Ten years ago, Halo: Combat Evolved was the toast of college dorm rooms across North America. Not only would gamers punish themselves by trying to beat Bungie’s campaign on every difficulty setting, but if you had the cables and a little brains, you could hook up a few Xbox consoles and voila, LAN party! Back in 2001, Halo was one of the best games around and was heralded as ushering in a new age of first-person shooters on home consoles. Fast forward 10 years and you can’t swing a bag of cats without hitting another fine console FPS. Remember kids, it was Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary that started the party.
It should come as no surprise that after ten years, Halo is getting some extra love with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. A new engine, new modes, new maps, and a graphical overhaul are just a few of the goodies in this package that will appeal to veteran Halo players and those new to the series alike.
Combat Evolves….. Again
Not much has changed in ten years, and that’s okay. Halo was a great game for its time, and it’s still a great game today, but what has changed is the technology. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary has received a major graphical upgrade. The game now uses Saber Interactive’s Saber3D engine, and has been given updated textures to bring it up to today’s high definition standard, and can also be played in 3D if you have the technology.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary may run on a different engine, but it still plays almost exactly the same as it did ten years ago. I still get that massive adrenaline rush when I unleash the sniper rifle on the poor, unsuspecting heads of the Covenant.
“Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary has received a major graphical upgrade.”
On the other hand, I found the controls a little loose, but Halo is not about being surgical. I also remember the original Halo being easier; it seems like the Covenant have done some training over the last decade. The Covenant AI can flank me as well as a Tier-1 operator and always manages to hit me with a plasma grenade with surprising accuracy.
There’s nothing wrong with a little challenge, but I remember “normal” difficulty being a little more forgiving. It’s amazing that after ten years, Halo: Combat Evolved‘s campaign still manages to challenge a seasoned FPS player like me. In addition to the campaign, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary also features online co-op and the award-winning multiplayer from Halo: Reach.
If you’re more of a creator than a destroyer, you can make your own maps in Forge mode or create heart-stopping “killtacular” montages in Theatre. 343 Industries has also integrated some Kinect functionality that should give you access to expanded story elements new to this release. For some reason, I just couldn’t get the voice controls to work, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. Still, if you’re a Halo fan, there’s plenty in this edition to make you drool.
The multiplayer maps and firefight mission keep the throwbacks coming. Anniversary’s multiplayer features remakes of classic Halo maps like Beaver Creek (now Battle Creek), Hang ‘Em High (now High Noon), and Headlong (now Breakneck), to name a few. These redesigned maps have received the obvious graphical and texture enhancements, but some have also had their layout tweaked for the better. It just goes to show the kind of love that 343 Industries has for this series and their commitment to keeping it strong. With multiplayer running on the Halo: Reach engine, you can also customize your Spartan soldier with unique emblems, armour, and weapon loadouts.
“With multiplayer running on the Halo: Reach engine, you can also customize your Spartan soldier with unique emblems, armour, and weapon loadouts.”
If you’re already a Reach player, note that new copies of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary include a free download code for all the anniversary maps; a nice little bonus for you Bungie loyalists out there. I was a little disappointed to see that there was only one Firefight mission. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great map ripped straight from the Halo: Combat Evolved campaign, but I was expecting a few more options. Fighting wave after wave of Covenant forces is still fun, but aside from my first attempt, I never felt compelled to return to Firefight mode simply because of the lack of variety.
If you’re new to the Halo series, this is a great place to start. If you’re a long-time fan of the franchise, this is still a great edition of the game to own, and this way you don’t have to dust off the old Xbox if you want that classic Halo experience. Despite my inability to get the Kinect voice controls to work, I was more disappointed with the lack of firefighting missions.
There are plenty of moments in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary’s campaign that would have made for a great firefight map, but alas, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary only features one. Halo: Combat Evolved was a great game ten years ago, and it barely shows its age today. While this package doesn’t really offer anything groundbreaking or that we haven’t seen in other entries in the Halo series, it’s a well polished throwback that will have Halo fans reminiscing about the good old days.
