Following several months of rumors about a remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, the game that started one of Xbox's most successful franchises, Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) announced Halo: Campaign Evolved during this year's Halo World Championship event. The remake, powered by Unreal Engine 5 visuals (with the original game's code running beneath), will be released next year on PC, Xbox Series S and X, and even PlayStation 5 for the first time in the series.
As with all remakes, some fans immediately started dissecting the gameplay footage to see what was changed from the original. Even more interesting, though, is the point of view of one of the original developers, Jaime Griesemer, who was a designer on the first three Halo games. Speaking on X, he criticized some level design changes from Halo: Combat Evolved and eventually likened the remake to the dance remix of a classic song that goes straight to the chorus.
You aren’t supposed to be able to take the Warthog up to steamroll the Hunters. I intentionally placed rocks in the way so you had to fight them on foot. When you can just smash the crates out of the way, it wrecks the encounters. But the worst part? They put trees in the landing area of the WooHoo Jump. Lame.
Yes, everybody, I know you can FORCE the Warthog through the gap in a variety of ways. I literally spent most of a day making it discouraging and difficult, but not impossible. You’re welcome!
On further analysis, I’m sure it’s because the vehicles take damage, and so you’re just as likely to destroy the hog as get it over the rocks. If anything that makes it -worse- because -none- of the vehicle tricks are going to work anymore. It’s like the dance remix of a classic song that skips the intro and the bridge and just thumps the chorus over and over.
His perspective isn't shared by one of the co-creators of the Halo franchise, Marcus Lehto (who was recently in the news because he criticized Electronic Arts for not crediting all of his team at Ridgeline Games in Battlefield 6). Lehto was at the Halo World Championship and, via X, relayed a very positive first impression:
My honest impression of seeing the new Halo: Campaign Evolved is this:
I absolutely love where this is going. The game looks and feels genuine. It's gorgeous in a way I wish we could have built it originally back in 2001. It warms my heart to see Halo: Combat Evolved like this.
Check out this article for more comparisons of the classic title and the upcoming remake, and let us know your take in the comments.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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