How Halo: The Master Chief Collection is improving on more recent games in the series

Not surprisingly, much of the attention so far lavished on Halo: The Master Chief Collection has focused on Halo 2.

That game is celebrating its tenth anniversary and will, by some margin, be the most improved of the four core Halo games included in the package,which is due to be released on Xbox One on Nov. 11. But more recent additions to the franchise, Halo 3 and Halo 4, are also being given significant improvement, according to senior producer Dennis Ries.

"We are putting a tremendous amount of work into Halo 3 and Halo 4 as well," said Ries, in a Gamescom presentation attended by Polygon. "You'll see them running at 60 frames per second at 1080p. We've made a lot of improvements to the lighting system and to the shaders and the difference is actually quite dramatic."

Halo: The Master Chief Collection packages together all the games featuring the series' main protagonist, allowing players to replay classic levels in new or original modes, and offering spruced up multiplayer maps.

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"You can really tell the difference from the smoothness. You can see a lot more detail," said Ries. "The game just feels a lot more sharper and more vibrant. The water is very clear and fluid. It's a great example of what we can do with the Xbox One and some of the more modern techniques."

Ries said that the development team is focused on making improvements to the more recent games, especially as players can switch between new and old at any time, and make instant comparisons.

"To take a game like Halo 3 and make it look very much more like a next generation experience. We look at the differences on two TVs back at the offices and they are very dramatic," he said, adding that improvements in audio are also significant. "We've redone weapons effects, sound effects, soundtrack. The audio changes too when you switch."