Halo: Campaign Evolved Review

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Fast Facts

If you’ve played video games in the last quarter of a century, there’s a very high chance you’ve heard of Halo. The first person shooter that took the world by storm when it was first released onto the XBOX back in 2001.  Now, 25 years later players get to relive the game that changed the industry all over again in Halo: Campaign Evolved…albeit with some caveats. 

Gameplay

One of the big things you’ll notice that’s different with this iteration of Halo, is that this isn’t titled Halo: Combat Evolved.  That’s because it’s not technically the same game.  Halo: Campaign Evolved is exactly that, the campaign.  Aside from the ability to play in co-op (now with up to 4 players playing together online) there is not a trace of online multiplayer for competitive matches.  Sadly this means you’ll not be able to tell someone to “1v1 on Blood Gulch”.  This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone though, as it was never something that was promised from the start and in no way should impact people’s enjoyment of the game.  It would have been nice true, however we have Halo Infinite for all our multiplayer PvP needs.

But what is there that sets this apart from the original then? Aside from the obvious facelift (we’ll talk more on that later), there’s actually a bunch of extra missions and content that were not present in the original game.  As well as a tonne of tweaks to how the game is played in a way to modernise this classic.  

So what are these tweaks?  Without going too deep into the nitty gritty here’s a breakdown of some of the big changes (for better or for worse) to Halo: Campaign Evolved.

No more health kits – Just like Master Chief’s shield his health will now regenerate too.

Sprint – Chief now has a dedicated sprint button that lets players dash around the levels at much higher speeds

More weapons – Loads of weapons have been added to the campaign now for players to enjoy

Equipment doesn’t automatically activate – When players pick up Overshields or Active Camo it now lives on button press and doesn’t trigger right away

Customisable Difficulty – aside from the normal difficulty options, players can now pick a huge variety of modifiers too. This is done in the way of “skulls” that are collected throughout the levels.

There’s so much more for players to enjoy too, and fans of the original should have a great time if they’re playing an honest and truthful play-through, or have cranked up as many modifiers as possible.

Aside from tweaks to the original, Halo: Campaign Evolved also introduces Operation Meteorite.  Which adds three new missions to the story that are set about a year or so before the events of the main game.  It’s a little extra content that gives the fan a bit more lore to sink their teeth into. 

Let’s not forget the big warthog in the room, Halo: Campaign Evolved is also out for PS5!  We at Rapid Reviews UK can’t comment on what that version plays like, but if you told us back in 2001 (because some of us here were definitely more than sentient then) that Microsoft’s flagship title was going to end up on a PlayStation console, I don’t think any of us would have believed you.

Presentation

Halo: Campaign Evolved is gorgeous.  Simply put, this game looks and sounds brilliant.  The levels now look how they felt in the original, and are significantly better than those featured in Halo: Anniversary.  The lighting effects, shadows and density of content in each level really help elevate the experience.  Those who choose to play the game on the quality mode will have an experience reminiscent to the original by getting around 30 frames per second. However, playing on performance will allow players to get a butter smooth 60 frames per second, albeit with some graphical downgrades.  It all comes down to player preference, but the Unreal Engine does a really good job at handling this title and showing it off to its best.

The audio in Halo: Campaign Evolved is incredible too.  With weapons sounding as punchy as ever, the dialogue being delivered clearly and the different areas having great atmospheres.  It’s really something that should be experienced on a good quality speaker setup. Regardless of how you play, hearing enemies shout “wort wort wort” strikes at the nostalgia chord perfectly.

Conclusion

It’s hard to rate Halo: Campaign Evolved without factoring in the nostalgia we have for this title.  Yes the PvP multiplayer isn’t there, but that doesn’t really matter here.  The core experience is brilliant, it feels how Halo originally felt but with a modern twist. The changes that have been made and the tweaks to the game may not be for everyone, but in our eyes they’ve only gone and improved on an already brilliant game.  Whether you’re new to Halo, or have been playing for decades, Campaign Evolved is a must play!

5 out of 5

5

Halo: Campaign Evolved can be purchased for the XBOX Series consoles here: https://www.xbox.com/