Remake of the King

Dang, I didn’t realize how much I had missed some good old fashioned Halo. I’ve always adored this franchise. Combat Evolved is one of the titles responsible for creating my deep love of gaming, and I played through all of the Bungie installments more times that I can count back in the day. Shoot, I even enjoy what 343/Halo Studios has brought to the table more than most it seems.

That being said, I wasn’t expecting to appreciate this remake of the first entry that kicked everything off quite as much as I did. It really reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the iconic sci-fi property after it had somewhat waned following Infinite’s disappointingly generic shift in direction for the brand and just the generally disastrous state of Xbox this console generation. Don’t get me wrong, it’s ultimately an inferior version of the 2001 seminal classic, but enough of what makes the original so timeless remains intact to allow me to overlook the fact that this is essentially the series’ The Twin Snakes.

Now look, I’ve pretty staunchly defended Metal Gear Solid’s sole GameCube outing in the past as not being the absolute bastardization of what is arguably Hideo Kojima’s best work that its detractors claim it to be. I’m strictly using it as a point of comparison because a portion of the more legitimate complaints people have with TTS can be found here as well. Specifically in the presentation department.

The worst offender is easily the updated, but far from upgraded sound design. On top of the firearms no longer packing the same satisfyingly powerful aural punch they once did, the re-recorded voice work is noticeably weaker across the board with some performances being straight up phoned in. I feel like Jen Taylor in particular wasn’t even trying, while Tim Dadabo delivers his goofiest turn as Guilty Spark to date. Not helping matters are the reworked cutscenes. They contain a lot of additional, awkwardly-handled action sequences that sadly pair with subpar acting to imbue the overall adventure with a sort of ‘90s, Starship Troopers-esque campiness that naturally alters its tone, and certainly not for the better.

The graphics meanwhile are undeniably excellent from a purely objective standpoint and the extra details such as the increased amount of Flood infection in the environment are great, but there were plenty of instances where it felt as though I was simply looking at the old visuals with a UE5 skin lazily draped over them. Which, to be clear, is definitely not the case. Seriously, this engine’s appearance is so distinctive and unmistakable to the eye that I almost had to remind myself that this wasn’t one of those asset flip jobs at points. The performance issues this iteration of Unreal has become notorious for are also present as well, in the form of some very obvious slowdown during the more bustling combat encounters in the larger outdoor areas.

Luckily, it’s hard to fault the actual gameplay much. For the most part this is a largely faithful recreation of the legendary retro FPS with merely minor tweaks in place to make the modern features such as vehicle hijacking and sprinting come off as having always been there to begin with. You get access to a handful of weapons from the sequels, some (kind of superfluous) gun/armor cosmetics, and the inclusion of the Flood Tank Form enemy type to inject some bonus variety into stages like The Library, but there’s nothing that meaningfully transforms an experience that thankfully proves to still hold up well today regardless. Consequently, those wanting something genuinely new will have to be content with the three decently lengthy prequel missions.

Similarly to everything else Bungie’s successors have put out, the writing for these standalone levels is honestly rather terrible with ridiculous, borderline lore-breaking moments and stupid humor. Yet, they nonetheless contain what I’d argue are the best shootouts in the entire package. They bring back the exhilarating verticality of the arenas in Guardians alongside the sorely underutilized space dogfighting segments of Reach. Altogether showing that while this developer desperately needs to find different people to pen their scripts, they are truly capable of creating some thrilling and extremely fun battles with the best of them.

Having said all that, this is an inessential offering for any longtime fan as more could have been done to significantly change things. Therefore the only individuals I would heartily recommend go buy this are the ones who have never deviated away from Sony’s hardware and don’t have access to the Anniversary Edition in the Master Chief Collection as a result. However, that doesn’t make it any less of an altogether solid reminder of why I and many others used to obsess over these shooters.

If you’re worried about the lack of a competitive multiplayer component, allow me to assure you it’s not that big of a deal. On top of this releasing for what is basically budget price for a AAA game nowadays, unlike Call of Duty or Battlefield the campaign has always been one of the core selling points for Halo and I can personally attest that CE’s easily ranks among the most endlessly replayable of the bunch. Plus, the Remix Mode which completely randomizes the enemy/weapon spawns, tons of collectibles to track down, 4 player co-op, and an unlockable third-person perspective provide plenty of incentive to keep you coming back too. Not to mention, the criticisms that they made Cortana super fugly? Wildly exaggerated. They even gave her a cute little butt!

To conclude, there’s a lot to like about Campaign Evolved, despite it being a lesser and hardly consequential entry for the IP overall. Give it a shot if you’ve never touched any of its older siblings before or could maybe stand to use a refresher on why they absolutely rocked on current hardware.

7.5/10