Halo: Campaign Evolved

[Maf]

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Halo just seems trapped in amber to me, except for the sprint mechanic. For a game that has 'Evolved' in its subtitle I can't really see how, it can't seem to get to its next stage of evolution. 

 

It does look better than Infinite though, but I think that's just cause CE was a fundamentally better game. 

 

This version looks a lot more smokey with the UE5 temporal artifacts, when doing the big fights on the Warthog. 

[Maf]

I hate this trailer. This is the epitome of every shit modern video game trailer rolled in to one. Barely any gameplay. Pure corporate, cynical feel. The idea they say things like “we didn’t want to change things too much” I think says a lot. 
 

I love Halo, I will definitely play this. I admit my hypocrisy right now. But damn does this series feel lifeless and directionless. 
 

Of course it’s built on UE5 and I’m sure there was stutter in one of the gameplay snippets

 

@one-armed dwarf and yeah I feel like I’ve said the same over and over. Halo needs a new idea. This is literally the opposite of that 

[Maf]

A 2nd remake of Gears of War 1 followed by a 2nd remake of Halo 1 

 

We need to stop pointing and laughing at EA and Ubisoft there’s a new player in town 

[mfnick]

Halo 1 remade AGAIN???? What utter shit.

 

I know why, learning UE & porting to PS5, but Christ. 

[Maf]

There is a full gameplay demo

 

 

Maybe it’s just me, but around 4:22 in the hallway I’m sure it’s stuttering a bit as he goes back and forth some loading zone

 

It looks great but also I’ve done this so many times. Even looking at it is like yep. That’s how you play Halo

[one-armed dwarf]

I do think one thing it shows is Halo CE had great pacing and variety in its action, though I sort of wonder if adding a sprint mechanic will fuck with that a bit. 

 

Not that I'm buying it but it would be hard for me to go back to something this basic after Doom Eternal though 🧐🎩

[Maf]

Halo doesn’t really have variety in its gameplay it had really dynamic gameplay for the time. The strafing, jumping and throwing grenades had a sense of improvisation to it. Combined with the more open combat encounters. It felt expressive. You had tools and physics instead of stand and shoot. But you still run around and shoot everything. It still a holdover from 90’s shooters in that way 

[Nag]

I'll play it... for the music.

[Sly Reflex]

It's like James releasing Sit Down over and over again.

[DANGERMAN]

11 hours ago, Maf said:

There is a full gameplay demo

 

 

Maybe it’s just me, but around 4:22 in the hallway I’m sure it’s stuttering a bit as he goes back and forth some loading zone

 

It looks great but also I’ve done this so many times. Even looking at it is like yep. That’s how you play Halo

yeah, it looked a little framey to me, but it's not finished so that might be improved. I thought it looked a little soft too, maybe youtube isn't the format to judge that on, but it looks upscaled from quite a low res. That said, if it looks a bit soft but runs smoothly I'm sure people will be happy enough

 

I've never really understood the appeal of the 1st Halo, not that I love any of them, but I think when the design tightened up a bit they became more interesting. Watching that back just left me cold, it's a boring game, but I know someone who LOVES the series and won't hear a bad word against it, so I hope it turns out well for people like that

[mfnick]

3 minutes ago, DANGERMAN said:

I've never really understood the appeal of the 1st Halo, not that I love any of them, but I think when the design tightened up a bit they became more interesting. Watching that back just left me cold, it's a boring game,

100%. I got an Xbox originally for Halo due to the hype and perfect scores. I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed by a system seller as I have by that. Genuinely a 6/10 game for me even back then. Never understood it. Weirdly ODST ended up being my favourite Halo. Reach is probably second best. Never played 4 or 5.

[DANGERMAN]

4 minutes ago, mfnick said:

100%. I got an Xbox originally for Halo due to the hype and perfect scores. I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed by a system seller as I have by that. Genuinely a 6/10 game for me even back then. Never understood it. Weirdly ODST ended up being my favourite Halo. Reach is probably second best. Never played 4 or 5.

same, I loved the tone and mood of ODST, it's genuinely a good game and it does something interesting with the narrative

[Maf]

Halo 1 and 3 have really good writing. Irony, humour, self aware, great quotes.
 

One weird thing is the UnSC soldiers in Halo are very inspired by Starship troopers, which was a sort of satire of American military. Except Halo isn’t a satire of anything. It’s a straight sci-fi superhero game. So the UNSC all come off as kind of tragic as they run around saying things like “I got your back, Chief!” And “Oo-rah!” And almost, always die in a pathetic cannon fodder way while the player can’t do much or interact with them

 

Their deaths are funny in a way Halo isn’t and Halo is also too funny for their deaths to be serious. So it’s awkwardly jarring 

[Maryokutai]

The game always got carried by the music and the co-op for me. Playing solo you start noticing there's a large amount of low points in that campaign and it's why I'd strongly disagree that this is better than Infinite. In terms of impact on release there's no discussion of course but putting this remake next to the more modern games of the series, as disliked as they may by the hardcore fans, it will have trouble convincing newcomers of the legitimacy of its legacy.

 

I also don't really know who this is for. The dying breed called Xbox fans have played this game to death, even the most religiously devoted PS fanboy probably knows one normal person who showed them the game at some point, and which part of a younger demographic are you going to lure in with a campaign-only FPS in 2026? 

 

On the plus side I think it looks nice enough. Still very much the classic Halo look but sensibly modernised. Doubtful I'll ever play it though and I don't just say that because Microsoft is exclusively publishing their games in formats I have no desire to support.

[Maf]

Everyone seems to be making a big deal this is on PS5. Maybe for some it’s like seeing Sonic on Nintendo for the first time. But that shock was already dealt with a year ago when the had that live show about “the 4 games”. After Gears and Forza already being on PS5, this doesn’t feel impactful to me. The feeling of “now everything has changed” happened a year ago

[mfnick]

1 hour ago, Maf said:

After Gears and Forza already being on PS5, this doesn’t feel impactful to me. The feeling of “now everything has changed” happened a year ago

I’m the same. This felt inevitable and not a shock at all now. If they’d have started off with this that would have been a major “oh shit” moment but we all knew it was coming now. I’m surprised how much of a fuss is being made. 

[one-armed dwarf]

I will say though that this is a highly strange thumbnail, and one that kinda hits home that Xbox is in its Dreamcast era now (non-complimentary)

 

[Sly Reflex]

I remember buying a 359 for Halo among others. I was really let down by it, it really wasn't until I played it in co-op it made sense. I think for that reason alone it deserves some accolade.

 

I'm trying to think if anything before that come close as a co-op game and I am drawing a blank. 

[Maf]

I watched Maximillion’s video on this the other day and he also compared this kind of gaming culture shock to Sonic being on Nintendo. But he went further and made the point that it only took Sonic 10 years to end up on a Nintendo console. Whereas Halo has been exclusive to Xbox for 25 years. 
 

So there probably are a couple of generations who feel like this is a huge deal.