After 10 years, the original Halo doesn't have many secrets left. So 343i is adding some.
While the overwhelming majority of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is identical to the game you know from the 2001 launch of the original Xbox - it is, in fact, running the original Halo's codebase, in addition to another layer of game code running on top - 343i is working to give Halo fans hooks beyond the simple but important celebration of Halo's tenth anniversary. Using a trick from Halo 3's playbook, 343i and Saber Interactive are adding bits of Halo lore to tie the original game with next year's Halo 4.
While the overwhelming majority of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is identical to the game you know from the 2001 launch of the original Xbox - it is, in fact, running the original Halo's codebase, in addition to another layer of game code running on top - 343i is working to give Halo fans hooks beyond the simple but important celebration of Halo's tenth anniversary. Using a trick from Halo 3's playbook, 343i and Saber Interactive are adding bits of Halo lore to tie the original game with next year's Halo 4.
Halo CE Anniversary - Just Like Old Times.
I'm speaking of course of terminals. Halo 3 players who spared even the most minimal moment of exploration through its large levels likely found at least one of these cryptic Forerunner information kiosks. "Information" in this case is a loose description though, given the excessively cryptic and coded nature of the narrative fragments found in Halo 3's terminals. For Halo CE Anniversary, 343i and Saber are borrowing the delivery method, but are making a stylistic departure for their hidden information.
At a closed doors demo at E3 this year, I was shown what representatives described as a proof of concept video for this new kind of terminal (though I wasn't given even a hint of a glimpse of their physical appearance). It opened to the narration of the Monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, tour guide for the ringworld of Halo, record keeper, and later betrayer in his attempts to trigger the detonation of the ring. Guilty Spark described the underlying reasoning behind the ring's existence amidst video footage featuring concept art of Halo and various video of the Monitor interacting with the ring.
He then repeated a refrain familiar to Halo CE players: the Master Chief was not marooned on Halo by accident. While this seemed like the prophetic chants of an insane artificial intelligence when Halo originally released, a reasonable assumption given original developer Bungie's fixation on rampant AI in the Marathon series which preceded Halo, 343i and Saber Interactive's determination to link these terminals to Halo 4 indicates a deeper meaning. Perhaps Guilty Spark was right all along. Maybe the Master Chief was chosen for a greater destiny than he - or we - knew at the dawn of one of gaming's biggest franchises. It would make sense, given the appearance of a device in Halo 4's trailer reminiscent of the Dyson Sphere device in the Halo novel Ghosts of Onyx, or the Ark in New Mombasa in Halo 3.
Maybe Guilty Spark's insanity was rooted in knowledge beyond what we - or Bungie - were prepared to handle. Or maybe current series stewards 343i are prepared to retcon Halo's fiction in order to clean up some continuity errors created between Halo and the outside fiction that has become such an important part of the property.
Regardless, Halo fans are a curious bunch. We're all sure to be lining up to scour Halo CE Anniversary for the secrets it's waiting to share with us. We'll find out more about the terminals and their connection to Halo 4 before this year's Penny-Arcade Expo, which plays host to Halo Con in August.
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