Unlike the rest of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the campaign mode in Halo 2 Anniversary doesn’t reach the vaunted 1080p resolution, though it does run at 60 frames per second.
IGN reports that the game runs at a resolution of 1328×1080, rather than the 1920×1080 resolution that is better known as 1080p. This is because, like Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary on Xbox 360, the campaign offers two graphics and sound modes that you can switch between on the fly: original and enhanced. Running two graphics and sound engines at the same time “put a hit on resolution,” according to 343 executive producer Day Ayoub. And although he claims Halo 2 Anniversary “looked fantastic” at even 720p, work has been done to bump that up–just not quite to 1080p.
“So in the last weeks of development, our teams were able to meet a stretch goal and the campaign of Halo 2 Anniversary now runs 60 fps at a crisp resolution of 1328×1080,” Ayoub said, “which is a significant and meaningful boost in image quality we think fans are really going to appreciate.”
Ayoub reiterated every other aspect of The Master Chief Collection runs at 60 fps and 1080p. Previously, the indication was that every game included in The Master Chief Collection–Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4–would hit those marks.
Whatever its resolution might be, what we’ve seen of Halo 2 Anniversary has made it look very good. It’s a marked improvement over the 2004 original in terms of visuals, and it also features new content that ties into Halo 5: Guardians.
The Master Chief Collection launches for Xbox One on November 11.
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