Microsoft’s announcement of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary may not have surprised anyone, but some of the newly announced details just might.
The good news is that Halo Anniversary won’t be sold as a full-priced game. Recognizing the fact that the majority of the Xbox 360 userbase already owns the game, Microsoft has slapped a $39.99 MSRP on the re-release. And according to Frank O’Connor, the Halo Franchise Director, the game will also include a layered graphics engine that recreates the fell of Halo: Combat Evolved while layering the high definition makeover on top of it. Players will be able to switch back and forth between the graphics filters on the fly with a single button press, as we see in the trailer above. The game will also include links to the upcoming Halo 4 in the form of unlockable motion graphics that will tell the backstory and “foreshadow new mysteries” of the fourth game in the series.
Six multiplayer maps from Halo: Combat Evolved will be remade in Halo Anniversary using the Halo: Reach engine with a seventh redesigned as a Firefight map. “Damnation” is the first confirmed map and Microsoft promises to reveal more during HaloFest at the PAX Prime this Summer.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is being developed by 343 Industries, Saber Interactive and Certain Affinity and will be released exclusively for the Xbox 360 on November 15.
