Halo: Campaign Evolved Review – The Legend Lives On

Has it really been two and a half decades since players first played Halo: Combat Evolved on the Xbox? How time has flown. I now find myself reviewing the third iteration of a modern classic. The remake of Halo: Combat Evolved adds several lovely touches to an already excellent experience, but it also takes away some equally important elements along the way. The question, then, is whether it manages to strike the right balance between what it adds and what it leaves behind.

The answer is a resounding yes, and that goes beyond simply letting our excitement for what’s new blend with the nostalgia of what already feels familiar. The original Halo was always a legendary title, and it continues to retain that quality in its latest iteration aside from a few quirks. Master Chief returns to one of his earliest chapters, bringing with him many of the mechanics and refinements introduced in later games, along with a few entirely new additions. A flamboyant movement system has been added which works well with returning strengths such as solid grenade physics, shield management, melee attacks, and a rather infectious combat rhythm that continues to be quite catchy despite its familiarity and age.

"Master Chief returns to one of his earliest chapters, bringing with him many of the mechanics and refinements introduced in later games, along with a few entirely new additions."

The movement’s probably the best starting point to outline everything that works in this excellent remake, and sprinting is a feature that stands out instantly. It’s the first indicator that had me thinking about how much of the gameplay loop from the original had been switched up to accommodate it. The original version’s maps didn’t support swift traversal mechanics, but the faster encounter pacing now makes an aggressive approach feel like a viable strategy, and I soon found myself weaving in melee attacks to sustain forward momentum.

It’s great, then, that none of the locations I was tearing apart felt too small to adversely affect my obsession with carving the quickest possible path through them, my foes be damned. Sprinting feels so naturally woven into the original game’s design in Campaign Evolved, and simply makes traversal feel better paced by its presence. The early level structure remains quite familiar, but some of the later ones have some genuine surprises in store for you, with revamped enemy encounters and expanded traversal routes to make them exciting.

Of course, it also helps that vehicular movement improvements blend more seamlessly into the gameplay loop. The Warthog handles considerably better this time around, and vehicle controls in general feel more responsive than they ever have in previous iterations of the game. The classic ragdoll physics are still here too, and they’re so ingrained in Halo’s identity at this point that I probably would have noticed immediately had they been missing. Of course, I’d been looking forward to the newly player-controllable vehicles ever since they were revealed, and finally taking control of a Wraith proved exactly why.

Its heavy armor and devastating firepower make you feel like an overwhelming presence on the battlefield, but with enemies constantly trying to reclaim their vehicle, you still have to stay mobile and be smart about when and where you use its cannons. There’s no denying the power trip, though, and hijacking enemy vehicles quickly became another part of the gameplay loop that I found myself looking forward to whenever the opportunity arose.

Between exploring different places on foot and in vehicles, you can bet that I got into quite a few scraps along the way, and one of the things that stood out was the enemy AI. It remains as impressive as it was back in the day, with enemies coming at you with excellent coordination. They flank you the moment an opportunity presents itself, and retreat if things aren’t going their way. That’s especially true of the Elites, whose shields already make them a pain to deal with.

"The new prequel bonus missions set roughly a year before the main campaign do deserve a bit of discussion, with Chief and Sergeant Johnson teaming up to investigate something that leads into the campaign; they feel like well-crafted stories that are fleshed out, instead of tacky add-ons or low-effort DLCs."

Enemies dodge your grenades, try to commandeer your vehicles, and use their wits instead of merely relying on superior numbers or larger health bars. That makes them a potent catalyst that brings out the most chaotic outcomes that stem from your efforts to deal with them en masse. A single grenade explosion is a great source of some seriously amusing ragdoll physics if you can manage to get one to go off in the middle of a large group. Trust us.

We’re not getting into story spoilers in case this is going to be your first time with this one, but the new prequel bonus missions set roughly a year before the main campaign do deserve a bit of discussion. With Chief and Sergeant Johnson teaming up to investigate something that leads into the campaign, they feel like well-crafted stories that are fleshed out, instead of tacky add-ons or low-effort DLCs. They bring context, some excellent banter between Chief and Johnson, and feel like classic Halo. There’s nothing more I could have expected of them, and that makes me very happy indeed.

Of course, cooperative campaign is now on board, and it’s more than just dumping a four-member squad into the old 2001 maps, but has been subtly redone with corridors, pathways, and room sizes getting alterations that avoid bottlenecks, making them great to guide a four-player Fireteam through. It all retains the atmosphere of the original game, and with enemies putting up quite a good fight, things were a lot of fun. The crossplay support is seamless, but you’re going to need a Microsoft account to facilitate it. It is what it is, I’m afraid.

Campaign Remix is another addition that I found quite interesting thanks to how it undermines your familiarity with the original campaign. You could, for instance, completely change weapon placements and enemy positions via the Adaptation and Reload options, negating the knowledge you’ve carried over the years, or the muscle memory you cultivated as you acquired it. With randomized weapons and enemies, you’re forced to switch tactics in places you might have otherwise sailed through, and it’s a superb way to make you stay on your toes.

Armistice is another fascinating option, as it removes all conflict between enemy factions, and that immediately changes something that I realized I relied on far too much in the original game: taking advantage of enemies fighting each other. It was such a natural advantage that felt like free damage to me, and I never questioned what things could be in its absence until now. They’re pretty darn chaotic and challenging to boot, and a passive approach isn’t really an option when every hostile you see is now trying to make a meal out of you.

The resulting campaign is one where you’re going to need adaptability, often going against your own trained instincts in familiar places if you’re a returning veteran. It also helps make the same mission feel different on subsequent playthroughs, which adds a lot of replay value in tandem with the expanded role that Skulls now throw into the mix. For those who are unaware, they’re a returning feature with a different implementation. They’re now tucked away in obscure corners of maps, and finding one permanently unlocks a gameplay modifier that you toggle on or off before hopping into a mission.

"It feels strange but weirdly good to say it: I played Halo: Campaign Evolved on a PlayStation 5 Pro."

They’re a curious bunch, with ones like Perspective giving you a third-person view, Speed Limit that turns off sprinting for those of you who like a more methodical approach, and of course, the Floor is Lava, which is exclusive to Campaign Evolved and does exactly what it says on the cover. They’re really fun to find and mess around with, and bring further variations into a gameplay loop and campaign that could otherwise become repetitive after some time with it.

It feels strange but weirdly good to say it: I played Halo: Campaign Evolved on a PlayStation 5 Pro. We will be diving into the graphical improvements it brings over the other two console versions in detail in another of our articles, but the results from my time with it are very positive. It’s absolutely gorgeous, with the new lighting and textures bringing familiar scenes to life in ways that were not possible when those scenes were originally written and crafted.

The environmental density, architecture, materials, character models, facial animations, atmospheric effects, and the readability of every scene on display were top-notch, making this one a very visually pleasing addition to a potent lineup this year. The game’s mysterious aesthetic has largely managed to remain intact in the light of its shift to Unreal Engine 5, while all-new animations and updated cinematics work well with the remastered soundtrack and rebuilt sound design. It all comes together to sustain the spectacle of the original while modernising it to make it a superb visual direction for the future.

I can see some of you preferring the original version’s look and feel, but as a remake that aims to usher in a new era for the franchise, Campaign Evolved is exactly where it needs to be on the visual front, making the most of current-gen hardware to make Halo look and feel as good as anything I’ve seen recently. However, on the PS5 Pro, I just couldn’t bring myself to play in Quality mode, which locks the game to 30fps. For a first-person shooter, that simply didn’t feel responsive enough, and I found myself switching to Performance mode almost immediately.

And it is what I would recommend, although I did see a few instances of frame drops during intense scenes such as ones involving explosions. They were an oddity rather than a regular occurrence, though, and the frame rates were fine for the most part. All in all, Halo’s PlayStation debut makes good use of what the console has to offer, and the PS5’s SSD made the load times go by in the blink of an eye.

Coming to the combat, Bungie’s excellent balancing of weapons in the original version has translated well into the remaster’s combat system. The Assault Rifle’s as good as it’s ever been, and I quickly picked up a Sniper Rifle that’s now even more useful thanks to improved draw distance and visual details in the places I used it in. No matter the weapon I had in hand, returning or new ones, they were all great to use and felt suitably weighty in my controller as I let off shot after shot at enemies that were quite vicious in their effort to end my campaign. But with weapons that felt this good to use, denying enemies the chance to gain the upper hand became an enjoyable part of the experience in itself, as I used every tool in my arsenal to stay one step ahead of even the most cunning foes. Of course, the Legendary Difficulty was quick to humble me, with difficulty spikes that were reminiscent of the original game.

"The lack of competitive PvP is a bummer, and immediately sets the remake apart from the original. Campaign Evolved cannot replace it on that front, but does it really need to? "

Every enemy gets a bump to their tactical thinking, their health, and damage resistance, making them quite a challenge. It’s probably worth noting that health packs are gone, and you’re now left with a single bar of health that recharges on its own over time. It makes for a more involved combat loop where you’re actively trying to maximize your effectiveness in the field before you’re forced to fall back. It’s sort of a contest for the momentum of a fight, and if you have your enemies doing the same, you know you have the advantage.

Of course, the lack of competitive PvP is a bummer, and immediately sets the remake apart from the original. Campaign Evolved cannot replace it on that front, but does it really need to? I believe both games have their own spaces, and the remake’s longevity isn’t going to be a factor as long as Skulls and Campaign Remix are a part of it. Plus, the $49.99 USD price tag works in its favor, placing it comfortably below the cost of a full-priced release and helping set more reasonable expectations for what’s on offer.

The lack of PvP and those minor performance issues do not take away from the fact that Halo: Campaign Evolved is one hell of a remake, and a very welcome step in the right direction for the franchise and Xbox in general. If the rest of what the brand has planned on the remake front is as good as this one, we say bring it on! It’s been a joy to see Master Chief in action, and a very interesting time watching him go to work on a PlayStation.

It’s definitely been worth it, and Halo fans should find plenty of reasons to jump back into the fray, regardless of which console they’re playing on.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Note: Varun Karunakar contributed to this review.