Poll: Halo Anniversary: One month later

[Batou667]

So, it's just over a month since Halo Anniversary was released. My question is, is anybody still playing it?

From my perspective, and a bit of XBL Friends List detective-work, it's been quite some time since I've seen a game have such a rate of abandonment. My brother and I decided to blast through it on Legendary - to begin with we hooked up on Live and played most nights, then it was a couple of times a week, and then we got to The Library and just lost interest. My friends list shows similar results. A lot of people - who are usually completionists and 100% Achievement fanatics - have just stopped playing halfway through the game.

I hate to say it, but Halo Anniversary just doesn't stand up as a "good" game any more. I played the original back in 2001 - correction, I lived in the original for several years starting in 2001 - and back then the sheer scale, the freedom, and the immersion all captivated me. I would spend hours exploring levels, looking for Easter Eggs, trick-jumping vehicles, and just generally enjoy playing the most atmospheric and well-crafted FPS available at the time.

But now? I find myself rushing through the levels to get them over and done with. The blatently copy-pasted sections of architecture confuse and annoy me in equal measure. The controls feel clunky, floaty and unresponsive. To put it bluntly, playing this game is ruining my nostalgia, and I suspect thats why other people have been putting it on the shelf too.

The only component of the game that I play regularly now is the Halo Reach map pack that was included. Sad, really.

So - did you get Halo Anniversary? I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts, and to see if this "nostalgia-destroying" effect is widespread.

 

[Amnestic]

I didn't buy it. I still have my copy of Halo 1 which plays (mostly) perfectly on my 360 which I ran through a few months ago. From a glance at the wikipedia article, Halo: Anniversary offers nothing but a few lore nuggets, co-op and an updated graphics engine.

I might consider renting Anniversary just to experience it for myself, but a major fault with such a remake is that players like myself who still have copies of Halo 1 can just play that instead. Or Reach. Or ODST. Or Halo 3. Or Halo 2. Not Halo: Wars though. Don't be silly

 

[lazyslothboy]

I'm not gonna lie. I loved the game. There was something about blowing through old levels with them looking a great deal nicer.

That said, I did blow through all the achievements in about 4 days after I got it and have only played it to coop with my brothers while I have been on Christmas Break since, so it definitely did not have much staying power with me. But what a four days it was. =P

 

[Korten12]

I got it and I never really beat Halo 1 originally, but I loved it soooooo much. It felt good to play Anniversary, playing it with my friend in Co-op split-screen on legendary was sooo much fun.

 

[Erttheking]

Does kinda feel like nostalgia doesn't hold up forever does it. I mean I never played CE and this was kinda "Meh"...Halo definatly got better as it went along.

 

[Esotera]

Probably getting it after Christmas. I'm quite excited to play it, as CE was really original, and I'd love to see it with better graphics. Reach is the pinnacle of all Halo games though.

 

[everythingbeeps]

Probably getting it after Christmas. I haven't been able to really get into Halo 3, so I'm hoping a little nostalgia gives me a little kick start.

 

[Milky]

The copy pasted sections are definitely terrible, it was really hard to force myself to carry on grinding through them. But aside from that I thought the game held up to today's standards really well, a lot better than I thought it would considering its age. I loved the original and going back to play it now after so long was a really fun experience.

I thought the remastered Maps for halo reach it came with were excellent too.

 

[Batou667]

An interesting set of reactions!

Maybe I'm being harsh on Halo, but for whatever reason, it just doesn't grip me like it used to.

I agree that the multiplayer map are fantastic though - especially Ridgeline, which as a non-Halo PC player I missed first time round. Just a shame a few more Halo 2 maps weren't ported over, possibly to replace the Forge World versions that shipped with Reach.

 

[Gali]

I kind of like the idea of switching to new/old graphics and having additional content for more background information. But since I still own my copy of Halo CE, I don't see the point to buy Anniversary and rather purchase a complete new game. The new graphics are not that important for me and I can probably look up the additional story pieces on the Internet if I want to.

Maybe I'll at least get the mappack and get back into Reach multiplayer action, I really enjoyed it.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Same for me really, except I never played Halo 1.

I bought Anniversary to see what all the fuss was about, and clearly the campaign was nothing special, because I too gave up on it fairly quickly.

I guess people revered it so much because of it's addictive multi player, but to be honest, I have seen better.

Oh well, I still love the Halo franchise, but I won't be buying the possible Halo 2 remake I can tell you that.

EDIT: Ok this *look below* sounds a little silly to me because there will always be someone offended by anything you might say. I think some elaboration is in order.

Offensive Posts: Please read what you wrote before you post it and think if anyone else could find it offensive

 

[Alssadar]

And I was just able to honk the files of H:CE off my broken down Windows 2000.
I need no updates, I'm fine with this.

 

[Tupolev]

The original was the single greatest console FPS I've ever encountered. (I don't count Metroid Prime as one)

I haven't got the new one because I have no 360 but I'm sure I would love every minute of it. Especially now it has BOTS! YAY!

Bots? No it doesn't. Reach has no bots, and CEA doesn't even have the original CE MP on the disc.

 

[Aprilgold]

I played one and didn't like Anniversary. Halo felt like shit back then, giving it a graphical upgrade won't fix it.