We were already looking forward to Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. Maybe it's the rose-tinted spectacle effect clouding our judgment, but we can't remember having had a better time playing a co-op game than with Halo: Combat Evolved - it's easily on a par, if not slightly better than the LEGO games. Originally released on the Xbox in 2001, (the massive, fat black one, not the sleek, upright thing we have now), the game that brought co-op gaming to the forefront is being remade for the Xbox 360 - and it'll come sporting a budget price.
Selling in America for $39.99, we get it for the nowhere-near-as-good-but-still-cheaper-than-most-games £34.99 - some £15 cheaper than the RRP of most Xbox 360 games, and a tidy fiver less than they usually sell for at launch. While £25 would have been a lot nicer (and more in line with what the Americans are going to be paying), it's still nice to have a bit of a discount. Although it proves Microsoft loves America more.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a first person shooter set in an elaborate sci-fi universe, and sees you playing as Master Chief - the last Spartan, one of a force of genetically modified super soldiers. Plonked into the middle of a war between the human race, and the Covenant, the story in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary begins when the Master Chief comes under attack by the Covenant, and crash lands on a mysterious ring world, which holds more secrets than either side could imagine... Fully playable in split-screen, and now online co-op, Halo: Combat Evolved changed the way people played first person shooters, with co-op vehicles letting one person drive, while the other mans a turret, and some of the best level design we've seen. Even Microsoft admit it was the "campaign of a decade" - and one that hasn't been beaten since. With updated graphics, and the as-yet-undetailed Kinect support having been added, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is shaping up to be an interesting prospect - at a bargain price.
If you're as enthused as we are, you can place a pre-order now at GAME for £34.99 of your British pounds. And you really should. This is a game well worth looking forward to.
