Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

 (also referred to as Halo: Anniversary, or Halo: CEA) is a first-person shooter video game set in the Halo Universe and is a remake of 2001's Halo: Combat Evolved. Halo: CEA was announced at Microsoft's E3 2011 press conference, along with Halo 4.

343 Industries, in collaboration with Saber Interactive, plan on releasing Halo: CEA on November 15, 2011 - the 10th anniversary of the original title's launch. The game will feature 7 classic multiplayer maps, support for Xbox Live multiplayer matchmaking, a complete visual overhaul, achievements, terminals, other hidden easter egg goodies, and the ability to play Co-op campaign over Xbox Live. The campaign will run on theSaber3d engine, whereas multiplayer will be powered by the Reach engine. Unlike Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Anniversary will ship on one disc

Campaign
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary's campaign will be the same story as Halo: Combat Evolved, with the addition of achievements, terminals, and online Co-op. It will also have a new feature: when the player presses the back button on the Xbox 360 controller, the game will switch from the updated graphics engine to the original, and vice-versa. For the story, see Halo: Combat Evolved. Anniversary will also have subtitles available for in-game and combat dialogue.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary's currently known levels consist of all Halo: Combat Evolved levels.

10 confirmed levels in total: And "a not-yet-decided-upon" Campaign level.
 * 1) The Pillar of Autumn - "Escape intact as Covenant forces board your ship."
 * 2) Halo - "Seek out surviving Marines and help them fight the Covenant."
 * 3) The Truth and Reconciliation - "Board a Covenant ship in an attempt to rescue Captain Keyes."
 * 4) The Silent Cartographer - "Search for the map room that will lead you to the secrets of Halo."
 * 5) Assault on the Control Room - "Defend the Control Room against wave after wave of Covenant troops."
 * 6) 343 Guilty Spark - "Creep through a swamp to meet the only enemy the Covenant fear."
 * 7) The Library - "Fight your way through an ancient security facility in search of the Index."
 * 8) Two Betrayals - "Re-activate the weapon at the heart of Halo... and learn the truth."
 * 9) Keyes - "Stage a one-cyborg assault on a Covenant ship and bring back the Captain."
 * 10) The Maw - "Destroy Halo before Halo destroys all life in the galaxy."

Multiplayer
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary will support cooperative campaign and competitive multiplayer modes. The campaign mode will use a remastered version of the original Halo: Combat Evolved-engine. The multiplayer mode will use the Halo: Reach engine.

Multiplayer Maps
Seven maps will be updated and re-released utilizing the Reach engine. 6 of these maps are competitive multiplayer maps that are remakes of maps from Halo: CE, and possibly one form Halo 2. The maps will include 2 variants, one classic variant (which will take the name of the map of which it was based on), and a second variant which is enhanced to utilise Reach's new sandbox and features. For example, Battle Canyon (the second variant of Beaver Creek) will include additional indoor sections behind the bases, while Beaver Creek will have these sections blocked to retain the classic layout. In Damnation, the gaps between the bridge down by the waterfall will be lacking, but in Pennance, they will be connected. These gaps will also be forgable.

Announced multiplayer maps in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary include:


 * Beaver Creek / Battle Canyon
 * Hang 'Em High
 * Damnation / Pennace
 * Timberland

The new maps will not just utilize the Reach engine, but will actually be merged with the Halo Reach server (similar to ODST and Halo 3). At some point in time the maps will be available for Reach players; even if they don’t have Halo CE Anniversary.

Firefight Maps
An unknown Firefight map has been announced. This map may feature the Flood, the infectious species that made its debut in the debut Halo game, Halo: Combat Evolved, and has never been seen in any Firefight map. The map has been heavily hinted as the research station in which you discover them by Frank O'Connor during an E3 2011 interview. This hint strongly supports the theory of this firefight map being in the bottom level of the "343 Guilty Spark" mission, as this is where you discover the flood in Halo: Combat Evolved's campaign.

Development
343 Industries is utilizing the original Halo: Combat Evolved engine and Saber3d engine in campaign and the Halo: Reach engine in multiplayer to make the original Halo: Combat Evolved look and feel like a game created in 2011. They will be keeping some of the audio and replacing other parts entirely with faithful "re-orchestrations" of the original recordings.

Engine
The campaign will run on the original engine, whereas multiplayer will be powered by the Reach engine. 343 Industries will be graphically revamping the entire game and the level design in the campaign will be enhanced. This means that everything will be more detailed and include more assets to fill in the blank space that Halo: CE left behind. In addition, in 343's ViDoc on Halo: Anniversary, they stated that the player will have the option to switch between old graphics and revamped graphics with the push of a button. However, the developers will not be sacrificing the original feel of the graphics. Halo: Anniversary is simply adding an additional layer of graphics on top of the original game graphics, hence being able to switch between the old and revamped graphics, and thus keeping the original gameplay and physics of the game intact.

Audio
Halo: CE Anniversary will retain some of the original audio from Halo: Combat Evolved, though it will be remastered to sound clearer, allowing it to work seamlessly in 5.1 surround sound. Pyramind Studios are in charge of remastering, re-orchestrating and re-recording Martin O'Donnell's original soundtrack, and Skywalker Orchestra will be recording the orchestral pieces from the soundtrack at Skywalker Ranch. Click here to hear a shortened version of the Halo Theme from the Halo: Anniversary Trailer.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary E3 2011 Tribute trailer
The trailer was announced at the E3, allowing the audience stare in awe. Later, it was followed up with the teaser trailer for Halo 4.

Halo Anniversary Exclusive
A 343 Industries Video Documentary was released shortly after the unveiling of the Halo 4 Teaser, which contained some extra footage and additional information on Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

Halo: Anniversary Exclusive Pre-Order Grunt Funeral Skull
This video showed it's viewers new footage of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and a new skull called the Grunt Funeral Skull, which makes an Unggoy's methane tank explode upon death. This skull is available when the game is pre-ordered.

Halo: Anniversary Exclusive Pre-Order Master Chief Avatar Armor
If pre-ordered, you will recieve a redeemable code via e-mail to get the exclusive Master Chief avatar armor. The style of the armor is his original Mark V MJOLNIR armor as opposed to his current Mark VI MJOLNIR armor.

Trivia

 * Infinity and Death Island are both rumored to make a return in Halo Anniversary's multiplayer.
 * It has been speculated by the the Halo Community that the lone Firefight map could feature the Flood as an enemy.
 * In an interview with Gamespot, Vice President of Microsoft Game Studios, Phil Spencer, confirmed that Halo: Anniversary will ship with Kinect support. The extent of its Kinect functionality, however, has not yet been elaborated on.
 * The Campaign will feature both the original graphics and a remastered graphics layered over the original, and the player will have the option to transition between both graphical layers.
 * 343 Industries have stated that Halo: Anniversary's gameplay will be identical to that of the original version.
 * It has been comfirmed that the remake will have Forge using the Reach engine, but if it is going to be like the Halo Reach Forge system has yet to be confirmed in the following g4 interview
 * In Multiplayer, 343 Industries had confirmed that they will be fixing and removing all the bugs from the old Halo: Reach Multiplayer, like removing the 'Bloom Effect' from the DMR, adding a feature to the Armor Lock Ability, etc. An example for removal of the effect can be seen in this video.