Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary: Difference between revisions
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''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' and the original, ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'', are identical in gameplay and plot.<ref name="ign-review"/> The game is a [[first-person shooter]] with portions of vehicular combat taking place from a third-person perspective. The plot follows the [[player character]] and protagonist [[Master Chief (Halo)|Master Chief]], a [[supersoldier]], as he fights the alien [[Covenant (Halo)|Covenant]] on the mysterious ancient [[ringworld]] [[Halo (megastructure)|Halo]].<ref name="ign-review"/> Players are equipped with a recharging energy shield that absorbs damage; players also have health that can only be replenished by health packs scattered across the game's levels. A variety of human and alien weapons and vehicles can be used.<ref name="ignreview4-ce">{{cite web | url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/09/28/halo-combat-evolved-review | title=''Halo: Combat Evolved'' Review—PC Review | publisher=Ziff Davis | work=IGN | date=September 27, 2003 | accessdate=September 29, 2014 | author=Butts, Steve}}</ref> |
''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' and the original, ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'', are identical in gameplay and plot.<ref name="ign-review"/> The game is a [[first-person shooter]] with portions of vehicular combat taking place from a third-person perspective. The plot follows the [[player character]] and protagonist [[Master Chief (Halo)|Master Chief]], a [[supersoldier]], as he fights the alien [[Covenant (Halo)|Covenant]] on the mysterious ancient [[ringworld]] [[Halo (megastructure)|Halo]].<ref name="ign-review"/> Players are equipped with a recharging energy shield that absorbs damage; players also have health that can only be replenished by health packs scattered across the game's levels. A variety of human and alien weapons and vehicles can be used.<ref name="ignreview4-ce">{{cite web | url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2003/09/28/halo-combat-evolved-review | title=''Halo: Combat Evolved'' Review—PC Review | publisher=Ziff Davis | work=IGN | date=September 27, 2003 | accessdate=September 29, 2014 | author=Butts, Steve}}</ref> |
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Players can switch between the "classic" graphics of the original game and new graphics developed for the remake by pressing the Back button on the controller.<ref name="ign-george lucas remake"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vg247.com/2011/06/10/halo-anniversary-to-run-two-engines-side-by-side/ |title=Halo Anniversary to run two engines side by side |publisher=Videogaming 247 Ltd |work=[[VG247]] |date=June 10, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Hiller, Brenna |archiveurl= |
Players can switch between the "classic" graphics of the original game and new graphics developed for the remake by pressing the Back button on the controller.<ref name="ign-george lucas remake"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vg247.com/2011/06/10/halo-anniversary-to-run-two-engines-side-by-side/ |title=Halo Anniversary to run two engines side by side |publisher=Videogaming 247 Ltd |work=[[VG247]] |date=June 10, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Hiller, Brenna |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6qtip5S?url=http://www.vg247.com/2011/06/10/halo-anniversary-to-run-two-engines-side-by-side/ |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> The classic and new graphics are presented in [[high-definition video|high-definition]], [[16:9]] widescreen compared to the original game's [[480i]] resolution and [[4:3]] aspect ratio.<ref name="gamasutra-making anniversary work">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6546/making_halo_anniversary_work.php |title=Making Halo: Anniversary Work |publisher=Think Services |work=[[Gamasutra]] |date=November 15, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Sheffield, Brandon |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/65tN4qK9n?url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6546/making_halo_anniversary_work.php |archivedate=March 3, 2012 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> The remastered graphics are also available in [[Stereoscopy|stereoscopic 3D]] for compatible televisions.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/317083/microsoft-announces-halo-anniversary-3d-mode/ | title=Microsoft announces Halo: Anniversary 3D mode | publisher=[[Future plc]] | work=[[Computer and Video Games]] | date=August 11, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Robinson | first=Andy | archiveurl=https://archive.is/20120803000631/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/317083/microsoft-announces-halo-anniversary-3d-mode | archivedate=August 3, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
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Additions to the gameplay include [[Xbox Live]] [[Gamerscore|achievements]], online [[cooperative gameplay]], and hidden content: video terminals that provide additional plot information, and collectible skulls that modify gameplay when activated.<ref name="ign-review"/> Support for [[Xbox Kinect]] includes voice commands for video navigation, in-combat directives, and environment-scanning, which adds on-screen items to an encyclopedia called the Library.<ref name="ign-review"/><ref name="OXMUK: First Halo Kinect Details Revealed"/><ref name="bts-campaign">{{cite web|author= |date= |url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/haloanniversary/detail?title=bts-anniversary-campaign&id=8a902cd8-dc45-4a35-88ae-39ba04ba8a41 |archiveurl= |
Additions to the gameplay include [[Xbox Live]] [[Gamerscore|achievements]], online [[cooperative gameplay]], and hidden content: video terminals that provide additional plot information, and collectible skulls that modify gameplay when activated.<ref name="ign-review"/> Support for [[Xbox Kinect]] includes voice commands for video navigation, in-combat directives, and environment-scanning, which adds on-screen items to an encyclopedia called the Library.<ref name="ign-review"/><ref name="OXMUK: First Halo Kinect Details Revealed"/><ref name="bts-campaign">{{cite web |author= |date= |url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/haloanniversary/detail?title=bts-anniversary-campaign&id=8a902cd8-dc45-4a35-88ae-39ba04ba8a41 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6rDW9eY?url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/haloanniversary/detail?title=bts-anniversary-campaign&id=8a902cd8-dc45-4a35-88ae-39ba04ba8a41 |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |title=BTS: Anniversary Campaign: An In-depth Look At The Remastered Campaign From Halo: Anniversary |work=[[Halo Waypoint]] |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |accessdate=March 13, 2013 |df= }}</ref> |
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The original ''Combat Evolved'' did not support online multiplayer, but players could play multiplayer locally via [[split screen (computer graphics)|split-screen]] or [[System Link]] [[Local area network|LAN]].<ref name="IGN: Halo Review (2001)"/> ''Anniversary'' adds revamped multiplayer and two-player co-op campaign support available both online via Xbox Live and offline locally.<ref name="ign-review"/> The game's multiplayer mode uses ''[[Halo: Reach]]''{{'}}s engine and features seven remakes of ''Combat Evolved'' and ''[[Halo 2]]'' [[Level (video gaming)|maps]].<ref name="ign-review"/> ''Anniversary'' also includes a new map based on ''Halo''{{'}}s eponymous campaign level for [[Halo: Reach#Multiplayer|Firefight]], a wave-based survival multiplayer game type in which players and their allies fight enemy groups of scaling difficulty.<ref name="VDGMR: Installation 04 is Halo Anniversary's Firefight map"/> ''Anniversary'' introduced [[Artificial intelligence (video games)|artificially intelligent]] Firefight allies to the series.<ref name="VDGMR: Installation 04 is Halo Anniversary's Firefight map"/> |
The original ''Combat Evolved'' did not support online multiplayer, but players could play multiplayer locally via [[split screen (computer graphics)|split-screen]] or [[System Link]] [[Local area network|LAN]].<ref name="IGN: Halo Review (2001)"/> ''Anniversary'' adds revamped multiplayer and two-player co-op campaign support available both online via Xbox Live and offline locally.<ref name="ign-review"/> The game's multiplayer mode uses ''[[Halo: Reach]]''{{'}}s engine and features seven remakes of ''Combat Evolved'' and ''[[Halo 2]]'' [[Level (video gaming)|maps]].<ref name="ign-review"/> ''Anniversary'' also includes a new map based on ''Halo''{{'}}s eponymous campaign level for [[Halo: Reach#Multiplayer|Firefight]], a wave-based survival multiplayer game type in which players and their allies fight enemy groups of scaling difficulty.<ref name="VDGMR: Installation 04 is Halo Anniversary's Firefight map"/> ''Anniversary'' introduced [[Artificial intelligence (video games)|artificially intelligent]] Firefight allies to the series.<ref name="VDGMR: Installation 04 is Halo Anniversary's Firefight map"/> |
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After fleeing the Covenant's destruction of the human world Reach, the human ship ''Pillar of Autumn'' makes a random [[slipspace]] jump to avoid leading the Covenant to Earth. Arriving in uncharted space, the crew of the ''Autumn'' discover a massive ringworld orbiting a gas giant. When the Covenant attack, ''Autumn''{{'}}s captain, [[Characters of Halo#Jacob Keyes|Jacob Keyes]], entrusts the ship's AI, [[Cortana (Halo)|Cortana]]—and her knowledge of defense deployments and the location of Earth—to the supersoldier Master Chief for safekeeping. Master Chief fights off Covenant boarding parties and leaves the ''Autumn'' via a lifeboat to the surface of the ringworld while Keyes lands the ''Autumn'' on the ring. |
After fleeing the Covenant's destruction of the human world Reach, the human ship ''Pillar of Autumn'' makes a random [[slipspace]] jump to avoid leading the Covenant to Earth. Arriving in uncharted space, the crew of the ''Autumn'' discover a massive ringworld orbiting a gas giant. When the Covenant attack, ''Autumn''{{'}}s captain, [[Characters of Halo#Jacob Keyes|Jacob Keyes]], entrusts the ship's AI, [[Cortana (Halo)|Cortana]]—and her knowledge of defense deployments and the location of Earth—to the supersoldier Master Chief for safekeeping. Master Chief fights off Covenant boarding parties and leaves the ''Autumn'' via a lifeboat to the surface of the ringworld while Keyes lands the ''Autumn'' on the ring. |
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On the ringworld, the Chief rallies human survivors and leads a boarding party to rescue Keyes from the Covenant's clutches. Keyes reveals that the Covenant call the ring "Halo", and they believe it is some sort of weapon. The Chief is tasked with finding Halo's control room before the Covenant does. Once Cortana is inserted into the control room, she becomes alarmed and stays behind while she sends Master Chief to find Keyes. While searching for the captain, Master Chief encounters the [[Flood (Halo)|Flood]], a parasitic organism that infects sentient life. The release prompts Halo's caretaker, the AI [[Characters of Halo#343 Guilty Spark|343 Guilty Spark]], to enlist the Chief's help in activating Halo's defenses. The Chief's activation of the ring from the Control Room is stopped by Cortana, who reveals that Halo's defenses do not kill Flood, but rather their food in an effort to starve them—meaning that activating the ring would wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. To stop the Flood from spreading and Spark from activating the ring, Cortana devises a plan to detonate the crashed ''Autumn''{{'}}s engines and destroy Halo. Fighting through Flood, Covenant, and Guilty Spark's robotic Sentinels, the Chief manually destabilizes the ''Autumn''{{'}}s reactors and he and Cortana narrowly escape the destruction of the ring via a fighter.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/11/02/my-big-dumb-recap-of-halos-story.aspx | title=My Big Dumb Recap Of Halo's Ridiculous Story | publisher=[[GameStop]] | work=[[Game Informer]] | date=November 11, 2012 | accessdate=July 7, 2013 | last=Marchiafava | first=Jeff}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.1up.com/features/halo-3-wtfiction | title=Halo 3 WTFiction | publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] | work=[[1UP.com]] | date=November 28, 2007 | accessdate=July 6, 2013 | last=Parish | first=Jeremy}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gamesradar.com/halo-the-story-so-far/?page=2 | title=Halo: The Story So Far | publisher=[[Future plc]] | work=[[GamesRadar]] | date=June 23, 2012 | accessdate=July 6, 2013 | last=Barratt | first=Charlie | page=2}}</ref> |
On the ringworld, the Chief rallies human survivors and leads a boarding party to rescue Keyes from the Covenant's clutches. Keyes reveals that the Covenant call the ring "Halo", and they believe it is some sort of weapon. The Chief is tasked with finding Halo's control room before the Covenant does. Once Cortana is inserted into the control room, she becomes alarmed and stays behind while she sends Master Chief to find Keyes. While searching for the captain, Master Chief encounters the [[Flood (Halo)|Flood]], a parasitic organism that infects sentient life. The release prompts Halo's caretaker, the AI [[Characters of Halo#343 Guilty Spark|343 Guilty Spark]], to enlist the Chief's help in activating Halo's defenses. The Chief's activation of the ring from the Control Room is stopped by Cortana, who reveals that Halo's defenses do not kill Flood, but rather their food in an effort to starve them—meaning that activating the ring would wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. To stop the Flood from spreading and Spark from activating the ring, Cortana devises a plan to detonate the crashed ''Autumn''{{'}}s engines and destroy Halo. Fighting through Flood, Covenant, and Guilty Spark's robotic Sentinels, the Chief manually destabilizes the ''Autumn''{{'}}s reactors and he and Cortana narrowly escape the destruction of the ring via a fighter.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/11/02/my-big-dumb-recap-of-halos-story.aspx | title=My Big Dumb Recap Of Halo's Ridiculous Story | publisher=[[GameStop]] | work=[[Game Informer]] | date=November 11, 2012 | accessdate=July 7, 2013 | last=Marchiafava | first=Jeff}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.1up.com/features/halo-3-wtfiction | title=Halo 3 WTFiction | publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] | work=[[1UP.com]] | date=November 28, 2007 | accessdate=July 6, 2013 | last=Parish | first=Jeremy | deadurl=yes | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024083631/http://www.1up.com/features/halo-3-wtfiction | archivedate=October 24, 2012 | df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gamesradar.com/halo-the-story-so-far/?page=2 | title=Halo: The Story So Far | publisher=[[Future plc]] | work=[[GamesRadar]] | date=June 23, 2012 | accessdate=July 6, 2013 | last=Barratt | first=Charlie | page=2 }}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> |
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==Development== |
==Development== |
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===Overview=== |
===Overview=== |
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After [[Microsoft]] acquired [[Bungie]] in 2000, Bungie developed the original ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' as a 2001 launch title for the [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]]. Bungie and Microsoft split in 2007, but the rights to ''Halo'' remained with the latter, which formed an internal division to oversee ''Halo'' franchise development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-11/tech/bungie.halo_1_bungie-halo-game-microsoft-game-studios?_s=PM:TECH |title='Halo' and creators move on after divorce |publisher=[[Time Warner]] |work=[[CNN]] |date=May 11, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Millan, Mark |archiveurl= |
After [[Microsoft]] acquired [[Bungie]] in 2000, Bungie developed the original ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' as a 2001 launch title for the [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]]. Bungie and Microsoft split in 2007, but the rights to ''Halo'' remained with the latter, which formed an internal division to oversee ''Halo'' franchise development.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-11/tech/bungie.halo_1_bungie-halo-game-microsoft-game-studios?_s=PM:TECH |title='Halo' and creators move on after divorce |publisher=[[Time Warner]] |work=[[CNN]] |date=May 11, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Millan, Mark |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6FtJ3nuvA?url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/05/11/bungie.halo/index.html?_s=PM%3ATECH |archivedate=April 15, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> [[343 Industries]], the internal division, approached Saber Interactive with a proposal to remake ''Combat Evolved'' for the game's tenth anniversary. Saber's Chief Operating Officer Andrey Iones recalled that the offer was "an opportunity we [could not] miss", as Saber had never before worked on a major game franchise and many team members were fans of ''Halo''.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> Saber developed [[concept art]] to form visual ideas for the remake and then flew to [[Seattle, Washington]], to meet with 343 Industries.<ref name="gdm-postmortem">{{cite journal | url=http://www.gdmag.com/issue/2012/March | title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary | publisher=[[UBM plc|UBM]] | author=Iones, Andrey | journal=[[Game Developer Magazine]] |date=March 2012 | volume=19 | issue=3 | pages=20–27 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123035244/http://gdmag.com/issue/2012/March | archivedate=January 23, 2013 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
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343 Industries wanted a complete remake of the original game by the tenth anniversary of ''Halo''{{'}}s release, giving Saber just over a year to complete the project.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> The gameplay was to remain unchanged; while the original game had imbalanced elements, 343 Industries decided to preserve the game experience players remembered<ref name="ign-george lucas remake">{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/10/24/halo-anniversary-isnt-a-george-lucas-style-remake |title=Halo Anniversary Isn't A George Lucas-style Remake |publisher=Ziff Davis |work=[[IGN]] |date=October 23, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Ogilvie, Tristan |archiveurl= |
343 Industries wanted a complete remake of the original game by the tenth anniversary of ''Halo''{{'}}s release, giving Saber just over a year to complete the project.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> The gameplay was to remain unchanged; while the original game had imbalanced elements, 343 Industries decided to preserve the game experience players remembered<ref name="ign-george lucas remake">{{cite web |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/10/24/halo-anniversary-isnt-a-george-lucas-style-remake |title=Halo Anniversary Isn't A George Lucas-style Remake |publisher=Ziff Davis |work=[[IGN]] |date=October 23, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Ogilvie, Tristan |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6FtK6a273?url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/10/24/halo-anniversary-isnt-a-george-lucas-style-remake |archivedate=April 15, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> while introducing young fans to the game for perhaps the first time.<ref name="bts-audio"/> The visuals, meanwhile, would be updated along with added features like campaign skulls. Iones recalled that experimentation with the game was limited—redoing keyframed character animations was off-limits because redoing them could introduce gameplay bugs, and design choices like game balance had already been determined. Likewise, [[Video game porting|porting]] the PC version of the game back to the Xbox to add features would have constrained the amount of visual improvements Saber could make, as well as require significant time training artists to use the same production pipelines that were used for ''Combat Evolved''. Saber decided to use the original engine for the gameplay and its own for the visuals, despite the compatibility problems this solution presented.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> Development began under the codename ''Spark''.<ref name="sparkcast-04">{{cite web | url=http://waypointassets.blob.core.windows.net/mobilecontent/legacysupport/content/assets/en-us/podcast/343Sparkast_004.mp3 | title=343 Sparkast 004 | publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] | work=Halo Waypoint | date=June 8, 2011 | accessdate=September 29, 2014 | format=MP3}}</ref> The game was completed and released to manufacturing ("going gold") on October 15, 2011.<ref name="gi-gold cert">{{cite web | url=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/10/15/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-has-gone-gold.aspx | title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Has Gone Gold | publisher=GameStop Corporation | work=[[Game Informer]] | date=October 15, 2011 | accessdate=April 16, 2013 | last=Hillard | first=Kyle | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119095848/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/10/15/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-has-gone-gold.aspx | archivedate=January 19, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
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===Design=== |
===Design=== |
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To solve the issues of transferring information from the original game's engine to the Saber engine, the developers looked at how they used the third-party [[Havok (software)|Havok physics engine]] to handle object positioning, velocities, and collisions. Saber created a proxy of every object in the ''Halo'' engine to transfer into the Saber engine, meaning that the game's original programming remained unchanged.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> The game's ability to alternate between the legacy and remastered graphics engines in the campaign was made possible by the rendering engine developed by [[Saber Interactive]]. The technology allowed the developers to update ''Halo: Combat Evolved''{{'}}s visuals and preserve the original gameplay.<ref name="saber">{{cite web | url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/321507/interviewsthe-man-whos-rebuilding-halo-combat-evolved/ | title=The man who's rebuilding Halo: Combat Evolved | publisher=Future plc | work=[[Computer and Video Games]] | date=October 16, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114141250/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/321507/interviews/the-man-whos-rebuilding-halo-combat-evolved/ | archivedate=November 14, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> Originally, players would have chosen which graphical presentation to play from the main menu.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/343-industries-dan-ayoub-on-the-legacy-of-halo | title=343 Industries' Dan Ayoub on the Legacy of Halo | publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]] | work=[[PC World|PC World New Zealand]] | date=November 18, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | author=Keogh, Siobhan | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118043514/http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/343-industries-dan-ayoub-on-the-legacy-of-halo | archivedate=January 18, 2012 | deadurl=no | quote=It's funny, I've told this story a few times, but we were initially intending Classic Mode to be in the menu, so when you started the game you could choose which mode you wanted to play in. But before we had the menus hooked up we just had it living in the game. And very quickly, I remember playing it and I was like, 'No, no, no, no—you need to be able to do this at any point, this is way too much fun.' And quickly it turned into our most popular feature and something that people talk about the most, and something that people have a blast with.}}</ref> The in-game toggle feature quickly became a talking point among the developers, who pushed for it to be available to other players.<ref name="sparkcast-04"/> Since the ability to switch between classic version and remastered version was provided to players, both engines work simultaneously to retain the spontaneity of game. This approach caused several problems, including collision issues—because objects and environments in the original game were of a lower resolution with fewer polygons, higher-resolution visuals in the Saber engine could deviate from the original significantly. As the original game's geometry was used as the basis for collisions, in some cases characters could appear to walk through or above terrain, weapons could drop through the ground, and bullets would appear to be deflected by nothing. The sheer number of these issues, combined with the desire to keep the original gameplay intact, forced Saber to use a variety of approaches to fix the problems, including making tools for artists to visualize height differences and creating intermediate geometry. In some cases, the artists developed other ways of keeping to the same collision data while updating the visuals by changing the actual object—turning a blocky, low-polygon rock into an angular [[Factions of Halo#Forerunner|Forerunner]] structure avoided the collision issues.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> |
To solve the issues of transferring information from the original game's engine to the Saber engine, the developers looked at how they used the third-party [[Havok (software)|Havok physics engine]] to handle object positioning, velocities, and collisions. Saber created a proxy of every object in the ''Halo'' engine to transfer into the Saber engine, meaning that the game's original programming remained unchanged.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> The game's ability to alternate between the legacy and remastered graphics engines in the campaign was made possible by the rendering engine developed by [[Saber Interactive]]. The technology allowed the developers to update ''Halo: Combat Evolved''{{'}}s visuals and preserve the original gameplay.<ref name="saber">{{cite web | url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/321507/interviewsthe-man-whos-rebuilding-halo-combat-evolved/ | title=The man who's rebuilding Halo: Combat Evolved | publisher=Future plc | work=[[Computer and Video Games]] | date=October 16, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114141250/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/321507/interviews/the-man-whos-rebuilding-halo-combat-evolved/ | archivedate=November 14, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> Originally, players would have chosen which graphical presentation to play from the main menu.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/343-industries-dan-ayoub-on-the-legacy-of-halo | title=343 Industries' Dan Ayoub on the Legacy of Halo | publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]] | work=[[PC World|PC World New Zealand]] | date=November 18, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | author=Keogh, Siobhan | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118043514/http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/343-industries-dan-ayoub-on-the-legacy-of-halo | archivedate=January 18, 2012 | deadurl=no | quote=It's funny, I've told this story a few times, but we were initially intending Classic Mode to be in the menu, so when you started the game you could choose which mode you wanted to play in. But before we had the menus hooked up we just had it living in the game. And very quickly, I remember playing it and I was like, 'No, no, no, no—you need to be able to do this at any point, this is way too much fun.' And quickly it turned into our most popular feature and something that people talk about the most, and something that people have a blast with.}}</ref> The in-game toggle feature quickly became a talking point among the developers, who pushed for it to be available to other players.<ref name="sparkcast-04"/> Since the ability to switch between classic version and remastered version was provided to players, both engines work simultaneously to retain the spontaneity of game. This approach caused several problems, including collision issues—because objects and environments in the original game were of a lower resolution with fewer polygons, higher-resolution visuals in the Saber engine could deviate from the original significantly. As the original game's geometry was used as the basis for collisions, in some cases characters could appear to walk through or above terrain, weapons could drop through the ground, and bullets would appear to be deflected by nothing. The sheer number of these issues, combined with the desire to keep the original gameplay intact, forced Saber to use a variety of approaches to fix the problems, including making tools for artists to visualize height differences and creating intermediate geometry. In some cases, the artists developed other ways of keeping to the same collision data while updating the visuals by changing the actual object—turning a blocky, low-polygon rock into an angular [[Factions of Halo#Forerunner|Forerunner]] structure avoided the collision issues.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> |
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Where possible, the developers drew on or adapted assets from ''[[Halo 3]]'' and ''Reach''.<ref name="eurogamer-returning to the ring">{{cite web | url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-24-halo-anniversary-returning-to-the-ring-article | title=Halo Anniversary: Returning to the Ring | publisher=Gamer Network | work=[[Eurogamer]] | date=October 24, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | author=Robinson, Martin | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215121720/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-24-halo-anniversary-returning-to-the-ring-article | archivedate=February 15, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> For elements that had no analogues, Microsoft sent art director Ben Cammarano to Saber's offices in [[St. Petersburg]] to oversee the redesign of the game's visuals.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> Cammarano established four tenets of Halo—what Iones termed "heroic vistas, iconic imagery and characters, clean and vibrant aesthetics, and visceral action"—to guide Saber's artists. Since the original assets already existed, concept artists took screenshots from the original game and painted over new looks to show how environmental effects, improved lighting, and new textures could change the look of the levels. Some of Saber's visual designs were considered too much of a departure from the original game—while the artists had changed the position of the Halo ringworld and nearby planets to make a more pleasing [[Skybox (video games)|skybox]], Microsoft insisted maintaining continuity with the universe was more important and vetoed the changes. Vocal fans pointed out other inconsistencies with the game's visuals in prerelease trailers and pictures that Saber ultimately changed. Iones pointed to the floor designs of the Forerunner structures, the assault rifle, and the look of the Chief as places fans had an impact.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> The Chief's armor was redesigned from scratch instead of porting existing assets.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/24950/Behind-The-Scenes-of-Halo-Anniversarys-Campaign/ |title=Behind the Scenes of Halo Anniversary's Campaign |publisher=Ziff Davis |work=[[TeamXbox]] |date=October 18, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |author=Langdon, Robert |archiveurl= |
Where possible, the developers drew on or adapted assets from ''[[Halo 3]]'' and ''Reach''.<ref name="eurogamer-returning to the ring">{{cite web | url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-24-halo-anniversary-returning-to-the-ring-article | title=Halo Anniversary: Returning to the Ring | publisher=Gamer Network | work=[[Eurogamer]] | date=October 24, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | author=Robinson, Martin | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215121720/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-24-halo-anniversary-returning-to-the-ring-article | archivedate=February 15, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> For elements that had no analogues, Microsoft sent art director Ben Cammarano to Saber's offices in [[St. Petersburg]] to oversee the redesign of the game's visuals.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> Cammarano established four tenets of Halo—what Iones termed "heroic vistas, iconic imagery and characters, clean and vibrant aesthetics, and visceral action"—to guide Saber's artists. Since the original assets already existed, concept artists took screenshots from the original game and painted over new looks to show how environmental effects, improved lighting, and new textures could change the look of the levels. Some of Saber's visual designs were considered too much of a departure from the original game—while the artists had changed the position of the Halo ringworld and nearby planets to make a more pleasing [[Skybox (video games)|skybox]], Microsoft insisted maintaining continuity with the universe was more important and vetoed the changes. Vocal fans pointed out other inconsistencies with the game's visuals in prerelease trailers and pictures that Saber ultimately changed. Iones pointed to the floor designs of the Forerunner structures, the assault rifle, and the look of the Chief as places fans had an impact.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> The Chief's armor was redesigned from scratch instead of porting existing assets.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/24950/Behind-The-Scenes-of-Halo-Anniversarys-Campaign/ |title=Behind the Scenes of Halo Anniversary's Campaign |publisher=Ziff Davis |work=[[TeamXbox]] |date=October 18, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |author=Langdon, Robert |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fw4aVPUl?url=http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/24950/Behind-The-Scenes-of-Halo-Anniversarys-Campaign/ |archivedate=April 17, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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Saber doubted that it would be able to convert ''Combat Evolved''{{'}}s split-screen cooperative play to facilitate online play. Greg Hermann, a 343 Industries technical lead who had experience with Bungie technology, assisted Saber in development of a networking solution that would allow online co-op. Since the original game would behave identically when given the same scenario and inputs, only the player inputs needed to be synchronized between players' Xbox consoles.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> |
Saber doubted that it would be able to convert ''Combat Evolved''{{'}}s split-screen cooperative play to facilitate online play. Greg Hermann, a 343 Industries technical lead who had experience with Bungie technology, assisted Saber in development of a networking solution that would allow online co-op. Since the original game would behave identically when given the same scenario and inputs, only the player inputs needed to be synchronized between players' Xbox consoles.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> |
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Because of its previous contributions to the series—''Halo 2''{{'}}s Blastacular and ''Halo: Reach''{{'}}s Defiant map pack—[[Certain Affinity]] was approached by 343 Industries to streamline the multiplayer maps to take ''Halo: Reach''{{'}}s gameplay options into account. The multiplayer is powered by the ''Halo: Reach'' engine.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/kd2o47/halo-4-e3-2011--halo-returns-interview | title=E3 2011: Halo Returns Interview | publisher=[[Viacom]] | work=[[GameTrailers]] | date=June 6, 2011 | accessdate=October 28, 2011 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710061044/http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/kd2o47/halo-4-e3-2011--halo-returns-interview | archivedate=July 10, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> 343 Industries director Frank O'Connor said that the decision to use ''Reach'' for the multiplayer was controversial, even within the studio. "In ''Halo''{{'}}s day, there was never a proper networking mode," O'Connor explained. "We couldn't roll back the technology; [recreating ''Halo''{{'}}s local area network multiplayer] just wouldn't have worked with things like latency and all other modern Xbox Live-related problems. So we would have had to build it from scratch, and it still wouldn't have been the experience [players] remember."<ref name="gamasutra-making anniversary work"/> An additional consideration O'Connor mentioned was that producing a full replication of ''Combat Evolved''{{'}}s multiplayer would have divided the ''Halo'' player base and interrupted ''Reach''{{'}}s lifespan.<ref name="gamasutra-making anniversary work"/>{{rp|3}} In choosing which seven ''Halo'' maps to remake, 343 Industries set a number of rules—the map could not have been previously remade for a 360-era ''Halo'' title, it had to work with ''Reach''{{'}}s gameplay sandbox, and it had to be a fan favorite.<ref name="gamasutra-making anniversary work"/>{{rp|1}} The company retained the same art director between the campaign and multiplayer elements of ''Anniversary'' to make sure the two halves of the game looked visually cohesive.<ref name="eurogamer-returning to the ring"/> |
Because of its previous contributions to the series—''Halo 2''{{'}}s Blastacular and ''Halo: Reach''{{'}}s Defiant map pack—[[Certain Affinity]] was approached by 343 Industries to streamline the multiplayer maps to take ''Halo: Reach''{{'}}s gameplay options into account. The multiplayer is powered by the ''Halo: Reach'' engine.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/kd2o47/halo-4-e3-2011--halo-returns-interview | title=E3 2011: Halo Returns Interview | publisher=[[Viacom]] | work=[[GameTrailers]] | date=June 6, 2011 | accessdate=October 28, 2011 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710061044/http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/kd2o47/halo-4-e3-2011--halo-returns-interview | archivedate=July 10, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> 343 Industries director Frank O'Connor said that the decision to use ''Reach'' for the multiplayer was controversial, even within the studio. "In ''Halo''{{'}}s day, there was never a proper networking mode," O'Connor explained. "We couldn't roll back the technology; [recreating ''Halo''{{'}}s local area network multiplayer] just wouldn't have worked with things like latency and all other modern Xbox Live-related problems. So we would have had to build it from scratch, and it still wouldn't have been the experience [players] remember."<ref name="gamasutra-making anniversary work"/> An additional consideration O'Connor mentioned was that producing a full replication of ''Combat Evolved''{{'}}s multiplayer would have divided the ''Halo'' player base and interrupted ''Reach''{{'}}s lifespan.<ref name="gamasutra-making anniversary work"/>{{rp|3}} In choosing which seven ''Halo'' maps to remake, 343 Industries set a number of rules—the map could not have been previously remade for a 360-era ''Halo'' title, it had to work with ''Reach''{{'}}s gameplay sandbox, and it had to be a fan favorite.<ref name="gamasutra-making anniversary work"/>{{rp|1}} The company retained the same art director between the campaign and multiplayer elements of ''Anniversary'' to make sure the two halves of the game looked visually cohesive.<ref name="eurogamer-returning to the ring"/> |
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Since 343 Industries developed ''Halo 4'' concurrently with the anniversary edition, it decided to use ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' to link the original trilogy with the upcoming [[Halo (series)#Reclaimer saga|Reclaimer trilogy]] by means of in-game collectibles similar to ''Halo 3''{{'}}s terminals, ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''{{'}}s audio logs, and ''Halo: Reach''{{'}}s data pads.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-25-halo-4-in-development-for-two-years | title=Halo 4 in development for two years | publisher=Gamer Network | work=[[Eurogamer]] | date=July 25, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Yin-Poole | first=Wesley | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610233743/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-25-halo-4-in-development-for-two-years | archivedate=June 10, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref><ref name="bts-terminals">{{cite web|url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/Universe/detail/a/acb7db71-ba09-41ee-8db9-ab2a2999d9dc |title=BTS: Anniversary Terminals: A Behind The Scenes Look at the Terminals of Halo: Anniversary |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |work=Halo Waypoint |accessdate=March 3, 2012 |archiveurl= |
Since 343 Industries developed ''Halo 4'' concurrently with the anniversary edition, it decided to use ''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' to link the original trilogy with the upcoming [[Halo (series)#Reclaimer saga|Reclaimer trilogy]] by means of in-game collectibles similar to ''Halo 3''{{'}}s terminals, ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]''{{'}}s audio logs, and ''Halo: Reach''{{'}}s data pads.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-25-halo-4-in-development-for-two-years | title=Halo 4 in development for two years | publisher=Gamer Network | work=[[Eurogamer]] | date=July 25, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Yin-Poole | first=Wesley | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610233743/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-07-25-halo-4-in-development-for-two-years | archivedate=June 10, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref><ref name="bts-terminals">{{cite web |url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/Universe/detail/a/acb7db71-ba09-41ee-8db9-ab2a2999d9dc |title=BTS: Anniversary Terminals: A Behind The Scenes Look at the Terminals of Halo: Anniversary |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |work=Halo Waypoint |accessdate=March 3, 2012 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fw4sU2Nj?url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/Universe/detail/a/acb7db71-ba09-41ee-8db9-ab2a2999d9dc |archivedate=April 17, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> While the other games' collectibles were aimed at and enjoyed by serious ''Halo'' fiction fans, 343 Industries wanted to make ''Anniversary''{{'}}s terminals higher-budget, more impressive, and accessible to all players.<ref name="gamasutra-making anniversary work"/>{{rp|2}} |
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Though Iones described ''Anniversary''{{'}}s one-year development cycle as a "very smooth ride",<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> some production issues that were not discovered until late in development contributed to bugs and other problems. Saber relied on a partially automated tool to render the game's cinematics, but did not do a thorough vetting of the results until after the game had reached the [[Software release life cycle#Alpha|alpha stage of its release cycle]]. As a result, the developers realized that their addition of [[motion capture]] animation and lip-syncing had caused serious audio syncing issues and animation bugs.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> |
Though Iones described ''Anniversary''{{'}}s one-year development cycle as a "very smooth ride",<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> some production issues that were not discovered until late in development contributed to bugs and other problems. Saber relied on a partially automated tool to render the game's cinematics, but did not do a thorough vetting of the results until after the game had reached the [[Software release life cycle#Alpha|alpha stage of its release cycle]]. As a result, the developers realized that their addition of [[motion capture]] animation and lip-syncing had caused serious audio syncing issues and animation bugs.<ref name="gdm-postmortem"/> |
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===Audio=== |
===Audio=== |
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The developers refreshed ''Combat Evolved''{{'}}s music and sound effects along with its visuals.<ref name="bts-audio">{{cite web|url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/Universe/detail/a/b4ffd4b0-f5d6-4b85-b7f5-a32e99cbc8d3 |title=BTS: Anniversary Music: A Behind The Scenes Look at the Remaster Music of Halo: Anniversary |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |work=Halo Waypoint |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl= |
The developers refreshed ''Combat Evolved''{{'}}s music and sound effects along with its visuals.<ref name="bts-audio">{{cite web |url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/Universe/detail/a/b4ffd4b0-f5d6-4b85-b7f5-a32e99cbc8d3 |title=BTS: Anniversary Music: A Behind The Scenes Look at the Remaster Music of Halo: Anniversary |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |work=Halo Waypoint |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fw4ghB4k?url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/Universe/detail/a/b4ffd4b0-f5d6-4b85-b7f5-a32e99cbc8d3 |archivedate=April 17, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> While players can toggle the original music from ''Halo: Combat Evolved'', the soundtrack was also rerecorded in partnership with Pyramind Studios, using the 75-piece Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and the [[Chanticleer (ensemble)|Chanticleer]] vocal ensemble.<ref name="bts-audio"/><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/07/06/343-and-pyramid-studios-remaking-halo-soundtrack-for-anniversary-edition.aspx | title=343 And Pyramind Studios Remaking Halo Soundtrack For Anniversary Edition | publisher=GameStop Corporation | work=[[Game Informer]] | date=July 6, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Helgeson | first=Matt | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119000240/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/07/06/343-and-pyramid-studios-remaking-halo-soundtrack-for-anniversary-edition.aspx | archivedate=January 19, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> Because there were no [[MIDI]] recordings of the original game's music, Paul Lipson, Lennie Moore, Tom Salta, and Brian Trifon transcribed each piece of music.<ref name="bts-audio"/><ref name="ign-campaign discussion">{{cite web | url=http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/08/27/halo-fest-halo-anniversary-campaign-discussion | title=Halo Fest: Halo Anniversary Campaign Discussion | publisher=Ziff Davis | work=[[IGN]] | date=August 27, 2011 | accessdate=October 29, 2011 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907185349/http://uk.ign.com/videos/2011/08/27/halo-fest-halo-anniversary-campaign-discussion | archivedate=September 7, 2011 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
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The soundtrack was released digitally and in two physical formats: a two-disc [[compact disc|CD]] edition and a [[vinyl record]] edition, the latter of which was limited to 2000 units. The vinyl edition contains 16 tracks on two sides and comes with a code to download the rest of the ''Anniversary'' soundtrack digitally.<ref name="waypoint-le soundtrack">{{cite web|url=http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2011/12/13/Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Soundtrack-Limited-Edition-Green-Vinyl.aspx |title=Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Soundtrack—Limited Edition Green Vinyl |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |work=Halo Waypoint |date=December 13, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Shea, Jessica |archiveurl= |
The soundtrack was released digitally and in two physical formats: a two-disc [[compact disc|CD]] edition and a [[vinyl record]] edition, the latter of which was limited to 2000 units. The vinyl edition contains 16 tracks on two sides and comes with a code to download the rest of the ''Anniversary'' soundtrack digitally.<ref name="waypoint-le soundtrack">{{cite web |url=http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2011/12/13/Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Soundtrack-Limited-Edition-Green-Vinyl.aspx |title=Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Soundtrack—Limited Edition Green Vinyl |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |work=Halo Waypoint |date=December 13, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Shea, Jessica |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6E8deriUM?url=http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2011/12/13/Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Soundtrack-Limited-Edition-Green-Vinyl.aspx |archivedate=February 2, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> The compact disc edition contains thirty-nine tracks and was released on November 15, 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2011/11/10/Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Soundtrack.aspx |title=Sumthing Else Music Works Announces Halo®: Combat Evolved Anniversary Soundtrack Double CD Album |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |work=Halo Waypoint |date=November 10, 2011 |accessdate=February 2, 2013 |author=Shea, Jessica |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6E8eTb4nO?url=http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2011/11/10/Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Soundtrack.aspx |archivedate=February 2, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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==Release== |
==Release== |
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[[File:Halo Anniversary LA Game Launch - creators signing (6381867477).jpg|thumb|Frank O'Connor, ''Halo'' franchise director, signing posters at a ''Combat Evolved Anniversary'' launch event]] |
[[File:Halo Anniversary LA Game Launch - creators signing (6381867477).jpg|thumb|Frank O'Connor, ''Halo'' franchise director, signing posters at a ''Combat Evolved Anniversary'' launch event]] |
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''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' was announced to the public with a trailer on June 6, 2011, at Microsoft's annual E3 global media briefing, which closed with the teaser trailer for ''Halo 4''. Bonuses for preordering the game included a Master Chief [[Avatar (Xbox Live)|Xbox 360 avatar]] costume and an exclusive Grunt Funeral skull, which toggles whether enemy [[Covenant (Halo)#Grunts (Unggoy)|Grunts]] explode upon death.<ref name="MCV: Master Chief freebie for Halo Anniversary pre-orders"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2011/07/18/Special-Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Pre-order-Bonuses.aspx |title=Special Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Pre-Order Bonuses |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |work=Halo Waypoint |date=July 18, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl= |
''Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary'' was announced to the public with a trailer on June 6, 2011, at Microsoft's annual E3 global media briefing, which closed with the teaser trailer for ''Halo 4''. Bonuses for preordering the game included a Master Chief [[Avatar (Xbox Live)|Xbox 360 avatar]] costume and an exclusive Grunt Funeral skull, which toggles whether enemy [[Covenant (Halo)#Grunts (Unggoy)|Grunts]] explode upon death.<ref name="MCV: Master Chief freebie for Halo Anniversary pre-orders"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2011/07/18/Special-Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Pre-order-Bonuses.aspx |title=Special Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Pre-Order Bonuses |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |work=Halo Waypoint |date=July 18, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6y3Za9m?url=http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2011/07/18/Special-Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Pre-order-Bonuses.aspx |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> During the Halo Universe panel at the 2011 [[San Diego Comic-Con International|San Diego Comic-Con]], a short trailer showcasing the animation used in the terminals with a narration by 343 Guilty Spark was shown to the fans.<ref>{{cite web |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6yLipqL?url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/Universe/detail/a/67d71fe1-b586-4f6a-bc82-50974502b31e |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |url=http://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/Universe/detail/a/67d71fe1-b586-4f6a-bc82-50974502b31e |title=Anniversary Terminals Teaser |work=Halo Waypoint |publisher=[[Microsoft Studios]] |accessdate=November 5, 2011 |df= }}</ref> Microsoft launched the ''Halo Living Monument'', consisting of a [[live action|live-action]] short and a website, to celebrate the launch of ''Combat Evolved Anniversary''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/02/rumor-microsoft-launching-halo-living-monument-for-combat-evo/ | title=Rumor: Microsoft launching 'Halo Living Monument' for Combat Evolved Anniversary | publisher=[[AOL]] | work=[[Joystiq]] | date=November 2, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Hinkle | first=David | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106071304/http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/02/rumor-microsoft-launching-halo-living-monument-for-combat-evo/ | archivedate=January 6, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-11-14-live-action-trailer-announces-halo-living-monument | title=Live action clip announces Halo Living Monument | publisher=Gamer Network | work=[[Eurogamer]] | date=November 14, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Dutton | first=Fred | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117073232/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-11-14-live-action-trailer-announces-halo-living-monument | archivedate=January 17, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
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Thirteen retail [[Microsoft Store]]s hosted [[Dot com party|launch events]] for ''Anniversary''{{'}}s November 15, 2011, midnight release; festivities included sixteen-player multiplayer matches, limited-edition [[Promotional merchandise|giveaways]], and appearances by the game developers.<ref name="G4: Microsoft Holding Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Launch Parties Across The U.S."/><ref name="EGM: Microsoft Stores To Host Special Halo Anniversary Event"/> In the [[United Kingdom]], Microsoft and the British video game retailer [[Game (retailer)|GAME]] held two prerelease events with the full version of the game and prizes.<ref name="MCV: Halo hits the High Street early"/><ref name="OXMUK: Play Halo Anniversary in Birmingham, win an Xbox 360 and eat Halo pizzas"/> In another British promotion, those who purchased a special ''Halo''-themed [[Pizza Hut]] pizza during a two-week promotional period surrounding the release date received two days of Xbox Live premium membership.<ref name="OXMUK: Play Halo Anniversary in Birmingham, win an Xbox 360 and eat Halo pizzas"/><ref name="GamePro: Pizza Hut's Halo Pizza is a Real Thing"/> [[VideoGamer.com]]'s staff found the pizza to be delicious, but its connection to the ''Halo'' franchise tenuous.<ref name="VDGMR: Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary Pizza review"/> Microsoft and Pizza Hut would run a similar promotion the next year for ''[[Halo 4]]''{{'}}s release.<ref name="POLY: Halo 4 avatar costume offered free from U.K. Pizza Huts"/><ref name="THEDRUM: Pizza Hut Delivery brings back the Halo effect with 'Halo 4 Stuffed Crust Pizza'"/> |
Thirteen retail [[Microsoft Store]]s hosted [[Dot com party|launch events]] for ''Anniversary''{{'}}s November 15, 2011, midnight release; festivities included sixteen-player multiplayer matches, limited-edition [[Promotional merchandise|giveaways]], and appearances by the game developers.<ref name="G4: Microsoft Holding Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Launch Parties Across The U.S."/><ref name="EGM: Microsoft Stores To Host Special Halo Anniversary Event"/> In the [[United Kingdom]], Microsoft and the British video game retailer [[Game (retailer)|GAME]] held two prerelease events with the full version of the game and prizes.<ref name="MCV: Halo hits the High Street early"/><ref name="OXMUK: Play Halo Anniversary in Birmingham, win an Xbox 360 and eat Halo pizzas"/> In another British promotion, those who purchased a special ''Halo''-themed [[Pizza Hut]] pizza during a two-week promotional period surrounding the release date received two days of Xbox Live premium membership.<ref name="OXMUK: Play Halo Anniversary in Birmingham, win an Xbox 360 and eat Halo pizzas"/><ref name="GamePro: Pizza Hut's Halo Pizza is a Real Thing"/> [[VideoGamer.com]]'s staff found the pizza to be delicious, but its connection to the ''Halo'' franchise tenuous.<ref name="VDGMR: Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary Pizza review"/> Microsoft and Pizza Hut would run a similar promotion the next year for ''[[Halo 4]]''{{'}}s release.<ref name="POLY: Halo 4 avatar costume offered free from U.K. Pizza Huts"/><ref name="THEDRUM: Pizza Hut Delivery brings back the Halo effect with 'Halo 4 Stuffed Crust Pizza'"/> |
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==Reception== |
==Reception== |
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{{Video game reviews |
{{Video game reviews |
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| GR = 82%<ref name="GR">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/632871-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary/index.html |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |work=[[GameRankings]] |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl= |
| GR = 82%<ref name="GR">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/632871-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary/index.html |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |work=[[GameRankings]] |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6FtFKWFfm?url=http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/632871-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary/index.html |archivedate=April 15, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
||
| MC = 82/100<ref name="MC">{{cite web | url=http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary | title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary | publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] | work=[[Metacritic]] | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121124164325/http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary | archivedate=November 24, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
| MC = 82/100<ref name="MC">{{cite web | url=http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary | title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary | publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] | work=[[Metacritic]] | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121124164325/http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary | archivedate=November 24, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
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| Destruct = 9/10<ref name="destructoid-review">{{cite web|url=http://www.destructoid.com/review-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-215692.phtml |title=Review: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary |work=[[Destructoid]] |date=November 14, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last=Aziz |first=Hamza |archiveurl= |
| Destruct = 9/10<ref name="destructoid-review">{{cite web |url=http://www.destructoid.com/review-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-215692.phtml |title=Review: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary |work=[[Destructoid]] |date=November 14, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last=Aziz |first=Hamza |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6K7bI9A?url=http://www.destructoid.com/review-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-215692.phtml |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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| EGM = 8.5/10<ref name="egm-review">{{cite web|url=http://www.egmnow.com/articles/reviews/egm-review-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-edition/ |title=EGM Review: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary |work=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |date=November 14, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Justice, Brandon |archiveurl= |
| EGM = 8.5/10<ref name="egm-review">{{cite web |url=http://www.egmnow.com/articles/reviews/egm-review-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-edition/ |title=EGM Review: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary |work=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |date=November 14, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |author=Justice, Brandon |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6JiF10X?url=http://www.egmnow.com/articles/reviews/egm-review-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-edition/ |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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| GI = 8.5/10<ref name="gameinformer-review">{{cite web | url=http://www.gameinformer.com/games/halo_combat_evolved_anniversary/b/xbox360/archive/2011/11/16/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-melding-the-old-and-the-new.aspx | title=Melding The Old And The New—Combat Evolved Anniversary | publisher=[[GameStop]] | work=[[Game Informer]] | date=November 16, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last1=Miller | first1=Matt | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223222138/http://www.gameinformer.com/games/halo_combat_evolved_anniversary/b/xbox360/archive/2011/11/16/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-melding-the-old-and-the-new.aspx | archivedate=February 23, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
| GI = 8.5/10<ref name="gameinformer-review">{{cite web | url=http://www.gameinformer.com/games/halo_combat_evolved_anniversary/b/xbox360/archive/2011/11/16/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-melding-the-old-and-the-new.aspx | title=Melding The Old And The New—Combat Evolved Anniversary | publisher=[[GameStop]] | work=[[Game Informer]] | date=November 16, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last1=Miller | first1=Matt | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223222138/http://www.gameinformer.com/games/halo_combat_evolved_anniversary/b/xbox360/archive/2011/11/16/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-melding-the-old-and-the-new.aspx | archivedate=February 23, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
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| GSpot = 8.0/10<ref name="gamespot-review">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary/reviews/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-6346217/?tag=games%253Bgame_title%253B3 |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |work=[[GameSpot]] |date=November 16, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last1=Watters |first1=Chris |page=1 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221011255/http://uk.gamespot.com/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary/reviews/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-6346217 |archivedate=December 21, 2011 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
| GSpot = 8.0/10<ref name="gamespot-review">{{cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary/reviews/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-6346217/?tag=games%253Bgame_title%253B3 |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |work=[[GameSpot]] |date=November 16, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last1=Watters |first1=Chris |page=1 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221011255/http://uk.gamespot.com/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary/reviews/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-6346217 |archivedate=December 21, 2011 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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| GB = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="giantbomb-review">{{cite web|url=http://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review/1900-450/ |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |work=[[Giant Bomb]] |date=November 17, 2011 |accessdate=March 20, 2017 |last=Shoemaker |first=Brad |archiveurl= |
| GB = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="giantbomb-review">{{cite web |url=http://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review/1900-450/ |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review |publisher=[[CBS Interactive]] |work=[[Giant Bomb]] |date=November 17, 2011 |accessdate=March 20, 2017 |last=Shoemaker |first=Brad |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6ymlwRE?url=http://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review/1900-450/ |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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| IGN = 8/10<ref name="ign-review">{{cite web|last=Hopper |first=Steven |date=November 14, 2011 |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/11/14/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review |archiveurl= |
| IGN = 8/10<ref name="ign-review">{{cite web |last=Hopper |first=Steven |date=November 14, 2011 |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/11/14/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6ydos6A?url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/11/14/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |title=Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Review |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |work=[[IGN]] |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |df= }}</ref> |
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| OXM = 8.5/10<ref name="oxmus-review">{{cite web|url=http://www.oxmonline.com/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary review |publisher=[[Future plc]] |work=[[Official Xbox Magazine]] |date=November 14, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl= |
| OXM = 8.5/10<ref name="oxmus-review">{{cite web |url=http://www.oxmonline.com/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary review |publisher=[[Future plc]] |work=[[Official Xbox Magazine]] |date=November 14, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6JyKlzX?url=http://www.oxmonline.com/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
||
| PALGN = 8/10<ref name="palgn-review">{{cite web | url=http://palgn.com.au/xbox-360/19920/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review/ | title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review | work=[[PALGN]] | date=November 22, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Guetti | first=Adam | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430195518/http://palgn.com.au/xbox-360/19920/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review/ | archivedate=April 30, 2013 | deadurl=yes}}</ref> |
| PALGN = 8/10<ref name="palgn-review">{{cite web | url=http://palgn.com.au/xbox-360/19920/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review/ | title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Review | work=[[PALGN]] | date=November 22, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Guetti | first=Adam | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430195518/http://palgn.com.au/xbox-360/19920/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review/ | archivedate=April 30, 2013 | deadurl=yes}}</ref> |
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<!-- Custom reviewers --> |
<!-- Custom reviewers --> |
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| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="digitalspy-review">{{cite web | url=http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/review/a350816/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-xbox-360.html | title='Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary' review (Xbox 360) | publisher=[[Hearst Magazines UK]] | work=[[Digital Spy]] | date=November 15, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Reynolds | first=Matthew | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808224406/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/review/a350816/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-xbox-360.html | archivedate=August 8, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="digitalspy-review">{{cite web | url=http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/review/a350816/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-xbox-360.html | title='Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary' review (Xbox 360) | publisher=[[Hearst Magazines UK]] | work=[[Digital Spy]] | date=November 15, 2011 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Reynolds | first=Matthew | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120808224406/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/gaming/review/a350816/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review-xbox-360.html | archivedate=August 8, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
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| rev2 = ''[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]]'' |
| rev2 = ''[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]]'' |
||
| rev2Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="escapist-review2">{{cite web|url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9229-Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Review.2 |title=Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Review |publisher=[[Alloy Digital]] |work=[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]] |date=November 17, 2012 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last=Pitts |first=Russ |archiveurl= |
| rev2Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="escapist-review2">{{cite web |url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9229-Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Review.2 |title=Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Review |publisher=[[Alloy Digital]] |work=[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]] |date=November 17, 2012 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last=Pitts |first=Russ |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6DK4FgYsE?url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/9229-Halo-Combat-Evolved-Anniversary-Review.2 |archivedate=December 31, 2012 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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| rev3 = ''[[The Guardian]]'' |
| rev3 = ''[[The Guardian]]'' |
||
| rev3Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="guardian-review">{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2011/nov/14/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review | title=Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary—review | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=November 14, 2011 | accessdate=November 15, 2011 | last=Boxer | first=Steve | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230224131/http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/nov/14/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review | archivedate=December 30, 2011 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
| rev3Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="guardian-review">{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2011/nov/14/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review | title=Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary—review | work=[[The Guardian]] | date=November 14, 2011 | accessdate=November 15, 2011 | last=Boxer | first=Steve | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230224131/http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/nov/14/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-review | archivedate=December 30, 2011 | deadurl=no}}</ref> |
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Reviewers disagreed on how the core gameplay of ''Combat Evolved'', unaltered in ''Anniversary'', had aged over ten years. Writing for [[GameSpot]], editor Chris Watters opined that "the fundamental mechanics of the game have ... endured well", with responsive controls and challenging enemies.<ref name="gamespot-review"/> ''[[PALGN]]'' writer Adam Guetti agreed, praising "rock solid" controls and tight gameplay,<ref name="palgn-review"/> while Mike Wilcox of ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'' argued the anniversary edition "[proves] a game with a winning formula doesn't wither with age".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/xbox-pioneer-has-familiar-ring-to-it-20120111-1pu06.html | title=Xbox pioneer has familiar ring to it | publisher=[[Fairfax Media]] | work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] | date=January 12, 2012 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | author=Wilcox, Mike | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508021823/http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/xbox-pioneer-has-familiar-ring-to-it-20120111-1pu06.html | archivedate=May 8, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> [[IGN]]'s Steven Hopper felt that the level design was dated, the repetitious environments making it easy for players to lose their bearings, and that vehicles handled poorly.<ref name="ign-review"/> [[Giant Bomb]]'s Brad Shoemaker wrote that while the best aspects of the game remained, other aspects—such as the level design and fighting the Flood—were no less frustrating after ten years;<ref name="giantbomb-review"/> [[Digital Spy]]'s Matthew Reynolds echoed the sentiment, praising the game for presenting situations unsurpassed in later titles while faulting irregular checkpoints with increasing frustration.<ref name="digitalspy-review"/> |
Reviewers disagreed on how the core gameplay of ''Combat Evolved'', unaltered in ''Anniversary'', had aged over ten years. Writing for [[GameSpot]], editor Chris Watters opined that "the fundamental mechanics of the game have ... endured well", with responsive controls and challenging enemies.<ref name="gamespot-review"/> ''[[PALGN]]'' writer Adam Guetti agreed, praising "rock solid" controls and tight gameplay,<ref name="palgn-review"/> while Mike Wilcox of ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'' argued the anniversary edition "[proves] a game with a winning formula doesn't wither with age".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/xbox-pioneer-has-familiar-ring-to-it-20120111-1pu06.html | title=Xbox pioneer has familiar ring to it | publisher=[[Fairfax Media]] | work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] | date=January 12, 2012 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | author=Wilcox, Mike | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508021823/http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/xbox-pioneer-has-familiar-ring-to-it-20120111-1pu06.html | archivedate=May 8, 2012 | deadurl=no}}</ref> [[IGN]]'s Steven Hopper felt that the level design was dated, the repetitious environments making it easy for players to lose their bearings, and that vehicles handled poorly.<ref name="ign-review"/> [[Giant Bomb]]'s Brad Shoemaker wrote that while the best aspects of the game remained, other aspects—such as the level design and fighting the Flood—were no less frustrating after ten years;<ref name="giantbomb-review"/> [[Digital Spy]]'s Matthew Reynolds echoed the sentiment, praising the game for presenting situations unsurpassed in later titles while faulting irregular checkpoints with increasing frustration.<ref name="digitalspy-review"/> |
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The remastered visuals were positively received; reviewers such as ''[[The Inquirer]]''{{'}}s Chris Martin and ''[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]]''{{'}}s Russ Pitts singled out the graphics-switch button for praise.<ref name="escapist-review2"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/blog-post/2119307/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-hands-review |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary hands-on review |publisher=[[Incisive Media]] Ltd. |work=[[The Inquirer]] |date=October 24, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last=Martin |first=Chris |archiveurl= |
The remastered visuals were positively received; reviewers such as ''[[The Inquirer]]''{{'}}s Chris Martin and ''[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]]''{{'}}s Russ Pitts singled out the graphics-switch button for praise.<ref name="escapist-review2"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/blog-post/2119307/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-hands-review |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary hands-on review |publisher=[[Incisive Media]] Ltd. |work=[[The Inquirer]] |date=October 24, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last=Martin |first=Chris |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6ypjb9m?url=http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/blog-post/2119307/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-hands-review |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'}}s Steve Boxer called the feature "utterly fascinating—a bit like ... archaeology on your console", and said that the visual overhaul improved areas where the original game engine was weak, such as rendering outdoor environments.<ref name="guardian-review"/> While praising most of the game's refinements, Watters singled out the Flood as enemies he thought the original game envisioned better, saying "the simplicity of the classic look feels more sinister and alien".<ref name="gamespot-review"/> Hamza Aziz of [[Destructoid]] appreciated the visual updates, but not some of the resulting audio–animation syncing issues.<ref name="destructoid-review"/> |
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Critics had split opinions on ''Anniversary''{{'}}s additional features. The stereoscopic 3D effect was alternatively praised and dismissed: Matt Miller of ''[[Game Informer]]'' wrote that the feature "doesn't add anything to the experience",<ref name="gameinformer-review"/> while Aziz described the feature as "fantastic", considering its use in ''Anniversary'' to be more subtle and pleasing than in other games. Aziz also applauded the narrative terminals, although he condemned the Kinect voice command support for being slower in combat than pressing buttons.<ref name="destructoid-review"/> [[Ben Kuchera]] of ''[[Ars Technica]]'' enjoyed the improvements of the ''Halo'' maps in ''Anniversary''{{'}}s multiplayer mode, but criticized the inability to play said mode via four-person local split screen as in the original game.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/11/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-is-often-awkward-ultimately-fulfilling-for-fans-of-series/ |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary awkward but ultimately fulfilling for fans |publisher=[[Condé Nast|Condé Nast Digital]] |work=[[Ars Technica]] |date=November 14, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last1=Kuchera |first1=Ben |archiveurl= |
Critics had split opinions on ''Anniversary''{{'}}s additional features. The stereoscopic 3D effect was alternatively praised and dismissed: Matt Miller of ''[[Game Informer]]'' wrote that the feature "doesn't add anything to the experience",<ref name="gameinformer-review"/> while Aziz described the feature as "fantastic", considering its use in ''Anniversary'' to be more subtle and pleasing than in other games. Aziz also applauded the narrative terminals, although he condemned the Kinect voice command support for being slower in combat than pressing buttons.<ref name="destructoid-review"/> [[Ben Kuchera]] of ''[[Ars Technica]]'' enjoyed the improvements of the ''Halo'' maps in ''Anniversary''{{'}}s multiplayer mode, but criticized the inability to play said mode via four-person local split screen as in the original game.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/11/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-is-often-awkward-ultimately-fulfilling-for-fans-of-series/ |title=Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary awkward but ultimately fulfilling for fans |publisher=[[Condé Nast|Condé Nast Digital]] |work=[[Ars Technica]] |date=November 14, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last1=Kuchera |first1=Ben |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6FtVSTYmm?url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2011/11/halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-is-often-awkward-ultimately-fulfilling-for-fans-of-series/ |archivedate=April 15, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> Reynolds agreed with 343 Industries's choice to use ''Reach'' for ''Anniversary''{{'}}s multiplayer mode, writing that the map pack offered "a smart way of reintroducing players back into the game", as well as commending ''Halo''{{'}}s combat for offering an alternative to contemporary military shooters.<ref name="digitalspy-review"/> |
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{{reflist|30em|refs= |
{{reflist|30em|refs= |
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<ref name="EGM: Microsoft Stores To Host Special Halo Anniversary Event">{{cite web|first1=Eric L. |last1=Patterson |url=http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-stores-to-host-special-halo-anniversary-event/ |title=Microsoft Stores To Host Special Halo Anniversary Event |publisher=EGM Media |work=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |date=November 9, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl= |
<ref name="EGM: Microsoft Stores To Host Special Halo Anniversary Event">{{cite web |first1=Eric L. |last1=Patterson |url=http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-stores-to-host-special-halo-anniversary-event/ |title=Microsoft Stores To Host Special Halo Anniversary Event |publisher=EGM Media |work=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]] |date=November 9, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6FuWivU0l?url=http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/microsoft-stores-to-host-special-halo-anniversary-event/ |archivedate=April 16, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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<ref name="G4: Microsoft Holding Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Launch Parties Across The U.S.">{{cite web|first1=Leah |last1=Jackson |url=http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/718212/microsoft-holding-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-launch-parties-across-the-us/ |title=Microsoft Holding Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Launch Parties Across The U.S. |publisher=[[G4 Media]] |work=[[G4 (U.S. TV channel)|G4]] |date=November 9, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl= |
<ref name="G4: Microsoft Holding Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Launch Parties Across The U.S.">{{cite web |first1=Leah |last1=Jackson |url=http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/718212/microsoft-holding-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-launch-parties-across-the-us/ |title=Microsoft Holding Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Launch Parties Across The U.S. |publisher=[[G4 Media]] |work=[[G4 (U.S. TV channel)|G4]] |date=November 9, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6FuWiJqcI?url=http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/718212/microsoft-holding-halo-combat-evolved-anniversary-launch-parties-across-the-us/ |archivedate=April 16, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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<ref name="GamePro: Pizza Hut's Halo Pizza is a Real Thing">{{cite web | url=http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/224506/pizza-huts-halo-pizza-is-a-real-thing/ | title=Pizza Hut's Halo Pizza is a Real Thing | publisher=IDG | work=[[GamePro]] | date=November 1, 2011 | accessdate=November 9, 2011 | last=Shaw | first=Patrick | archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/224506/pizza-huts-halo-pizza-is-a-real-thing/&date=2011-11-30+19:07:26 | archivedate=December 1, 2011}}</ref> |
<ref name="GamePro: Pizza Hut's Halo Pizza is a Real Thing">{{cite web | url=http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/224506/pizza-huts-halo-pizza-is-a-real-thing/ | title=Pizza Hut's Halo Pizza is a Real Thing | publisher=IDG | work=[[GamePro]] | date=November 1, 2011 | accessdate=November 9, 2011 | last=Shaw | first=Patrick | archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/224506/pizza-huts-halo-pizza-is-a-real-thing/&date=2011-11-30+19:07:26 | archivedate=December 1, 2011}}</ref> |
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<ref name="IGN: Halo Review (2001)">{{cite web | url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/11/10/halo-review | title=Halo Review | publisher=Ziff Davis | work=[[IGN]] | date=November 9, 2001 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Boulding | first=Aaron | page=2 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20031127173133/http://xbox.ign.com/articles/165/165922p1.html?fromint=1 | archivedate=November 27, 2003 | deadurl=no | quote=Remember you can connect with up to three other Xboxes with up to four players on each 'box in multiplayer games.}}</ref> |
<ref name="IGN: Halo Review (2001)">{{cite web | url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/11/10/halo-review | title=Halo Review | publisher=Ziff Davis | work=[[IGN]] | date=November 9, 2001 | accessdate=April 15, 2013 | last=Boulding | first=Aaron | page=2 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20031127173133/http://xbox.ign.com/articles/165/165922p1.html?fromint=1 | archivedate=November 27, 2003 | deadurl=no | quote=Remember you can connect with up to three other Xboxes with up to four players on each 'box in multiplayer games.}}</ref> |
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<ref name="MCV: Halo hits the High Street early">{{cite web|first1=Dominic |last1=Sacco |url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/halo-hits-the-high-street-early/ |title=Halo hits the High Street early |publisher=Intent Media |work=[[Market for Home Computing and Video Games|MCV]] |date=November 1, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl= |
<ref name="MCV: Halo hits the High Street early">{{cite web |first1=Dominic |last1=Sacco |url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/halo-hits-the-high-street-early/ |title=Halo hits the High Street early |publisher=Intent Media |work=[[Market for Home Computing and Video Games|MCV]] |date=November 1, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6FugxJXIS?url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/halo-hits-the-high-street-early/ |archivedate=April 16, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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<ref name="MCV: Master Chief freebie for Halo Anniversary pre-orders">{{cite web|first1=Ben |last1=Parfitt |url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/master-chief-freebie-for-halo-anniversary-pre-orders/082331 |title=Master Chief freebie for Halo Anniversary pre-orders |publisher=Intent Media |work=[[Market for Home Computing and Video Games|MCV]] |date=July 18, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl= |
<ref name="MCV: Master Chief freebie for Halo Anniversary pre-orders">{{cite web |first1=Ben |last1=Parfitt |url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/master-chief-freebie-for-halo-anniversary-pre-orders/082331 |title=Master Chief freebie for Halo Anniversary pre-orders |publisher=Intent Media |work=[[Market for Home Computing and Video Games|MCV]] |date=July 18, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fw519VXW?url=http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/master-chief-freebie-for-halo-anniversary-pre-orders/082331 |archivedate=April 17, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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<ref name="OXMUK: First Halo Kinect Details Revealed">{{cite web|url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2011/10/16/first-halo-kinect-details-revealed |title=First Halo Kinect Details Revealed |publisher=Ziff Davis |work=[[IGN UK]] |date=October 16, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last=Lynch |first=Casey |archiveurl= |
<ref name="OXMUK: First Halo Kinect Details Revealed">{{cite web |url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2011/10/16/first-halo-kinect-details-revealed |title=First Halo Kinect Details Revealed |publisher=Ziff Davis |work=[[IGN UK]] |date=October 16, 2011 |accessdate=April 15, 2013 |last=Lynch |first=Casey |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6F6qyg5BN?url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/10/16/first-halo-kinect-details-revealed |archivedate=March 14, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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<ref name="OXMUK: Play Halo Anniversary in Birmingham, win an Xbox 360 and eat Halo pizzas">{{cite web|first1=Edwin |last1=Evans-Thirlwell |url=http://www.oxm.co.uk/35683/play-halo-anniversary-in-birmingham-win-an-xbox-360-and-eat-halo-pizzas/ |title=Play Halo Anniversary in Birmingham, win an Xbox 360 and eat Halo pizzas |publisher=Future plc |work=[[Official Xbox Magazine UK]] |date=November 4, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl= |
<ref name="OXMUK: Play Halo Anniversary in Birmingham, win an Xbox 360 and eat Halo pizzas">{{cite web |first1=Edwin |last1=Evans-Thirlwell |url=http://www.oxm.co.uk/35683/play-halo-anniversary-in-birmingham-win-an-xbox-360-and-eat-halo-pizzas/ |title=Play Halo Anniversary in Birmingham, win an Xbox 360 and eat Halo pizzas |publisher=Future plc |work=[[Official Xbox Magazine UK]] |date=November 4, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fw55BYML?url=http://www.oxm.co.uk/35683/play-halo-anniversary-in-birmingham-win-an-xbox-360-and-eat-halo-pizzas/ |archivedate=April 17, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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<ref name="POLY: Halo 4 avatar costume offered free from U.K. Pizza Huts">{{cite web|url=http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/30/3575978/halo-4-avatar-costume-offered-free-from-u-k-pizza-huts |title=Halo 4 avatar costume offered free from U.K. Pizza Huts |publisher=[[Vox Media]] |work=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |date=October 30, 2012 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |last=Gera |first=Emily |archiveurl= |
<ref name="POLY: Halo 4 avatar costume offered free from U.K. Pizza Huts">{{cite web |url=http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/30/3575978/halo-4-avatar-costume-offered-free-from-u-k-pizza-huts |title=Halo 4 avatar costume offered free from U.K. Pizza Huts |publisher=[[Vox Media]] |work=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |date=October 30, 2012 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |last=Gera |first=Emily |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fw5ChuOa?url=http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/30/3575978/halo-4-avatar-costume-offered-free-from-u-k-pizza-huts |archivedate=April 17, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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<ref name="THEDRUM: Pizza Hut Delivery brings back the Halo effect with 'Halo 4 Stuffed Crust Pizza'">{{cite web|first1=Gillian |last1=West |url=http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/11/07/pizza-hut-delivery-brings-back-halo-effect-halo-4-stuffed-crust-pizza |title=Pizza Hut Delivery brings back the Halo effect with 'Halo 4 Stuffed Crust Pizza' |publisher=Carnyx Group |work=The Drum |date=November 7, 2012 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl= |
<ref name="THEDRUM: Pizza Hut Delivery brings back the Halo effect with 'Halo 4 Stuffed Crust Pizza'">{{cite web |first1=Gillian |last1=West |url=http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/11/07/pizza-hut-delivery-brings-back-halo-effect-halo-4-stuffed-crust-pizza |title=Pizza Hut Delivery brings back the Halo effect with 'Halo 4 Stuffed Crust Pizza' |publisher=Carnyx Group |work=The Drum |date=November 7, 2012 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fw5Ew0JV?url=http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/11/07/pizza-hut-delivery-brings-back-halo-effect-halo-4-stuffed-crust-pizza |archivedate=April 17, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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<ref name="VDGMR: Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary Pizza review">{{cite web|url=http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/halo/news/halo_combat_evolved_anniversary_pizza_review.html |title=Halo: Combat Evolved—Anniversary Pizza review |publisher=Pro-G Media |work=[[VideoGamer.com]] |date=November 15, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl= |
<ref name="VDGMR: Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary Pizza review">{{cite web |url=http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/halo/news/halo_combat_evolved_anniversary_pizza_review.html |title=Halo: Combat Evolved—Anniversary Pizza review |publisher=Pro-G Media |work=[[VideoGamer.com]] |date=November 15, 2011 |accessdate=April 16, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6Fw58SGgz?url=http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/halo/news/halo_combat_evolved_anniversary_pizza_review.html |archivedate=April 17, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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<ref name="VDGMR: Installation 04 is Halo Anniversary's Firefight map">{{cite web|first1=James |last1=Orry |url=http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/halo/news/installation_04_is_halo_anniversarys_firefight_map.html# |title=Installation 04 is Halo Anniversary's Firefight map |publisher=Pro-G Media |work=[[VideoGamer.com]] |date=August 28, 2011 |accessdate=April 17, 2013 |archiveurl= |
<ref name="VDGMR: Installation 04 is Halo Anniversary's Firefight map">{{cite web |first1=James |last1=Orry |url=http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/halo/news/installation_04_is_halo_anniversarys_firefight_map.html# |title=Installation 04 is Halo Anniversary's Firefight map |publisher=Pro-G Media |work=[[VideoGamer.com]] |date=August 28, 2011 |accessdate=April 17, 2013 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/6FwWHWSWJ?url=http://www.videogamer.com/xbox360/halo/news/installation_04_is_halo_anniversarys_firefight_map.html |archivedate=April 17, 2013 |deadurl=no |df= }}</ref> |
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Revision as of 03:53, 24 September 2017
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary | |
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![]() | |
Developer(s) | 343 Industries Saber Interactive |
Publisher(s) | Microsoft Studios |
Composer(s) | |
Series | Halo |
Engine | Saber3D Engine |
Platform(s) | |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
Mode(s) |
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a first-person shooter video game set in the Halo universe and is an enhanced remake of Halo: Combat Evolved. Microsoft announced the game alongside Halo 4 at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo. The game was released on November 15, 2011—the 10th anniversary of the original title's launch—for the Xbox 360 game console, and rereleased as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection for the Xbox One on November 11, 2014.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was developed as a partnership between development studios 343 Industries, Saber Interactive, and Certain Affinity. 343 Industries, the Halo series' franchise overseers, approached Saber Interactive to develop a remake of the original Halo in time for its tenth anniversary. After considering whether to remake the game entirely or to adapt and add features to the existing PC version, Saber decided to use its game engine for reproducing the original's appearance and the original Halo's engine for gameplay. A development tool for toggling between the old and new visuals became a game feature. Anniversary's enhancements include a complete high-definition visual overhaul, support for cooperative and multiplayer gameplay via the Xbox Live online service, new and remastered sound effects and music, and extras such as achievements and hidden in-game collectibles. The game is the first in the series to include Kinect support.
Critical reception to Anniversary was generally positive. The updated graphics, sounds, and ability to toggle between the remastered and original visuals were praised. Complaints included technical glitches, faults with the original game's level design, and the multiplayer mode's implementation.
Gameplay
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c3/HaloCEA_comparison.png/220px-HaloCEA_comparison.png)
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary and the original, Halo: Combat Evolved, are identical in gameplay and plot.[1] The game is a first-person shooter with portions of vehicular combat taking place from a third-person perspective. The plot follows the player character and protagonist Master Chief, a supersoldier, as he fights the alien Covenant on the mysterious ancient ringworld Halo.[1] Players are equipped with a recharging energy shield that absorbs damage; players also have health that can only be replenished by health packs scattered across the game's levels. A variety of human and alien weapons and vehicles can be used.[2]
Players can switch between the "classic" graphics of the original game and new graphics developed for the remake by pressing the Back button on the controller.[3][4] The classic and new graphics are presented in high-definition, 16:9 widescreen compared to the original game's 480i resolution and 4:3 aspect ratio.[5] The remastered graphics are also available in stereoscopic 3D for compatible televisions.[6]
Additions to the gameplay include Xbox Live achievements, online cooperative gameplay, and hidden content: video terminals that provide additional plot information, and collectible skulls that modify gameplay when activated.[1] Support for Xbox Kinect includes voice commands for video navigation, in-combat directives, and environment-scanning, which adds on-screen items to an encyclopedia called the Library.[1][7][8]
The original Combat Evolved did not support online multiplayer, but players could play multiplayer locally via split-screen or System Link LAN.[9] Anniversary adds revamped multiplayer and two-player co-op campaign support available both online via Xbox Live and offline locally.[1] The game's multiplayer mode uses Halo: Reach's engine and features seven remakes of Combat Evolved and Halo 2 maps.[1] Anniversary also includes a new map based on Halo's eponymous campaign level for Firefight, a wave-based survival multiplayer game type in which players and their allies fight enemy groups of scaling difficulty.[10] Anniversary introduced artificially intelligent Firefight allies to the series.[10]
Plot
After fleeing the Covenant's destruction of the human world Reach, the human ship Pillar of Autumn makes a random slipspace jump to avoid leading the Covenant to Earth. Arriving in uncharted space, the crew of the Autumn discover a massive ringworld orbiting a gas giant. When the Covenant attack, Autumn's captain, Jacob Keyes, entrusts the ship's AI, Cortana—and her knowledge of defense deployments and the location of Earth—to the supersoldier Master Chief for safekeeping. Master Chief fights off Covenant boarding parties and leaves the Autumn via a lifeboat to the surface of the ringworld while Keyes lands the Autumn on the ring.
On the ringworld, the Chief rallies human survivors and leads a boarding party to rescue Keyes from the Covenant's clutches. Keyes reveals that the Covenant call the ring "Halo", and they believe it is some sort of weapon. The Chief is tasked with finding Halo's control room before the Covenant does. Once Cortana is inserted into the control room, she becomes alarmed and stays behind while she sends Master Chief to find Keyes. While searching for the captain, Master Chief encounters the Flood, a parasitic organism that infects sentient life. The release prompts Halo's caretaker, the AI 343 Guilty Spark, to enlist the Chief's help in activating Halo's defenses. The Chief's activation of the ring from the Control Room is stopped by Cortana, who reveals that Halo's defenses do not kill Flood, but rather their food in an effort to starve them—meaning that activating the ring would wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. To stop the Flood from spreading and Spark from activating the ring, Cortana devises a plan to detonate the crashed Autumn's engines and destroy Halo. Fighting through Flood, Covenant, and Guilty Spark's robotic Sentinels, the Chief manually destabilizes the Autumn's reactors and he and Cortana narrowly escape the destruction of the ring via a fighter.[11][12][13]
Development
Overview
After Microsoft acquired Bungie in 2000, Bungie developed the original Halo: Combat Evolved as a 2001 launch title for the Xbox. Bungie and Microsoft split in 2007, but the rights to Halo remained with the latter, which formed an internal division to oversee Halo franchise development.[14] 343 Industries, the internal division, approached Saber Interactive with a proposal to remake Combat Evolved for the game's tenth anniversary. Saber's Chief Operating Officer Andrey Iones recalled that the offer was "an opportunity we [could not] miss", as Saber had never before worked on a major game franchise and many team members were fans of Halo.[15] Saber developed concept art to form visual ideas for the remake and then flew to Seattle, Washington, to meet with 343 Industries.[15]
343 Industries wanted a complete remake of the original game by the tenth anniversary of Halo's release, giving Saber just over a year to complete the project.[15] The gameplay was to remain unchanged; while the original game had imbalanced elements, 343 Industries decided to preserve the game experience players remembered[3] while introducing young fans to the game for perhaps the first time.[16] The visuals, meanwhile, would be updated along with added features like campaign skulls. Iones recalled that experimentation with the game was limited—redoing keyframed character animations was off-limits because redoing them could introduce gameplay bugs, and design choices like game balance had already been determined. Likewise, porting the PC version of the game back to the Xbox to add features would have constrained the amount of visual improvements Saber could make, as well as require significant time training artists to use the same production pipelines that were used for Combat Evolved. Saber decided to use the original engine for the gameplay and its own for the visuals, despite the compatibility problems this solution presented.[15] Development began under the codename Spark.[17] The game was completed and released to manufacturing ("going gold") on October 15, 2011.[18]
Design
To solve the issues of transferring information from the original game's engine to the Saber engine, the developers looked at how they used the third-party Havok physics engine to handle object positioning, velocities, and collisions. Saber created a proxy of every object in the Halo engine to transfer into the Saber engine, meaning that the game's original programming remained unchanged.[15] The game's ability to alternate between the legacy and remastered graphics engines in the campaign was made possible by the rendering engine developed by Saber Interactive. The technology allowed the developers to update Halo: Combat Evolved's visuals and preserve the original gameplay.[19] Originally, players would have chosen which graphical presentation to play from the main menu.[20] The in-game toggle feature quickly became a talking point among the developers, who pushed for it to be available to other players.[17] Since the ability to switch between classic version and remastered version was provided to players, both engines work simultaneously to retain the spontaneity of game. This approach caused several problems, including collision issues—because objects and environments in the original game were of a lower resolution with fewer polygons, higher-resolution visuals in the Saber engine could deviate from the original significantly. As the original game's geometry was used as the basis for collisions, in some cases characters could appear to walk through or above terrain, weapons could drop through the ground, and bullets would appear to be deflected by nothing. The sheer number of these issues, combined with the desire to keep the original gameplay intact, forced Saber to use a variety of approaches to fix the problems, including making tools for artists to visualize height differences and creating intermediate geometry. In some cases, the artists developed other ways of keeping to the same collision data while updating the visuals by changing the actual object—turning a blocky, low-polygon rock into an angular Forerunner structure avoided the collision issues.[15]
Where possible, the developers drew on or adapted assets from Halo 3 and Reach.[21] For elements that had no analogues, Microsoft sent art director Ben Cammarano to Saber's offices in St. Petersburg to oversee the redesign of the game's visuals.[15] Cammarano established four tenets of Halo—what Iones termed "heroic vistas, iconic imagery and characters, clean and vibrant aesthetics, and visceral action"—to guide Saber's artists. Since the original assets already existed, concept artists took screenshots from the original game and painted over new looks to show how environmental effects, improved lighting, and new textures could change the look of the levels. Some of Saber's visual designs were considered too much of a departure from the original game—while the artists had changed the position of the Halo ringworld and nearby planets to make a more pleasing skybox, Microsoft insisted maintaining continuity with the universe was more important and vetoed the changes. Vocal fans pointed out other inconsistencies with the game's visuals in prerelease trailers and pictures that Saber ultimately changed. Iones pointed to the floor designs of the Forerunner structures, the assault rifle, and the look of the Chief as places fans had an impact.[15] The Chief's armor was redesigned from scratch instead of porting existing assets.[22]
Saber doubted that it would be able to convert Combat Evolved's split-screen cooperative play to facilitate online play. Greg Hermann, a 343 Industries technical lead who had experience with Bungie technology, assisted Saber in development of a networking solution that would allow online co-op. Since the original game would behave identically when given the same scenario and inputs, only the player inputs needed to be synchronized between players' Xbox consoles.[15]
Because of its previous contributions to the series—Halo 2's Blastacular and Halo: Reach's Defiant map pack—Certain Affinity was approached by 343 Industries to streamline the multiplayer maps to take Halo: Reach's gameplay options into account. The multiplayer is powered by the Halo: Reach engine.[23] 343 Industries director Frank O'Connor said that the decision to use Reach for the multiplayer was controversial, even within the studio. "In Halo's day, there was never a proper networking mode," O'Connor explained. "We couldn't roll back the technology; [recreating Halo's local area network multiplayer] just wouldn't have worked with things like latency and all other modern Xbox Live-related problems. So we would have had to build it from scratch, and it still wouldn't have been the experience [players] remember."[5] An additional consideration O'Connor mentioned was that producing a full replication of Combat Evolved's multiplayer would have divided the Halo player base and interrupted Reach's lifespan.[5]: 3 In choosing which seven Halo maps to remake, 343 Industries set a number of rules—the map could not have been previously remade for a 360-era Halo title, it had to work with Reach's gameplay sandbox, and it had to be a fan favorite.[5]: 1 The company retained the same art director between the campaign and multiplayer elements of Anniversary to make sure the two halves of the game looked visually cohesive.[21]
Since 343 Industries developed Halo 4 concurrently with the anniversary edition, it decided to use Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary to link the original trilogy with the upcoming Reclaimer trilogy by means of in-game collectibles similar to Halo 3's terminals, Halo 3: ODST's audio logs, and Halo: Reach's data pads.[24][25] While the other games' collectibles were aimed at and enjoyed by serious Halo fiction fans, 343 Industries wanted to make Anniversary's terminals higher-budget, more impressive, and accessible to all players.[5]: 2
Though Iones described Anniversary's one-year development cycle as a "very smooth ride",[15] some production issues that were not discovered until late in development contributed to bugs and other problems. Saber relied on a partially automated tool to render the game's cinematics, but did not do a thorough vetting of the results until after the game had reached the alpha stage of its release cycle. As a result, the developers realized that their addition of motion capture animation and lip-syncing had caused serious audio syncing issues and animation bugs.[15]
Audio
The developers refreshed Combat Evolved's music and sound effects along with its visuals.[16] While players can toggle the original music from Halo: Combat Evolved, the soundtrack was also rerecorded in partnership with Pyramind Studios, using the 75-piece Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and the Chanticleer vocal ensemble.[16][26] Because there were no MIDI recordings of the original game's music, Paul Lipson, Lennie Moore, Tom Salta, and Brian Trifon transcribed each piece of music.[16][27]
The soundtrack was released digitally and in two physical formats: a two-disc CD edition and a vinyl record edition, the latter of which was limited to 2000 units. The vinyl edition contains 16 tracks on two sides and comes with a code to download the rest of the Anniversary soundtrack digitally.[28] The compact disc edition contains thirty-nine tracks and was released on November 15, 2011.[29]
Release
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Halo_Anniversary_LA_Game_Launch_-_creators_signing_%286381867477%29.jpg/220px-Halo_Anniversary_LA_Game_Launch_-_creators_signing_%286381867477%29.jpg)
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was announced to the public with a trailer on June 6, 2011, at Microsoft's annual E3 global media briefing, which closed with the teaser trailer for Halo 4. Bonuses for preordering the game included a Master Chief Xbox 360 avatar costume and an exclusive Grunt Funeral skull, which toggles whether enemy Grunts explode upon death.[30][31] During the Halo Universe panel at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, a short trailer showcasing the animation used in the terminals with a narration by 343 Guilty Spark was shown to the fans.[32] Microsoft launched the Halo Living Monument, consisting of a live-action short and a website, to celebrate the launch of Combat Evolved Anniversary.[33][34]
Thirteen retail Microsoft Stores hosted launch events for Anniversary's November 15, 2011, midnight release; festivities included sixteen-player multiplayer matches, limited-edition giveaways, and appearances by the game developers.[35][36] In the United Kingdom, Microsoft and the British video game retailer GAME held two prerelease events with the full version of the game and prizes.[37][38] In another British promotion, those who purchased a special Halo-themed Pizza Hut pizza during a two-week promotional period surrounding the release date received two days of Xbox Live premium membership.[38][39] VideoGamer.com's staff found the pizza to be delicious, but its connection to the Halo franchise tenuous.[40] Microsoft and Pizza Hut would run a similar promotion the next year for Halo 4's release.[41][42]
As stated by tracking firm Chart-Track, Anniversary was the sixth best-selling game of the week across all platforms in the UK; it attained the fifteenth spot in Japan according to Media Create, while according to Amazon orders, it was the second best-selling game for the 360 platform in the same period. It was the third best-selling Xbox 360 game in North America during its first week.[43][44][45]
The game was rereleased on the Xbox One as part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection on November 11, 2014.[46]
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
GameRankings | 82%[47] |
Metacritic | 82/100[48] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Destructoid | 9/10[49] |
Electronic Gaming Monthly | 8.5/10[50] |
Game Informer | 8.5/10[51] |
GameSpot | 8.0/10[52] |
Giant Bomb | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
IGN | 8/10[1] |
Official Xbox Magazine (US) | 8.5/10[54] |
PALGN | 8/10[55] |
Digital Spy | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Escapist | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Guardian | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary received generally positive reviews. On aggregate review website Metacritic, the game has a weighted score of 82 out of 100, based on 73 reviews from critics.[48] On GameRankings, the game has an overall score of 81.92% based on reviews from 53 critics.[47] The staff of Official Xbox Magazine praised the developers for preserving the original gameplay, avoiding "revisionist horrors" and Star Wars rerelease moments.[54] Brandon Justice of Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote for fans of the series, "[Anniversary] is one of the best pieces of fan service our industry has ever produced, and you need to go buy it."[50]
Reviewers disagreed on how the core gameplay of Combat Evolved, unaltered in Anniversary, had aged over ten years. Writing for GameSpot, editor Chris Watters opined that "the fundamental mechanics of the game have ... endured well", with responsive controls and challenging enemies.[52] PALGN writer Adam Guetti agreed, praising "rock solid" controls and tight gameplay,[55] while Mike Wilcox of The Sydney Morning Herald argued the anniversary edition "[proves] a game with a winning formula doesn't wither with age".[59] IGN's Steven Hopper felt that the level design was dated, the repetitious environments making it easy for players to lose their bearings, and that vehicles handled poorly.[1] Giant Bomb's Brad Shoemaker wrote that while the best aspects of the game remained, other aspects—such as the level design and fighting the Flood—were no less frustrating after ten years;[53] Digital Spy's Matthew Reynolds echoed the sentiment, praising the game for presenting situations unsurpassed in later titles while faulting irregular checkpoints with increasing frustration.[56]
The remastered visuals were positively received; reviewers such as The Inquirer's Chris Martin and The Escapist's Russ Pitts singled out the graphics-switch button for praise.[57][60] The Guardian's Steve Boxer called the feature "utterly fascinating—a bit like ... archaeology on your console", and said that the visual overhaul improved areas where the original game engine was weak, such as rendering outdoor environments.[58] While praising most of the game's refinements, Watters singled out the Flood as enemies he thought the original game envisioned better, saying "the simplicity of the classic look feels more sinister and alien".[52] Hamza Aziz of Destructoid appreciated the visual updates, but not some of the resulting audio–animation syncing issues.[49]
Critics had split opinions on Anniversary's additional features. The stereoscopic 3D effect was alternatively praised and dismissed: Matt Miller of Game Informer wrote that the feature "doesn't add anything to the experience",[51] while Aziz described the feature as "fantastic", considering its use in Anniversary to be more subtle and pleasing than in other games. Aziz also applauded the narrative terminals, although he condemned the Kinect voice command support for being slower in combat than pressing buttons.[49] Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica enjoyed the improvements of the Halo maps in Anniversary's multiplayer mode, but criticized the inability to play said mode via four-person local split screen as in the original game.[61] Reynolds agreed with 343 Industries's choice to use Reach for Anniversary's multiplayer mode, writing that the map pack offered "a smart way of reintroducing players back into the game", as well as commending Halo's combat for offering an alternative to contemporary military shooters.[56]
References
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Remember you can connect with up to three other Xboxes with up to four players on each 'box in multiplayer games.
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It's funny, I've told this story a few times, but we were initially intending Classic Mode to be in the menu, so when you started the game you could choose which mode you wanted to play in. But before we had the menus hooked up we just had it living in the game. And very quickly, I remember playing it and I was like, 'No, no, no, no—you need to be able to do this at any point, this is way too much fun.' And quickly it turned into our most popular feature and something that people talk about the most, and something that people have a blast with.
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External links
Media related to Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary at Wikimedia Commons