Halo 4 & Halo Remastered

[Chris3123]

That it's a "clone" of the original is the whole point. It's supposed to be the same game (the campaign, anyway), just with updated graphics and other minor bits. They could have made it "better", but then it wouldn't be the same game. I must admit that I'd love to try a more tweaked version, but I understand why they wanted to stay faithful to the original.

I do admit though that I'm disappointed that they didn't include Live muliplayer.

I can say is that I'm a little disgusted at how little effort 343 is putting into a port of a last-generation game that's going to be used to gouge the fans for shits and giggles.

I get ya.

Don't even start trying to excuse the $60 price by mentioning the Reach-engine-powered H1 multiplayer maps (which they haven't been entirely clear about being able to play with or without Reach itself.)

Even the $40 price is pushing it.

I'm not exaggerating or embellishing when I say that the 343 team is deliberately underestimating what Halo fans want and accept in an anniversary edition of a decade-long gaming franchise,

To be fair, I'm sure there'd be many fans who would make a fuss if 343 did significantly alter the game. Just look back at the reactions to the Star Wars Special Editions.

because they body language and tone telegraph that they know this will make money regardless of how little effort they put into it.

That's unfortunately true.

The kind of reception I'm seeing from the Halo community infuriates me; a fan who parted ways with the franchise back in H2/H3, and who hasn't really been vocal about anything till now.

I can understand where you are coming from. A lot of people probably judge it mainly just for what is there in the game, rather than what could be.

Certainly a continuous, decade-long game series, one that unequivocally created the western gaming community overnight, and single-handedly saved the XBOX from commercial disaster. Oh yeah, and it cemented Microsoft as a gaming juggernaut that is truly Nintendo's rival, both in terms of capital and cultural background.

Can't argue with that.

That deserves more than an over-priced, half-assed port.

True. However, I still consider the game being faithful to the original as a positive thing at least to some degree.

 

[Sephiroth]

will they nerf the shotgun?

 

[Chris3123]

will they nerf the shotgun?

Nope. Gameplay is going to be exactly the same. The only difference in the campaign is a graphical overhaul and cleanup of the audio.

 

[SPCTRE]

cleanup of the audio.

Which is an often overlooked biggie in the feature list of Halo: Anniversary, even among fans of the original game.

Especially when it comes to the oftentimes completely hilarious banter of your Marine companions; better audio quality = more fun

 

[Chris3123]

As of August 2, Bungie is no longer in control of Halo.

The final ViDoc:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtG6--4r_qk[/yt]

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Why use the Reach AR, and not the H1/2/3 AR?

It's not used by the UNSC Marines, just the Army. Oh yeah, and Army troopers. Nice continuity, 343.

 

[Skywalker]

Why exactly do you need an Army in space, anyway? Can't you just have Marines stationed at the planetary installations?

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

As I understand it, the Army are for standing garrisons only, wheras the Marines see shipboard/space/offensive service. It's silly, but the term "Marine" is silly in space, so it's only double silly.

Regardless, all the weapons redesigns for Reach were justified away by Bungie as those weapons being the ones used by the UNSC Army, wheras the trilogy weapons are the ones used by the Marines.

 

[Chris3123]

Why use the Reach AR, and not the H1/2/3 AR?

It's not used by the UNSC Marines, just the Army. Oh yeah, and Army troopers. Nice continuity, 343.

If you are referring to the gameplay footage I posted a while back, I should have clarified that it's from a pre-alpha build of the game. As such, we shouldn't assume that what we see is reflective of the final product.

 

[Chris3123]

Some Halo Anniversary stuff.

Video demonstrating the "Grunt Funeral" skull (only available as a pre-order bonus):
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYfNBCHYHFE[/yt]

Original vs Anniversary sound comparison - Magnum:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni9D7lxyG3Q[/yt]

Original vs Anniversary sound comparison - Needler:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16LAohqD8jw[/yt]

Original vs Anniversary sound comparison - Plasma Rifle:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wp4RXWo3C4[/yt]

Original vs Anniversary sound comparison - Rocket Launcher:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhfA6y7yyEk[/yt]

 

[Commander Vaughn]

I'm actually really looking forward to picking this up, only for the nostalgia factor. Halo was my first console FPS back in the day, and reliving those memories should be fun.

Do I begrudge Microsoft for making money off me? Nope. It's what they do.

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

Im getting both of these games! I playing 3, ODST, Reach and Halo Wars again cause of it! I love the graphical switch option. It really shows how pain-stakingly acurate they were in re-creating this game, and not going fot a Goldeneye type re-make. The remake looks incredible,very much looking foward to Halo 4! I hope that Halo 2 is re-made in a similar fashion, so the whole saga can be on the 360!

I realize you can play 1 & 2 on hard drive enabled systems, but Still, it would be awesome.

 

[Dac]

Im getting both of these games! I playing 3, ODST, Reach and Halo Wars again cause of it! I love the graphical switch option. It really shows how pain-stakingly acurate they were in re-creating this game, and not going fot a Goldeneye type re-make. The remake looks incredible,very much looking foward to Halo 4! I hope that Halo 2 is re-made in a similar fashion, so the whole saga can be on the 360!

I realize you can play 1 & 2 on hard drive enabled systems, but Still, it would be awesome.

It's kinda impossible to NOT be faithful when your using the exact same game engine and code, they've just overhauled the graphics and added in some terminals. That's about it I think.

 

[SPCTRE]

Some Halo Anniversary stuff.

Video demonstrating the "Grunt Funeral" skull (only available as a pre-order bonus):


Original vs Anniversary sound comparison - Magnum:


Original vs Anniversary sound comparison - Needler:


Original vs Anniversary sound comparison - Plasma Rifle:


Original vs Anniversary sound comparison - Rocket Launcher:

[videos snipped]

Thanks for posting, Chris

Looking forward to playing some of it online! Can't wait!

 

[LightningStorm]

My only question is will they fix the bugs that gamers actually used during the game? Specifically the reload cheat. I actually hope not, I'd like my Halo 1 experience to be identical to what it was before only with better graphics, complete with the over powered pistol, super-sized rocket explosions, and reload cheat.

 

[SPCTRE]

My only question is will they fix the bugs that gamers actually used during the game? Specifically the reload cheat. I actually hope not, I'd like my Halo 1 experience to be identical to what it was before only with better graphics, complete with the over powered pistol, super-sized rocket explosions, and reload cheat.

They were pretty adamant when asked about gameplay related changes - there are no changes.

Whether that will be true remains to be seen. So far, I'm pretty much hopeful they'll only touch the gfx, sfx.

 

[Mr Light]

what's the reload cheat?

 

[LightningStorm]

what's the reload cheat?

In the X-Box version (I assume it's in the PC too, but I've never played it there) with the Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Pistol, and Rocket Launcher, you press the reload button as soon as it starts reloading you pickup another weapon (and drop that one) you will hear it continue to reload itself on the ground, once that finishes reloading itself if you pick the weapon back up it will have both reloaded AND not have used a clip.. effectively giving you infinite ammo so as long as there are guns laying around to swap with and you have at least one spare clip in the gun to begin the reload process.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Never played Halo before, but picked up Halo 3 in a charity shop for £1 yesterday...

(They had Endwar as well, but strategy games don't interest me)

 

[Chris3123]

Halo CE Anniversary is out now.

They did a really good job. Everything looks positively amazing. The ability to switch back and forth from the new graphics to the old on the fly is a really nice feature.