Shameless Gaming Reflection #2: Halo Anniversary

(Wow, two posts in two days. What’s wrong with me?)

The concept here is pretty simple. I want to write a bit about every game I’ve completed (or in the case of Zelda, spent a good deal of time on) during Shameless Gaming Month as a sort of reflection on the experience. I guess they could be considered mini-reviews, only without a silly score tacked on at the end. It’s just a fun way to remember the ups and downs of each game.

Deleted scene from Halo Anniversary: Uncut.

I have a lot of fond memories of the Halo series. Most recently I’ve been joining in on Potaku’s Monday Night Halo Fights in Reach, a game I’ve spent many good weekends playing in matchmaking with friends. Before that I spent at least a year having all kinds of fun with the same friends in Halo 3. They were great times. But it’s always been a co-op game for me. My memories always involve someone else.

So it was nice to step back and play a Halo game alone for once. It’s just unfortunate that I was so bad at it, which is a little disappointing given all that previous history. I don’t think that’s really a fault with the game though, just my personal skill, but it may have soured my experience with the game a little, so bear that in mind as you read on.

Anniversary is basically just a visual upgrade for the original Halo, the gameplay mechanics remain exactly the same. I’m happy about that despite never playing it before, and I imagine a lot of nostalgic gamers are pleased by that too. Having the ability to switch between the original graphics and the new was a lot of fun, too. At times I’d slow down just to compare them. Sometimes the bareness of the original graphics made a location more foreboding, and other times the updated graphics gave more detail to something (referring here to the Keyes level). The only other new feature was the addition of terminals, which for an old fan I assume was exciting but left me feeling a bit left in the dark. That’s my fault, though.

I’m very on the fence about Halo Anniversary. I don’t want to call it a bad game, because underneath the layer of frustration I definitely had fun. But it does seem flawed in a few areas, the first of which is the level design. I love the exterior settings, especially the island where the Silent Cartographer level plays out. They’re vibrant (particularly when using the updated graphics), open, and exciting. Conversely, the interiors are dull, cramped, and repetitive. There were occasions where I simply felt I was making no progress at all. It was particularly frustrating in The Library, which I understand to be a controversial level for most people.

I’ve always had problems with The Flood enemies, so I wasn’t exactly surprised to find them frustrating as always. But The Library is a level that features them exclusively as you traverse several ridiculously similar floors of the same building. I’ve never been a fan of the Flood because I find they restrict your weapon options. The game very strongly urges you to use a shotgun/assault rifle combo to deal with the larger and smaller Flood forms respectively. When there’s no variety in a level like the Library, the game becomes stagnant. To be fair, other levels get the balance right, as you tackle Covenant and Flood forces at the same time. And in those moments, it’s a lot of fun. The balance was just a little off at times.

Maybe I’m being a bit too hard on Anniversary. To put a positive spin on things, I enjoyed finally seeing for myself the beginning of such a big franchise. As much as I hate the Flood in gameplay, they add something special to the story, and the level they’re introduced in manages to be effectively creepy and foreboding. It was probably my favourite level, which is perhaps why I was so disappointed in The Library straight after it. No no, stay positive! I enjoyed the backtracking in the later levels, which is something I’m not usually a fan of. Starting and ending on the Pillar of Autumn is exciting, in that the ship has changed so much in a short space of time, and revisiting rooms in which you were earlier powerless to fight reminds you of just how much you’ve accomplished in the game.

Another big thumbs up goes to the soundtrack. The main theme was a constant reminder of awesomeness each time I loaded up the game. I can’t pinpoint any specific tracks playing in certain levels that made me sit up and say ‘wow’, but there also weren’t any duds. It all felt natural, and that’s something that I think is pretty hard to accomplish.

If Halo 2 gets the remake treatment, it would definitely be something I’d be keen to grab. But maybe I’d stick to co-op this time. I’ve had several years to come to understand Halo as a deeply social game, something to be played with friends, either jokingly or competitively. My fondest Halo memories (such as the final run in Halo 3) all involve screwing around with friends, so maybe that’s how I should continue to play it.