Halo CE: Anniversary

[Nolder]

I picked up a copy yesterday and played a couple levels

I am very very pleased that the physics are the same in the single player

I cannot stress this enough being very unhappy with the physics in later games (and other non halo games as well)

this game IS the game you played 10 years ago on Xbox and if that's what you're looking for you'll be very happy with it

 

there are also some new easter eggs like skulls and terminals

I found one skull already and I'm looking forward to finding the rest

it gives me a reason to reexplore the maps I used to know so well

 

speaking of the maps let's talk about the graphics

I'm torn on them

most of the time I think the new graphics are amazingly better but for some reason I have trouble aiming while using them

I think it's because of two factors

1. the world is extremely detailed now, to the point where it feels almost too busy and distracts the eye

2. the newly drawn enemies just look different so I'm not quite sure where to put my bullets to drop an opponent fastest (specifically grunts, I tend to aim at the joint of the neck and head to kill them)

I do really enjoy the ability to switch back and forth at the touch of a button

I cannot state enough how fun that actually is

I wish you could do it during cut scenes though...

 

I'm also liking the achievements

they're designed to give you a full taste of this game

some are pretty easy like just beat the level

some are easter eggy (get a banshee on AOTCR)

some are HARD (kill all the elites on Keys? FML)

and some involve co op which I think is pretty neat

if you're a big halo fan or an FPS expert it shouldn't take you terribly long to get all the achievements and leave you satisfied but if you're a rookie you should still be able to get enough of them that you're not disappointed in yourself or the game

 

and if you're looking for extra challenges you can turn on the skulls (once you collect them you can turn on iirc 3 at a time from the main menu)

they change things about the game

from making explosives more powerful to only regenerating your shields when you melee an opponent

playing with skulls on the hardest difficulty can really change the game experience making it worth replaying

 

and of course they fit in some multiplayer too

I only played one quick game of BTB and I don't have too much to say about it

it's Reach engine so if you've played Reach you know what's up

the map we played on was...Ridgeline? something like that

I think it's a remake of one of the maps from the PC version of halo when I never played so that was cool

I haven't seen the remakes of the other maps yet so I'll reserve judgment for now

I'm happy they made a new firefight map though since I like those

 

there's more minute things to talk about like the remastered music or the change in the sniper rifles aimer

but I'd rather just say for $40 you should just find out for yourself