Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

Developer : 343 Industries, Certain Affinity, Saber Interactive

Publisher : Xbox Game Studios

Platform : PC - Steam

Release Year : 2011, Xbox 360 / 2020, PC-Steam

Return of the Mac

Back in the day, Halo used to be THE console FPS. Full stop. It was the predominant FPS series on not only consoles, but gaming in general, and I feel that the series helped normalize the whole idea of online multiplayer on the home consoles with Halo 2. Master Chief’s first battle against the Covenant was a massive reason so many folks got the first Xbox, and its local multiplayer laid the groundwork for decades of fun to come. My friends and I played countless hours of this game back in the day, and I never thought that over twenty years later I would be playing through this game again, but this time on my PC and with a fresh coat of paint, yet here we are. Christ, not to mention that this game is being remade again here pretty soon, when after playing is old remake, I don’t see why they need to.

It’s because they’re out of ideas.

That’s why.

So, we’re going to take a look here at the over a decade old remake of the classic and original Halo. It is always so nice going back to these old games, because I love to live in that nostalgic haze, and can you really blame me? With the state of the world right now, it is really no surprise that we are looking back to the past, because looking to the future right now is a bit grim, and the present kind of sucks at times.

Gameplay

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a first-person shooter where you are the super soldier Master Chief, and it is up to you to stop the alien forces of the Covenant, stop them from firing the ring, and prevent the escape and spread of the voracious parasitic aliens known as the Flood. Unlike a lot of FPS games these days, the first Halo is not a hyper-paced, short kill time kind of game, it is a slow paced affair both in movement and kill times (unless you’re using the pistol, because that gun is way too good). It took me a minute to remember how it felt to be the Master Chief, how floaty the jumping was and how heavy the movement felt, but before I knew it, I was blasting my way through waves of Grunts, Hunters, and Elites.

The Halo series has always had a very distinct style and feel when it comes to not only the movement, but the gunplay as well. Unlike FPS games today where your characters are zipping around the maps at breakneck speeds, there is a weightiness and deliberate feel to the way the Chief moves. I feel that it still holds up all these years later, and maybe that’s because I haven’t played a lot of ‘modern’ FPS games, but I still really like the feel of Halo.

One of the things that made Halo something special back in the day and stand out among the few other FPS games on consoles, was the vehicles, even if their controls left a lot to be desired: the Warthog felt like it was always sliding around on ice; the Scorpion tank is going to get stuck more than a few times; the fact that you got to fly with the Banshee was crazy awesome, and it was surprising to me that it actually was a breeze to fly; and the Ghost has been, and always will be, my favourite way of getting across the great ring. While the vehicles made the campaign more interesting by mixing up the gameplay, they shined in multiplayer and added to the madness is such a good way.

Now multiplayer is where this series, really left its mark, and coming back to it decades later was a real treat. I know I gushed about the multiplayer already in a previous post, but there is something so familiar here, like coming home after a long time away. My friends and I played so much slayer back in the day, and Halo’s multiplayer will always hold a special place in my heart.

One thing that really did stand out to me during this playthrough is how repetitive the level design can be. There are large sections of the game where you make your way through multiple hallways that all look exactly the same, and while you won’t get lost. it gets really dull especially when you have to backtrack through those same halls. The level design gets to much better as the series goes on, but here, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Presentation

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a pretty good looking game, especially when you consider that it was released for the 360 back in 2011. The ‘updated’ graphics are clean and crisp, and I find that they still captured that very distinctive Halo visual feel. I do love that with a press of a button you can switch back to the old school original Xbox visuals, and while the older graphics obviously look dated, there is very much a charm to the old school look. I played thought the campaign once with the new look, and again with the classic, and I feel that both styles hold-up really well. I do prefer the old school style, but that should come as no surprise when you look at the games I have been writing about lately.

The sound design here is top-notch, with everything form the music, to the sound effects hitting way above their weight. The music is amazing and would go on to be an iconic part from that era of gaming; the tone the music sets is almost unrivaled to this day, and more than a few times I found myself humming away as I was fighting across the ring. The sound effects from the guns, vehicles, NPCs and the enemies are so good: gun fire has a real weight to it, and with each of the weapons having unique sound profiles, fire fights are not only a treat for the eyes, but for the ears too; the vehicles all sound vastly different, with the roar of the Warthogs engines being very different from the low rumble of the Scorpion tank, or the strange and alien sounds of the Covenant Banshee and Ghosts reminding you how advanced and alien they are; the voice work for the NPCs and the enemies is great, especially when you remember how spotty, or downright awful, voice work was in the late ‘90s and early 2000s.

The soundscapes here are so of the best, and even to this day, Halo is an amazing example of why sound design is so important, and how it can elevate a game from awesome to amazing. I honestly can’t think of any series that had its music enter the public zeitgeist quite like Halo, sure Zelda and Final Fantasy are iconic in their own right, but I feel that even people outside of gaming knew the Halo theme. Maybe I’m wrong, but it’s hard to undersell just how big the Halo series was back in the day.

Narrative

The story is where I found Halo to be really average, even back in the day. It is a classic science fiction romp about humanity battling against an alien empire, ancient artifacts of great power that are a threat to the whole galaxy, a body horror parasite that is almost unstoppable, and heroes who are larger than life. It is nothing mind blowing, but for what it is, the story is good enough and in the coming games I find it does get a lot better. There is something to be said about the military fantasy here, and even if the overall narrative isn’t that compelling, the tone and style of how this war story it is told is really good.

But let’s be honest here, no one was playing Halo for the story; we all played it for the gunplay and the multiplayer. It’s awesome that the stories get a lot better as we delve into the lore of the Covenant and of the Forerunners as the series went on, but in this first outing, the narrative was good enough.

This is Just the Beginning

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was just a blast from the past for me, and I am so glad that I pulled the trigger and got this collection on Steam. Reliving those days of my youth and battling against the Covenant and the Flood was amazing. I am looking forward to chatting about the rest of the series here on this blog as I get to them, because I feel that it just got better and better. So, I hope you come on this journey with me, because I appreciate all of you for reading this, and for everything you all do!

I know I said I would be writing more, but January proved to be a lot more lowkey than I thought. I think I need to take some time to recharge so I could get ready to face this new year, and January is always a lazy month after the craziness that is December.