The last time I played a Halo game was...well, Halo. 

I'm talking the "Combat Evolved" variety, circa 2001. I have never owned a Microsoft console -- it's not a fanboy thing; I just never had the money for it -- so I've spent very little time with Master Chief or his space-marine brethren since then. 

Maybe that made me a poor choice to attend an exclusive pre-PAX Halo event Thursday night. But here's the thing -- Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary took my memories from 10 years ago and made them better than ever. 

While the screenshots above certainly stand out (check out how pretty Beaver Creek looks!), the team at 343 Industries was careful to point out that Halo: Anniversary is more than just improved graphics. "We didn't want to just do HD, slap it in a box, and call it a day," said Executive Producer Dan Ayoub. 

In fact, they left that choice up to you. Players can switch between the classic engine -- complete with original Xbox blur -- and the revamped HD look at any time. And I do mean any time: mid-level, mid-firefight, or mid-jump, even. The feature does a lot to recall the nostalgia of the past while delivering a modern product.

That's not to say that nothing else has changed, of course. The advanced loadout options of more recent Halo titles are available in Anniversary's multiplayer...including jetpacks. Surprisingly, this makes classic vertical maps like Prisoner even more fun. The level designs have had a conceptual upgrade, too -- gone are the blocky gray-on-gray textures of the 2001 version. Prisoner in particular stands out; the map now features icy ledges and broken, snowy walls that give a whole new feeling of isolation.

For all that change, though, this is still Halo -- the one I remember after all these years. It feels and plays just the same, down to the ridiculously overpowered and overaccurate pistol. I dove into a handful of Team Slayer matches and one or two free-for-alls and emerged feeling like a kid again, despite my poor performance. (But I was never that great back then, either.)

And Halo's trademark multiplayer customization was evident; if you didn't like the new gameplay features, you could turn them off, pop on classic-mode graphics, and perfectly recreate your past glories.

Nostalgia's a powerful force; it can trick us into thinking something is greater than it actually is. Halo: Anniversary does the opposite. It takes what was already great and makes it better than ever...and yet still exactly the same. And that's a trick no memory can reproduce.