MadCap's Game Reviews - "Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary"

Now I know what you're thinking. "Hey, MadCap!" I hear you cry to me from down below in the gutters far beneath my absolute and unquestionable magnificence. "Didn't you already review Halo way back in 2014? And weren't you going to review Halo 3? You said you were going to review Halo 3! You've been saying that for years! Why won't you review Halo 3?!" and so, you call up to me. Well, people of the internet, I managed to get my hands on the Master Chief collection through the Xbox Store, so we're gonna play the cards we're dealt. Next few weeks, we're going to look over the first four games in the Halo franchise.

...chronologically, at least. I couldn't care less for Reach or Halo Wars and I'll have a nice complaint about ODST when the review for 3 comes around.

But I also felt that my first review of Halo (and, subsequently, Halo 2) didn't really do the experience it's full justice. I meant what I said way back when, this game was a big deal back in the day. Sure, it rips off Aliens, Doom, Starship Troopers, and 2001: A Space Odyssey (that last one particularly in the later half of the game and even more hilariously in Halo 4 - we'll be getting to that), but it does so well and it's not as if they simply consumed all that media and copied it word for word. Bungie had a pretty firm idea of what they were doing and did it well.

...can the same be said of 343 Industries? Developed by Microsoft to keep the Halo franchise going after the departure of Bungie (when they really should have just let it go at that, but we'll get to that), they had the hefty task of keeping the franchise going past it's expiration date. Have they succeeded? Well, let's take a look.
This is pretty much a straight remake of the original Halo: Combat Evolved, which I have covered mechanically before - right trigger shoots, you run around with recharging energy shields and shoot your way through to objectives, all that fun jazz you'd expect from a shoot - and even dipped into the plot, which is also the same as the original from ten years previously.

No, the changes come from the graphical updates...and the connections to the greater lore of the Halo universe.

Now I can actually give some praise for the graphics in that they are actually updates to things and not just slapping on a new coat of paint as in the case of Skyrim: Super Dee Duper Todd Howard Needs Another Summer Home Edition. No, 343 Industries clearly put in some work when doing this. Every single level of the game was crafted in a new engine, as a decade of time had brought quite a bit of change as far as gaming software had gone. And a lot of it looks great! Environments have a lot more life to them, the weapons are all nice and clean and pretty, and the Marines and the Covenant look a good bit better (and more in line with their appearances in Halo 3 and 4). Visually, it's much improved over the original...or is it?

"Sorry, Master Chief. We had a rave last night..."

I began to notice the problem early on, very grateful that 343 put in the option to switch between the classic graphics and the new. It honestly makes for a good comparison piece where you can see how far things have come...and unfortunately, it also highlights a lot of the shortcomings of the updated graphics. First off, with the updated, absolutely everything is way, way too bright. You have absolutely no need of the flashlight, or at least I didn't, because even dark rooms are too bright now. This is particularly troublesome on the Covenant ships in "Truth and Reconciliation" and "Keyes", where 343 apparently decided that everything had to be glowy and ridiculously ornate.

...yes, I do know how to fix my gamma settings. Shut up!

This isn't a problem for the first few levels, but then you play 343 Guilty Spark. The level that precedes the infamous Library, and our first introduction to the Flood. In the original Halo, it was one of the most heavily atmospheric of the entire game. As you enter the facility (descending down into the ground and then even further down in a lift as though journeying down into Hell itself), you find some Covenant forces still about, certainly...but soon you find their bodies. Blood smears. Barricades that were set up with several Covenant bodies still behind them. Clear signs that they were fighting...something. The lack of Marine bodies about making you think that there's a third party involved...getting deeper and deeper into the facility until you find...them.

But, it doesn't end there! You are terrorized by waves upon waves of the Flood, who have infected both Marine and Covenant bodies. You have to escape, trying to go back the way you came through this seemingly unstoppable force. It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with, and it absolutely will not stop until you are corrupted into becoming part of its very essence. And all of it is done so effectively as to rival John Carpenter's The Thing in terms of sheer pants crapping terror. It's perfect, and topped off with the final elevator ride showing off walls that are absolutely dripping with Covenant blood, showing you that - although you think you've escaped - they will be coming.

...it's just a shame that 343 Industries kind of dropped the ball on preserving the terror in the Updated graphics.

Wes Craven Presents "Aliens"

It's very much dumbed down. There's still a great deal of corpses to be found and, while I'm not a big proponent of gore usually, there is something to be said with the walls being soaked in blood playing the Flood up as a cosmic level threat as the game wants us to think they are. This is, sad to say, up to and including the final lift...which is almost completely barren. I definitely recommend playing 343 Guilty Spark with the original graphics, just because the original experience is by far better and is far more effective at presenting the Flood in all their horror and malignancy.

Also, this is a minor complaint and I'm sure someone who is more into the lore than I am (read: has done something more than play the games) will be along to tell me how wrong I am, but I actually prefer a few of the original environments to the new for a single reason: the new ones look to "realistic". To elaborate, the Halo rings are supposed to be artificial, constructs created by the Forerunners to kill off all sentient life in the cosmos so that the Flood couldn't spread. While their tech level would definitely have them being able to create life on said structure, I almost like the idea of the rings looking more artificial than an actual, organic world.

"Uh...he was dead when I got here."

Obviously, the entire thing can't simply be made out of gray, brown, and black structures that dot the landscape as that would get boring very quickly and the original team at Bungie was more limited in what they could do, but I liked the almost sort of surreal feel of the original maps. Something that was clearly not natural, another hand had been behind it...and as a result, it didn't feel like a natural environment. Again, I know this was to bring things more in line with how they look in Halo 3 and 4, but it doesn't fit as well in the original game.

Another positive I can give is that the music is absolutely spectacular as it was in the original. Since they did not possess the raw form of the original soundtracks, it was retranscribed and it sounds fantastic as a result. There is also some difference between the original and the Updated, but not so much too be jarring or distracting.

...no, they saved that for Halo 2's Anniversary edition. But we'll get into that when we get into that.

All things considered, this game is still the same as it was in 2001, so I can hardly give it grief for - oh, the terminal entries. Right. Because Halo 3 had its data terminals that gave bits of the metaplot that nobody cared about and other games had had their little "wander around until you trip over the thing you're looking for" quests, 343 apparently decided that the original needed the same thing to tie things into the second trilogy that began with 4 and will be ending with Halo Infinite.

This is kind of completely unnecessary. For fun, I actually hunted down a few of them and found that they mentioned characters and concepts you either needed to read some of the novels for or you needed to look up things in Halopedia...neither of which I particularly cared to do and I know not many people will either. You can unlock an achievement with each terminal you find...but what's the point, really?

Come to think of it, what's the point of achievements in general?

Love this shot from the Updated. Vast improvement over the original. Fight me.

As I was saying before, all things considered, Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary is as good a game as the game it's remade from. 343 clearly put in quite a bit of work to make sure that it looked good and played well and it shows. The redone soundtrack sounds utterly phenomenal. While I have a few complaints about the graphical overhaul, I've mentioned more than a few facets of it that I like. I can say, quite happily, that this is not a cheap cash grab banking only on nostalgia. It's great, and I'd pop it in any time.

Next time, however, we'll be covering a cheap cash grab banking only on nostalgia.

Halo: Combat Evolved - Anniversary is available from 343 Industries, Saber Interactive, and Microsoft Studios on Xbox 360 and on Xbox One as part of the Master Chief Collection.

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