Halo: Campaign Evolved

This will contain spoilers: tl;Dr is that it's probably the definitive way to play Halo 1 and the hate is genuinely forced, it's not without it's problems though. The good: Gameplay is fun and snappy, everything I expected from a modern Halo title. The amount of skulls and the introduction of remix adds a level of replayability that I wasn't expecting The graphics are stunning it kept the atmosphere from the original that the anniversary edition couldn't hope to capture. The addition of the bonus missions was a nice way to introduce the new Johnson VA the og VA was SO iconic it was still hard getting used to the new one I appreciate that some of the characters were more fleshed out. The bad: Performance is pretty dang good when the game runs but the constant crashes are unacceptable, there is clearly something wrong on the backend because I will crash over and over after loading back into a checkpoint even if it's moving just a couple feet. Some things are just TOO hand holdy. The introduction of stealth elites in the prequel missions were handled great with Johnson pointing out the moving sand but in the main game Cortana pointing out stealth elites falls so flat when giant red trackers pop up over their heads. This addition probably would've been fine for easier difficulties but it SHOULD NOT be on by default. Hitboxes are REALLY bad on some enemy types, Brutes are impossible to hit a headshot on, Elites are similar and the sniper is no longer hitscan and you can FEEL IT. The ugly: The loud insatiable Halo "fans" continue to parrot information that is just patiently false and it's hurting the community at large. Y'all have probably seen the photo of national women's day that people are toting as the "entire" dev team when it is in all actually barely a quarter of the team. The "girl boss" ODST has 30 seconds of screen time in cutscenes and says one or two disparaging things about the Chief which makes sense due to the animosity ODSTs held towards Spartans but by the end appreciates and respects him enough to sacrifice herself for the greater good of the war. The rumors that she is unkillable are false, the two main companions Williams and Johnson can't die while they have dialogue. The complaint about her "1 tapping you" are disingenuous as well because Johnson does the same. Additionally the complaints about not being able to kill the female officers on the bridge are unfounded because it's just another hitbox error, if you shoot them in the hips or lower they go down in one or two shots and it's reversed for the male characters if you shoot them in the torso they can tank more shots than anyone. Verdict: the campaign is good, but it needs serious fixes I'm confident when Halo 2 remake comes out that it will launch in a much better state

I'm struggling to see the artistic merit of this game. On the graphics side, there are some areas that leverage modern rendering and art to create striking imagery that exceed the original, but the ray tracing has poor temporal stability so reflective surfaces look like they're boiling. This shows up a lot and I find it very distracting. Most of the time I prefer the look of Combat Evolved. For the gameplay, the changes to the levels range usually from minor to straight downgrades (I'm a self-admitted OG Library lover). Keyes is an exception and I really love what they did with it. The new voice acting is, in my opinion, far worse than the original, overwriting the original characterisation with an interpretation closer to Halo Infinite, which I don't care for. The prequel missions are terribly designed and very boring, with a pointless and forgettable story. I would've said the remix mode, which randomises enemies and weapons, is a great addition, and I've had a lot of fun playing it in co-op, but I'm not able to complete one of the prequel missions whilst playing it because the trigger for Johnson opening a door won't fire. This, and various other bugs and annoyances, point to this being a poorly made piece of software - par for the course for this developer. It's honestly impressive how [strike] 343 Industries [/strike] Halo Studios managed to turn an exceptional game in Combat Evolved into a 6/10.

I really wanted to be happy about this, but i just cant. The more I play this the worse i feel about it. Its Halo 1 thats it, nothing more. They had so many opportunities to spice up the original game but all we got was modern textures and cool explosions. It gets old fast, because it is still an old game that I've played probably 100 times at this point. The new missions are boring and not even slightly creative, terrible terrible writing. The recorded voice lines are flat and uninspired, the cutscenes feel uncanny. This game is a souless skinwalker of the first game. God have mercy on us all if they do this to Halo 2.

I've already Platinumed the PS5 version of Halo Campaign Evolved. I think this is a really good remake of a classic game. Haven't had a full playthrough of the PC version yet but I will soon enough. Did some tests and although I think the game and what Halo Studios did for the most part is fantastic and nice additions. The performance on PC is horrible. I mean it does use the base engine as Halo Reach's BLAM engine and UE5 for visuals and don't get me wrong this is one of the best looking UE5 games but at what cost. I think the prequal missions are a nice except for the dialogue. I think exploring the Triumph of Tolerance is actually kinda cool and it tries to retcon the way Halo 4/5 elites look. Doesn't explain the Arbiter from Halo 5 though LOL. Overall though I'd give this remake a solid 8.5/10. ++ 343 Guilty Spark they did a fantastic job remaking that level, and The Library is better than before but I think it's still the worst level in Halo's history. Can't forget The Flood! The gore is back!

fun

Hm. Klar, Nostalgie ist am Start und die Grafik ist wirklich Hammer. Hatte aber irgendwie nicht mehr auf dem Schirm, dass die Kampange so kurz ist... 6,5 Stunden und ich war durch. Dafür 60 Schleifen find ich schon wirklich dreist.

Where to start. Honestly, I had good hopes of this game without being too optimistic, and yet, I was still disappointed. Some parts feel ok, and many others just soulless. So much wasted potential it makes it worse. Very little good things, many average, and some straight up bad. Let's start with the good. The visuals are great, they look for the most part amazing. I say most part, because there are moments where lightning and plasma look odd. The gunplay is descent, feels like a mix of Infinite and CE. The campaign is still the classic to the core, so it is fun as always. If you didn't like the og, you won't like this one. Some mission ambiance now feels even better. They nailed how the maps felt before, and I gotta say some feel even better, like 343 guilty spark. The average. Some cutscenes add to the original story in a pretty cool way, however, some others look poorly made; ie. too wanky or with weird physics. The new weapons are cool but almost not found in the classic campaign. Most of the new stuff in the og campaign is good or ok. Feels like a stretch having been marketed as new vision and changes when the these are very minimal and don't add much, however, I wouldn't call it bad. The bad. There are many indicators in this game that show how little care it went through. The ragdoll animations are ATTROCOUS; they didn't even bother to rig the models proper muscle and skeleton. It was funny in the sneak peaks of the game, but the whole campaign? Not even silly, just straight up feels like they didn't care. If ragdolls are like this, I much rather have the original stiff ones. The sound. It is ok, but there are a lot of instances where the sound glitches and cuts. Also, some effects seem like they should have sound, but it doesn't. You'll have many moments expecting a sound, only for it to be underwhelming or completely absent. The animations. This would have been in average if they didn't cut so much and many of them are just straight up unfinished or glitching. The AI to me feels bad. The behavior sometimes just feels wrong, this happens specially a lot with the flood. Monetization in a single player game, with these not being available in the cutscenes and the price being pretty high. Not gonna lie, some are cool, but why would I buy them if I can't see them (yes, 3rd person, but come on). And again, in a single player game? Without sounding like I just don't like Halo Studios (I really wanted to like this game), the extra campaign/content is pretty bad. Just boring to play through and the characters and interactions from Master Chief and Johnson just don't feel right. What did they did to Johnson??? From being a cool, slightly cocky character, now we get one that just feels like an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. The price. Technically does not count as a full price for 2026 standards, but I'd argue it is not worth it. I don't think too many new things were added to the game to justify the price. At least I don't think its worth it. In general, I would only buy the game maybe at half the price on discount. If you want to re-live the og campaign, or a have new experience with it, you are better off trying some of the campaign mods for MCC or the Halo CE PC version. I had much more fun with Halo SPV3 than Campaign Evolved, unfortunately. It is interesting and very scary to think how they'll handle Halo 2 and 3...

fun trip down memory lane