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[PooBone]

i hope 343 remakes halo 2 at some point.

Because i cant even play my halo 2 at all due to this weird burn in issue it gives me. if a bright flash happens on the screen a white outline of all the geometry stays on the screen. this only happens in campaign. i have tried one other disk and it also had this problem. it's especially bad on dark flood levels. i hope its just a disk problem and not a problem of running halo 2 on a 360.

Plus, halo 2 is my favorite so I'd like a prettier version of it.

also, the sacred icon from halo 2 is worse than the library. high charity's pretty bad too, both of these have this annoying fog that's impossible to see through. don't even get me started on cortana from halo 3.

Exact same thing happens to me with the burn-in. Something to do with the 360 emulation.
If they remake Halo 2, they SHOULD change some things.

 

[CyReN]

I thought they would make a Firefight map out of the Library.

 

[nVidiot_Whore]

I love that level. Yeah the look of it and design is repetitive, but it is such a grind to make your way through on Legendary. I mean that level keeps me on the edge the entire time. Some of those fights you barely make it through victorious and it feels AWESOME!

Yeah I think The Library was Bungie paying homage to Doom.

That level was pure madness.. shotgun + running backwards getting chased.. reminded me so much of playing Doom and Doom 2.

I thought it was great too. Halo : CE is a masterpiece to me. While The Library was simplistic compared to the other levels it also changed the pace in a nice way. It's definitely not my favorite level but I still loved it.

 

[PooBone]

Yeah I think The Library was Bungie paying homage to Doom.

That level was pure madness.. shotgun + running backwards getting chased.. reminded me so much of playing Doom and Doom 2.

I thought it was great too. Halo : CE is a masterpiece to me. While The Library was simplistic compared to the other levels it also changed the pace in a nice way. It's definitely not my favorite level but I still loved it.

In all honesty I think Keyes is a worse level than The Library, walking around underwater in a black environment... ugh. Anxious to see what that part of the game looks like. I seriously hope they don't leak out too many images of different levels, I want the visuals to be a surprise, since that's really just about the only thing to be surprised about when we play it.

 

[Plywood]

I thought I was the only one! *tearful hug*

You're not alone, funnest co-op shooting gallery ever!

 

[GhaleonEB]

Yeah I think The Library was Bungie paying homage to Doom.

That level was pure madness.. shotgun + running backwards getting chased.. reminded me so much of playing Doom and Doom 2.

I thought it was great too. Halo : CE is a masterpiece to me. While The Library was simplistic compared to the other levels it also changed the pace in a nice way. It's definitely not my favorite level but I still loved it.

Heh. For years I've called The Library "the DOOM level" for that reason. That's exactly what it feels like, complete with monster closet spawn traps and hoards of enemies charging straight at me while I backpedal unloading the shotgun. Great change of pace. For the first two floors....

(Co-op has always been fun in it, though, and I expect it will be doubly so again with this one.)

 

[Hitmonchan107]

The narrative for the new Terminals is very straightforward. And in normal mode, they won't be that hard to find. As the IGN article noted, Guilty Spark is the main narrator.

Would someone give me a link to this article, please?

 

[FunkyPajamas]

Add another one to The Library Lovers for CE. One of my favorite levels in co-op and still a lot of fun in single player.

 

[Steelyuhas]

Would someone give me a link to this article, please?

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1173462p1.html

 

[NemesisPrime]

Add another one to The Library Lovers for CE. One of my favorite levels in co-op and still a lot of fun in single player.

Same here... loved taking on those damn Flood with my shotgun

 

[feel]

I love the Halo CE Library too, I don't care if it was always the samey looking areas, with CE's superior gunplay and feel, it was so good how it took forever and I always left satisfied after mowing down millions of Flood with my shotgun. Wish I could say the same about most other Halo's levels, most of the time I feel like I only shoot about 20 enemies the whole level, but ooooohhh look at the scenery change every 10 seconds!!

edit- mmm, more of us than I thought there were, good

 

[Hitmonchan107]

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1173462p1.html

Thanks!

 

[The Librarian]

I hope they're not finished with the Halo in the main menu (and, conversely, in the game) because the outer side of the Halo is missing that clean look from Halo 1 and 3, and the inner side looks like its missing atmosphere.

 

[nVidiot_Whore]

Great change of pace. For the first two floors....

(Co-op has always been fun in it, though, and I expect it will be doubly so again with this one.)

Hah.. that's true.. the vast majority of my Halo : CE time was spent in co-op.

And really.. the vast majority of THAT time was on the first 5-6 levels.

My friend and I used to play as though we had only 1 life.. meaning we wouldn't just let the Legendary mode start the level over, we'd start the GAME over if either of us died. Made for some really tense moments, but we also rarely made it past The Truth and Reconciliation.. lol.. that level was the most difficult in the entire game IMO.

It didn't help that my friend I spent the majority of my Halo CE time with played like he was Rambo.. I remember we made it all the way to 343 Guilty Spark and I was thinking "man the rest of the game isn't even that hard until the last level we can do this!" and he goes running into the swamp and died almost immediately.

 

[BootlegSnackz]

to be honest i've given up thinking about it and am just playing team classic in halo: reach.

if there is any way to make it more classic please let me know.

ugh....

I do like talking about maps though

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Man, these Halo-1-is-the-only-good-Halo fans are worse than the trolls.

It's not that it's the only good one, it's just that it's easily the best one to me. Don't break it.

I mostly like Halo 2 and 3. Mostly. (But I doubt if I ever touch ODST or Reach again.) Big gripes with the way the plot developed (or, rather, how it didn't), medium-sized gripes with the gameplay weighting (as said, I could do with less vehicular missions), and smaller gripes with weapon changes in general. And this is just single player campaign stuff, won't talk about multiplayer (vehicles and weapons again being a large source of gripes). And matchmaking. Have mercy, the matchmaking. If I only like 3 maps, which is invariably the case, for the love of humanity let me stay on those 3 maps.

Still... mostly like 2 and 3. Love love love CE. Ergo, don't break it.

 

[godhandiscen]

Frankie is being interviewed about Halo CE Anniversary right now:
http://www.youtube.com/e3

 

[JdFoX187]

Halo: CE captured something that none of the successors have managed to do. Halo 2 came the closest, but Halo 3 and beyond just drove off a cliff. Reach was a small step in the right direction, but Halo 3 is a travesty that should be exercised from the series. It's the DMC2 of the Halo series. Dreadful in every way.

 

[Sibylus]

*sees all the Library love on this page*

I feel a stroke coming on...

Halo: CE captured something that none of the successors have managed to do. Halo 2 came the closest, but Halo 3 and beyond just drove off a cliff. Reach was a small step in the right direction, but Halo 3 is a travesty that should be exercised from the series. It's the DMC2 of the Halo series. Dreadful in every way.

5,000 space pushups ought to do the trick.

 

[BootlegSnackz]

agree with jdf halo 3 is a travesty. a crime againsts the community, and reach is better

there is where i disagree, reach might be better than 2. especially if you take away the equipment.

i love me some halo one sp and mp

but i hate the fucking library with a passion.

matter of fact i hate ever having to play the flood.

 

[Slightly Live]

agree with jdf halo 3 is a travesty. a crime againsts the community, and reach is better

there is where i disagree, reach might be better than 2. especially if you take away the equipment.

I love that your opinion about Halo exists. I have no idea just how you come to your positions, but man, it's interesting that it actually exists. Talk about anti-mainstream.

Mind me asking why you didn't like Halo 3? Or why Reach is better than Halo 2?

Agree with you about the Library. Urgh.

 

[Captain Blood]

Halo: CE captured something that none of the successors have managed to do. Halo 2 came the closest, but Halo 3 and beyond just drove off a cliff. Reach was a small step in the right direction, but Halo 3 is a travesty that should be exercised from the series. It's the DMC2 of the Halo series. Dreadful in every way.

Are we talking SP? MP? Both?

 

[GloveSlap]

Despite which Halo anyone thinks is best, i think we can all agree that the multiplayer in Halo CE is way different than any other Halo game. It is also the only Halo game that has never had online play. To remake a game so soon and not even include the thing that was always missing is completely moronic.

 

[The Librarian]

Edit: nevermind.

 

[Striker]

Edit: nevermind.

Good choice.

 

[JdFoX187]

Are we talking SP? MP? Both?

Both. Outside of two levels, the single player was terrible. Much of the "epic" action took place in cutscenes. It was bookended by three terrible levels with Sierra 117 in the front and Cortana and Halo at the end. The storyline was completely ruined with the voice over interrupting quasi-cutscenes with Cortana and Gravemind.

The multiplayer was just bland and boring. Assault rifle starts ruined half the playlists. The BR was completely random with its terrible hit detection due to spread and the poor netcode. The maps were atrocious and playlist management was an embarrassment.

Halo: Combat Evolved didn't have the multiplayer issues simply because it was played at LANs mostly. But its single player was wrapped in this mysterious minimalist story that slowly unfolded over the course of the game. There was a surreal mystery to the entire campaign. It was somewhat present in Halo 2, especially during the Arbiter levels. But it's completely non-existent in Halo 3.

The enemy encounters, while more mundane and "scripted" in Halo exhibited more creativity than anything in Halo 3. Encounters like in Two Betrayals and the dynamic battles between the flood and Covenant are all missing in subsequent sequels. It's more than a nostalgia trip down memory lane. Halo is still one of the tightest designed first person shooters on consoles. It appears Bungie got caught up in their hype too much entering Halo 3's devleopement.

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

Halo 3 is a travesty that should be exercised from the series. It's the DMC2 of the Halo series. Dreadful in every way.

Every enemy encounter, every battle/set piece, is perfectly crafted for Legendary Coop. Bungie fine tuned every element of each encounter to make sure it's just difficult enough, requiring the most cooperation, yet still leaving room for different ways to tackle them. It's a masterpiece of FPS enemy AI/ battle set piece design, maybe the best we've ever seen.

 

[Curufinwe]

Both. Outside of two levels, the single player was terrible. Much of the "epic" action took place in cutscenes. It was bookended by three terrible levels with Sierra 117 in the front and Cortana and Halo at the end. The storyline was completely ruined with the voice over interrupting quasi-cutscenes with Cortana and Gravemind.

I loved the SP in Halo and Halo 2's was pretty good, but the campaign in Halo 3 left me cold apart from the ending. People complain about the Library but I'd rather play that level 10 times in a row than play Mission 8: Cortana in Halo 3 again. So awful.

 

[FrankT]

Man I love these pics of Silent Cartographer from Anniversary up on Waypoint. Brings back so many great memories.

 

[RedStep]

Some people like to have their balls smashed with stiletto heels. To each their own.

 

[Captain Blood]

Both. Outside of two levels, the single player was terrible. Much of the "epic" action took place in cutscenes. It was bookended by three terrible levels with Sierra 117 in the front and Cortana and Halo at the end. The storyline was completely ruined with the voice over interrupting quasi-cutscenes with Cortana and Gravemind.

The multiplayer was just bland and boring. Assault rifle starts ruined half the playlists. The BR was completely random with its terrible hit detection due to spread and the poor netcode. The maps were atrocious and playlist management was an embarrassment.

Halo: Combat Evolved didn't have the multiplayer issues simply because it was played at LANs mostly. But its single player was wrapped in this mysterious minimalist story that slowly unfolded over the course of the game. There was a surreal mystery to the entire campaign. It was somewhat present in Halo 2, especially during the Arbiter levels. But it's completely non-existent in Halo 3.

The enemy encounters, while more mundane and "scripted" in Halo exhibited more creativity than anything in Halo 3. Encounters like in Two Betrayals and the dynamic battles between the flood and Covenant are all missing in subsequent sequels. It's more than a nostalgia trip down memory lane. Halo is still one of the tightest designed first person shooters on consoles. It appears Bungie got caught up in their hype too much entering Halo 3's devleopement.

Alright with a lot of that I can at least see where you are coming from. Where you lose me is Reach's MP being better than 2 or 3. I am at a point where I would welcome a Halo 3 remake just so people would migrate back to a MP without jetpacks, armor lock, or bloom.

 

[kittens]

Yeah, I love the Library. The only parts of Halo CE I really don't like are:
- The section of 343 Guilty Spark when you're inside of the Forerunner facility. I've gotten lost in that place EVERY SINGLE TIME I've replayed the campaign.
- And the entire Keyes level. It's really just frustrating.

Everything else is fantastic.

 

[Booshka]

Every level in Halo CE is better than Halo 3 because the core mechanics and gunplay are always more fun. I think that is the real takeaway, everyone can admit that The Library is repetitive, but having a Pistol and a Shotgun that both kick ass and killing hordes of Flood is still fun because those mechanics are so good, and those weapons are so fun to shoot. The Library also has some great music and entertaining banter from 343 Guilty Spark. Some of the major encounters are also just batshit insane, which is always fun.

 

[Striker]

Alright with a lot of that I can at least see where you are coming from. Where you lose me is Reach's MP being better than 2 or 3. I am at a point where I would welcome a Halo 2 remake just so people would migrate back to a MP without gimmicks.

Fixed.

 

[thezerofire]

Despite which Halo anyone thinks is best, i think we can all agree that the multiplayer in Halo CE is way different than any other Halo game. It is also the only Halo game that has never had online play. To remake a game so soon and not even include the thing that was always missing is completely moronic.

exactly how I feel. I don't think they should have done this game until they could have gotten CE online multiplayer right.

 

[Sibylus]

I think that is the real takeaway, everyone can admit that The Library is repetitive, but having a Pistol and a Shotgun that both kick ass and killing hordes of Flood is still fun because those mechanics are so good, and those weapons are so fun to shoot. The Library also has some great music and entertaining banter from 343 Guilty Spark. Some of the major encounters are also just batshit insane, which is always fun.

And you can have all of that without making a level as terrible as The Library. Don't get me wrong, I love a good zombie hell level, but "good" is the vital component.

 

[Steelyuhas]

Every level in Halo CE is better than Halo 3 because the core mechanics and gunplay are always more fun. I think that is the real takeaway, everyone can admit that The Library is repetitive, but having a Pistol and a Shotgun that both kick ass and killing hordes of Flood is still fun because those mechanics are so good, and those weapons are so fun to shoot. The Library also has some great music and entertaining banter from 343 Guilty Spark. Some of the major encounters are also just batshit insane, which is always fun.

An important statement that translates to multiplayer as well. If the core mechanics of a game are awesome, then everything else is less of an issue than it would be (think maps in MP).

 

[GavinGT]

I'm glad that many of you are expressing concerns similar to my own. The single player portion sounds amazing - updated graphics, online co-op, untouched physics/geometry, and terminals is going to make for a hell of a fun time. Now if only they were applying such a fair treatment to the multiplayer......

When Frankie says the game wouldn't feel the same over Xbox Live, well, that sounds like a load of crap to me. Halo had no netcode whatsoever but it still played acceptably over tunneling software, and at a time when high speed internet was still burgeoning. How could professional coders possibly do worse than a few hackers? Also, he talks about netcode as if it's something foreign to 343, but they sure as hell are gonna need netcode for Halo 4.

People talk about that illustrious "feel" to Halo, which no subsequent game in the series has been able to capture in the same way. A good deal of that feel was a result of the physics, but some of it was just intangible. Shoehorn the multiplayer into Reach and we're basically playing very fancy Forge re-creations of the original maps. I guess this is better than it was before, though, since Bungie never cared enough to give us a real way to play our Forge maps competitively. The only redeeming factor here might be the "Classic" mode, but that will probably just be a gametype that shows up in matchmaking and gets vetoed in favor of "Snipers" every fucking time.

Instead of this half-hearted multiplayer, 343 should just right Bungie's wrong and give us a lobby system in Reach to play our own Forge maps and gametypes. We would've already been playing the maps and gametypes we want to play, and the increased exposure would guarantee a resurgence in Forge output from the community, leading to maps that would be nearly on par with whatever Certain Affinity will make. I know I would still be playing Reach if they had given us this one simple thing.

 

[Blader]

Wtf @ the rampant Halo 3 hate

Halo 3 (campaign) is hands down my favorite game in the series and, gun to my head, my favorite game of the generation. Just a fucking blast from start to finish, in every way; I know I've played The Covenant more times than any other level. I don't even mind Cortana or Halo (and actually found they got progressively easier on Heroic and Legendary), which is saying something since I'm usually raging at any other appearance of the Flood in any game.

Whatever. I'm clearly not cut out for Halo-GAF. :lol

 

[Booshka]

Wtf @ the rampant Halo 3 hate

Halo 3 (campaign) is hands down my favorite game in the series and, gun to my head, my favorite game of the generation. Just a fucking blast from start to finish, in every way; I know I've played The Ark more times than any other level. I don't even mind Cortana or Halo (and actually found they got progressively easier on Heroic and Legendary).

Whatever. I'm clearly not cut out for Halo-GAF. :lol

Actually HaloGAF loves Halo 3, most of the people in this thread are old Halo fans that haven't liked Halo since the first one, maybe the second. HaloGAF loves H3 though, I don't know why, but they do.

 

[Sibylus]

When Frankie says the game wouldn't feel the same over Xbox Live, well, that sounds like a load of crap to me. Halo had no netcode whatsoever but it still played acceptably over tunneling software, and at a time when high speed internet was still burgeoning. How could professional coders possibly do worse than a few hackers? Also, he talks about netcode as if it's something foreign to 343, but they sure as hell are gonna need netcode for Halo 4.

The impression I got from the interviews and the like wasn't that it couldn't be done, but that there were numerous reasons as to why it probably wasn't a good idea. They would have done netcode work to get this compatible for online coop, it isn't like they aren't capable. And frankly, I can see his point with the game not feeling like the game people remember, or the pistol's flagrant imbalance becoming something they dare not touch for fear of upsetting people. I spent a lot of time playing Halo PC, and the netcode was pretty terrible. It had the mildly positive effect of making the pistol a little harder to handle, one had to lead every shot by a visible amount. Even then, the thing was monstrous and was quite clearly favored by everyone who played. I'm not eager to spend time in a mode where that problem is even worse.

 

[Spasm]

Despite which Halo anyone thinks is best, i think we can all agree that the multiplayer in Halo CE is way different than any other Halo game. It is also the only Halo game that has never had online play. To remake a game so soon and not even include the thing that was always missing is completely moronic.

Halo PC. It's funner than shit, though the netcode is atrocious. There's 300-500 people online at any given time, though the current state of servers is bleak. Everything is shitty-mods this, heavy-weapons that, and 4 Scorpions per team. I would give my left nut for a vanilla CTF server.

Fixing such shitty netcode would probably be a massive undertaking, nothing short of re-writing the engine. I believe Frankie when he says it wouldn't feel right.

I've also come to realize that while nostalgia is a powerful force, it would most likely wear off quickly with most people, and the population would die out fast. So I've reversed my earlier whining, and now think that CE maps in Reach MP is overall the best solution.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Wtf @ the rampant Halo 3 hate

Halo 3 (campaign) is hands down my favorite game in the series and, gun to my head, my favorite game of the generation. Just a fucking blast from start to finish, in every way; I know I've played The Ark more times than any other level. I don't even mind Cortana or Halo (and actually found they got progressively easier on Heroic and Legendary), which is saying something since I'm usually raging at any other appearance of the Flood in any game.

Whatever. I'm clearly not cut out for Halo-GAF. :lol

Same. Sierra 117 on through to The Covenant is one steadily building crescendo. There are so many utterly brilliant encounters...the dam at the end of Sierra, the Brute pack hallway fight on Crows Nest, the massive Chopper/Wraith brawl in Tsavo, the epic vehicular brawl on the Storm capped by the Scarab stomping in, every goddamn minute of The Ark and The Covenant. The Halo 3 campaign is packed to the gills with pitch perfect encounters. I think it's the best in the series by a very wide margin. It's not even close.

The first game is incredible, but Bungie added and refined so much as the series went on.

 

[clav]

Could someone clarify this for me?

So the multiplayer that comes with this anniversary edition is Halo Reach and the 7 maps? It doesn't come with the Halo Reach DLC map packs?

If that's so, what a terrible decision. I hope 343i decides to add those map packs in. This is looking to be a bargain bin purchase for me.

 

[Lazslo]

So anyone think there's any chance of a good olde ARG for either Anniversary or H4? I'v been craving one since Reach left me other to waste time over.

 

[GavinGT]

The impression I got from the interviews and the like wasn't that it couldn't be done, but that there were numerous reasons as to why it probably wasn't a good idea. They would have done netcode work to get this compatible for online coop, it isn't like they aren't capable. And frankly, I can see his point with the game not feeling like the game people remember, or the pistol's flagrant imbalance becoming something they dare not touch for fear of upsetting people. I spent a lot of time playing Halo PC, and the netcode was pretty terrible. It had the mildly positive effect of making the pistol a little harder to handle, one had to lead every shot by a visible amount. Even then, the thing was monstrous and was quite clearly favored by everyone who played. I'm not eager to spend time in a mode where that problem is even worse.

I played some Halo PC as well. Frankly, there was less noticeable lag playing the XBox version over XBConnect and being on the peer end. I couldn't enjoy it at all on PC. I'd only assume 343 could do a much better job than Gearbox did.

 

[Presco]

Same. Sierra 117 on through to The Covenant is one steadily building crescendo. There are so many utterly brilliant encounters...the dam at the end of Sierra, the Brute pack hallway fight on Crows Nest, the massive Chopper/Wraith brawl in Tsavo, the epic vehicular brawl on the Storm capped by the Scarab stomping in, every goddamn minute of The Ark and The Covenant. The Halo 3 campaign is packed to the gills with pitch perfect encounters. I think it's the best in the series by a very wide margin. It's not even close.

The first game is incredible, but Bungie added and refined so much as the series went on.

I played Halo 3 tonight. It was glorious. I would pay an outrageous amount of money for Halo 3 with Reach's netcode. Your post has inspired me to dig out my campaign disc and start a fresh legendary run tomorrow (which will end at Cortana). My favorite game of the generation by a very wide margin.

 

[FrankT]

XBconnect was pretty solid back in the day. Anyhow, video of 343 talking up this on Waypoint is great too.

 

[GavinGT]

I imagine some of the problem is that Halo didn't use hitscan, but actual bullet physics. Is that accurate?

XBconnect was pretty solid back in the day. Anyhow, video of 343 talking up this on Waypoint is great too.

I wonder if that was partially due to XBConnect having the luxury of a set platform, whereas Gearbox had to make it work for every PC imaginable.

 

[Sibylus]

I played some Halo PC as well. Frankly, there was less noticeable lag playing the XBox version over XBConnect and being on the peer end. I couldn't enjoy it at all on PC. I'd only assume 343 could do a much better job than Gearbox did.

No doubt, and that's a part of why I don't want it. That terrible netcode had a perverse upside