Spotted over on the web earlier this week, news of the Multiplayer playlists for Halo: The Master Chief Collection have finally surfaced. As of now, the planned playlists are looking great!
There’s no denying that fans of the series are excited to hop back into the Multiplayer when Halo: The Master Chief Collection launches later next month. Playlists in Halo have always been an important aspect to the Matchmaking System, as it allows players of different caliber to pick and choose which game type suits their playstyles. Whether you’re a lone wolf solider or a socialite who loves partying up with a group of friends, the planned launch-day playlists for this collection seem to offer a tremendous variety.
Below, we’ve detailed all twelve playlists for your viewing pleasures.
- Team Halo 2: Anniversary
- Play a mix of Team Slayer and objective game types on re-mastered maps. 4v4.
- Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble
- Challenge seven other opponents on re-mastered maps. This is your fight and yours alone. 8-player Free-For-All.
- Team Halo 2: Anniversary Social
- Play with a team in unranked Team Slayer and objective game types on re-mastered maps. 5v5.
- Team Slayer
- Eliminate the enemy team across four Halo games: Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 2: Anniversary. Nothing but Team Slayer, 24/7. 4v4.
- Big Team Battle
- Battle it out in 16-player warfare with vehicles across Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo 2: Anniversary. 8v8.
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- The game that started it all. Play a mix of Slayer and objective game types in Halo: Combat Evolved for the first time on Xbox Live. 4v4.
- Halo 2 Classic
- It’s back. A mix of the most popular Team Slayer and objective game types from the original Halo 2. 4v4.
- Halo 3
- A selection of fan-favorite Team Slayer and objective game types from Halo 3. 4v4.
- Halo 4
- A mix of Team Slayer and objective game types from Halo 4, on a selection of small to medium-sized maps. 5v5.
- Team Hardcore
- A collection of tournament-approved game types from Halo 2 and Halo 3. The Battle Rifle is your primary weapon. 4v4.
- Halo eSports
- The official Halo eSports playlist. 4v4.
- SWAT (Rotational)
- Aim for the head! A collection of SWAT game types on our favorite maps from Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo 2: Anniversary. Players have no shields and are equipped with rifles. 4v4.
Overall, it seems as though 343’s attempt to offer a balanced set of playlists to their online community is near perfect. With a large emphasis on showcasing Halo 2’s six new remastered maps – Warlock (Warlord), Lockout (Lockdown), Ascension (Zenith), Coagulation (Bloodline), Sanctuary (Shrine), and Zanzibar (Stonetown) – through three distinct playlists, fans can rejoice knowing these new maps can be played in a social environment, as well as a ranked team-based and objective-based environment. Each of the game-specific playlists also look appealing since you can hop into the Halo 3 playlist and never have to worry about a non-Halo 3 map showing up!
My only complaint here is that fan-favorite Team Doubles and Team Snipers are missing. 343 assures players not to fret, as “a lot of fan favorite playlists will be appearing in the rotation as featured playlists, so those of you who love Multi-Team, Team Snipers, Team Doubles and others need not worry even though you don’t see them listed here.”
In other recent news, Bonnie Ross, Studio Head at 343 Industries, had a few words to speak about Halo in an interview with OXM. The focal point boiled down to the numbering of the Halo series.
Ross said, “If I had my druthers, we wouldn’t have called Halo 4 that. We really look at that game as the start of where [Master Chief]‘s going. At some point we need to drop the number and still [let you] know you’ve got a big story coming.”
When asked, “So you could one day do ‘Halo: Whatever’ and it wouldn’t be a Master Chief story?” Ross replied with, “It might still be a Master Chief story. I’m just saying, at some point we don’t want to be Halo 17, when Master Chief’s like 80. We’re not Final Fantasy, we can’t do it. So we kind of open that door – it doesn’t mean it’ll be a Master Chief story or not. That’s something for us to decide in the future.”
What exactly does this mean for the future of Halo? Does the team at 343 plan to expand their saga past three or four games? Your guess is as good as ours. With Halo 5: Guardians set to launch next Fall, fans of the series began speculating earlier this year that a subtitle under a numbered installment could lead to two or three Halo 5’s.
So long as the narrative stays canon with the lore and innovative gameplay mechanics and design features are implemented into future installments, there seems no reason to despise the continuation of the series.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is out on November 11th on Xbox One.
