Halo: Campaign Evolved

garbage

thanks to joe biden this "remake" of a 25 year old game which feels more like a remaster is 70 bucks now

poop

This game should not have been released in it's current state, very disappointing.

I played through the campaign with three friends, and we encountered so many bugs that I can't recommend buying this overpriced version of Halo over the Master Chief Collection. During our playthrough, the game crashed around ten times, and several achievements failed to unlock properly. We completed the entire campaign on Legendary difficulty, yet we received no achievement to celebrate the accomplishment. I'm not even sure completing the game on Legendary with friends can be considered an accomplishment anyway. Whenever one of us died, we could instantly respawn, making us essentially invincible. We were able to throw our Master Chief's life away by charging enemies with reckless, suicidal Energy Sword attacks.

As a lifelong Halo fan, I have to say the game is passable remake that does what it needs to and doesn't horribly mess up the formula of Combat Evolved. [b] The graphics [/b] are a lot more faithful to the original game than Anniversary, but the overuse of VFX can make it a incoherent visual blur in combat and can lead to significant slowdown when piling up enemies and effects. The use of Unreal Engine is a mixed bag as while substantially more stable than Slipspace on it's worst days, it also throttles the performance and makes certain PCs unable to even run the game at all (as I was for some reason unable to play it on my gaming PC and had to rely on my SteamDeck to play the game, which runs the game fairly well for the most part). Also, the overuse of Halo Infinite assets do not line up with the art style of the original game. [b] The sound [/b] is one of the better improvements, as the weapons despite not using many of the same stock assets that were iconic in the original game hold up and feel approriately powerful. And while I personally miss the Elites doing their alien language, they announce their movements and where their focus is at which is good when the visuals get immensely frustrating to keep track of. The Flood benefit the best with nastier audio that makes them truly horrific when dealing with them. Aside from some audio cuts here and there, it is a definitive improvement. [b] The music [/b] is well... it's the original Halo soundtrack just digitally remastered, no reimagining like Halo 2 Anniversary, so those classic tunes that defined a generation remain strong as ever. That said, there is some weird splicing and timings that can disorientate the original feel of encounters and/or levels. [b] The combat [/b] is the biggest mixed bag. Player control feels smooth, and while sprint is an annoying inclusion into the pacing, it does have it's benefits in getting you out of danger when you overstep your hand. The problem arises with the enemy AI, which somehow is vastly worse than the original game's AI in how finicky, aggressive, and uncoordinated it is. Some fights outright have the enemy AI break down and freeze in place or will clearly not pursue due to exiting their engagement zone, other times they won't stop for any reason which makes them exceptionally easy to cheese which forgets the intelligent rhythm of Combat Evolved's AI where there is a nice push and pull that engages into that classic "thirty seconds of fun" rhythm that's lacking here, this is the most felt any time a Hunter pair shows up as the classic "dance" is completely broken. The Flood [i] especially [/i] suffer from this problem, with Infection forms getting endlessly stuck on geometry in circles and Combat Forms struggling to land their jumps. There are nice additions such as the revival mechanics of Halo 2 and 3 with the Flood Infection Forms being able to reform Combat Forms that die, which makes an imperative for destroying the bodies via the gore system to prevent further harassment, but it can be way too tedious at a point. [b] The levels [/b] are also a mixed bag, some are just literally remasters not unlike Anniversary that do nothing to improve their problems which can be felt the worst in the early half of the game. Other levels either reimagine or — in the case of the Library — completely re-envision it from the ground up, which do flow better and make the most of the combat when it [i] does [/i] end up working. Personally, the Library is the best level in the game which is a sentence I never thought I'd ever say because it feels like the whole remake was imagined to really just fix that level's fundamental problem of being too open, too long, and stuffed to the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ brim with Rocket Flood. The Maw also gets some much love too with more cinematic sequences going through the crashed Autumn, especially during the Warthog Run. One other complaint is that many of the levels don't make use of their sprawling nature to naturally flow you into secrets like the Skulls or Terminals, and instead are far more obtuse, which makes discovering them more convoluted and difficult than they should be. Finally, [b] the Story[/b]. This is not a Resident Evil remake situation where they make the most of the fact they are revisiting the original game and adding much more to it. It really is [i] just [/i] a remaster save for some additional lines and an easter egg here and there. Barely any addition with the books into consideration such as the original game's novel adaptation "The Flood" save for the one reference in The Library (if you've read the book, you'll know which thing is referenced), or any other media. Not that I need it overstuffed like modern Halo is with expanded media getting the way of the plot, but easter eggs off on the side would have been nice to see. Overall, my experience with the game was okay. A decent 7/10 game that doesn't disrespect the original too much but also doesn't live up the masterpiece that was Combat Evolved. However, the reason for [b] my lack of recommendation [/b] is that ultimately I do not want to encourage 343 (I am not calling them Halo Studios) to keep going down this route of just going back to the past and remaking another Halo game just because things aren't looking good for their original Halo titles. Much as I complain, I want them to figure out how to make a good Halo game on their own merit and not just put a shiny paint coat over the Bungie games that feels like it's grit has been sanded down to a passable but still forgettable sheen. (I want to make note, I did not play the prequel missions for long. They weren't exactly that great to play as they feel more like they were considerate of Halo Infinite-era gameplay and not Combat Evolved... and I'd rather never touch Halo Infinite again while I live.)

Nostalgic. Reliving childhood memories playing this remake. Graphics are excellent, a few bugs. But overall pleased so far. 4hrs in.