Oh boy, it felt like a toxic relationship where you keep going back to suffer more. There was no in between with this game, it was either "I love it!" or "I absolutely ****** hate this garbage!". We all know what Halo games stand for, and this right here is the beginning to a saga which will lead the industry for a decade and beyond. I'll discuss some perks that this remaster brings to the table with some actual thoughts on the actual game itself.

It took me 20 hours to beat the campaign on Heroic. I was really rusty but the game got really challenging in the last half. I'll talk about the good stuff first, the elements that I actually enjoyed while playing through the campaign on Heroic Difficulty. Once I've discussed the good bits, I'll cast some light on the things which I absolutely hated during my playthrough.

1.) Being a remaster, it looks absolutely incredible. I'm not sure what people are on about when they say that it doesn't hold up. Personally, I found it very surprising, how almost every thing was redone without taking away the feel of the game. The sounds sound better, guns sound fantastic. They nailed the ambiance of each stage you fight in. Now there are terminals included within each level which you can activate to understand the origin of ring itself. The sandbox aspect of the game really shines bright in this remaster as everything feels alot more alive.

2.) The gunplay was exactly what you'd expect from a Halo game. Guns sound great, they feel great, the gun library isn't that big which is understandable since the original wasn't any different. There is your basic assault rifle, your pistol, your standard sniper rifle and shotgun, paired with rocket launchers and a couple types of grenades. A few covenant weapons include the classic needler, the assault rifle and the charge pistol.

3.) The types of enemies that you'd encounter during your playthrough isn't that big of a roster. You have the covenant forces and the flood. The enemies are strong enough to put up a good challenge and each enemy type is very balanced, requiring some decent knowledge on how to counter each type individually.

4.) With the press of "TAB", you can switch between the remastered visuals and the original visual style. The switch is instant which feels like some next-gen wizardry.

Now, onto the bad stuff, or the stuff which annoyed the daylights out of me. Mind you, I completed the game on Heroic which tends to make the things a little more annoying but that wasn't the case here.

1.) The level design, for the first half of the game was excellent. I enjoyed the variety that was put forth. However, once you are through 45-50% of the game, that is when this game starts to get on your nerves again and again. They have recycled the environments to an extent that it's not even fun anymore, pair that with a higher difficulty and you feel like quitting the game instantly. Normally your thought process while playing on a higher difficulty would be like "Oh, that area was really hard, it took 'X' amount of retries but I'm glad I made it through :D" but with this game, with it's recycling of the environments, it forces you to play through that same area for about 4-5 times. Mind you, when I say they recycle, I mean every nook and cranny of these areas is exactly the same. This game was infamous for some of the most annoying missions in the franchise and after having played it, I can see why is that.

2.) During the last few missions, you need to retrace your steps alot. You need to go back to the areas from where you've already been and fought at. Pair this with the recycled environments and layouts and you have yourself a recipe for being frustrated.

3.) The crosshair is a joke. For shotguns, it is doable, somewhat for the pistol as well but for the assault rifle ? It is the worst that I've ever seen in any video game that I've played over the past couple of decades. The crosshair for the assault rifle is really big which makes the weapon almost useless for distant combat. I know this was fixed somewhat with other Halos but it was a little something which crippled me on several occasions as I played through. They could have fixed it in the remaster but they chose not to.

To sum it up, it is worth playing. At times it will amaze you, at times it will make you rage, but once you complete it, it will feel rewarding. It will feel rewarding because you just completed one of the games which defined the FPS genre, not just that, but because you introduced yourself to a franchise loved by millions which to this date, sets a benchmark for more games to follow.