I HATE and LOVE the HALO REMAKE! Campaign Evolved REVIEW (PS5 Pro/Xbox)

Follow me on social media: Instagram:   / dreamcastguy   Patreon: patreon.com/DreamcastGuy Twitch:   / thedreamcastguy   Halo: Campaign Evolved Reviews are here! The game is getting across the board praise for its 2 hour of new missions, the graphical uplift and for overall upholding what Combat Evolved was always so good at. the main criticisms come down to the new shiny art style that does not work as well as the original's timeless style plus some reviewers feel the remake comes across as unnecessary. You can tell a single-player campaign is truly great when revisiting it sparks a similar joy as your very first run, even when you remember how it all plays out beat-by-beat. Pistol shots on scrambling Grunts, sticking Elites with plasma grenades, popping Flood like bubble wrap with an Assault Rifle; Halo: Campaign Evolved rekindled the familiar feeling of playing the original on a rented Xbox at my grandma's house in 2001. But as much as I adore Halo's campaign, with its simple yet thoughtful combat design, you can only play the hits so often. When the base game, the Anniversary Edition, and the Master Chief Collection are all readily available in 2026, it's easy to see this remake as more of an Unreal Engine test than anything. There’s a new batch of Skulls and three prequel missions to sweeten the deal, which are a fun few hours to blast through – but the changes outside the graphical overhaul are otherwise subtle, and as a whole, neither definitively improve nor detract from what I played 25 years ago. So, while it's great to see how well Halo has aged, we've been down this road many times before. Halo: Campaign Evolved speaks to the series' timelessness and adds a decent set of new missions, but it's a mostly a lean retread that's more of a test run for its future with Unreal Engine. Halo: Campaign Evolved is an upcoming first-person shooter game developed by Halo Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a remake of the story component of Halo: Combat Evolved (2001), the first installment of the Halo franchise originally developed by Bungie for the Xbox console. The game is set to be released for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X/S on July 28, 2026. Developed in Unreal Engine 5, Campaign Evolved features upgraded visuals and a reimagined mission set comprising redesigned and new levels, incorporating mechanics, weapons and narrative additions new to Combat Evolved in order to reflect subsequent Halo games. The story cinematics and audio were also remade, featuring re-recorded dialogue from the game's principal voice cast. The game does not include the original competitive multiplayer, but does support four-player online cooperative multiplayer in addition to two-player split-screen on consoles. Campaign Evolved will also support cross-platform play and cross-progression across all consoles and PC during online co-op. 343 Industries assumed control over the Halo franchise following the release of Bungie's Halo: Reach in 2010, debuting with the remastered Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (2011) for Xbox 360 before developing new mainline entries through Halo Infinite in 2021. The development team restructured and rebranded to Halo Studios in 2024, simultaneously pivoting production of the series away from the proprietary Slipspace Engine used for Infinite towards Unreal Engine 5, and beginning work on Campaign Evolved as the inaugural game utilizing such technology as a means of introducing the series to new players in anticipation of a multiplatform release, a first for the franchise. The game was teased in October 2024 before being officially announced the following year. Campaign Evolved commemorates the 25th anniversary of both the Halo franchise and the Xbox platform it originated on.