Get nostalgic with the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary launch trailer

There are a lot of high-profile shooters vying for your time and money this year. Battlefield 3 is coming in strong, selling millions of copies in late October, and in just one week Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will hit shelves, potentially selling millions of copies in just one day. But neither of those games would be possible if not for one game: Halo. While it was far from the first shooter (or even the first console shooter), it changed the way people looked at console shooters completely.

As the 10-year anniversary approaches (we feel so damn old), Microsoft is readying Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary for release, and while we were originally going to write it off in favor of the other major shooters, this new launch trailer sure does pull on our heartstrings.

What a nostalgic kick in the pants that video is, right? The music, the improved graphics, the environments... we didn't think we were going to be pulled back in, but after watching this video we're really really excited to dive back in.

The video also reminds us of how colorful Halo was - this generation started off so so brown and muddy. Meanwhile, the first big shooter of the last generation was filled with different environments and colors. The alien shops were bright purple, the jungles were lush and green, and all of the locations had destinct pallets that we can still remember to this day.

It's due out in just two weeks, which gives you one more week to finish Battlefield, and another to play Modern Warfare 3 until you're stuffed. Are you going to be making time for Halo this year?

Hollander Cooper

Hollander Cooper was the Lead Features Editor of GamesRadar+ between 2011 and 2014. After that lengthy stint managing GR's editorial calendar he moved behind the curtain and into the video game industry itself, working as social media manager for EA and as a communications lead at Riot Games. Hollander is currently stationed at Apple as an organic social lead for the App Store and Apple Arcade.