If you’re an enthusiast who’s spent those few extra bucks on early access, you’re probably gearing up for an all-nighter with Halo: Campaign Evolved. Others among you are likely waiting things out as patiently as you can, while some of you are in line to experience one of modern gaming’s most legendary titles for the first time, in an entirely new avatar that attempts to usher the franchise into a new era of graphical fidelity and technical advancement in the shooter space.
As far as the graphics are concerned, Campaign Evolved is certainly the clear winner, but it isn’t just because it brings Unreal Engine 5-powered visuals to a rebuilt world. The question is whether it manages to make those changes mean something to a game that has held an almost reverential spot in modern gaming, and add value to every frame of the reworked experience.
Well, we’re happy to tell you that there’s good news, and a lot of it. Here are a bunch of ways Campaign Evolved sets itself apart from 2001’s Combat Evolved, and the 2011 Combat Evolved Anniversary release. There’s 25 years of evolution over the three titles, and it’s a lovely showcase of how far games have come as an entertainment medium, so strap in.
1. The Art Direction
It’s been a minute, but we remember how Combat Evolved featured clean environments, simple shapes, and vibrant colors that helped light up the sparse scenery on offer. All of those served it well, making for an extremely readable image that the hardware on offer at the time could work with. Anniversary took that up a notch, with denser detailing, more visual flourishes, improved complexity of surfaces, and a presentation that felt brighter overall.
Well, Campaign Evolved has given a layer of modern realism to the experience, largely managing to capture the original experience with greater environmental density and modern, sophisticated materials and lighting systems. The image is as readable as it’s ever been, though, and this one feels like the final form of an art style that’s managed to stay unique and true to itself over the years.
2. Environmental Geometry
You’re probably not going to be surprised that Combat Evolved’s physical construction of environments is quite basic in comparison to its subsequent editions. Cliffs, rocks, interior spaces, hills, tunnels, and pathways were certainly serviceable, and were certainly immersive back in the day. But when you think about how Anniversary did so well to dress them up even better, you’re going to be all the more appreciative of what Campaign Evolved is offering.
Natural shapes and environmental complexity are now on par with modern standards, making for environments that look so darn real, you’d be forgiven for thinking they actually exist. It’s in how seamlessly individual elements of a scene meld together and interact with each other so naturally that it really sells the experience in this area, and it’s clear that Campaign is certainly the definitive way to play the classic title.
3. Lighting
Once again, there’s no surprise that Campaign Evolved brings hardware ray-traced Lumen global illumination alongside MegaLights, producing one of its most immediately noticeable generational upgrades. Rays of sunlight now stream across surfaces, gently bouncing off of some while creating realistic reflections on others. That all this happens irrespective of whether you’re exploring or taking on Covenant forces in intense, all-out firefights is a hallmark of current-gen hardware at this point.
We’re especially happy with how dark areas handle light, and how transitions between exterior and interior areas don’t disrupt things too much to be distracting. It’s been a boon in battles that necessitate such transitions, to be sure.
4. Shadows
If we were to compare Combat and Campaign side by side, it’s clear that the former’s approach to shadows was limited to what the hardware the game was meant to run on was capable of. The original game’s shadow rendering was naturally much simpler, with far less definition, range, and interaction with environmental lighting than what modern rendering techniques allow. The shadows weren’t convincing (by modern standards, at least).
Well, that’s a thing of the past as objects are considerably more grounded within the environment, and thus respond to its various parameters, light included, more organically and definitely more convincingly this time around.
Anniversary substantially improved shadow definition and environmental shading, but Campaign Evolved goes much further with dynamic lighting and substantially more nuanced contact and indirect shadowing.
5. Texture Quality
While we’re on the subject of objects responding naturally to environmental stimuli, the textures on offer deserve a special mention. The terrain, floor, walls, weapon and vehicle surfaces, uniforms, and props in Campaign Evolved are definitely housing some excellent textures. It isn’t just about improved resolutions, but how those improvements are used to convey natural wear and tear, scratches and other damage, dirt, and other material variations that help sell the history, wear, and physical construction of objects throughout the environment.
The original release and Anniversary did well for their respective time periods, but Campaign is where the evolution is at, and displayed with pride.
6. Materials
Another crucial differentiator between the three games we’re looking at in this one is how they represent different materials, and Campaign handles that part so well that it gains yet another distinct advantage over Combat and Anniversary. While both early releases did manage to distinguish different surfaces like metal, glass, sand, stone, snow, ice, water, fabrics, and painted surfaces well enough, Campaign has almost lovingly handcrafted each of those surfaces to respond so well to the new lighting and textures that they feel almost alive.
As far as being able to visually distinguish between different materials on surfaces is concerned, Campaign takes the original release in a very immersive new direction.
7. Vegetation and Environmental Density
When you’re outdoors, you begin to see how Campaign has been careful about balancing the original experience in Combat with additions that make every scene it presents feel reminiscent of the original, but far denser and naturalistic. Combat used open spaces quite intentionally, allowing them to be staging grounds for battles more than anything else. Anniversary did a lot to add in environmental dressing, making things more believable.
But Campaign has made things real, and it’s evident in every blade of grass, the clutter on the ground, in bushes, plants, trees, fallen branches, and small objects whose presences don’t interrupt the action, but serve to make the battlefield a living, breathing part of it all.
8. Draw Distance and Background Detail
When we look back at both Combat and Anniversary, we think about how we’ve come to take the level of detail in a game’s world for granted. Looking into the distance in both those titles was definitely great at the times of their respective releases, but doing the same thing for distant mountains, trees, or structures in Campaign just hits different.
With tangible foliage, environmental objects, terrain detail, and fogging for as far as your in-game eye can see working overtime to give it a layer of realism, the remake communicates a sense of scale far better than its predecessors have managed to, and it is visually better off for it.
9. Skyboxes and the Halo Ring
Of course, the land isn’t the only stunning part of a Halo title, and it’s time to look to the skies, where the titular Halo resides amongst stars, clouds, distant planets, the sun, mountains, distant horizons, and atmospheric effects that serve to make every look one that invokes a sense of wonder. Combat Evolved has a sky that felt almost surreal because of how clean it was, and Anniversary did well to make it look richer.
But Campaign Evolved’s systems make the entire skyline look and feel so active, and yet so subtly believable that you don’t really think it intrudes on what’s in front of you but is always bewitching to see when you do look at it. It’s definitely among the highlights of our visual examination of the game. The Halo Ring is a stunner, and is absolutely mesmerizing in this one.
10. Fog, Volumetrics, and Atmospherics
This is an area where Campaign Evolved just steals the show away from the previous iterations of weather-based effects and atmospherics in scenes. With an enhanced weather system taking over from the ancient one in previous editions, you’re going to see fog, mist, snow, rain, haze, and the particles that come with each effect in immense detail.
It automatically makes the presentation feel so realistic, with a lot of atmospheric depth and volumetric light helping bring life to each scene in ways that the previous releases were simply not equipped to handle back in the day.
11. Water
Just land on a beach, and the chances are that Campaign’s water effects are going to have you stopping to watch the waves gently caress a shoreline before receding back into the ocean so naturally, they lend a serene beauty to beaches. Rays of light dance along the water’s surface, while the shorelines throw up foam effects in tandem with the rhythm of waves. Looking through and into the water also produces substantially more convincing distortion and surface interaction without compromising readability.
Campaign’s water systems are a great showcase of how it evolves the original experience on the visual front.
12. Master Chief Himself
As a sort of mascot for an entire console’s life, and a debutant in another one’s play at mass appeal, Master Chief is no stranger to being the front face of a successful franchise. He already cut an imposing figure in Combat and Anniversary, but the level of detail in his character model in Campaign could have us rambling on for hours about how deliciously detailed it is.
The armor geometry is exquisite, while his helmet reflects light gently off its visor and rounded surfaces. The materials on his armor and undersuit are tangibly different, while wear and tear effects like scratches and weathering, along with proportions, are all cooked to perfection. It’s clear that the frontman spent a lot of time looking the part in this one.
13. Human Characters and Facial Details
Like Master Chief, the rest of the game’s cast is noticeably better-looking this time around; we’d say that Cortana is the best representation of how much those makeovers matter. While Captain Keyes, Sergeant Johnson, and the Marines are all decidedly more detailed with better facial geometry, expressions, lip syncing, and lighting, the representation of an AI that’s been a franchise mainstay is definitely something that truly shines.
Her expressions are now better geared towards conveying her dialogue, while the added detail in her face, eyes, and hair creates an interesting contrast with the unmistakably holographic nature of her appearance, but a welcome one thanks to her central role in the story. We can’t get enough of how her glowing aura is now resplendent thanks to the new lighting, and the way environments react to her presence, factors that work very well with her new character model.
14. Weapons and Vehicles
We’re not going to get into the gameplay part of the weapons and newly drivable vehicles in this one, but you should know that they come with excellent levels of model detail, and come with excellent levels of model detail, including weathering, scratches, dents, and other surface imperfections. They interact with different surfaces quite accurately, while their interior details are top-notch.
The same goes for Campaign’s weapons, with recurring ones like the Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, and Rocket Launcher looking decidedly more ominous while also coming with tangible indicators of the duress you put them through as you play the game. Campaign definitely takes things up a notch over Combat and Anniversary in this area.
15. Explosions, Smoke, and Particle Effects
Naturally, this is an area where things were quite basic in Combat, while the spectacle was substantially beefed up in Anniversary. But of course, Campaign is the biggest leap in terms of how the absolute chaos of its battlefield is brought to life.
Explosions ring out with substance, lighting up the battlefield with their glow even as smoldering particles pepper the air around you. Dust, sparks, and debris rise and swirl with the impact, while fires break out and nearby vehicles take a beating right in front of you. It’s the current generation of gaming hardware working its magic on an experience that’s familiar to make it feel so fresh, it’s a new direction altogether.
And that’s essentially what Campaign Evolved does to a title that’s been redone before. It might be the most technologically advanced of the three versions, but that isn’t what makes it special. That’s reserved for the way it uses modern technology to make its visual detailing feel distinct, and in line with the experience that the original Combat Evolved was meant to be. It’s used what made it so memorable to create a new take on the classic that is surely a generational leap worth diving into.
