For the most part, Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a loving revival of Bungie's space opera, bringing the entire series to PC in one neat package. But for all its convenience, it's missing the charm of the original games' menus—gorgeous as they were in their sweeping vistas, soundtracked with Marty O'Donnell's melancholy orchestral scores.
Thankfully, the elegantly-titled halome.nu lets you revisit the joy of leaving an Xbox idling in the living room. A pop-up menu lets you flick through most entries, from Combat Evolved's tour of the titular Halo ring to ODST's sulking soldier. An alternate menu for Halo 3 and the action-packed frontend for RTS spin-off Halo Wars also make an appearance—though that game's sequel is notably absent.
The site even features a (somewhat rougher) rendition of the Halo Infinite start screen from last year's demo. Considering that game was significantly delayed for major reworks after that controversial presentation, it's entirely possible the finished game will have a completely different main menu.
Will this scene hold up until Infinite's launch later this year? Or will Halome.nu get a new addition, leaving this version standing as a time capsule to what could've been? It's certainly something to mull over—ideally, to the sounds of choral sci-fi tunes while floating over the ruins of New Mombasa.
