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I hate a double-dip. Nintendo's habit of simply porting every classic in its catalog forward in lieu of buffing that catalog with quality third party games, for example, irks me to no end. On the other hand, given how few people played Shadow of the Colossus and Ico on the first pass (compared to, say, Call of Duty: Black Ops, which won't ever land on a "best games of all time" list), I'm eager to see those games reintroduced to a population that's now ready for them. Though if Sony hadn't reneged on backwards compatibility for the PlayStation 3, we could've done that long ago.

So when I say Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary looks like a worthy update of a game still sitting on my shelf, you know I'm not just giving it a pass.

Halo Anniversary
Damnation looks so small from up here…

My hands-off demo launched right into the beach assault at the start of The Silent Cartographer…maybe my second-most-played level in Halo. I know every rock, Elite, Grunt, and Marine…every approach, every ambush and flank possible. As my Pelican transport came in for a landing, I even recognized a large patch of grass poking out of the sand. And while it all looked like a game made post-Halo: Reach, everything played out exactly the way it did back in 2004. Nothing missing, nothing changed, nothing even slightly out of place.

That's intentional because developer 343 Industries plans to let you play Halo: Anniversary both ways…new and classic.

 

Want to play Halo exactly the way you remember it? You can, right down to the overpowered Magnum. Want to endure the Library again because you're a masochist with no sense of self preservation? 343 has you covered. But you don't have to play Anniversary that way. You can choose to change Halo, applying the last 10 years of advances in game design to make it feel like a game made for today's gamer.

Their secret? Anniversary runs on two engines. The first feels and reacts exactly like the original Halo. The second runs on top, courtesy of their partners at Saber Interactive, updating the graphics to a current-gen standard. You can switch them at the touch of a button, and that's when the difference really becomes apparent. Classic Halo looks purplish and darker than it should. Neo-Halo gives the ring a blue tint on a bright day, then throws in all sorts of effects that just weren't possible a decade ago. You'll see a marine layer of clouds out at sea, where the ocean curves up. The atmosphere feels grander.

Halo Anniversary
Out with the old.

Terminals also get retconned into this update and will be revamped from their text-heavy format in Halo 3. We were shown a concept film for how they'll be done, narrated by the developer's namesake and Halo's treacherous caretaker, 343 Guilty Spark. "Are you ready, Reclaimer? This is how my story begins."

And while multiplayer gets slapped hard with an HD makeover, it won't support the same kind of graphical reversion options you'll find in the campaign. Balancing tools, however, will carry over. 343 won't give details about those tools yet, and they won't say if different balancing might lead to different playlists, but it's not a bad bet. They're likewise cagey about how they might tweak classic maps to accommodate Reach's armor abilities. That's right…jet packs on Damnation. Just like nature intended.

Halo Anniversary
In with the new.

Ultimately, those options (and a promised $40 price tag) sold me on the remake. Halo's a seminal experience in a lot of gamers' lives, and you take a lot of chances when you decide to go back and monkey with it. Refer back to Han Solo versus Greedo in George Lucas' special edition version of Star Wars to get an idea where that can go. On the other hand, sacrilegious as it sounds, Halo: Combat Evolved looks dated. It hasn't aged badly, but it has aged.

343 Industries aims to make one Halo to fit everyone…the original game for nostalgic players, updated for people who want something that feels new. Fix the Library. Kill a Hunter with one pistol round. Make it better. Keep it the same. Get the game you want, and play it your way, whatever way that might be.

Now that's how you remake something.


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