Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

I had a recent review on here but since it was based on a speedrun on the old Halo Combat Evolved, some of you did not like that version and thought it was very different from the new CEA version. Plus the resolution of the first video in my previous solution was not all that great. So I've decided to update a speedrun with a CEA version based on my previous solution's video.

First I would recommend to thumb's up for both of Heavymetal's and Quickdraw's solutions!

I needed a more of a visual walkthrough for this achievement and would like to share the speedrun that I used for a guide. Just follow this video by Mitch3ll (based on Riptor's original speedrun) who completed it at 19:18.


My only suggestions that I can share is to:

- have bandana skull on as suggested before me. Spam grenades and it is imperative for you to pick up a shotgun!

- run through the level as fast as you can to shave off time. If you die the timer resets on your last checkpoint anyways!

- you don't really have to copy the video exactly minute by minute but I would highly recommend grenade jumping since it despawns some of the enemies in certain sections (like grenade jumping some of the doors). Also Rhyolitic has mentioned that it is easier to grenade jump the first wall to the right (right in the begining) on floor one instead of doing the difficult carrier jump. What you do first is throw grenades to kill the carriers that are hiding then go back to grenade jump that first wall to your right and hop into that circular orangy room then grenade jump back to the main hall on the second section where the carrier was hiding (the one you were suppose to use to jump). This should despawn the enemies the same way the carrier jump does.

- something that I forgot to mention that dodi779 reminded me on his comment below is that on top of grenade jumping, you need to... CROUCH JUMP. Basically it's executing a crouch at the top of your jump (if you execute it too early, you don't jump as high). It is kind of awkward when you try to execute it on your controller but with practice it doesn't take too long to learn. This will really help when you need to jump over high walls, especially while grenade jumping.

- there are certain sections on floor 2, 3, and 4 that you can hide back instead of facing swarms of the flood. Just follow the video as a guide.

- I found grenade jumping the last door (right before the end of the level) on floor 4 shaved a good amount of time and avoided the last crazy swarm of the flood. It is a bit tricky since you might have some flood following close behind you. You also need to do it as soon as you get to the door. I would suggest to just spam grenades behind you to kill off some of the flood following you and right when you get to the door as soon as it starts to open do the grenade jump. You can die as many times as you want and retry but if it is too difficult for you, you can just follow the video and take out the swarm slowly.

- also I would NOT use the boom skull since it makes the carriers explosion larger as well! I had it turned on my first day attempts for the cheev and all I can tell you is that I was blowing up and bouncing around like nobody's business!

- also thanks to "ArchTirannus" for sharing this tip with us. "Before performing the first grenade jump at the very beginning, make sure you step underneath the monitor to make him go to the next 'checkpoint'. If not, after doing the second grenade jump the monitor will not follow you unless you go near him, making the flood to spawn all over the place."


If you follow the video as a guide and use all the shortcuts then you're likely to make the the 30 min cut off time with some required skill and luck. I have to say that this was waaaaay easier for me to get than the "That Just Happened" cheevo since I did that one legit. Hope this helps everyone!

Here is the video that Rhyolitic used by Master RC for the alternative jump which also has commentary!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_211987...


Credits to Mitch3ll and Riptor from highspeedhalo.net and Rhyolitic and Master RC for the commentary version. I will change the video if there is a better one out but this should be good for now!

i ran it though solo and got it by pure luck and chance while working on my legendary runthrough. Along with the bandanna skull i also had the boom skull for bigger grenade explosions (down side is carrier flood also have bigger explosion range so watch out!!). Its true that the time gets reverted back when you die and go back to your last checkpoint so thats good. Having a shotgun is pretty nessesary and try to get it early if possible to avoid any frustration in the long run and i like to use the plasma rifle as my secondary to spray the little puff balls and carrier forms since it seems like the plasma bolts are atrracted to them.

What i found helpful is to spam grenades way ahead of you (and sometimes behind you incase you missed some flood) to clear out anything around corners that way you just just keep hauling ass and not waste time stopping, killing and clearing the area, and continueing on your way so this should shave a little time off your run by pre clearing areas before you even reach it, but watch out most of my deaths came from my own grenade explosions and carrier explosions. Keep and eye on your radar that will also be important so you know whether to turn around and take out whats coming up behind you (which most the time are the tiny infection puff balls use your plasma rifle to quickly get rid of them. Dont stop to turn to kill them, this will only waste precious time, just keep going and turn to shoot them while continuing running)

NOTE: BOTH GRENADES HAVE ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES WITH BOOM SKULL ACTIVATED. PLASMA GREDANES DONT BOUNCE AROUND WHEN THROWN SO USE THESE FOR PRECISE GRENADE KILLS. ON THE DOWNFALL SPAM TO MANY IN ONE SPOT AND YOU MAY JUST KILL YOURSELF SINCE THEY WILL BE FLYING EVERYWHERE.
FRAGS BOUNCE AROUND WHEN TROWN BUT UNLIKE PLASMAS DONT GO FLYING AROUND WHEN SPAMED IN THE SAME SPOT. REMEMBER THIS WHEN PLANING YOUR RUN ACCORDINGLY!!!

Now the beauty of having the timer reset everytime you die and revert to your checkpoint is that you learn the patterns of where the flood spawns are at. Use this to your advantage. Learn where they are going to come from, take some out, and maybe die, and at least you now know where they are goin to be so you shouldnt have trouble killing them and moving checkpoint to checkpoint once you get the hang of a particular section. Again this gives you an opportunity to learn where to spam the grenades at ahead of time. Just like anything else repition of dying in the same spot over and over again you will eventually learn that area pretty well. When you doubt yourself if you think you are wasting time or messing up revert to your last checkpoint and try again your not loosing anytime after all so might as well learn it and get it right.

When you get to a door that you need to wait at hunker down in a corner and just spam grenades from where you came from and thats pretty much all you have to worry about (apart from one of your own grenades coming back and killing you if spamed to many in one spot or a rouge Flood that you need to shoot)

So just take it slow and stedy it took me about 2hrs to do this but as i said learn their spawns and just revert to your checkpoint so you wont be wasting time. It may be tedious and take "forever" but its worth it if you want to get this achievement.
Best of luck out there!!

Definately the easiest way to get Speed Reader. Thanks RC Master for the video and Templar Punk for his solution.

The beginning is the hardest part with grenades jumps, after you just have to follow the video and listen to his commentaries.

You can die and reload, the time comes back where you left off at the last checkpoint. I made more than 30 minutes and have successfully unlocked.