[1] Support for Xbox Kinect includes voice commands for video navigation, in-combat directives, and environment-scanning, which adds on-screen items to an in-game encyclopedia called the Library.

[9] Anniversary adds revamped multiplayer and two-player co-op campaign support available online via Xbox Live and offline locally.

[1] Anniversary also includes a new map based on a campaign level for Firefight, a wave-based survival multiplayer game type in which players and their allies fight enemy groups of scaling difficulty.

When the Covenant attack, Autumn's captain, Jacob Keyes, entrusts the ship's artificial intelligence, Cortana—and her knowledge of defense deployments and the location of Earth—to the supersoldier known as the Master Chief for safekeeping.

To stop the Flood from spreading and Spark from activating the ring, Cortana devises a plan to detonate the crashed Autumn's engines and destroy Halo, but require Keyes's command codes.

Fighting through Flood, Covenant, and Guilty Spark's robotic Sentinels, Master Chief and Cortana manually destabilize Autumn's reactors and narrowly escape the destruction of the ring on a fighter.

[14] 343 Industries, the internal division, approached Saber Interactive with a proposal to remaster Combat Evolved for the game's tenth anniversary as the former were developing Halo 4 (2012), the series' next main entry.

[15] Saber developed concept art to form visual ideas for the remaster and then flew to Seattle, Washington, to meet with 343 Industries.

Likewise, porting the PC version of the game back to the Xbox to add features would have constrained the amount of visual improvements Saber could make, as well as required significant time training artists to use the same production pipelines that were used for Combat Evolved.

The sheer number of these issues, combined with the desire to keep the original gameplay intact, forced Saber to use a variety of approaches to fix the problems, including making tools for artists to visualize height differences and creating intermediate geometry.

[21] For elements that had no analogues, Microsoft sent art director Ben Cammarano to Saber's offices in St. Petersburg, Russia, to oversee the redesign of the game's visuals.

[15] Cammarano established four tenets of Halo—what Iones termed "heroic vistas, iconic imagery and characters, clean and vibrant aesthetics, and visceral action"—to guide Saber's artists.

Greg Hermann, a 343 Industries technical lead who had experience with Bungie technology, assisted Saber in development of a networking solution that would allow online co-op.

"[5] An additional consideration O'Connor mentioned was that producing a full replication of Combat Evolved's multiplayer would have divided the Halo player base and interrupted Reach's lifespan.

[5]: 1  The company retained the same art director between the campaign and multiplayer elements of Anniversary to make sure the two halves of the game looked visually cohesive.

[24][25] While the other games' collectibles were aimed at and enjoyed by serious Halo fiction fans, 343 Industries wanted to make Anniversary's terminals higher-budget, more impressive, and accessible to all players.

[16] While players can toggle the original music from Halo: Combat Evolved, the soundtrack was also re-recorded in partnership with Pyramind Studios, using the 75-piece Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and the Chanticleer vocal ensemble.

[30][31] During the Halo Universe panel at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, a short trailer showcasing the animation used in the terminals with a narration by 343 Guilty Spark was shown to the fans.

[33][34] Thirteen retail Microsoft Stores hosted launch events for Anniversary's November 15, 2011, midnight release; festivities included sixteen-player multiplayer matches, limited-edition giveaways, and appearances by the game developers.

[48] The staff of Official Xbox Magazine praised the developers for preserving the original gameplay, avoiding "revisionist horrors" and Star Wars re-release moments.

"[51] The remastered visuals were positively received; reviewers such as The Inquirer's Chris Martin and The Escapist's Russ Pitts singled out the graphics-switch button for praise.

[58][60] The Guardian's Steve Boxer called the feature "utterly fascinating—a bit like ... archaeology on your console", and said that the visual overhaul improved areas where the original game engine was weak, such as rendering outdoor environments.

Writing for GameSpot, editor Chris Watters opined that "the fundamental mechanics of the game have ... endured well", with responsive controls and challenging enemies.

[53] PALGN writer Adam Guetti agreed, praising "rock solid" controls and tight gameplay,[56] while Mike Wilcox of The Sydney Morning Herald argued the anniversary edition "[proves] a game with a winning formula doesn't wither with age".

[61] IGN's Steven Hopper felt that the level design was dated, the repetitious environments making it easy for players to lose their bearings, and that vehicles handled poorly.