Just in time for the 25th anniversary of the “Halo” franchise, Xbox is giving the first part of the legendary first-person shooter series a remake in the form of “Halo: Campaign Evolved”. We’ve already been able to jump into battle in the role of Master Chief and we’ll tell you how much we enjoyed it!
In the past few days, Microsoft has released not just one, but two new trailers „Halo: Campaign Evolved“ published. However, that’s not all, because shortly after the publication of the… Cinematic Story Trailers we had the opportunity to play a demo version of the highly anticipated remake ourselves! So we were able to take a first detailed look at the new edition of the cult shooter.
We also had the opportunity to talk to Executive Producer Damon Conn and Creative Director Max Szlagor via video call for about half an hour. In this preview article, we’ll tell you what they told us about the remake of the milestone first-person shooter and how we liked the new edition of the Xbox hit. So then: buckle up, Spartans, and let’s go!
What did we play from Halo: Campaign Evolved?
We played “Halo: Campaign Evolved” on the Xbox Series We were able to take a look at two of the most legendary “Halo” missions of all.
Furthermore, in the sample version we had a selection of different modifiers available that we could use to adjust the level of difficulty. We were also able to take a look at the two graphics modes offered (Performance & Quality), although we spent most of the time playing in Performance mode, which prioritizes the frame rate of the shooter.
We were able to get a good first look at the upcoming remake of the iconic Xbox shooter and experimented with different things in the hours we spent with the preview version. We were particularly impressed by the modifiers just mentioned. Among others, the following were available:
- Enemies have increased health
- The explosion radius is increased by 2x
- Randomly places weapons for the mission
- You constantly take damage when you touch the ground
- Change the player camera to third-party perspective
A mix of classic Halo feel and modern improvements
But first let’s address the big question: Was the development team able to retain the familiar feel of the first-person shooter classic in the remake? In short – no. On the one hand, “Halo: Campaign Evolved” still feels like “Halo.” It plays nicely and directly, and at the same time the Master Chief’s weapons and actions have noticeable weight. The hit feedback feels great!
However, if you were hoping for a 1:1 implementation of the Xbox cult game, just with a contemporary technical look, you might be a little disappointed. Those responsible have taken up various elements from the more recent offshoots of the franchise in order to carefully modernize the original game. Adjustments include a zoom, which is now available on every weapon, and the ability to sprint. The latter leads to a slightly higher pace of play.
Another change is that from now on you can no longer find medipacks in the levels. The development team has decided to change the way the health display works. Once your energy shield is depleted, each additional hit reduces your life energy. However, if you don’t get hit for a few moments, it will automatically refill. Medipacks like the original become obsolete. So “Halo” veterans have to rethink a bit.
What about enemy AI and vehicles?
But how did the enemy AI perform in the demo version we played? Overall, pretty decent, albeit with some drawbacks. During most of the fights, the Alliance aliens were quite aggressive and repeatedly forced us to seek cover. There were also situations in which they tried to overwhelm us with their superior numbers, which sometimes worked. If we allowed ourselves to be backed into a corner, it was often “game over.”
However, there are also some dropouts. It happened every now and then that we were standing right next to an opponent and it took them a few seconds to notice us. In other places the AI seemed to get stuck for a moment. Since the “Halo: Campaign Evolved” demo we played was still an unfinished version, we don’t want to overstate these errors.
Those of you who still remember “The Silent Cartographer” will of course know that Master Chief didn’t just go into battle against the Alliance with various shooting fights. At various points in the mission, John-117 was allowed to get behind the wheel of various vehicles or, if available, operate the stationary gun located there. In “Assault on the Control Room” the M808B Scorpion (tank) is also added.
These sections still play the way you’re used to from the Xbox original or its 2011 remaster. The developers have managed to recreate the driving physics very accurately and driving the Warthog through a group of opponents is still as much fun as it was back then. In addition, the classic control via the two sticks was retained.
Was the switch to Unreal Engine 5 successful?
Before we come to our conclusion, we would also like to take a look at the graphics from “Halo: Campaign Evolved”. After “Halo Infinite,” Halo Studios said goodbye to the Slipspace Engine and switched to Unreal Engine 5. It is a graphics engine that has been used in recent years by, among others, “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor”, “Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II” and “Black Myth: Wukong”.
“Well, the thing is, it’s hard to develop your own engine, maintain it, and constantly update it. Let’s face it, it’s a difficult task,” Halo: Campaign Evolved executive producer Damon Conn told us. The UE5 version that the development team is using for the remake benefits from the “tremendous effort that has been put into this UE engine, and (we) can use that to our advantage here, so that our people developing the game can spend more time designing gaming experiences instead of updating a new rendering or shadow technology (…)”.
However, the framework of the original Blam! still runs under the new Unreal Engine 5. Engine used in “Halo: Combat Evolved” and other games in the franchise. According to Conn, this is meant to make people who play the remake feel the gameplay, so “the trajectory of the grenades, the movements, the shooting, the recoil – all of that is actually the DNA of the original game.” While the feel of the game is retained, the graphics should benefit from the UE5.
During our time with the demo version of “Halo: Campaign Evolved,” we repeatedly paused to take in the revised graphics. The graphical leap compared to previous versions of the first-person shooter classic is enormous and the game looks great even in motion, apart from small technical problems such as poorly displayed shadows.
You could probably already tell from our preview article: We had a really good time with the demo version of “Halo: Campaign Evolved”. As we stormed that beach at the beginning of “The Silent Cartographer” while the iconic soundtrack started, we couldn’t help but smile. There was a direct “Halo” feeling here! However, this is not only thanks to the familiar sounds, but also to the still very good shooter gameplay. The different weapons all had a lot of oomph and the playful modernizations fit in wonderfully.
We also had a lot of fun with the available modifiers, as they sometimes turn the familiar feel of the game on its head. At the end of the day, we primarily remember some technical inconsistencies as negative. An AI dropout here, a graphics error there and a small stutter elsewhere. However, because the version we played was a “pre-release build”, we don’t want to make these inconsistencies too important. After all, these are problems that could still be fixed by the release on July 28th (if that hasn’t already happened).
What we unfortunately can’t tell you about is the new story content, because unfortunately it wasn’t available to us. We also can’t tell you anything about the co-op mode at this point. Ultimately, for us, the positive things clearly outweighed the negatives during our time with the preview version, which is why we are already extremely excited to see how the final version of “Halo: Campaign Evolved” will perform.
