at the time - was starkly different to what players were used to, the gameplay mechanic feels quite natural in the PC version, as do many other aspects.
Considering that Halo: Reach hit store shelves almost nine years ago, which made it Bungie's final installment in the Halo franchise before selling the rights to Microsoft and moving onto to Destiny, it's amazing to see how well the title has been ported over to PC - in full 4K resolution and 60 FPS. But the main drawback here is not that the PC version doesn't work - though it's worth noting that it's far from being totally complete, as there are still gameplay issues in the build like the response time in picking up items or entering vehicles - but rather that PC players who've never played Halo before will feel that the game is an outdated title.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection appears to be receiving certain quality of life upgrades for PC, but this isn't a remaster. Even though the Master Chief Collection is coming to PC in a great way, what was shown with Halo: Reach at E3 doesn't instill confidence in the ports having many of the traditional PC aspects that players want. In the end, it's still a console game being played on PC; this is notably evident with the field of view, which doesn't go beyond 90 at this time. Plus, the shooting mechanics are great for consoles, but with nothing being done to the hitboxes, it feels weighted.
Despite that, Halo: Reach on PC is a great time to be had. It's wild, adventurous, and above all, fun. Halo fans who've been wanting to reenter this universe with top-tier graphics on PC won't be disappointed. And PC players who can contend with the idea that this is very much a port of a nearly 10-year-old game, mixed with some graphical upgrades, will also enjoy it. In the end, 343 Industries seems to have designed Halo: Reach, and perhaps the Master Chief Collection as a whole, as a trip down memory lane for all Halo fans... but on PC.
