Time they say is a great healer. It is also affords one the chance to reflect and see things with a wiser set of eyes. It is using just such a pair of ocular organs that I was able to see Halo: Combat Evolved 10th Anniversary Edition for what it is; a game made by fans of Halo, for fans of Halo. I say this because the core game behind Halo: Combat Evolved 10th Anniversary Edition has not aged terribly well.
I remember when I first heard about Halo. It was in 1999 when I found out that the developers of
Myth, of one of my favourite RTS games was creating a Sci-fi RTS called
Halo. Soon, though, it became apparent that the game was to take on the guise of an FPS and be a launch title for Microsoft’s video game console, the Xbox. The excitement generated around the game was palpable, as Bungie did its very best to highlight the work they put into the AI for the game.
At E3 in 2001 I was standing at the Microsoft booth playing a multiplayer team death match of
Halo. Yes, the frame rate was abysmal and the graphics as a whole looked less than stellar. But what I saw there was an inkling of what was to be, as it included warthogs and a selection of weapons that were to be the staples of
Halo for years to come.
The game finally arrived in the UK on 14th March 2002, five months after it originally appeared in the US. By this time
Halo was known to be an amazing game that did much to justify its pre-release hype. So excited was I that I spent the next four days playing the game, both in the single player and online multiplayer via tunnel software that enabled me to play the game over the internet. I distinctly remember not blinking very much during this time as I became absorbed by the adventures of Master Chief.
That was nine years ago. A lot has changed since I made my first footsteps onto the Forerunners construct, i.e. the Halo. Many other FPS games have appeared that built upon what
Halo: Combat Evolved had established - two weapon slots, rechargeable health/shield and devious enemies powered by a formidable AI.
But there are also things that other games created that
Halo: Combat Evolved did not, and does not have in this remake. Those being a cover mechanic, reticule/sight aiming, ‘cooking’ grenades and the ability to sprint, to name a few of the advances in gaming mechanics that have appeared since the arrival of
Halo: Combat Evolved. With this remake being a pure recreation of the original game, the same mechanics I first experienced from nine years ago remain in place. It is for this reason that the underlying gameplay of
Halo: Combat Evolved 10th Anniversary Edition doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny.
