Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary "takes the past and makes it better", according to Dan Ayoub, executive producer at Microsoft's 343 Industries.
You'll be able to judge for yourself too, Ayoub told journalists at E3, where he demonstrated the HD remake's cool sounding 'Classic Mode'. "At the touch of a button anywhere in the campaign you can go back and see how the game looked at that point ten years ago", he explained.
It'll feature seven multiplayer maps from Halo through Halo 3, one of which will be a Firefight one, said Ayoub, who showed press the original and new versions of popular online map Damnation.
"We're taking fan favourite maps and putting them into the Halo Reach engine for multiplayer, which lets us take a whole new take, so there's different ways to play the maps you love, because now you're able to play Damnation with a whole bunch of new things like armour abilities and jetpacks, which is going to completely change your gameplay."
Despite these changes and enhancements, Ayoub said nailing the feel of the original game is a key goal for the development team.
"The game's going to look amazing and sound amazing, but the test for us is how does it feel? Everyone remembers the first time they played Halo, it had such a distinctive feel and it launched a generation of shooters. It's really important for us to make sure that it plays exactly the same as it did ten years ago."
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was officially revealed at Microsoft's E3 conference last week.
Comments
14 comments so far...
cian84 on 13 Jun '11 said:
I like that idea of being able to see what the old version looks like. It's very similar to what Lucas Arts did with their Monkey Island remakes.
kreemi on 13 Jun '11 said:
But.
Will it take the future and make it worse?
Discuss.
sonic_uk on 13 Jun '11 said:
I do have the original Halo, but its only 4:3 which is annoying when playing on a 16:9 screen. I will be buying this on day one as a Halo fan, and am looking forward to seeing the new HD graphics. Co-op 2 player sounds good too. Not bothered about achievements in the least but the other features sound great as long as the gameplay itself is unaltered.
JakeyBaby on 13 Jun '11 said:
Isn't this a bit cheeky? To me it sounds like Microsoft closing down the Halo servers earlier this year, then saying 'if you want to keep playing, buy it again on 360'. Couldn't they have just done a big of jiggly pokery on the servers?
budobear on 13 Jun '11 said:
Loved the first Halo..... so much so that I might have to buy a 360 for this when it arrives.
(I know you don't buy a console for one game, but I really loved this game and there are others I'd like to play too)
TheKraige on 13 Jun '11 said:
@JakeyBakey it was actually the Halo 2 and original Xbox servers that where taken down not Halo CE as that was never online.
I just hope the multiplayer 7 maps are new maps for Reach in the same way ODST was with Halo 3 as opposed to a complete reset of unlocks in what looks like the exact same multiplayer as Reach.
plightstar on 13 Jun '11 said:
I wouldn't say that is true I bought a gamecube solely for Wind Waker. Only had extra games because they came with the bundle. Same for Wii only got for Twilight Princess. I was so gutted Mircosoft bought Bungie and made them turn Halo into a Xbox game I bought a Xbox, though the Xbox and 360 turned into my main gaming machine as I couldn't afford a new upgrades for my PC at the time.
StonecoldMC on 13 Jun '11 said:
Day. Frigging. One
!!
TOKEN on 13 Jun '11 said:
Id rather it had been kinect xbox 3(720 title)25GB disc with pc 32 player pc maps.
ingy on 13 Jun '11 said:
I hope it's still got all the alien speech, sadly missing from Halo Reach, can anyone explain why there was none in reach?
cooloneuk on 13 Jun '11 said:
I really like the sound of what they're doing to the remake. I will definitely pre-ordering a copy as and when I will be able to.
ste hicky on 13 Jun '11 said:
the more i watch the trailer the more differences i see. not in terms of engine but the fact that gun emplacements have turned up where they weren't for a start.
the mp plays like reach from what i can see too so a straight halo reissue was always gonna be out once 343 went that way.
oh yeah, anyone on the fact that halo 4 has weapon attachments next time out? noticed that in the trailer.
Ryo_Hazuki4 on 13 Jun '11 said:
I think it was due to the fact that the majority of the covenant that fought on Reach had had minimal or zero contact with Humans prior, and therefore had not learnt the language, whereas in the later games this wasnt the case.
Rise_ofthe_Mike on 13 Jun '11 said:
THey want it to play exactly like it did...but are adding jet packs, armor, and sprint? Just make sure it stay's fast paced like the original and i'll be happy. The second Halo was to slow...the third was still slow but much better...and Halo Reach was the second best multi for the Halo games and yet, it was slightly slower than the original.