The Coolest New Achievements in Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Need one more reason to be psyched about the just-released Halo: The Master Chief Collection? There are 450 brand-spankin’-new Achievements to get under your belt. That comes to a grand total of 4500 Gamerscore – more than you’d expect to get in four separate games – all packed together in one awesome title. So yeah, in addition to the cornucopia of gameplay, the amazing upgraded graphics, and the metric ton of multiplayer maps, The Master Chief Collection brings the hotness for Achievement hunters in an unprecedented way.

Let’s take a look at just a few of the cooler (and more challenging) achievements you can get, and how to earn them:

1) From “Just a Taste” to “Medal Completionist” (5 Gamerscore/20 Gamerscore)
Ranging from earning 500 playlist or campaign medals to 10,000 (yes, ten freakin’ thousand!) medals, with a new Achievement at every thousand along the way – each worth 10 Gamerscore – earning medals is the best way to jack up your Gamerscore quickly with The Master Chief Collection. It’s easier said than done, of course, but the opportunity is there, especially since more than 100 unique new medals have been added to the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and Halo 2: Anniversary campaigns. So, get fancy! Earn those style points!

2) “Sample Plate” (20 Gamerscore)
You earn this one for completing three cross-game playlists. What is a “cross-game playlist?” The developers of The Master Chief Collection have created a few mishmash-style campaigns which range across all four Halo titles. These are thematically constructed (“Epic Battles,” for example, sees you play three white-knuckle defense missions across three games), and seamlessly integrate the gameplay experience from multiple Halo missions into a coherent package. That said, switching from game to game can be challenging, and completing three full, cross-game playlists is for Halo experts only. Still, these sorts of remixes are endlessly fun – and 20 Gamerscore is a nice addition to your total.

3) “Grand Theft Halo” (10 Gamerscore)
This one is a multiplayer Achievement, and tasks you with “stealing” a total of five occupied vehicles from opponents in a single multiplayer match. While not particularly hard to do if you put your mind to it, this one can be annoying if those pesky enemies keep shooting you as you try to steal Warthogs or other vehicle from them. Our suggestion? Be stealthy and come in from above. They never expect death (or, in this case, larceny) from above!

4) “Bros to the Close” (10 Gamerscore)
Halo 4 fans will remember the Infinity mission, in which you’re a part of a bigger fight including a bunch of non-player marines. This Achievement tasks you with preventing their deaths – all of their deaths (sans a few that are scripted) – for the entire mission, on Heroic or Legendary difficulty. This one is really hard to do (as escorting NPCs often is), given the mere 10 Gamerscore that you get – but we wanted to call it out just in case you’re crazy enough to actually do it.

5) “Goat Roped”/“Monopolized”/“Devastating”/“You’re Joking” (30 Gamerscore each)
Speaking of driving yourself crazy, here are the mother lode Achievements of The Master Chief Collection. Each of these is specific to one of the Halo games, in chronological order, and each tasks you with completing that game’s entire single-player campaign, on Legendary difficulty, in under three hours. No wasting time, no sitting around reading terminals or searching for skulls – your only chance here is to kick the ever-loving crap out of everything, take no breaks, and die very, very few times. If you manage to do this, you will have beaten every one of The Master Chief Collection’s missions, on their hardest difficulty setting, in under 12 hours. You are a maniac (of the awesome variety) if you get all four of these Achievements!

That’s just a few of the huge number of Achievements available to you in Halo: The Master Chief Collection. We don’t want to ruin the surprise, so we won’t list everything – instead, pick up your copy exclusively for Xbox One, get out there, strap on your helmet, pick up your Battle Rifle, and start earning that Gamerscore, marine!