MeinMMO editor Dariusz grew up as a PlayStation player and therefore missed Halo. He is now catching up in the review of Halo: Campaign Evolved and showing you how well the remaster serves as an entry point for new players.
We are in the year 2001. Bungie has just finished its latest game, showcasing what Microsoft’s new Xbox is capable of. Meanwhile, I was spending my first months in kindergarten. I was four, playing with Playmobil and Hot Wheels, or kicking a soccer ball in Mom’s flowers. At that time, I had nothing to do with video games.
About 10 years later, Microsoft released a revamped version of Halo: Combat Evolved with the Anniversary Edition, but as a teenager with limited pocket money, I lacked the means to play the new version of the classic amid the raging console wars as a PlayStation kid.
Again, several years passed, and now it’s finally time: Halo gets its most modern remake to date, and I can finally find out if the Xbox classic excites me even without nostalgia.
The moment I understood why Halo is great
Halo: Campaign Evolved actually made a strong impression right from the main menu. As the game’s soundtrack started, I was already hooked. I am a fan of epic music and was really eager to dive into the campaign.
Shortly after, I enjoyed the intro sequence and took my first steps as Master Chief a few minutes later. The controls were very direct and fluid, both with mouse and keyboard as well as with a controller, but modern movements like sliding, zip lines, or dashes, as seen later in Halo: Infinite, were absent. The new remake stays old school in that regard.
Now it was time to shoot some aliens in the face.
As I made my way through the Pillar of Autumn, the graphics update of the remake looked “quite nice,” but it couldn’t shine in full glory just yet. That came later when we landed on the Halo itself:
The water was beautiful, and the trees, bushes, grass, and sandy beach looked really good too. The highlight, however, was the skybox, as the titular ring construct loomed over us, which now, due to the modern detail level of the graphics update, appeared much more like a ring-shaped world than an oversized map.
In the following hours, I progressed further through the story of the game, confronted with a new threat, betrayal, and the true purpose of the Halos. Meanwhile, the setting became noticeably darker. Here a swamp shrouded in fog, there an alien construct that suddenly no longer gleamed in bright silver but was covered in the mushy remains of various beings.
That was the moment I understood why Xbox players have been raving about Halo for years.
The shooter is simple, straightforward, yet atmospheric. Instead of a huge open world where we get overwhelmed, there are linear levels, a curiosity-provoking sci-fi story with great atmosphere and accomplished sound design, including an epic soundtrack.
My only “criticism”:
Halo: Campaign Evolved is not a new game, don’t forget that. In mission design, combat, and enemies, you’ll quickly notice that it is a remake of a 25-year-old classic. The simplicity can also be seen as a negative. It is Halo, not Destiny 3 and not Borderlands 5. You are Master Chief, running into enemy troops in a relatively leisurely manner and just gunning them down – without much frills around.
Bonus Missions That You Can Play But Don’t Have To
Besides the story of Halo: Combat Evolved, the new remake also includes three new missions which you can play independently of the campaign and which tell small new story arcs.
If you’re only interested in the original campaign, you can safely ignore them. However, if you’re looking forward to new Halo content, they are worth a look.
Within these missions, new, noteworthy locations and enemies are introduced, a larger selection of weapons is offered, and everything is staged with modern cutscenes. You can think of the missions as a sort of add-on for the main game.
UE5 Slop with Poor Performance? Not a Chance!
Halo: Campaign Evolved uses Unreal Engine 5. There were repeated concerns about the performance due to many games suffering from performance issues that utilized UE5 in recent years.
However, according to my current experiences, the remake of Halo is not one of them. Despite my aging gaming rig, I consistently achieved over 60–70 FPS on medium settings at 1440p, without any stuttering, FPS drops, or crashes.
Testing was done on a PC whose centerpiece is an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, 32 GB of RAM, and an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X. So you’re not reliant on high-end hardware.
Conclusion: This is How Remakes Should Be – However, Ideally a Bit Cheaper
Halo: Campaign Evolved is for me, as a player who couldn’t play the original at its initial release, the perfect entry into the series. It looks great, plays technically well, and makes you want more. Halo: Campaign Evolved is the kind of remake I wish for more.
As a new player, I received exactly what I expected, and in my opinion, with meaningful timing. Gaming has advanced significantly in recent years, making the leap compared to previous iterations of the game quite striking.
It’s not the 7th remake of the same game in 10 years (I won’t name names). It’s the second in 25 years.
I can’t offer you the assessment of a long-time fan here, but I can imagine that you’ll find a corresponding opinion from the colleagues at GameStar. Still, based on the community feedback that I’ve seen regarding the Anniversary Edition of Halo: CE, I believe that this time it could be a remake that fans will like much better.
As a passionate miser, despite all the praise, I find 59.99 Euros for a remake a bit steep. I would probably wait for a sale or play it through Game Pass – especially since the shooter doesn’t offer an incredible number of gameplay hours.
How great is your interest in Halo: Campaign Evolved? Will you check out the remake? Let us know in the comments!
As a former PlayStation player, I’m very pleased that shooter fans on Sony’s console can now experience the game too. Because let’s be honest: console exclusivity really sucks.
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