Halo: Campaign Evolved review

Bringing back a legendary title isn’t easy. Let alone doing it a second time. 343 Industries (now Halo Studios) did it back in the day with the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition, and then pushed that into the Master Chief Collection. As Halo hits a fresh point in its history – both in terms of new staff and a new engine powering John-117 – you have to be curious if the deck isn’t stacked against them. Just like our favorite green giant (sorry Jolly), the team has worked valiantly to deliver Campaign Evolved. While I still question some of the design choices, this is a stellar entry that reminds us all why we love the Halo franchise.

If you aren’t familiar with the storied Spartan, Campaign Evolved is the perfect starting point. The fight begins here, as Master Chief and company discover the Halo ring and its larger meaning in the galaxy. It’s one of the best sci-fi narratives ever created, with twists that leave your mouth agape. Even if the rest of the package was subpar, Campaign Evolved is worth playing just on the story alone.

Thankfully, this isn’t the case. Wrapped in Unreal Engine 5, which is one of the prettiest graphics engines out there, Campaign Evolved shines. Each cutscene glows. You’ve undoubtedly seen comparison videos (and I’ve grabbed one above for your viewing pleasure, shout out Blue Thunder Gaming), and it’s truly the only thing that does Campaign Evolved’s new look justice. Part of Halo’s allure is its amazing sci-fi environment, and whether you’re sprinting around the Halo rings many spaces or on a Covenant ship, every moment features lustrous visuals. It also runs incredibly well – my frame rate was top-notch in every level.

While I love those changes, I do find the gameplay a bit dated. Most of this is because it's a remake; you don’t want to change too much and infuriate the player. I’m reminded of how I felt playing Alan Wake Remastered; there’s some jank underneath the surface. The most obvious is when watching character models run or crouch walk – that certainly hasn’t been tweaked much. You’ll know what I mean overall when you play it; there’s a missing smoothness in design (both environmental and gameplay) that can be felt. It's akin to how Halo 2 Anniversary was in the Master Chief Collection; it looks better, and the cutscenes are gorgeous, but that step forward doesn't continue as heavily into the main game.

Even so, those drawbacks don’t hinder the gameplay. The addition of sprint doesn’t hurt anything and lets me run around and do some stupid things that have gotten me killed more than once. Picking up new weapons, like the sentinel beam and energy sword, has been fun and mixed up the gameplay. Shooting and beating down the Covenant and Flood in Halo is always a good time, and that foundation is here, although it shows some of its mileage.

It’s probably just me, but the difficulty is insane in certain spots. I’m not sure if they’ve made any adjustments compared to the previous game, but I’ve had several moments where I wanted to bang my head against my desk. There are some corridors, especially where the Flood are involved, where I couldn’t get through and felt like my best option was just running until I found the next save checkpoint. I’m sure these sections would be easier with co-op, but being on normal difficulty and spending upwards of twenty minutes trying to get past a specific point is infuriating.

Similarly, skull hunting (and the new terminals) has been frustrating. I know these items are supposed to be hard to get, but with forty-two skulls in the game, you’d have thought I’d have come across more than just a single skull as I played. While I wasn’t going overboard in trying to find them, I did my fair share of searching nooks and crannies. Often, I found a nice weapon upgrade or power-up instead of a skull in the exact place I’d assume one would be. As the locations of every skull have been changed in Campaign Evolved, I’m either going to have to wait for guides to come out or turn the difficulty to easy and jump in with a full co-op squad in order to properly hunt for them.

Sadly, that also means the cool-sounding Campaign Remix mode you need three skulls for is also walled off for me. I did manage to get a friend to run me through a level, and it's a very fun way to engage with the game. It forces three skulls on you that mix up the enemies and weapons while having them focus on you, which is a blast although it makes levels quite hard. You haven't lived if you and your buddies haven't had a bajillion elites with Needler Rifles and Energy Swords rushing you from a grav lift. It keeps things fresh for a new playthrough, and that's appreciated given the limitations to replayability Campaign Evolved would have without it.

The biggest addition to Halo: Campaign Evolved outside of the engine change is a set of prequel missions: Operation: METEORITE. This takes place a year before the first game, something they very much let you know with a Star Wars scroll of text as you start. Master Chief and Sergeant Johnson head to a large Covenant research ship in hopes of finding intel to take down the Covenant, but instead encounter more than they bargained for. It’s a heartfelt narrative that needed a bit more baking with certain side characters you come across along the way, but this chunk of Halo feels special. Halo Studios could have thrown something together randomly and called it a day, but instead, this might be the most impressive part of the entire game.

Operation: METEORITE works because it takes what is new and runs with it. There are a ton of extra weapons to play with – the Needler Rifle is my favorite – and a bunch of vibrant spaces to play in. The banter between Sergeant Johnson and Master Chief is outstanding. Although one of the narrative pieces with the Brutes and Prophet Harmony is a bit odd, even though it connects with later story elements, this is a great addition. I’d argue it transcends the Remake itself; I’d have almost preferred a Halo: ODST-sized version of this. If the team wants to keep adding more of these “strike missions” as DLC, I’ll take them.

Co-op is another way to take on Halo: Campaign Evolved, and it's arguably the best way. Playing with friends is a staple of the Halo experience, and I'm glad it works so smoothly, both with local two-player and up to four online. I invited a buddy to play, and within a minute or two, we were on the Halo ring, mowing down Covenant. As mentioned above, this is probably the best way to look for collectibles as well; I found another skull in a short session just because I was freed up to roam as he took the heat of incoming hostiles.

Still, it's disappointing that multiplayer wasn't included. I won't add this as a detractor to the game, as we knew from the announcements that it wasn't a part of this remake. That said, a Halo game without multiplayer just feels wrong, even if co-op is at least present.

Another disappointment is the customization aspect. Included in Campaign Evolved is the opportunity to dress up your Master Chief and weapons, although that doesn't extend to the pre-rendered cutscenes. None of the skins are great, but they aren't bad either. The issue lies in the implementation: you have to pre-order or buy the Premium Edition for access to any of them (beyond ridiculously ugly Fanta armor from a Coke collab). While paywalling cosmetics isn't the worst thing in the world, couldn't we have gotten one or two options that were earnable?

Lastly, we can't send off a Halo review without mentioning the soundtrack. Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori’s score is iconic, and from the moment you hit the start screen, you'll be bobbing your head to the music. Halo isn't Halo without this soundtrack behind it, and every level has its distinctive aura because of the track underneath.