Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, it is hard to believe that many gamers have played the original Halo: Combat Evolved on the original Xbox, PC / Mac platforms 10 years ago…and it was a killer game. For those of you who are too young to have played the game, Halo: Combat Evolved followed Master Chief right where Halo Reach left off…being chased by the Covenant with his precious AI Cortana. The battle for humanity takes place on this giant ring called Halo, and frankly it proved that FPS games could be played online and very well on consoles. Does this remastered version live up to aging, find out in our view of Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary for the Xbox 360.

The first thing you will notice is the graphics have a huge upgrade, courtesy at the fine folks at Saber3D, this isn’t just a touch up to get more money out of a 10 year old game. There are tons of new effects and lighting changes that make the game up pretty nice. While the graphics don’t beat most of the Xbox 360 games out there, it’s still quite nice. You can quickly change between the old graphics mode and new graphics mode by just pressing Select on the controller or shouting at your Kinect.

There are new cut scenes to be found throughout the game, you must find these terminals that will show the history of Halo and also gives a preview of what is to come in Halo 4. There are skulls to find throughout the game, this will allow you to disable your radar or drain your ammo faster, these skulls you find will allow you to get all 1000 achievement points (yes that many). Also included is a huge one time download code for the classic online maps is also included, so if you buy this used…you won’t be able to play these online! There is also some master chief amour (Separate male and female codes) for you to dawn on your avatar.

343 Industires didn’t mess with the original AI, weapons and levels. You will still get lost in some of the underground corridors just like you did in the original game. The same frustrating parts where you have no clue where you are suppose to go still exist. Without spoiling too much, that malfunctioning blinking bridge is NOT THE WAY OUT, jump onto something with tons of bodies on it 🙂

For the first time, you can play 2 player co-op in Halo: Combat Evolved. You can play 2 player co-op locally, System Link or online with Xbox Live. There is no 4 player co-op like the more recent Halo games, but is still a great addition if you always wanted a buddy to back you up. As with other Halo games, the 2nd player is just “tagging along”, sure you can shoot enemies and ride in the Warthog gunner position…the 2nd player really isn’t there in the story or cut scenes.

The Kinect support is limited to a few commands: Such as switching between the original graphics and the HD graphics; Enabling the new 3D TV support with your voice; Throwing a Grenade. This command is kind of poorly thought out as if you are playing, you or someone in the room watching you play shouts GRENADE, because an enemy has thrown one…YOU will end up throwing one and most likely blowing yourself up in the process; You can also Reload (really slow) and even Analyze the area. There are no motion controls, so don’t think you can play the whole game standing up aiming a virtual rifle.

Halo Reach Anniversary Multiplayer will look much more familiar, it is brought to us by the same company that created the online multiplayer for Halo Reach, Certain Affinity. It is simply an amazing multiplayer component, and with the free one time download of classic Halo 1 maps, there are also Halo 2 maps included as well. Many of these maps have been remade in previous Halo games Battle Creek, Blood Gulch, Derelict, Sidewinder and a few more. It would have been nice if they included more than just one new Firefight map.. It can also be noted that Halo Reach owners can also download the same map pack that is included with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary for 1200 MS Points (Roughly $15).

For gamers who want to re-live the campaign in hd graphics, this will be a tougher sell at $49.99 (just $20 shy of a new game). However, after playing through it once again reminded me how ground breaking the game was and that it deserves another replay in HD. The online multiplayer is a blast, reminds me of the old days where you used to sit around a crowded room playing deathmatch with 4 people (This remake only allows 2 players per console by the way). For younger gamers who only played the more recent Halo games, they may find that they can’t duel wield weapons or that you can only fly in an enemy banshee kind of disappointing. Halo Combat Evolved is still is very fun to play, from the single player campaign to the multiplayer…I’d say it is worth plunking down your holiday money.

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