Thought I'd take a moment to close loop (har) with
my first take on CEA back when it was first announced, which was less than positive. So not-positive it might make you wonder why I ended up making an OT for it.
There are basically two approaches to remakes, one that preserves the original core game, and one that alters it in any number of ways to present a reimagining of the same ideas. The big, critical decision for any remake is to identify what core elements to retain, and why. When CEA was first announced, I saw a game identical to the one I've played the living crap out of for years and which I know inside and out, with a new coat of paint. I didn't see the value in updating it on that front,because for me, the interesting ways Halo has evolved over 10 years hasn't been graphically, it's been in how the gameplay has been iterated, expanded and refined (we're talkin' Campaign here).
So I lined up the list of stuff I wanted to do in it, but couldn't. I recognized the balance 343 was striking with the vision: protect the core game, because the people that would want a remake are the ones that love the core game. Don't mess with it. I respect that. Still, I had visions of me plasma overcharging and boarding Wraiths, or having physics applied to more than a few objects, or having the Xbox's tech limitations removed to blow away some of the smoke and mirrors used to hide how few enemies are on screen at once.
I saw how the game would be the same.
Since then, 343 has shown how it's going to be the same, but different. Because while I've played the crap out of the Campaign, I haven't done so with any of you guys in online co-op while hunting and activating skulls, finding terminals while basking in the new audio bath, working on a set of pretty good Achievements. And I think that's going to be something worth experiencing, something that justifies the project in a way that wasn't clear when it was announced. The game has taken on as many of the advancements the series has seen as possible while still retaining the core game experience. When I realized that, I started to warm up the game. A
lot. On paper at least, I think 343 has struck exactly the right balance between update and preservation, in knowing what to hold steady and what to fiddle with. It's an impressive thing to pull off. Looking forward to seeing if they did so.
