Game Buzz: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Title: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary 
Studio: 343 Industries 
Released:  15/11/2011

Final Verdict: 5/10 

I do realize this is Halo post after Halo post, but I finally had the opportunity to play through Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (which will be called Halo Anniversary the rest of this article) and I thought I might as well get it over with before it becomes too outdated like most of my review material.

Halo: Combat Evolved was an instant cult classic the minute it was released for the original Xbox, which is fairly amazing considering Bungie's original rollercoaster ride of interest/disinterest from publishers during development. The original Halo did a lot for gaming; it brought the first-person shooter genre to light in console gaming, it popularized LAN parties, it... well, I've plenty of source material I could recommend if you wanted your share of Xbox/Halo history. Or you could just see the amount of novels, movies, and more being released to try to satisfy fans and understand that it's a pretty big deal. Point is, Halo was a big deal to a lot of people. It's a beloved classic.

Many fans had their concerns of what this new studio would do to their baby. Bungie had been the one forging the famous series since the beginning, and the only ones to ever try their hands in the Haloverse has been Microsoft Game Studios which somewhat butchered the series' almost flawless reputation with an atrocity called Halo Wars. This being said, fans were skeptical about another studio's ability to take over the immense job of giving their precious game a makeover.

I played the original Halo through and through probably more often then I have replayed any other game. It was easy to love and lose yourself in. It was simple, yet challenging. It was really quite something for it's time.

For it's time.

Not anymore.

I'm not denying that there is pleasure to be had in reminiscing. I'm not saying I don't feel like patting myself on the back when I get an achievement. I'm also not gonna argue that it's nice having pretty graphic instead of rough-cut polygons.

BUT.

That's all the rehash really is. Achievements and HD visuals. I'm not going to pretend I dug into every crack of the game to try to identify the differences, but that's the only thing that really jumped out at me. Sure, the new terminal animations are neat and all, but they aren't enough to make this worth it. I can appreciate that they lowered the price tag from the usual 60$ for a new game to 40$, but this isn't a significant enough drop for me. Why not just replay the original if you really wanted to reminisce? Or why not bring something more to the table then just new graphics? Why not bundle it with a rebooted Halo 2 while you're at it and make the entire trilogy on the Xbox 360?

It feels like 343 was put in a bad position. If they had modified too much, fans would be upset that it's not loyal to the original, don't change enough and fans are upset that you're milking them for money. Halo Anniversary is far from being a bad game, but it's not achieving anything new. The HD doesn't even feel that HD. It just... falls short.

Maybe I'm just a grouchy fan. Maybe I'm too old school. I don't know, but I can't really give Halo Anniversary a decent score considering it didn't really bring anything new to the table. It'll have to settle with 5 frags out of 10. I love Halo, but there's only so much you can squeeze out of a cash cow before it comes out sour.