Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition (Expanded)

I'll just start off to say... It's not the Halo I quite remember. It could just be the Graphics Throwing me off, it could be that it's been so long since I last played it, or it could be that I'm trying to find the flaws that whatever . But the game doesn't feel comfortable, I'm still thrown off for some reason and it's starting to bug me.

I feel there could be improvements, but then again, the original Halo could have had improvements too. Less repetitive and winding corridors mainly. Any further improvements were left to later Halo Games because they had more of a direction of what they want out of their games.

What they've done is very nice indeed. The game is very pretty, and the new skins for the enemies and friends are very cool. It definitely makes it want to feel like a new game. The AI remains to be as docile as it was in the day, leaving you to do most of the dirty work, seeming really sluggish as you circle around hunters to score that one pistol shot in his arse. And the Warthog feels so heavy and sluggish it's almost not funny.

It feels like the old game, but prettier.

Then you roll it over to the Classic Mode using the "< Back" button. The screen blacks out for a moment and everything rolls back to what is supposedly what Halo looked like back in 2001. That's something that I'm quite sure is not quite right. It doesn't seem to change it to what it did look like, but rather to a version of the game still being half made. Tiles textures, and hardly any actual detail. the original halo had plenty of detail.

I'm going to give it a go again tonight, maybe leave it on Classic Mode for a little bit to see if the graphics are actually loading or not.

---

Okay, so I had a look at it again last night and ran through until I got past the Library level. I even spent a better part of a level in classic mode to see if I was actually correct in my assumptions, and I think it was a case of what level I was looking at. The first time I loaded up the classic level, it was right at the beginning when Master Chief was taken out of Cryo stasis. That was a rather piss poor example to look at it, really.

And occasionally I'd flick it over to see the difference between the two, and the graphical difference is significant. Croist, the overall layouts may be the same, but you don't feel so lost. I went through the Library level and it was exactly the same level, with those son of a bitch flood coming out of the wood works, and Guilty Spark leaving you in a closed room which gets Flooded (See what I did there?) and you're always panicking because your shotgun is trying to get reloaded and you're getting shot at and whipped at the same time, and etc etc etc.

It was a time like this that I wish that the Flood were as easy to kill as they were in Halo 2 and 3, where a Melee Attack will, at worst, knock them down.

As for my weird feeling, I think it's just the three suggestions I made. The Time since I last played, The Searching for Flaws, and The Refreshing new graphics. Everything else is pretty much the same as it has ever been. When i said you don't feel lost before, it's mostly because the new graphics compensated for that. Each different segment you go through, there are large symbols on the walls at the ends of corridors so you know you're in a different section. Doesn't mean anything else has changed, but hey.

I do like the extended scenes though. The Master Chief talking between Cortana and Guilty Spark was really fulfilling. That's one flaw I was sure on, Cortana's animation. Seemed a little dodgy at first, but thought it was just me. Then it happened a second time. And then the third time, I was sure. It was clunky and didn't really sync very well. Or at all.

Anyway. Playing through the game, on Normal difficulty because I'm more curious on the changes than the challenge at the moment, the levels look wonderful, the skins on the enemies are distinct and interesting, and the visuals for each level are vastly improved and more impressive.

There's always a wonder though of how different the game would be if it used the same system as Halo Reach? The better AI and controls would be a nice change, such as the less sluggish Warthog mounted by dopey AI friendlies, and the Scorpion Tank mounted with 2-4 marines with Sniper rifles... that could be ridiculous actually.

And poppers reviving knocked down flood? And transforming the dead bodies!? The Library would get as dangerous as it would easier! You blow apart bodies with melee attacks and shotguns, but they get back up from the BILLIONS (That may be exagerrated) of poppers that crop up.