"The Birth of a Spartan"
Halo is a series that defines the Xbox brand as we know it today. As a shooter series that predates both Battlefield and Call of Duty, it is a franchise best known for its innovation when it comes to online multiplayer and connectivity.
Because Halo: Combat Evolved was one of the top-selling games for the original Xbox, both Microsoft and 343 Industries decided it would be best to remake this beloved game to coincide with the series' 10th anniversary. Although my introduction to the series was with Halo 3, I ended up falling in love with the series when I played Halo: CE Anniversary a few months ago. Here is my editorial review for Halo: CE Anniversary, developed by 343 Industries for the Xbox 360.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review (Xbox 360)
Synopsis
The story of Halo: Combat Evolved takes place between an intergalactic war between the human UNSC alliance and an alien empire known as the Covenant. Players take control of the Master Chief, a renowned soldier who hails from a group of heroic cyber soldiers referred to as Spartans. After an attack on a UNSC vessel called the Pillar of Autumn, the Master Chief is entrusted with delivering an artificial intelligence known as Cortana to the eponymous ringworld of Halo to find out its purpose.
Gameplay
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a first-person shooter similar to Call of Duty and Battlefield. The game's campaign takes players on a journey of ten uniquely crafted levels. While a majority of the levels in-game are generally corridor-based, some levels feature large open areas to explore and tackle objectives freely. Each level is brimming with atmosphere, some evoke some strong emotions - particularly shock and awe and, sometimes, fear.
The main enemies of Halo: CE Anniversary is the Covenant - an alien empire comprising of a multitude of alien species, each species having their own respective formations: Grunts are the weaker of the Covenant's hierarchy, and are typically more cowardly in combat. Jackals are more skilled with ranged weapons and are more sustainable against the player. Elites are equal in size and skill to the Master Chief, and provide worthy opponents during combat. Hunters are undoubtedly the strongest of the Covenant, but have exposed parts that can make good weak points for the player to take advantage of. Grunts, Jackals and Elites are common enemy types, whereas Hunters are sparingly used between levels in comparison. Later on in the game, you will be treated with a new enemy type referred to as the Flood - a group of parasitic aliens that can quickly overwhelm the player when not confronted, especially on harder difficulties.
All in all, the artificial intelligence which is on display in Halo: CE Anniversary a surprising strong point by today's standards, and is just as strong in subsequent games in the franchise. Both allies and opposing AI characters respond well to certain situations in combat, and are very assistant to their own teams. Having some spare marines on handy during on those tougher missions may help out in the long run!
The game includes a sizeable catalogue of weapons that can be used, including both human and alien firearms and grenades. When it comes to more open-ended levels, Halo: CE Anniversary gives players access to a limited amounts of vehicles to traverse these levels - ranging from buggies, to tanks and alien wing gliders called Banshees. There's plenty of options to keep the player invested into the game's combat, which is fun and ultimately rewarding.
Included in Halo: CE Anniversary are skulls, terminals and the inclusion of Xbox Live achievements. The Kinect can be used for voice commands during gameplay, but this can be intrusive in my opinion.
As opposed to using the original multiplayer from Halo: CE, the Anniversary mode instead uses the multiplayer from Halo: Reach, which includes remastered maps from the Halo: CE. While Halo: Reach has a good multiplayer component, I believe that there would've been more charm to Anniversary using the original multiplayer as opposed to reusing the multiplayer from Reach. Perhaps the inclusion of Reach's multiplayer was due to time constraints or even technical reasons. Eventually, Halo: CE Anniversary was re-released for the Master Chief Collection and it included the multiplayer from the original game.
Graphics
Halo: CE Anniversary allows players to toggle between classic and remastered graphic options. I personally played through the entire game on classic graphics, but it was nice to have the option to alternate between different graphic modes. Much of the game's remastered graphics directly take assets from Halo: Reach, particularly enemy, vehicle and weapon models.
One minor thing I noticed was that the HUD elements do not change regardless of which graphical setting you choose to play the game in, which is more of a nitpick if anything but still may irritate OG Halo fans. The Master Chief Collection port of this game allows for the HUD graphics to be switched from classic to remastered.
Audio
Perhaps another thing the Halo series is well regarded for is the amazingly atmospheric soundtrack composed by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori. The Halo theme is enough to resonate with a generation of gamers across the world, but Halo: CE Anniversary has a number of iconic tracks including "Brothers in Arms", "Perilous Journey", "Devils... Monsters...", "Rock Anthem for Saving the World", and "The Maw" just to name a few.
In terms of voice acting, Halo: CE Anniversary has a number of immediately recognizable voices. Steve Downes' tough, grizzly voice is a perfect match for the faceless Master Chief. Jen Taylor, who is also known as the voice of characters such as Princess Peach in the Mario series and Zoey in Left 4 Dead, serves as the voice for the AI Cortana. David Scully provides the voice of both Sgt. Johnson and the Covenant Elites. In addition several game developers at Bungie, such as David Dunn, Joseph Staten and Martin O'Donnell, voice supporting characters throughout the game.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Halo: CE Anniversary is a milestone game for its era and soon ushered in the rise of modern console shooters. If it weren't for the ground that the Halo series broke, then Microsoft probably wouldn't have been in the console business for long. Halo: CE was a strong title back then, and its Anniversary remake is just as strong as ever before. That is why I give Halo: CE Anniversary a full 5 / 5 for its innovative gameplay, remarkable soundtrack and the nice quality of life improvements which should be standard for remakes like this one.
