GameFocus E3 Preview: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
When Halo CE debuted it proved that first-person shooters could work well on consoles. With that in mind, 343 Industries has maintained the classic gameplay by running two engines (the 2001 original and last year’s Halo: Reach) simultaneously. Remember how powerful the magnum was? It’s back along with the same physics and AI.
What the dual-engines also means is that you can swap between the new HD graphics and “Classic Mode” by pressing a button on the fly, just like in the recent Monkey Island HD releases. They switched a few times during The Silent Cartographer level that was demoed and 343 assured us you can do this as often as you want.
343 Industries also has some other improvements planned, like audio recorded through Skywalker Sound for an optimized surround sound experience. Terminals have evolved from simple text to full-on cinematics as shown in a teaser trailer. Always appealing to their hardcore fans, finding all of the terminals provides story hints for the upcoming Halo 4. 343 is also exploring other avenues to bridge the gap between Halo 3 and 4 and one venue is an upcoming Halo novel from author Karen Traviss.
Other enhancements include a two-player an online co-op mode for the campaign (YES!) and competitive multiplayer on Xbox LIVE (YES!! x 2). The Reach engine allows for “breathtaking visuals” and other advancements like the use of jet packs that will bring something new to the experience. Seven maps (one of them is a Firefight map) are included and 343 said Anniversary and Reach players can play together provided they have the same content.
During our Q&A, someone asked if Halo 2 would receive the same HD treatment - a question 343 said they have been repeatedly asked - and they had nothing to announce at the time. Right now Halo CE Anniversary and HaloFest, an event commemorating the Halo 10th anniversary at PAX, are their primary focus.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary will launch on November 15th, 2011, exactly 10 years from the date the original released, and will retail at the value price of $39.99. Stay tuned for more details as the release date approaches.
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