Halo: Campaign Evolved Review

"When in doubt, remake it!" could practically be a motto for a lot of the AAA game industry these days. I don't fault developers or publishers for wanting to go this route, as it does give players easier access to classic games but brought up to modern design standards. That said, I'm not sure I fully agree with which games get remakes these days. Some games definitely benefit from it, while others leave me scratching my head as I wonder why they even did this in the first place.

Given the state that Halo has been in thanks to how badly Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) fumbled both Halo 5 and Halo Infinite, I am not surprised that XBOX decided to try and breathe new life into the franchise by remaking the first game. Remakes tend to vary in how faithful they are to the original, and Halo: Campaign Evolved stays pretty close to the original experience. Unfortunately, some of the charm and challenge of the original Halo: Combat Evolved has been lost in the remake.

For the most part, Halo: Campaign Evolved plays out the same way as the original game. Halo Studios decided not to completely reinvent the wheel in the way that Square Enix did with the Final Fantasy VII remake series. In a desperate attempt to escape the Covenant and the destruction of Reach, the Pillar of Autumn makes a blind jump and discovers a mysterious ring world in an unknown region of space known as Halo. I won't go too much further into the story, especially since this may be the first time for many players out there.

You play as the Master Chief, a legendary Spartan who is essentially your typical last hope for humanity type of supersoldier. Over the course of the 10-mission campaign, you go through a variety of environments, blasting through wave after wave of aliens. It is a fun, simple, and great concept for a video game.

At first glance, Halo: Campaign Evolved masterfully recreates the feeling of the original game. But as you actually play it, you will begin to see some pretty significant flaws long before the credits roll. Don't get me wrong, there have been some fantastic quality-of-life changes made in this remake. There are no longer any health packs, and most of the notorious Library level has been completely reworked into a much less tedious experience.

It also feels like it is far easier to run out of ammo in the remake than it was in the original. Not only that, but some of the weapons don't feel as good as they once did. Since there is no competitive PvP component to the game, it feels odd that they reduced the size of the Assault Rifle magazine from 60 to 36. One change that I did like was how you can now store equipment like the active camouflage and overshield and use them later rather than activating them right away.

Gameplay-wise, little else has changed beyond a few exceptions. If anything, most of the changes are related to the story and cutscenes. There has been significantly more effort put into adding emotion to a scene where there otherwise wasn't any. Not only that, but several cutscenes throughout the campaign have been extended or revised. These cutscenes lack the awkward and stiff animations featured in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary from back in 2011, which is certainly a point in the remake's favor. While the gameplay additions were nice, I do wish that Halo Studios would have tried to add some of the long-lost cut content back into the game. If they do end up remaking the other games from the original trilogy, I hope they use this opportunity to finish that content wherever possible, especially with the cut levels.

As one can expect, the graphics have been significantly enhanced. While the game looked great in the Anniversary edition released back in 2011, Halo: Campaign Evolved got an amazing glow-up. Installation 04 has never looked more beautiful with the enhanced visuals and great lighting.

If I had to pick one thing that Halo: Campaign Evolved didn't get quite right was the enemy AI. To say they are dumb would be an understatement. In the original game, Elites felt a lot tougher as they were better about dodging and getting into cover when their shields were down. In the remake? They don't seem to care too much and often stand around like they have God Mode enabled. The rest of the enemies act and behave exactly like they did in the original game, but that wasn't the only issue I encountered.

Throughout the campaign, I had several instances where enemies took a very long time to even notice I was there. This was especially noticeable in one of the new missions where I was able to stealth kill half the room even though I was clearly in line of sight of at least seven enemies.

Speaking of new content, Halo: Campaign Evolved includes more than just some spruced-up cutscenes and gameplay adjustments. The remake includes 39 skulls that can be found throughout the game, which unlock various modifiers that can either make the game significantly more challenging or easier. There are also terminals hidden throughout the game that you can find as well that provide some extra lore to read at your leisure. Some of these collectibles are harder to find than others, but they are certainly worth going out of your way for.

Some of my personal favorite skulls are Adaptation and Reload, which randomize both enemies and weapons throughout the levels. Where once you might have encountered a few grunts and a couple of jackals, you might now see four grunts equipped with fuel rod cannons and two hunters, which is a significantly more dangerous encounter. That unpredictability is a great addition, especially for players who have beaten the original game numerous times (like me).

Finally, Halo: Campaign Evolved includes three brand-new levels that are part of a mini-campaign called Operation: METEORITE, which takes place one year prior to the events of the first Halo game. While the story isn't particularly interesting, the levels themselves are actually pretty fun.

Just like with the original game, Halo: Campaign Evolved will take you about 8 - 10 hours to beat. It isn't a particularly long game, but it does offer a great deal of replayability value. With all the collectibles to hunt down and all the variety you get from the skulls, Halo: Campaign Evolved gives you a lot of reasons to come back and play through the campaign over and over again.

While I enjoyed my time with Halo: Campaign Evolved, I am not sure I'd recommend paying full price for it. The game does a lot right, but the experience is marred by a general lack of polish that results in the remake lacking some of the charm and personality that the original game had. At the end of the day, it feels strange to do a full remake of Halo: Combat Evolved when it is fully available in The Master Chief Collection and runs great (and is also cheaper). But if you are looking for a good starting point to the series and don't care about price, then Halo: Campaign Evolved is a great place to kick off your own Great Journey.

Overall Rating: 8/10