Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Review

[imnot]

Ah Halo ce I remember first playingit when I was baout 7.
Sure I didnt know what was happening.
And I was shit.
And it was my cousins, not mine.
But it was great.

Actually bought and played it properly for the first time lats year

 

[Jegsimmons]

I got this game because I liked 3, ODST and Reach. However, I personally found this game to be incredibly shit. The new graphics look terrible (character models don't even have motion captured faces; Cortana's animations are, I'm pretty sure, just copied and pasted from Halo 3; and lots of texture pop-in.) I played through about half the first level and stopped because the gameplay is so outdated. I'm gonna trade it in soon.

I'm sure some people will enjoy it but this was my personal experience, so take it as you may.

all they did was reskin it, no other motion capture or anything was used.which is fine, it has that old halo feel to it. also they are saving alot of equipment and resources for halo 4.

personally, i love this fucking game, and haveing it for only 39.99 with a reach fire fight expansion and bonus matchmaking maps? FUCK YEAH!!! TAKE MY MONEY!!!!

personally, i think the game has aged very well and still holds up even by todays standards.

Agreed. Before this game came out, I figured that whilst i would enjoy it (huge halo fanboy here), it still wouldn't be as enjoyable as say, Arkham City or Revelations (which i have yet to play).

But as soon as I put it in, heard that fantastic music, I havn't been able to put it down. The new graphics are a joy to behold and the gameplay is still tight.

Quite frankly, if Nintendo is allowed to release OoT 3-4 times and the same mario game countless times, I don't see why people shouldn't be allowed to enjoy Halo CE Anniversary without all the troll haters coming out of the woodwork.

Of course, that's an impossible dream.

would it be wrong to say that halo is one of the most satisfying and heart warming games that ever existed, it may not be perfect, but damn it its just something you fall in love with. it amazes me because they actually care about a good game and story and will actually tune it to make their fans happy with it, and im always surprised with every new release.

if halo was a woman, i purpose to her.

 

[SilverUchiha]

I played the original for PC. It didn't impress me in the slightest and I found it to be a boring, overrated game. I have now possible way to justify spending $40 on a graphical upgrade, especially when I don't really give a shit about graphics anyway. Seems odd to give it such a high rating though if that is the scenario.

 

[idodo35]

i will buy this game just for the grunts screming "he is unstopable!"
srsly helerios!

 

[Electrogecko]

When it's said that the first Halo stands toe to toe with current FPS' when graphically updated, I see that more of a sign of how little the genre has progressed than an indication of exceptional quality, and I'm aware that sounds more than a little hypocritical coming from someone who enjoyed Ocarina of Time 3d.

I hated Halo1's campaign when I first played it 9 years ago, and I don't use that word lightly (seriously, I found everything past the first couple of levels so boring it made me hysterical). I doubt I'd enjoy it more now that I've become resentful of the entire genre and have had a chance to experience the true brilliance of Half-Life 2.

I've never really understood how it's possible to get angry over something being boring. Isn't that a bit of a contradiction of terms? Surely if something's boring, it means you can't feel any real emotion towards it.

I suppose you've got a point there. It was quite a while ago and my memory isn't great. I remember enjoying the first hour or so, but then my recollection skips to the later segments and an associated unpleasantness. I seem to remember finding the oracle to be the point that the game turned sour, and my guess is that I was already too far in and too compelled to see it to the end to simply turn it off and walk away. I remember saying to my brothers at the time that I would prefer to be able to pause the game and press an auto-win button than continue through the level.

 

[Zulnam]

Wait, so a game remake that offers the EXACT same game, with the exact same story and exact same mechanics got a 4.5 score on the Escapist and a score of 83 on metacritic?

Now I don't feel so bad about buying MW3.

 

[ACman]

Really? No Tweaking of the painfully boring flood AI.

No library redesign? They must know that the library was shit. Why not change it?

 

[repeating integers]

Wait, so a game remake that offers the EXACT same game, with the exact same story and exact same mechanics got a 4.5 score on the Escapist and a score of 83 on metacritic?

Now I don't feel so bad about buying MW3.

That was literally the entire point of the game - it was a commemoration of the first halo, by revamping its graphics. It was never meant to be a full game, which is why it was priced lower than normal. Personally, as someone who uses a computer monitor (which the original Halo CE xbox game discriminates against and refuses to work on) I found it very useful.

 

[kiwi_poo]

I don't know... is it just me or does the game actually look worse than 10 years ago?

It seems like a waste of money which is only for those people who get really bothered when every bump is not perfectly mapped and every reflective surface is not specular.

 

[Waaghpowa]

I still have the original installed and the community is still there for the PC version.

Which is the reason why I probably wont bother to get the anniversary, because the mod community will more than likely make a pack that will upgrade the game to the anniversary standards or better.

On that note, it does look pretty good graphically compared to the old one. I suspect that, aside from the hardware difference between Xbox classic and Xbox 360, the reason it looks so great while running so smoothly might have to do with the fact that it's the old engine with a texture upgrade. Would I be correct in this assumption, as the review gave me that impression.

 

[Danarok]

An open comment to the reviewer, Russ Pitts.

I respectfully disagree with the comparison between Android and iPhone. For myself, I have always disliked the feel and layout of the iphone, so when I got my first HTC Desire it felt like a breath of fresh air and by far the superior option. And when considering the steeply growing proportion of Android handset owners, it is apparent that I am not the only one.

I am not saying anything about the quality of either handsets (beyond my own general opinion), nor is it my intention to encourage debate about the merits of either, but as an example that making highly polarising comments/comparisons in what is supposed to be an objective review about entirely unrelated subject matter comes across as unprofessional, and furthermore detracts from the topic at hand.

 

[metamorphosis18]

Halo is and was a rip-off of the much older, and graphically superior (which was surprising at the time) Unreal, both in gameplay, enemies and world. However, they added and changed some nice things. I still think it's only popular because it was the first FPS for consoles done right. But compared to PC fps's, it still doesn't hold up. I still think Halo 2 was a great game however...

 

[ActionDan]

So Microsoft kill all the original Halo servers and then bring a new version of it and expect full price for a it? That Microsoft, is a COLOSSAL dick move.

 

[Namewithheld]

I actually really enjoyed the first Halo, but...

"I dare you to name another game that still feels fresh and revolutionary, even ten years later."

I actually replayed the original Half Life recently...

 

[walrusaurus]

Mmmm this makes me nostalgic for Halo... playin halo 2 over my dorms LAN was some of the most fun i've had with video games.

 

[xplay3r]

A 4.5 stars! I hate the escapist, they're just a bunch of mainstream tools. Yahzee is the only good reviewer on this website, because he tells it like it is. I was glad I gave him money for his trip to PAX, even though tickets ran out and I didn't receive my money back.

Halo is a game for twelve year-old boys, it's the video game equivalent of Justin Bieber. It's the same shit, wrapped up with nice graphics.

Also, the graphics look like shit. Anybody who disagrees is a blind, Halo fanboy.

4.5 stars? You're officially an idiot Mr. Puss Pitts.

That's ok. We hate you, too. Buh-bye, now!

It's good to be the queen...

 

[Susan Arendt]

A 4.5 stars! I hate the escapist, they're just a bunch of mainstream tools. Yahzee is the only good reviewer on this website, because he tells it like it is. I was glad I gave him money for his trip to PAX, even though tickets ran out and I didn't receive my money back.

Halo is a game for twelve year-old boys, it's the video game equivalent of Justin Bieber. It's the same shit, wrapped up with nice graphics.

Also, the graphics look like shit. Anybody who disagrees is a blind, Halo fanboy.

4.5 stars? You're officially an idiot Mr. Puss Pitts.

That's ok. We hate you, too. Buh-bye, now!

It's good to be the queen...

It has its moments.

 

[Xan Krieger]

I actually really enjoyed the first Halo, but...

"I dare you to name another game that still feels fresh and revolutionary, even ten years later."

I actually replayed the original Half Life recently...

Homeworld 2 I just ordered on Amazon and I know it's only 8 years old but it does feel like it would still do good if released today.
As for the review I lost my original copy of Halo:CE for the xbox so this'll be a nice chance to get it for the 360. To me nothing will ever beat the feeling I got on legendary co-op, final mission, hopping in the warthog while leaving my friend on the ship to die.

 

[klasbo]

I will never forgive Microsoft for refusing to let me play this on my PC...

And i wanted to see Halo 3 or reach on PC with the same online as Halo 1...but i know that will never happen due to the fact Microsoft don't want to get too much money for some weird reason..

If Reach was available for PC I would be playing that since release.
But no, we get Crysis 2, Homefront, Brink, Modern Chorefare, Medal of Honour and Bad Company instead. Because we want lackluster and broken games on the PC.

There hasn't been a properly good PC FPS since Battlefield 2 / CoD2 (or Cod4 promod) or CS Source, but it's right goddamn there. Bungie, Microsoft, 343... Y U NO take my money?

 

[ThunderCavalier]

The more I see of Anniversary the more I am blown away by how beautiful the updated game is. Of course it is not as pretty in terms of texture work or animations as other recent releases, but the new layer adds a lot of life to previously dull corridors.

The colors are just so vibrant the new graphical additions are just such a stark contrast to the relatively muted pallet of recent releases. Reach has objectively better graphics but the art design Anniversary is just more alive and vibrant by comparison(Possibly due to Reach being set on a Human world whose architecture and equipment tends to be 'practical' rather than pretty)

If Anniversary is anything to go by then sign me up for Halo 2: Anniversary because if that is what they can do with CE's relatively dull color scheme than a Halo 2 update is going to be a treat.

Must. Play. Grrrr. Must. Wait. Till. Friday.

Personally speaking, if they do a Halo 2 Anniversary I'll be convinced that they're just milking the Halo franchise for money.

I mean, I can understand if they make a CEA. It was a celebrated game and it could certainly use a touch-up, but Halo 2 doesn't look that bad in its current state, and why would we even want a Halo 2 anniversary? The Campaign wasn't as good, and the multiplayer is outdated.