Halo: Combat Evolved redefined the way that we played first person shooters. It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since the game first hit store shelves. The game introduced a whole generation of gamers to competitive first person multiplayer and helped improve the FPS genre almost overnight. Many nights were spent playing Halo: CE via LAN with disputes being settled by headshots. But can Microsoft and 343 industry’s re-tooled version of the classic shooter still impress a full decade later?

The story behind Halo: Combat Evolved should come as no surprise to anyone who has played the original or played the series’ many sequels, read the comics or experienced any of the expanded universe content. The UNSC forces are engaged in a battle with an alien collective known as the Covenant. After the fall of Reach, the UNSC Flagship Pillar of Autumn escapes using Faster Than Light travel and end up at the alien artifact Halo. None of this should be surprising to series veterans, but with ten years separating the original release and Combat Evolved Anniversary, there is an entire generation of gamers who were too young to play the original when it hit in 2001.

Halo: Combat Evolved’s campaign is still as engaging as ever. Halo: CE redefined the way that First Person Shooters worked on consoles and single-handedly shook up the entire genre. During the 8 – 10 hour campaign (on Heroic) Master Chief will traverse the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, explore the jungles of the Halo Ring and investigate the underground facilities within the alien structure. Each of these levels has its own unique look and feel, regardless whether or not you choose to use the new HD graphics or the drabber original.

The tenants of the Halo series’ gameplay have not changed much in the past ten years. Master Chief can only hold two weapons at a time, has access to two different types of grenades. However unlike the later entries in the series only the shield regenerates, so you will have to rely on health packs to refill the entire health bar.

With all of that said, there are a number of small changes to the formula that more recent entries in the series have introduced, greatly improving the Halo experience. Microsoft and Sabre Interactive have instead designed a direct translation of the original game. This means that series staples like regenerating health (introduced in Reach), limited grenade carry capacity (introduced in Halo 2) and battery drain on covenant weapons (introduced in Halo 2) are not present. In some ways, Anniversary’s gameplay is a throwback to a bygone era.

Marty O’Donnel’s original score has been remastered for the 10th anniversary. The Halo score is one of the most iconic in gaming history with its chanting choirs and orchestral pieces. The score present in C.E Anniversary stays true to the original while adding small additions that make it even more memorable. If you’ve got a good pair of gaming headphones your ears will thank you. The sound mix of Halo: CE hasn’t changed, prepare for a bunch of one-liners and repeating gunfire.

The newly designed HD graphics bring C.E in line with the more recent entries in the series. Sabre Interactive’s vision of Halo: CE includes brighter colors, more bloom lighting and more diverse textures. Purists may say that all of this takes away from the technical achievements of the original, or diminishes Bungie’s original art direction. The fact is that aside from the brightly lit markers helping you find your way, the new graphics help diminish some of the “copy and paste” level design that Bungie utilized. Just try playing the library or the underground sections of “343 Guilty Spark” with the original graphics without muttering the words “I swear I’ve seen this area ten times before”.

The Harry Potter series is no stranger to video games, but that didnt mean finding a great Harry Potter game was a particularly easy task. As with most licensed titles, the previous Harry Potter games had tended to be direct recreations of the latest movie, created with the intent to get them out in time for the films release, which often meant middling quality.

That changed with the release of last years LEGO Harry Potter, which took a look at years 1-4 of Harrys Hogwarts studies through the looking glass of the LEGO series. Thanks to its strong humor, a focus on exploration and its spell mechanics, LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 was arguably the greatest Harry Potter game yet. Now, a year and a half later, the characters of Harry Potter return to Hogwarts in LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7, a sequel which largely offers more of the same as its predecessor. And if youre a Harry Potter fan, that is a good thing indeed.

As with the original game, LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 has you taking control of Harry Potter (in LEGO form) and his cast of friends as they return to Hogwarts as chronicled in The Order of the Phoenix all the way up until Harrys final battle with Voldemort in The Deathly Hallows. As with all the games in the LEGO series, the premise is relatively simple you make your way through famous scenes from the movies and novels, collecting studs, the games currency, in the process so that you can unlock items and spells of greater power.

Like LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4, the game throws out the haphazard combat and platforming found in most of the previous LEGO games for a focus on the spell system and exploration. For most of the game, players will take control of their LEGO Harry Potter character, usually Harry, Hermoine and Ron, and venture throughout the game world. The first half of the game mainly takes place as Hogwarts Castle, which serves as a hub to re-live the events of the fifth and sixth books, and focus on building up your arsenal of spells throughout various lessons youll encounter as part of the plot. The usage of these spells form the focus of the game, as not only will you be using them to blast every object you encounter in hopes of finding the studs hidden within, but they are used for all of the puzzles throughout the game. And there are a great deal of these puzzles throughout the game.

While none of the game’s puzzles are particularly challenging, you will have to rotate through your spells often, as each level will use a variety of your powers. Your basic Wingardium Leviosa spell allows you to blast apart items, put them back together, and move or lift obstacles. Lumos repels plant growths, Diffindo separates red barriers, and you can even expel a stream of water to fill up buckets, put out fires, or restore life to nearly dead plants. You may find yourself using magic to lift LEGO blocks to build a staircase, sweeping away leafs to unveil items hidden beneath, destroying objects to search for hidden levers, or just blasting through obstacles in your way. Any magic you use will auto-target the nearest object youre facing, but you can opt to be more precise by holding down the attack button, which allows you to use a cursor to select your target (or targets), making the magic as widely destructive or precise as you choose it to be.

While the game mostly focuses on exploration and adventure, there is the occasional combat encounter in the game. While the general combat uses the exact same system and spells to deal with the foes youll encounter on your adventures, the game also uses a duel system for the larger fights against many of the other wizards. In this mode, the player enters a circle against an enemy wizard, and is forced to counter the enemys attack with their own attack of the same spell type. The enemy’s portion of the circle will change in color to reflect the type of spell theyre about to use (and need to be countered with), resulting in a button mashing contest for success. It isnt particularly challenging nothing about the game is but it helps mix things up without taking away from the games primary focus on exploration and adventure.