Halo Combat Evolved is probably the single game that made the original Xbox from Microsoft a stable and popular gaming device.  Halo was one of the earliest console games to have fluid multiplayer function with both local and system-link.  Gamers of all ages spent hours and hours over the weekends challenging their friends to matches or living the single-player experience.

Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary (released Nov 2011) is a visual update to the game that helps celebrate 10 years of the original Xbox and its iconic hero Master Chief.  343 Industries took the original Halo CE and revamped it with updated nex-gen graphics.  Visually the game is pretty to look at – it’s not the most amazing thing but when you flip back and forth (which can be done on the fly) to the original graphics you’ll definitely see how far gaming has come in ten years.

Some other positive enhancements – Halo CEA has achievements, terminals, hidden skulls to find and Kinect support.  Are all these things enough to warrant buying a brand new copy of the game?  The answer is yes, in fact – the game comes at a discount at $39.99 retail so chances are you’ll find it even cheaper with holiday sales just around the corner.

We played through the co-op campaign locally and admired the new graphics while remembering old funky things about the game – like how you cannot run and that squatting is pretty useless.  Remember those levels you were completely lost and had no idea where to go — well Halo CEA has retained that original sense of nostalgia as well.  We’ve provided the entire campaign in co-op gameplay for you to watch and experience the ride once again in the new enhanced graphics – thanks to David Rodriguez from Stuff We Like, Mike Schramm from Joystiq and Andrea Rene from Clevver Games for helping me through the campaign!

Related – COIN-OP TV at the Halo CEA Midnight Launch
https://coin-op.tv/?p=4247

Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Campaign Walkthrough/Commentary Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuU8smRNXpA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIwjXE8QN_o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbjTzQ3s5GY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4LP_VGeAoo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFbOhVNOyRk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwDXW4wcKnc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv7O9npR5DI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReaXtdvtQnw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfx67ph99i4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHSL4yBEY1E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu-mDOyAmCc