This year marks the tenth anniversary of one of the most influential games ever made, Halo. To celebrate, 343 Studios is releasing Halo Anniversary, which gives the classic shooter a brand new modern-day look.
Wisely recognizing that fans would riot if they messed with the original Halo too much, 343 kept the gameplay completely intact. The game runs on the original Halo engine, with the same physics, AI, and scripting that it always had. A new graphics engine runs simultaneously, giving the classic shooter an up-to-date look.
It may look brand new, but this is the same old Halo you've grown to love - flaws and all. Anything you could do in the original game, any glitch you could exploit, you can still do here. Warthog jumps, grenade tricks - you can still do them all.
The two-engine system also allows for a bit of nostalgia on the fly. You can hit a button at any time to turn off the new graphics engine and return to the old Halo look. It's a fun little time machine that really shows off just how far graphics have come in the past ten years, but you know, Halo still looks pretty good, even a decade later.
343 was hands off when it came to gameplay elements, but that doesn't mean Anniversary doesn't benefit from a bit of tweaking here and there. In areas like The Library, where everyone got lost, new textures and lighting have been added to help point the way towards the exit. Other areas have received similar modifications, and new terminals have been added that will help explain Halo's story.
The multiplayer will include 7 maps: 6 competitive multiplayer and 1 firefight map. Most are from Halo, but the rest were cherry picked from other games in the series. You can expect to find out more about the multiplayer during HaloFest, a celebration of Halo's 10-year anniversary to be held later this year at PAX.
Halo Anniversary will be released on November 15th, the exact day the original game came out oh, so long ago.
Why only 7 maps?? Do they want the multiplayer experience to be as low-quality as possible? Especially when we're not even guaranteed to have our old favorite maps, but maybe some craptastic one "cherry-picked" from one of the other games.
I still play the old one for the campaign. The new one needed to bring the old-fashioned multiplayer to Live, and it's shaping up to fail at that. This worries me deeply.
Is it just me or does a mere 7 maps seem incredibly insubstantial, especially given that Halo PC was released with 19 maps? Maybe this is just the cynical side of me talking but this sounds like a very cheap ploy to sell map packs.
Random Argument Man: If I want to play the same Halo, I'll use my xbox copy...It's best for the people who didn't play the original.
Or it's for people who want to play the original online, since you can't anymore. This allows for long-time fans to jump online with their old favourite, and new comers to see how it all began! I think it's a great idea, and (Provided they do it right) it'll be one I pick up!
JeanLuc761: Is it just me or does a mere 7 maps seem incredibly insubstantial, especially given that Halo PC was released with 19 maps? Maybe this is just the cynical side of me talking but this sounds like a very cheap ploy to sell map packs.
That's fine by me. I'll be buying it for the campaign anyway, since Combat Evolved is the only Halo game I haven't played. I'm a bad fanboy :(
Random Argument Man: If I want to play the same Halo, I'll use my xbox copy...It's best for the people who didn't play the original.
Or it's for people who want to play the original online, since you can't anymore. This allows for long-time fans to jump online with their old favourite, and new comers to see how it all began! I think it's a great idea, and (Provided they do it right) it'll be one I pick up!
actually the online part will be the exact same as Reach (and compatible with Reach), so it won't feel like the original Halo
Random Argument Man: If I want to play the same Halo, I'll use my xbox copy...It's best for the people who didn't play the original.
This is pretty much it. They could have included the original version on a separate disc and then an updated version as well.
They pretty much have; as the post said, you can just press a button to completely and totally remove all the alterations 343 have made to the game.
It about damn time they got around to announcing this; me and a friend have been planning to play through every Halo game together on legendary, and we wanted to wait for the remastered edition to release before we got started. We were getting kind of worried that they'd decided to give up on the idea before E3 rolled around.
new_age_reject: [quote="Random Argument Man" post="6.290637.11532392"]If I want to play the same Halo, I'll use my xbox copy...It's best for the people who didn't play the original.
This is pretty much it. They could have included the original version on a separate disc and then an updated version as well.
It about damn time they got around to announcing this; me and a friend have been planning to play through every Halo game together on legendary.
That sounds like a bloody brilliant idea! Halo games on legendary are just tremendous fun in co-op. One of the few game series I bother to play on the hardest setting.
At first I was indifferent towards this, but now nostalgia is taking over and the thought of online co op and multiplayer is really starting to push my buttons.
Um... no pun intended.
And they're keeping it on the same engine! That's brilliant.
Random Argument Man: If I want to play the same Halo, I'll use my xbox copy...It's best for the people who didn't play the original.
Or it's for people who want to play the original online, since you can't anymore. This allows for long-time fans to jump online with their old favourite, and new comers to see how it all began! I think it's a great idea, and (Provided they do it right) it'll be one I pick up!
You could never play the original online on the Xbox. The PC version was the only one with online multiplayer, and that's still functional since it's server based.
JeanLuc761: Is it just me or does a mere 7 maps seem incredibly insubstantial, especially given that Halo PC was released with 19 maps? Maybe this is just the cynical side of me talking but this sounds like a very cheap ploy to sell map packs.
They can be downloaded onto Reach, basically it's a re-made game with a Map Pack for Reach.
If armour abilities are in this, I'm going to be uber-pissed. Online shouldn't have them either. In fact, that will probably stop me from buying the game...
CJ1145: Why only 7 maps?? Do they want the multiplayer experience to be as low-quality as possible? Especially when we're not even guaranteed to have our old favorite maps, but maybe some craptastic one "cherry-picked" from one of the other games.
I still play the old one for the campaign. The new one needed to bring the old-fashioned multiplayer to Live, and it's shaping up to fail at that. This worries me deeply.
Do the words "Downloadable Content For Cash" mean anything to you?
JeanLuc761: Is it just me or does a mere 7 maps seem incredibly insubstantial, especially given that Halo PC was released with 19 maps? Maybe this is just the cynical side of me talking but this sounds like a very cheap ploy to sell map packs.
de5gravity: actually the online part will be the exact same as Reach (and compatible with Reach), so it won't feel like the original Halo
Not the co-op! Co-op is fully online, as is my understanding! And that is 5 shades of awesome.
MurderousToaster: You could never play the original online on the Xbox. The PC version was the only one with online multiplayer, and that's still functional since it's server based.
Well then all the more reason to get this version. Not everyone plays is on PC, obviously, so an online version for the consoles is sweet!
I sure hope that it's at a bargin price. I am hoping for US$34.95 or AU$69.95 in Australia. I am so going to buy this just for the trip down memory lane and HD revenge on Flood!
I never played original, so i probably play it. More intresting part of aniversary is ability to switch betwen new and old graphics. (just like in monkey island remake)
ultimasupersaiyan: I sure hope that it's at a bargin price. I am hoping for US$34.95 or AU$69.95 in Australia. I am so going to buy this just for the trip down memory lane and HD revenge on Flood!
That still seems awful steep to me. I'd find it hard to justify paying more than 20 bucks US since it seems that all we get is an updated overlay.
JeanLuc761: Is it just me or does a mere 7 maps seem incredibly insubstantial, especially given that Halo PC was released with 19 maps? Maybe this is just the cynical side of me talking but this sounds like a very cheap ploy to sell map packs.
probably, actually i'll admit it just IS. But as long as it has Blood Gulch, Forge, that Icy Multiplayer map (forget the name), Hang 'Em High, and the original AI for the enemies in Firefight, then i'm happy.
E3: Halo Anniversary
Some games get better with age.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of one of the most influential games ever made, Halo. To celebrate, 343 Studios is releasing Halo Anniversary, which gives the classic shooter a brand new modern-day look.
Wisely recognizing that fans would riot if they messed with the original Halo too much, 343 kept the gameplay completely intact. The game runs on the original Halo engine, with the same physics, AI, and scripting that it always had. A new graphics engine runs simultaneously, giving the classic shooter an up-to-date look.
It may look brand new, but this is the same old Halo you've grown to love - flaws and all. Anything you could do in the original game, any glitch you could exploit, you can still do here. Warthog jumps, grenade tricks - you can still do them all.
The two-engine system also allows for a bit of nostalgia on the fly. You can hit a button at any time to turn off the new graphics engine and return to the old Halo look. It's a fun little time machine that really shows off just how far graphics have come in the past ten years, but you know, Halo still looks pretty good, even a decade later.
343 was hands off when it came to gameplay elements, but that doesn't mean Anniversary doesn't benefit from a bit of tweaking here and there. In areas like The Library, where everyone got lost, new textures and lighting have been added to help point the way towards the exit. Other areas have received similar modifications, and new terminals have been added that will help explain Halo's story.
The multiplayer will include 7 maps: 6 competitive multiplayer and 1 firefight map. Most are from Halo, but the rest were cherry picked from other games in the series. You can expect to find out more about the multiplayer during HaloFest, a celebration of Halo's 10-year anniversary to be held later this year at PAX.
Halo Anniversary will be released on November 15th, the exact day the original game came out oh, so long ago.
See all our coverage directly from the show floor.
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