You’d be forgiven if the announcement video for Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary left you worried that Microsoft would muck up Halo‘s good name. The trailer at E3 sported a character model that few would mistake for the series’ signature hero Master Chief. To be fair, the reveal was well received, but it raised an interesting question: How could developer 343 Industries and Microsoft be trusted to steward the Halo brand if a big detail like this was overlooked?
A lot has changed since that trailer at E3: The Master Chief has been tweaked to look more like the original model. And the game’s signature feature, the ability to switch between 2001’s visuals and new remastered HD graphics, has been polished as well. Originally, the lauded feature would switch visuals on the fly, delivering a slightly strange visual lag as textures swapped places. Now, the screen fades like a long blink — and presto! New visuals, or old visuals (depending on where you started) have filled the screen.
