Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

15.11.2011
Critic 80/100
Users 81/100
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a spectacular remastered version of the original game, created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of one of the most beloved first-person shooters in gaming history. Bundled with seven of the most popular multiplayer maps in Halo history ready for Xbox Live, Halo: Anniversary includes a bounty of new features including cooperative play over Xbox Live, Achievements, new challenges, and new fiction to uncover.
The game opens just following the events of Halo: Reach, as the Pillar of Autumn exits slipspace near a mysterious ring-shaped space station, called "Halo" by the enemy in the game, the Covenant. A Covenant fleet attacks and heavily damages the Pillar of Autumn. Captain Keyes initiates "The Cole Protocol, "a procedure which destroys all navigation data and is designed to prevent the Covenant from learning the location of Earth. Master Chief and Cortana fight their way to an escape pod, where they eject from the ship along with a group of Marines. As they fly away they can see Keyes attempting to crash land Pillar on Halo. Master Chief and Cortana are the only survivors of their pod's crash landing, but they soon contact other survivors and help collect them into a fighting force. The survivors tell them that Keyes survived the Pillar of Autumn's crash landing, but has been captured by the Covenant and is being held aboard the Covenant ship Truth and Reconciliation. Master Chief and a force of Marines board the ship and rescue Keyes, who orders Master Chief to beat the Covenant to Halo's control center and to discover Halo's purpose. Master Chief and Cortana travel to a map room called the Silent Cartographer, which leads them to the control room. There, Cortana enters the systems and, discovering something urgent, suddenly sends Master Chief to find Captain Keyes while she stays behind. Keyes was searching for what he believed was a cache of powerful weapons, but when he reaches his position Master Chief finds only signs of a battle and a recording revealing they have accidentally released the Flood, a parasitic alien race capable of spreading itself by infesting other sentient life-forms. The release of the Flood prompts Halo's AI monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, to recruit Master Chief in retrieving the Index, a device that will activate Halo and prevent the Flood from spreading beyond the facility. After Master Chief retrieves and prepares to use the Index, Cortana re-appears and warns him against the activation. She has discovered that Halo's defense system is a weapon designed to kill all sentient life in the galaxy, which will deny the host bodies the Flood requires to spread, a revelation which Guilty Spark confirms. Faced with this information, Master Chief and Cortana decide to destroy Halo to prevent its activation. While fighting the Flood, the Covenant, and Guilty Spark's Sentinels, Cortana discovers that the best way to accomplish this is to cause the crashed Pillar of Autumn to self-destruct. However, Captain Keyes' authorization is required to destroy the Autumn, forcing the Chief and Cortana to return to the now-Flood-infested Truth and Reconciliation to search for him. By the time they reach Keyes, however, he has been infected beyond the point of no return by the Flood. Master Chief retrieves Keyes' neural implants directly from his brain and retreats to the Autumn, where Cortana activates the ship's self-destruct sequence. However, 343 Guilty Spark reappears and deactivates the countdown, discovering the record of human history in the process. Master Chief manually destabilizes the Pillar of Autumn's fusion reactors, and he and Cortana narrowly escape the destruction of the ring via a fighter. Cortana scans nearby space and finds that they are apparently the only survivors. Cortana justifies the sacrifices of the other humans on Halo, stating that they had no choice due to the threat posed by Halo, the Covenant and the Flood. Cortana believes it's over but the Master Chief tells her that they're just getting started. In a brief post-credits scene, 343 Guilty Spark is seen fleeing Halo's destruction and into the unknown of deep space.

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Parent game

15.11.2001

Bent on Humankind's extermination, a powerful fellowship of alien races known as the Covenant is wiping out Earth's fledgling interstellar empire. Climb into the boots of Master Chief, a biologically altered super-soldier, as you and the other surviving defenders of a devastated colony-world make a desperate attempt to lure the alien fleet away from earth. Shot down and marooned on the ancient ring-world Halo, you begin a guerilla-war against the Covenant. Fight for humanity against an alien onslaught as you race to uncover the mysteries of Halo.

Part of collection:
Halo (last 3 games)

30.01.2024

Content Update 29 (“CU29”) brings a new Arena map, a Covenant object palette and new Forge features, a new armor core and customization rewards, and the first of three free Operations—starting with the Halo Wars-themed “Spirit of Fire.” This operation will be followed up by "Cyber Showdown III" and "The Yappening II" operations. Playlist refreshes will also launch during CU29, including new map additions to the Big Team Battle, Firefight King of the Hill, and Squad Battle playlists. CU29 will be the first of many future planned updates that will replace the current "season" model, electing instead to provide smaller content drops but at more frequent intervals.

17.10.2023

An all-new Battle Pass featuring Flood-inspired rewards, new maps, a new mode, and a sophisticated AI Toolkit for Forge. Coming later in Season 5, Firefight: King of the Hill offers a refreshing twist on the beloved co-op wave-survival mode. Season 5 - Reckoning also brings with it multi-core helmets, Match XP in Custom Games, a new Mark VI reward for reaching Hero Rank, and more.

20.06.2023

Halo Infinite Season 4 brings Infection to the game, a military career rank system, improvements to spartan customization, new maps, additional forge features, a new battlepass, and more.

Part of franchise:
Halo (last 3 games)

30.07.2024

This content update brings a bunch of additions and improvements to the game, including the return of two beloved modes from Halo 3 and Halo: Reach, a veritable swath of enhancements to Forge, major sandbox changes, a free new Operation Pass, and more. The free cosmetic "operation pass" which launched aside this update ran from July 30, 2024 to September 3, 2024. It was made available in perpetuity to those who purchased the pass.

30.01.2024

Content Update 29 (“CU29”) brings a new Arena map, a Covenant object palette and new Forge features, a new armor core and customization rewards, and the first of three free Operations—starting with the Halo Wars-themed “Spirit of Fire.” This operation will be followed up by "Cyber Showdown III" and "The Yappening II" operations. Playlist refreshes will also launch during CU29, including new map additions to the Big Team Battle, Firefight King of the Hill, and Squad Battle playlists. CU29 will be the first of many future planned updates that will replace the current "season" model, electing instead to provide smaller content drops but at more frequent intervals.

17.10.2023

An all-new Battle Pass featuring Flood-inspired rewards, new maps, a new mode, and a sophisticated AI Toolkit for Forge. Coming later in Season 5, Firefight: King of the Hill offers a refreshing twist on the beloved co-op wave-survival mode. Season 5 - Reckoning also brings with it multi-core helmets, Match XP in Custom Games, a new Mark VI reward for reaching Hero Rank, and more.

Could be interesting

14.09.2010

Halo: Reach is a first-person shooter set in 2552, serving as a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. Players control Noble Six, a member of Noble Team, an elite squad of Spartan supersoldiers defending the human colony world of Reach from a Covenant invasion. The game features campaign gameplay playable solo or cooperatively, with armor abilities replacing single-use equipment from previous entries. Multiplayer includes competitive modes, a Firefight survival mode, and Forge World, a large-scale level editor. The game also introduces space combat dogfight sequences to the series.

25.09.2007

Halo 3 is a shooter game where players primarily experience gameplay from a first-person perspective. Much of the gameplay takes place on foot, but also includes segments focused on vehicular combat. The balance of weapons and objects in the game was adjusted to better adhere to the "Golden Triangle of Halo": these are weapons, grenades, and melee attacks, which are available to a player in most situations. Players may dual-wield some weapons, forgoing the use of grenades and melee attacks in favor of the combined firepower of two weapons. Many weapons available in previous installments of the series return with minor cosmetic and power alterations. Unlike previous installments, the player's secondary weapon is visible on their player model, holstered or slung across the player's back. Halo 3 introduces "support weapons", which are cumbersome two-handed weapons that slow the player, but offer greatly increased firepower in return. In addition to weapons, the game contains a new class of gear called equipment; these items have various effects, ranging from defensive screens to shield regeneration and flares. Only one piece of equipment can be carried at a time. The game's vehicular component has been expanded with new drivable and AI-only vehicles.

06.11.2012

Halo 4 marks the start of an epic new saga within the award-winning Halo universe. The Master Chief returns in this award-winning first-person shooter developed by 343 Industries. Shipwrecked on a mysterious world, faced with new enemies and deadly technology, the Chief returns to battle against an ancient evil bent on vengeance and annihilation...the universe will never be the same.

08.12.2021

Halo Infinite is a first-person shooter and the sixth mainline entry in the Halo series. The game features a semi-open world campaign set on the Forerunner ringworld Zeta Halo, where players control the supersoldier Master Chief in combat against the Banished, a mercenary faction of aliens and humans. Players traverse the environment on foot and in vehicles, capturing forward operating bases, rescuing Marines, and completing story missions that advance the narrative. Equipment such as the Grappleshot adds traversal and combat options. The multiplayer component is free-to-play and includes various competitive modes in 4v4 and 12v12 formats.

25.07.2018

"Halo: Fireteam Raven is a cooperative arcade sci-fi shooting game from arcade legends Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix in a unique partnership and collaboration with 343 Industries. Set in the timeframe of the original Halo: Combat Evolved, this new immersive experience hot-drops players feet first into the boots of Fireteam Raven – a group of elite Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST) – on the surface of Alpha Halo as they try desperately to prevent the alien Covenant alliance from taking control of the ancient superweapon."

26.02.2009

The Covenant has declared war on humanity, and Harvest is the first battleground. Set 21 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo Wars is an exciting real-time strategy game set in the legendary Halo universe. In this unique installment in the Halo franchise, players experience the epic battles that marked the beginning of the Covenant War. With the UNSC Spirit of Fire at their disposal, players fight in the intense and enormous conflicts that would define humanity's relentless heroism in its darkest hour.

09.11.2004

Halo 2 is a first-person shooter developed by Bungie and the sequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. The campaign alternates between two playable characters: the human supersoldier Master Chief and the Covenant warrior known as the Arbiter. The game introduced online multiplayer via Xbox Live with an automated matchmaking system, dual-wielding of certain weapons, and vehicle hijacking. It supports both cooperative campaign and competitive multiplayer modes, and was the best-selling game on the original Xbox.

21.12.1994

You are far in the future on a colony ship deep in outer space. A security officer on the mission, you are the last hope for defending the ship as hostile and intelligent aliens prepare to destroy every living thing…

08.03.2002

Prepare for one of the most action packed-shooters in PC gaming history! Every level is full of enemies and targets for you to destroy! You will become a soldier of the alien species and protect your home world from the forces of the Human armada.

22.05.2025

Blaze into the high-Orktane mayhem of clashing Speedmobs, in adrenaline-fueled combat racing through the brutal Warhammer 40,000 universe! Drive scrappy vehicles loaded with bombastic weapons and powerful abilities to krump the opposing team! Assemble your mob of dakka-spitting wagons, pushing their team to victory across multiple maps in this explosively unique take on the combat racing and shooter genres. Obliterate your Ork foes with kunnin’ strategies and brute force as your team speeds towards ultimate glory. Are you looking for more speed and more dakka in your life? Look no further YA GITS!

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Ages 17 and up Mature (M)

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