Merch Madness: Halo Anniversary Series 2 "The Package" Master Chief Action Figure

Figure: Halo Anniversary Series 2 "The Package" Master Chief Action Figure
Company: McFarlane Toys

 Final Verdict: 5/10

Clearly I can not help myself from raving about Halo stuff. Either that or it's the most wide-spread and common video game goodies available. Maybe both.

I picked up this figure at my local Toys R Us, where I spend my lonely nights when the internet is down. This particular Master Chief is ever so slightly different then all the other Master Chiefs out there. This particular model was created as part of the Halo Anniversary series of figures which celebrate everything that is Halo. This Master Chief is modeled very specifically as the Master Chief that appears "The Package", a short film featured on the DVD of Halo Legends. For those of you living under a rock, here's a mid-film clip to give you a taste:

This film was produced by Casio Entertainment and directed by Aramaki Shinji. Their segment of the Halo Legends was their most important work as a studio. Other then that, the most notable would be segments of CG for Final Fantasy: Dissidia.

Regardless, the most distinctive differences in this MC is the additional paint job (the white war stripes and the small red detailing) and the particular mark of armor. The change isn't tremendous, but if they were to release ANOTHER Master Chief, I'm glad they made the effort of adding something new to the mix.

 

The packaging is a fairly simple plastic on cardboard backing type, which doesn't look great to display, so it reduces my guilt in tearing him free of his plastic prison. Master Chief comes with 3 accessories, his iconic assault rifle, a frag grenade, and a piece of the UNSC logo.

 

There's a few things that surprise me when it comes to the accessories: first, there's a bar protruding the side of the assault rifle, which I'm assuming is to mount on the side of his thigh (or so I assume since that's the only holes on his body) though when on display, I don't see why he wouldn't be holding his gun, and when he is, there's an awkward stud jutting out the side. The frag grenade, however, has the opposite problem. There's a hole that takes up about 42% of the thing for no apparent reason. And no, it DOESN'T fit on the gun's peg. Though it does fit on the end of the barrel.

I created... a grenade launcher. Harr harr.
 

There's also the insignia piece. It's not really something important at it's just a hollow piece of cheap plastic which looks like nothing without the rest of the set. It's a cool extra little feature for a dedicated collector though.

Anyways, onto the main course. Master Chief is advertised to have 28 moving parts. These "moving parts" however, are not easy parts to move. For such an articulated figure, he's awfully hard to position. His knees won't bend more then a 45 degree angle, and his thighs maybe 15. This is an issue for display. The less movement he has, the harder it is to pose him in a balanced position that doesn't look awkward as hell. So unless you resort to sticky tack under his feet, odds are you'll have him standing straight, or, y'know....

Looking like Voldo from Soul Calibur.

Or crossing over into my My Little Pony collection.

It also advertises 28 moving parts. There's actually 17 moving parts, not 28. Although, I've figured that they meant axes on which parts can move. That makes a lot more sense. He can rotate rather unnaturally, though he can't bend very well.

Other then that, the sculpt is highly detailed and intricate (as well as accurate) as MacFarlane figures are recognized for, though mine did have a slight factory defect on his knee, I don't expect that it's a widespread problem.

Wtf is this shit.

To finish it off, the paint job. It's almost perfect except for one wide green line on his waist that looks to have been misaligned or bled. This is unfortunate as other then that, the paint is a high quality and looks fairly resistant to abuse.

Crotch paint leak.

Overall, this figure is nice to look at at first but is plagued with multiple imperfections. It's not unique enough to seduce anyone but a passionate Halo collector into purchasing it, especially at a 16.99$ canadian retail plus tax. There are much more impressive Master Chiefs out there, and this isn't "the one" to own. Although, I have to admit I had fun testing it out for this review...

Maybe too much fun.

So I gave this figure 5/10 crab walks for just not being quite as epic enough to be something "new", not being flexible enough to truly be poseable, and leaving me with a lot of unanswered questions (and not to mention leaving me with an extra piece that is useless unless I buy the rest of the set). Until next time!

...I promise no more Halo related reviews for a while.

Geek Read: Halo: The Fall of Reach

Title: Halo: The Fall of Reach
Publisher:  Tor Books; First Edition edition

Authors: Eric Nylund

Published:  03/08/2010

Page Count: 416 pages

Final Verdict: 7.5/10

Picture unrelated to opinion but related to what I do on Saturday nights.

I'm not usually one for novel adaptations of anything, not movies, not games. Novels are usually better as it's own original material, something that was planned and loved and poured over for hours trying to wring out a creative thought which was then pushed into something (usually) great, the same can be said of games. I really admire fiction authors as they are not only are they able to spin wild thoughts into solid, structured sentences (which is something I clearly struggle with, amirite?) but they can do so about worlds that don't exist, about material that's completely made up. They can make fantasy so vibrant it feels real.

This isn't one of those books. It's not original material, it's based off a video game. A hit video game. One with thousands and thousands of nitpicking die-hard fans willing to tear apart a story to find it's clashes with the source material. Living up to those expectations can't be easy. You can't pretend you can tap into someone's gaming experience and capture that feeling in a book. This book doesn't try to do that. It simply tries to tell you it's story. 

After my last read (which you'll be able to tell through my review felt like it gave me an intelligence tumor), I thought I'd tone it down with something more brain-numbing (and with explosions). I had started to read The Fall of Reach years ago, but lost it partway through. I recently picked it back up (which is now the definitive edition, with an additional 27-ish pages of content) and decide to re-tackle it. Let's say, for something I expected to go ratatatatatat for 8 chapters had a little more to offer then that.

The Halo: Fall of Reach novel tackles the origin of Master Chief and the Spartan-IIs and serves as a precursor to the original Halo game. The book is written in third person, yet it concentrates a lot on the thoughts of the main characters. Throughout the book, you explore many people's conscience about a whole wack of subjects, from the morality issues associated with genetic engineering, to what defines humanity, to a soldier's reasons to fight. You get to explore different characters with a wide range of emotions and personalities and get a little insight at how they personally handle the current madness. There's a big emphasis on conscience throughout the novel which is very different from the mindless satisfaction of splattering Covenant with your Warthog in game. It forces you to stop and think a minute.

The Master Chief is obviously the main focus in the story. I was wondering how they would choose to portray him as he is a mostly silent character in the games, and his actions are almost always dictated by your decisions. That would mean no Master Chief is ever the same, thus making the character even harder to recapture as everyone will have different expectations. They settle this on making him remarkably average. John-117 is unbelievably normal, with feelings and questions and imperfections all the same. He stays very human despite the fact that he is practically half machine. His only real superhuman trait is that he is wholly, almost blindly dedicated to his cause. You can not help but once again project yourself in his image. He's normal, I'm normal, we are the same (now for that power armor..).

The story covers plenty of unanswered questions and sheds light on many references only mentioned in-game. Though the futuristic human world is vast with a multitude of planets, systems, colonies, ships, and much more to keep in mind, it's relatively easy to follow. The simple level of language used is most likely to keep the average gamer interested. It's easy enough to not have to think and dive into this world of glorious battles. It's simplistic without being stupid. I don't feel like the book is spoon-feeding me information bite by bite, but it does take it's time to properly explain what is going on and where without having you lose interest.

I was hoping for a book to shut my brain off to, something easy to read. This book is both of those, but a little more. It did grab my attention and encouraged me to keep reading without wanting to put it down. It didn't delude my love for Halo by adding any soppyness or just dumbing it down. The Halo universe is a vast and fascinating one and it was interesting to take a dive into it to get away, even when I was miles away from my Xbox. It kept me entertained, but I can't say it ever really surprised me. I'll give it 7.5 frags out of 10 for being a solid, fun read that lacks in maybe a little shock and awe.

Geek Read: Games Of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games

Title: Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press

Authors: Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greig de Peuter

Published:  08/12/2009

Page Count: 320 pages

 

Final Verdict: 8/10

I drew the header for this review almost as soon as I started reading it... a few months ago. I instantly thought a plain grey suit and a groomed look was perfect, and I immediately associated this book to an annual business meeting. So... ahem. *Straightens out jacket*

This book is a little bit of a tease. It's a little harmless-looking paperback book. It fits in my purse. I got through 2 books of that size in a DAY. Then why did it take me a couple MONTHS to get through it? A look at the publisher will give an important hint.. The University of Minnesota Press. The book just rings of doctoral essay.

The first hint of that is that it holds up an incredibly high standard in language language level. I blame many of my delays due to the fact that I couldn't read this book adequately without my laptop within inches of me to be able to Google these references and define these words that I've never even heard of every few moments. I appreciate this as I'm always looking to expand my vocabulary and as I wouldn't want to compromise the integrity of the book by having it dumbed down to my level but it's something that will play a certain role in selling this book to a more casual reader. 

I expected this book to talk about numbers and statistics and very hum-drum facts and points about the economic power of the video game industry. Boy, was I wrong. Global capitalism isn't just about income and moulah and recessions. The book goes into many sociological discussions as well as dealing with global history lessons and psychological questions. It explores a ton of different fields of interest and there's a great variety of facts that all finds way to relate with and stay pertinent with the subject of video games' impact on global capitalism. The entire book had me fascinated with the facts that were being presented and the unusual perspective it took on the video game industry. It's a refreshing outsider look, differing from the die-hard fan rants and the cynical critic, this is a fresh look at a fresh angle, which brings me to my next point.

I appreciated the unbiased positions the authors take up. This book is a wonderful reference as it doesn't preach. It presents the facts, both positive and negative, about all that there is to know about the role games play in the world's economy and dynamic. Your own opinions can be formed after you've taken in the massive amount of information presented or just have your curiosity peaked to search more in depth in one particular branch. Regardless, the information is really well presented, properly worded, and elegantly delivered. I can't guarantee I understood everything, I did have to re-read sections and educate myself a little bit with some research as I have no business or economics background which made some of the terminology used a little overwhelming and forced me to dig deeper, which in turn again helped me discover a whole new world of information.

ALTHOUGH. There's one small (really stupid!) issue that really drove me up the wall. I don't actually know if that's the proper essay format, or whatever you consider what this book is, but damnn. This essay quotes a LOT of references which makes it really feel formal and there's a certain strength about having facts and references backing up your writing, but the sheer amount of reference information in parentheses directly following the sentence it was used for GREATLY impairs the flow of the book. It gets hard to follow a trait of thought when it's constantly interrupted with potentially meaningless names or numbers (my brain, p.150-151, 26/04/2012) It might sound like a stupid complaint but it can really make it hard to grasp the meaning of a paragraph (myself, 1, 2, 3, 69) when it's all split sentence by sentence (according to my mind, p.11) or even every few words. (2012, just now) Know what I mean? It gets hard to understand with the mix of a higher grade of language and the constant interruptions by the resource's information. To make it all worse, there's about 20 pages of footnotes and definitions that are incredibly hard to directly link it's specific section in the book, even with all the little symbols and notes. I guess I need a university student or prof to tell me my feelings towards this format are simply misguided or immature, but I did not find it very user friendly.

Overall, really, it took me ages to read. It was hard. It was like studying, but I still pushed through it because of the sheer fascination I had with everything it presented me. It really covered all the bases it promised to cover. It was very thorough, professional and taught me more then one new lesson. It expanded my universe of gaming knowledge to a whole new level, and I'm really grateful for that. I give it 8 head shots out of 10 as it's complexity is at the same time it's greatest aspect and it's biggest downfall.

Geek Read: Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories

Title: Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories
Publisher:  Dark Horse Books

Authors:  Multiple

Published:  29/11/2011

Page Count: 205 pages

Final Verdict: 9/10

OKAY SO, it's been a little wild. I like pretending that work is what has gotten in the way and that I'm just so darn busy and important that I don't have time to keep up my blog for my whole 4 followers. But really...

 

Work has been busy and all, but I've had my share of lazy days. The other book I am reading for review is taking wayyyyyy too long to get through (doesn't help that I left it on an aircraft so I had to wait until someone turned it in) and eventually lost motivation. But today, during my most lazy of PJ days I picked up this gem that my dad got me as a going-away gift which I was saving for just this kind of day. So after breezing through it... I bring you, my opinion! Not that you care.

So I have to hand it to Dark Horse for their prints: The ones I own are all large, colorful prints on heavy stock paper and printed hardcovers. This is something I value in a book that will sit in my collections. I hate books that disintegrate in my hands during a normal read through, or that have bible-thin pages that take me 3 minutes to turn in fear of tearing it off. Okay: Maybe I'm a little obsessive, but all I really wanted to point out is that it's a sturdy bugger that looks great on a shelf, especially beside it's own kind. She's a beaut'.

Before going further I'd also like to point out that on sites such as Chapters.ca and Amazon.com, the book title is followed by Volume 1, which leads to believe they may create more of these, which would be great.

Onto the main subject!

Content! The book is split into 3 stories which revolve around 3 of Valve's best sellers: Left4Dead, Team Fortress 2 and Portal 2. I'm a little surprised they did not bring in Half Life or start with Portal 1 but that's not really important. I'll be quite frank and admit these aren't games I played heavily as they had a special spotlight on multiplayer play, which is not something that I'm very much into, yet I've played them all to some extent and am comfortable within their stories/worlds.

The main story, The Sacrifice, is the story behind Left4Dead's main cast and takes up about half of the book's 205 pages. It takes a glimpse into the backstories of the crew while showing their present situation. There's a huge emphasis on the relationships between the characters and how they came to develop a certain way. The story is well balanced in storytelling and action, as well as emotional yet exciting. There's plenty to look at on every page and the dialog can be long but stays simple as it's all it needs to be. It follows a somewhat typical zombie apocalypse story arc, there's nothing excessively original about it, but I don't think that was the point. You get to know the characters that you didn't expect could be so profound when you where shotgunning witches in Left4Dead, and it feels good.

The second story strums a completely different cord. The Team Fortress 2 story, War!, is as silly as the game itself. The artwork is simple and bright and reflects it's source material perfectly. It does the same sort of backstory-filling that The Sacrifice does, but in a total other direction. The story really just shows to what extremes the characters are caricatured, and the pointlessness of the endless Red team vs Blue team war (bringing to mind the satirical Halo machinima, Red vs Blue). It's sometimes interrupted by old-style comics of Saxton Hale and his manly adventures, wrestling sharks and setting bears on fire, which are guaranteed to make you laugh if the main story didn't (which if it didn't, guarantees you have no soul).

So while The Sacrifice will make you want to cry and War! will make you pee your pants, Lab Rat will leave you completely wtfed. Easily the most artsy of the three, Lab Rat (a Portal 2 comic) is much more abstract, diving back and forth into reality, madness, present and future, so it's not the easiest comic to follow. It does, however, also have an art style that reflects the madness in a very sketchy, contrasting way. The story is very short, and doesn't take me anywhere emotionally, though I did enjoy it because of it's frantic pace, and really I like anything about insanity.

Overall good purchase, though it is a pricey one, at least for Canadians ranging around 31.99$ for a book that takes about an hour to read, or two to enjoy slowly. My poor collector heart (and wallet) will unfortunately never let that stop me from bringing this gem into my collection. It's a really enjoyable graphic novel for those who enjoy graphic novels in general, but even better for fans of the game that like having a little more then the pew pews the games provide. I'll give this 9/10 crazy turrets for being a well rounded and well constructed book full of tears, laughs, and I don't know whats.

 

Music to my Ears: The Greatest Video Game Music

 Album Title: The Greatest Video Game Music
Composer/Band/Performers: London Philharmonic Orchestra
Released: 07/11/2011

Final Verdict: 9.3/10

This is like music to my earholes.

Internet points if you can figure out who I'm quoting.

But this. Really.

Look, music in a game is something that stays with you forever, sometimes subconsciously, sometimes not. Sometimes it'll come up while you're on the bus, and you'll start humming, and then your day feels a little more epic because you have a theme song going.

BUT THIS.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra really did an outstanding job with the creation of this album, The Greatest Video Game Music though maybe not so much on the title. Points for originality there guys, it really means a lot. (Though I GUESS it does convey what the album offers in a pretty straightforward way.)

The song list is as follows:

1. Advent Rising: Muse
2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2: Theme
3. Angry Birds: Main Theme
4. Final Fantasy VIII: Liberi Fatali
5. Super Mario Bros: Theme
6. Uncharted - Drake's Fortune: Nate's Theme
7. Grand Theft Auto IV: Soviet Connection
8. World of Warcraft: Seasons of War
9.  Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty Theme
10. Tetris Theme (Korobeiniki)
11. Battlefield 2: Theme
12. Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Main Menu Theme
13. Mass Effect: Suicide Mission
14. Splinter Cell: Conviction
15. Final Fantasy: Main Theme
16. Bioshock: The Ocean On His Shoulders
17. Halo 3: One Final Effort
18. Fallout 3: Theme
19. Super Mario Galaxy

I know what you're thinking. Or at least I hope I know what you're thinking, and it better be...

 

I know right? Actually, let me tackle a few of these points which aren't ALL as glorious as I've been putting them out to be. This album isn't flawless. Just nearly.  It titled itself The Greatest Video Game Music, but even that can be dissected. Is it supposed to mean the greatest video game music performance? Or the greatest music from games? Or the music from the greatest games? But really this is about a CD so I don't know why I'm so stuck on the title.

As for the playlist. I enjoyed that they didn't stick exclusively to the classics, but incorporated some underloved game music along with the classics, even giving odd and interesting swings to unexpected additions. Like Angry Birds.

All of you get this straight. I HATE Angry Birds. I get it, it's a nifty game, the physics are great, it's addictive and simple and fun. Why do I hate it? Because it's being crammed down my throat at every turn! I've seen Angry Bird shirts, plush, toys, board games, keychains, mouse pads.... It's just. A little. Meaningless. App! It's nothing compared to the modern works of art being released on our current generation of consoles, but for some reason it overshadows all of them! HOWEVER. I have to say how pleased I am with the orchestral production of the theme. It's fun, and simple and iconic enough to bring those frustrated fowls to mind. At the same time it helps lighten the mood from the often darker, more 'epic' themes making up the rest of the album.

Other then that I really don't have many complaints. I was neither surprised nor overly thrilled at seeing the Super Mario Bros, Tetris and Zelda Themes that seem to haunt EVERY SINGLE video game music compilation of any sort, but it's always a comforting sound to hear, and usually opens up for the flow of memories, especially with such beautiful interpretations.

There is also two Call of Duty Modern Warfare pieces (because it's clearly impossible to updo CoD in artistic performance, amirite?) and a Battlefield piece, which makes for an awful lot of war-type epic music. Same goes for Final Fantasy. The variety may have been upped a tiny bit by substituting some of the clones for very different titles. Like something from Street Fighter, or Metroid might have been welcomed. But I digress. We can't all share the same taste in games and there's always bound to be someone unhappy with the outcome.

One last little tick I have is the Bioshock song. For those who don't know Bioshock is my bible when it comes to games. I compare everything to it, I use it as an example of a wonderfully interpreted game, it's my beloved #1. Although my feelings for Bioshock are honest and pure, the song they picked just falls short. It's just not as impressive as the rest. It kind of just sneaks in there unnoticed. This could have been so grand, but it just... missed.

This album brings the cheerful bird slinging in with the soviet gangsters, it makes you want to run and gun as much as skulk around in the dark nooks, stalking your enemies. It makes you want to be a part of a grand adventure, it makes you want to go galloping in the breeze... It'll give you chills and take you away to wonderful and exciting lands. So you might not want to listen to it on the bus, because when I did people looked at me like I was crazy. I was just pretend sword-fighting. Only a little.

I am going to give this 9.3 gothic chants out of 10 because as much as I can bitch about Call of Duty getting a spotlight they really did a bang up job interpreting every single piece on that album and it really does make you feel all sorts of things. Except Bioshock, because it was bad.

Unboxing Day: Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V Collector's Edition

Contents of: Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V Special Edition

Final Verdict: 8.5/10

Keep it in your pants kids- I'm going to review the contents of the special edition version of the game, not your precious little baby itself. Not yet. That will come later. (You could at least notice I changed my hair color. Geeeeez.)


But it's been done, Aerie, Skyrim is practically old news.

Leave me alone and let's get on with this!

I came to own Skyrim's Collectors Edition pretty late because of 3 very good reasons. 1. I was broke. 2. I refused to get anything but the Collector's Edition and it's expensive and 3. A friend of mine had to go and buy it for me so I'd shut up about it.

If there is something I am more then a gamer, it's a collector, and I love when publishers make the little extra effort to supply their fans with something cool to come with their long-awaited games. Though; I understand the lot of you who see this as milking the franchise for as much cash as possible, but truth is, if you're not into it, don't buy it, it's as simple as that. The fun of collector's editions are that it's optional, so if you don't like it, then shut up and let me sink my own money into them.

This came as a going-away/Valentine's Day/etc gift from said friend, so it was unexpected and treasured beyond my own purchases of course, but that doesn't mean I can't put the gushy emotional crap aside and get into this nitty-gritty.

First of all, the box it came in is a little overwhelming. For your convenience, I even stole this picture from Google to help you understand:

The size is impressive, but the box itself isn't a "plus" to the loot. It's really just packaging, unlike the Bioshock 2 Collector's edition box which was meant for display, but I digress; this thing is far too big to fit on any of my damn shelves anyways.

Upon opening, the first thing you pull out is the art book. I have a LARGE collection of video game art books, from special edition exclusives or just store-bought. I really love seeing the evolution of concepts and the gallery of art work, and the creative integrity put into all these games. I have to admit, I am -really- impressed with Skyrim's included art book. The size of it, the included works, make it all a worthy candidate for my favorite art book to date, but what truly pushes it to the top is it's magnificent leather cover. My American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns art book is of comparable size/style/etc and retailed for about 40$ at Chapter's, which would probably price this book somewhere in the 50$ range, which we'll discuss more of at the end of this review.

Now comes the game. It comes in a cardboard style box with 2 discs and a sleeve which holds a DVD and a texture-paper printed map. The peak of my annoyance has to be the cardboard box. While it does fit aesthetically with the rest of the merch, it's cardboard. It's weak. For anyone with any intention of boxing/unboxing this game a gazillion times while going through a 100-hour playthroughs more then once KNOWS that thing doesn't stand a chance of remaining mint. Why not a steelbook or a neat leather-bound case to match the art book? It was certainly possible to come up with a better idea, and the final outcome feels cheap. However, I must move on. The DVD is something that any geek interested in the production or games would enjoy watching, but it was far from being what attracted me to the collector's edition. DVDs and movies and such always end up being ripped and thrown online for everyone to download for free, so it's not something I'd truly feel I'd missed out on.

But the dragon.
Oh baby.

It's big- a lot bigger then I had originally expected, even with the ridiculous box size. It makes a really great piece to display and I'm proud to have it sit in my collection. The dragon felt like the best choice for a sculpt, since your dovahkiin will always look different from your buddy's, it would have kind of made a "Well, that's really cool, but it's not really me." kind of reaction. The dragon is made of a hollow plastic material, which I know surprised a few collectors. From the advertisement images it looked solid, heavy, like a typical porcelain-type material that the dragon sculptures fantasy/medieval stores sell. Your first impression might be "cheap" but the fact is, it looks great, displays beautifully, and that's truly all you need out of a sculpt. Think of the original Big Daddy sculps that came with the original Bioshock's special edition. They were all heavy, porcelain-like sculptures, and they nearly all shattered at distribution. This dragon is sturdy, and could probably survive a fall (though I beg you not to try). The best comparison I can think of is of Halo: Reach Legendary Edition's Noble Team sculpture. The same material, the same style. Would actually make a great perch for this dragon!

The collector's edition originally retailed for approximately 149.99$ upon release. Since I got it some time later, it was picked up at Toys R Us for about 109.99$. This is where the price breakdown happens and you can decide whether it was worth it in your books or not. At 149.99$ you paid 60$ for the game, which kicks it down to 90$. Out of 90$ I say you subtract anywhere from 40-50$ for the art book's value. So that would leave about 45$ for the dragon, the DVD and the map. At 110$ the break down remains the same, but that leaves 5$ for the dragon and co.

The less pricey the best in any and all cases, but the manner in which you price your collectables is left to your discretion. I love having something to sit on my bookshelf, but you might think it collects dust. Overall, I think Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V's Collector's Edition is of good value and good quality, even more so now then upon release, and I bestow upon it 8.5 arrows to the knees out of 10.

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.