REVIEW: ‘Halo Campaign Evolved’ Reminds You Why Halo Defined A Generation

Gaming in the early 2000s can be defined by a few games. One that stands out among them all was Xbox and Bungie’s Halo: Combat Evolved (CE), a revolutionary shooter released on a whole new console ecosystem. 25 years later, we get to relive the entirety of Master Chief’s first journey with Halo Campaign Evolved, now by Halo Studios and Xbox.

This complete ground-up remake on Unreal Engine 5 takes out the multiplayer and is promised to deliver a modern feel of a truly classic shooter. In fact, playing Campaign Evolved really felt like what playing Halo 25 years ago felt like.

Campaign Evolved is a one-to-one remake of the original Halo game released all the way back in 2001. With some cutscene updates, the story beats are basically the same as every other re-release of CE. After exiting slipspace and escaping the fall of Reach, the Pillar of Autumn is attacked by Covenant forces. All they have for any semblance of safety is a mysterious ring world, aptly named Halo, nearby with who-knows-what waiting for the forces of the United Nations Space Command. 

Orders from Commander Keyes are simple. Evacuate the ship and wake up the precious cargo, Master Chief, a Spartan-2 supersoldier made from genetic augmentation on young children. Chief and the AI Cortana team up to save as many UNSC soldiers as they can as they make their way to Halo, where they end up finding way more than what they bargained for.

Halo Campaign Evovled brings players back to one of the center of gaming’s core pillars. 

Covenant are there searching for something, and an even more ancient evil is hidden in the ring world’s secrets. Chief and Cortana take on the responsibility of stopping whatever threat Halo, its hidden evils, and the Covenant are trying to unleash before it destroys all of humanity.

Halo Studios has done an excellent job of keeping the classic Halo feel and modernizing it in areas they could. Master Chief, shooting, and even the guns, feel just as great as when CE just came out. For a whole new studio to remake a game in a whole new engine and nail the classic Bungie Halo feel should not be overlooked. Even more so, the remade cinematics, too, at times rival those of Halo 2 Anniversary as part of the Master Chief Collection made by Blur Studio. At times, the cinematics are even extended to add just a little more worldbuilding that fits right into the classic story. 

Messing up a story as simple yet as deep as Halo CE with new details is like walking a tightrope. But Halo Studios did it. In fact, the Unreal Engine 5 visual upgrade improves the story in many aspects. Particularly when the Flood gets involved. A scary enemy back then is now even more grotesque and terrifying. Levels like 343 Guilty Spark at points come off more like a horror game than a FPS, which is exactly how the Flood should always come across. 

Similarly, Halo has always succeeded when it was more of a methodical shooter. Not a run-and-gun, fast-paced feel. Campaign Evolved keeps true to the original, keeping Chief slow, having armor be something you chip at, and even planning shots to take out enemies more efficiently to get around their barriers or shields.

As stated, Campaign Evolved is exactly how we all remember CE feeling way back when. Just running better with more modern controls on a better controller (sorry Duke fans). 

Yet that doesn’t mean that there are no changes to the gameplay. Chief can now sprint. This is a great change that speeds up some of the more elongated levels, or lets you get to Covenant backs faster. Also, Overshield and Invisibility are now on-use rather than on-pickup. Another great change that lets you plan to use either when you’re either in danger of dying, or plan to be sneaky around a discovered encampment. 

One omission from the original that was shocking was the removal of health packs (and health). Chief’s health is more like more modern forms of Halo. Just a shield, and after taking a couple hits, once they get popped, you die.

Another surprising change is the addition of weapons that never made an appearance in the original campaign. The SMG, Needle Rifle, Beam Rifle, and more are now a part of the classic campaign, which does make some encounters much, much easier. Thankfully, the Magnum is just as OP as it was all those years ago. 

Campaign Evolved makes small choices to capture Combat Evovled’s greatness.

The last excellent change is the addition of Campaign Remix. This mode involves the use of Halo‘s modifier system, skulls. Upon finding two skulls throughout the thirteen levels (ten main campaign and three bonus missions all have skulls in them), this new modifier mode unlocks. Think of Remix mode as a randomizer mode that can be modified to your heart’s content with any of the skulls you’ve found. 

Highlights of Campaign Remix are its three required skulls that come with its unlocking: Armistice, Adaptation, and Reload. These are the key to Campaign Remix feeling so good. They randomize all enemies in every level as well as the weapon spawns.

When first playing Pillar of Autumn in this mode, the Flood were the ones that greeted Chief after leaving the ship’s bridge. As well as an Energy Sword instead of the Magnum. And the third aspect is that the Flood and Covenant don’t fight each other. So you have both forces coming at you. This alone will make a LASO run exponentially more difficult. 

The other skulls include some fan favorites and some new ones that will quickly be major standouts. Especially the Perspective skull, which forces you to play from the third-person perspective. And another that disables sprint, which is nice if you want an even more classic CE feel. 

But there were some issues experienced that need to be highlighted. Specifically, the enemy/friendly AI and spawn rates. At several points, Flood forces respawned when Chief re-entered a door. Odd, but also frustrating when already low on shields and ammo.

And the AI needs to be tweaked to not be as bad as it is. Numerous times the AI will just focus on you when there’s another threat actively whacking them. Or friendly Marines will all lay into a corpse that’s been dead for quite some time. Even worse, not shooting at an enemy that is about to nuke your Warthog to oblivion with a plasma grenade or plasma cannon. 

What makes Campaign Evolved a worthy remake is hidden in the three prequel missions, named Operation: Meteorite. These are pitched as a secret infiltration of a massive Covenant ship, saving some trapped UNSC marines, and even possibly cutting off the head of the Covenant while learning more about this new foe. These missions are after the destruction of Promise and before the fall of Reach and are strictly about Chief and Sgt. Johnson trying to get as much info as they can about this new existential threat. 

The three new missions’ most interesting aspect is where it falls in the timeline of Halo’s lore. It’s the earliest we get to play in Master Chief’s tour of duty. And he is surprisingly chatty. Way chattier than he’s ever been in future iterations of the game. But also, the Spartan soldier is still a myth that many Marines don’t believe in… yet. This is like the de facto beginning of the legend of the Master Chief to Earth’s forces. 

Halo Campaign Evovled is standing on the shoulds of Combat Evovled in a big way. 

Operation: Meteorite’s levels are especially unique, quite different than anything else played throughout the series since it all takes place on a massive Covenant research vessel. The ship is quite well designed, full of lands, prisons, research stations, and more for the Covenant to study whatever they capture to their heart’s content. These three missions feel like classic Halo with modern Halo-level design

There’s much more verticality, expansiveness, and points where you need to rely on Johnson to help out. Like when Hunters come out to mess up your day. It also uses several weapons that were never used in CE, specifically the Spiker, and includes the furry Brutes as enemies. 

The story of these three bonus levels is much flatter when compared to the base campaign. Chief doesn’t act like the Master Chief we know today. He’s even chattier in these missions than he ever was in the likes of Halo Infinite. And there’s no real explanation as to why he goes from his level of a chatterbox that quips to the stoic silent type when he arrives at Halo.

But the overall mythos building of Chief is the key saving grace of the whole experience, on top of showing that classic Halo gameplay can easily be used in a modern setting, with modern battle arenas, more foes, and can even be more strategic to make it out.

The finale of the bonus missions also shakes things up by being mostly in space and flying a Covenant ship to fend off the Covenant as the rescued Marines escape. The final bits tend to drag on and be pretty repetitive, which puts a damper on an otherwise fun addition. 

Even though it’s not much, it’s hard to say that these three levels are worth it for those who are VERY familiar with CE. But they do add some extra oomph to a great game when you’re wanting to relive your childhood. Doritos, Mountain Dew, a large pizza, and all. Spending a weekend playing Halo CE again, modernized to the extent it has, was the most fun I’ve had with gaming in quite some time, and I cannot wait to play more with my friends once they get it in the coming weeks. 

Everything in Campaign Evovled also keeps one hidden aspect of the series that was forgotten for a time. Halo is extremely silly. The ragdolls when you die, massive explosions that destroy a hallway, dumb friendly AI that shoots at corpses or runs headfirst into an Elite or Hunter.

It’s all very funny. Even when at times the AI can be overly dumb, like Johnson laying into a corpse with a sniper rifle after you killed a battalion of Covenant, you can’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of everything. Halo has consistently been a game that comes across as a serious futuristic shooter, but actually is full of comedic moments, self-made, accidental, or intentional by design. 

Halo Campaign Evolved’s success is a testament to the work Bungie did all of those years ago. 

Yet there was a cloud hanging over my head while reliving my childhood. And that’s the Xbox layoffs as well as the entire series of events that have led to the current state of the company, including Halo Studios. 

Halo released at a time when a whole new gaming ecosystem was poised to shake up the market. Especially after SEGA’s exit. Since then, being a fan of Microsoft’s games and console has been filled with hardship for quite some time. Even Halo as a series has gone through steep ups and even sheerer downs. 

Halo Campaign Evolved is a highlight because it shows that even 25 years later, a game made by Bungie can still be a heavy hitter in today’s gaming ecosystem. But since taking over, Halo Studios, formerly 343 Industries, has yet to get the Halo formula right.

Hopefully this is a sign that they can get their feet under them and create some new magic with the era that put Master Chief and Xbox on the map. But layoffs after layoffs, reset after reset have made it hard to stay invested in a series that’s been a part of my life for so long when even after releasing a great remake, Halo Studios’ future still feels uncertain. And with it, the future of Halo even seems murkier than ever. 

Halo Campaign Evolved re-delivers a campaign that feels just like how every mission on the Halo ring felt way back when. Every environment and cutscene is beautifully remade and makes the game worth it for those who want to revisit that 25-year nostalgia on a level even grander than the Anniversary Edition. 

Plus, with three new levels that create an interesting mix of classic and modern Halo feel, they fit in a little sloppily in the overall CE story. The biggest standouts are the co-op, gameplay updates, and Remix mode. The latter especially has massively increased the replay value for a single/co-op player campaign-only game with its use of required and many new skulls to find.

Even without multiplayer, Halo CE, and now Halo Campaign Evovled, is still the king of shooters. This remake plays just like how 8-year-old me felt when first picking up the Duke all those years ago. But still, it’s hard to say that Campaign Evovled is a complete success when it reminds us of a time when Halo was a world-stopper whenever it released something new, and the new big win for the series is a re-release of the first game, again. 

Halo Campaign Evolved is available in Early Access on July 23rd and for full launch on July 28th on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC.