

Your dual-wielded weapon is automatically dropped when you’re throwing a grenade, meleeing, or swapping to another weapon. Fast forward to the present, and I also couldn’t believe how clunky the implementation remains even with the remaster. While we’re on the subject of dual-wielding, I must admit that it was one of the coolest mechanics I’ve seen in the original Halo 2. The Arbiter’s cloak is also bound to the flashlight button (default “4”) though it’s not mentioned in the settings. This is where you’ll notice the dual-wielding action that’s introduced in the game. In a way, most textures and backgrounds feel static and lifeless at times even with the visual upgrades.īelow, you’ll see the available control settings for Halo 2: Anniversary:Īgain, there are no major changes here until we look at the keybindings. It might not be that obvious in screenshots, but it’ll be very glaring while playing the game. Unfortunately, given that we’re looking at a re-release of an Xbox One game from 2014, there were times when the graphics won’t just cut it in today’s day and age, especially for PCs. Switching to classic mode, meanwhile, led to 200+ FPS. Most missions held up at 70-90 FPS using remastered visuals. Likewise, I didn’t experience a lot of problems when it comes to framerates. Blasting opponents with dual-wielded plasma rifles or watching the Arbiter’s sword flashing with arc energy are definitely treats to behold. One need only look at the vivid and striking detail of weapons, structures, and visual effects to spot the differences. There’s no denying that the remastered/enhanced changes are highly noticeable when you’re playing Halo 2: Anniversary. As usual, click on each image for a larger view. Take note that I’m using the “Enhanced” preset at 4K UHD resolution. I’ve selected several moments from the campaign to compare the original/classic and remastered versions. That brings us to our graphics comparison section. Halo 2: Anniversary also has a similar feature found in Halo: CEA, that of toggling between the remastered and original textures (default “Tab” key). The “Enhanced,” “Performance,” and “Original” graphics quality presets are still around, mind you, so there’s very little in the way of customization. The options aren’t quite different from what we’ve seen before given that these are universally present across all content. In my case, I had both campaign and multiplayer selected for installation - I was able to play the former, but the latter didn’t automatically download.īelow, you’ll see the available graphics settings: Oh, and one more thing, make sure that multiplayer is being downloaded after the 20.1 GB installation. Instead, you’ll first need to launch Halo: The Master Chief Collection and start the installation for Halo 2: Anniversary‘s campaign (20.1 GB) and multiplayer components (11.3 GB) from the menu. Just to add, you won’t be able to preload the game. No need to worry because my rig hasn’t changed and I’m still well above the requirements. They’re similar to the ones for Halo: Reach and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (Halo: CEA), two games which we already featured months ago, since they’re part of the same compendium. The system requirements are from Halo 2: Anniversary‘s Steam store page. Additional Notes: Direct3D feature Level 11.1.Graphics: AMD HD 6850 NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450.Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 960T Intel i3550.Halo 2: Anniversary – System requirements It promises optimizations for PCs including 4K UHD support, enhanced graphics, 60+ FPS, field-of-view (FOV) customization, and more. Instead, we’re talking about a different one - Halo 2: Anniversary that’s part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Well, okay, it sort of did back in 2007, but we don’t talk about that port anymore. Halo 2, long considered as one of the greatest games ever made, makes its way to PCs.
