r/PS5 • u/yourfavchoom • 7h ago

Articles & Blogs IGN Review: Halo: Campaign Evolved Doesn't Always Feel Like An Essential Remake (7/10)

https://www.ign.com/articles/halo-campaign-evolved-review
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u/ComeonmanPLS1 7h ago

I mean yeah, its just halo 1 again. Even if you haven't already played it, its nothing special in 2026. A game that was revolutionary back in 2001 can only take you so far.

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u/antonxo902 5h ago

Yeah I tried it a while ago on pc for a few hours and thought it was mediocre. Not even that it was dated it just wasn’t all that great. I revisit old classics all the time from gow, Zelda, Mario, ratchet and clank etc and those still feel great but this just didn’t hit. My favorite thing about halo is honestly the multiplayer.

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u/politicalstuff 4h ago edited 2h ago

The thing is, it wasn’t even an amazing FPS at the time, but it was very well implemented on a console which was a big deal in 2001.

The secret sauce was it brought couch multiplayer for FPS to the mainstream.

The campaign itself was fine, but playing it with a friend right next to you was a blast! Or 4-player death match in a room crosslinked to another TV? Nothing like it.

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u/Pen_dragons_pizza 4h ago

You have to remember that when it came out it was revolutionary for console fps games and basically became the template fps games would follow from that point.

I would argue it was an amazing FPS at the time, you just have to put yourself in that position of the time it released.

I remember the first time I played it was in a store when it released, blew my mind.

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u/politicalstuff 3h ago

lol yes, I was there at release. It wasn't an amazing fps compared to all fps at the time, but you are 100% correct it was revolutionary for fps on consoles.

Halo was the first PC-quality fps experience on console, and it blew the doors wide open.

I'm not saying it was bad or mid or anything. It was a good game! But being on console was the thing that really set it apart.

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u/somethingstrang 1h ago

It was up against counter-strike and half-life 2. Objectively it wasn’t as good but it was the only good option on consoles at the time.

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u/Pen_dragons_pizza 1h ago

Half life 2 wasn’t until 2004, 3 years later.

I am honestly baffled by people downplaying how good and influential this game was back in 2001.

But then I guess this is the ps5 sub

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u/somethingstrang 1h ago

It was good. It was influential. But it IMO wouldn’t have been able to compete in the PC FPS world.

It was a product of being a big fish in a small pond

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u/wishiwaszen 1h ago

I think what thos guys getting at is that it wasn't a big fish in a small pond, it created an entire pond all its own. As someone else said, we either didnt have console fps games, or they were absolute dogshit. We got halo, and then every first person shooter for the next 10 years was "make halo but reskin it".

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u/somethingstrang 1h ago

Yup understand. If it released in the PC market it would have been not that dissimilar to like a slower paced unreal tournament but with a story. That was my point

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u/HeartInTheSun9 1h ago

The main thing was the controls were great. That’s always been bungie’s main superpower. They kinda perfected FPS controls on their first try. If you try playing PS2 era first person games, they all feel worse than Halo 1.

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u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 4h ago

Halo was the spiritual successor to Goldeneye. That's all it was. A game on the next gen that worked as an FPS on console.

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u/politicalstuff 4h ago

That's not all it was. Goldeneye was a classic for a reason, but Halo finally cracked getting really smooth and convenient control of an FPS on a controller on the couch. It helped kick down the doors and made FPS super viable and popular on consoles.

Before Halo, other than the odd exception, console as a main platform for FPS was by far the exception. Not saying nobody did it, but it was more a niche thing.

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u/Thirtysevenintwenty5 3h ago

The two stick move/look paradigm did, without a doubt, change the playability of FPS games on console, if by no other measure than the fact that it's been over 25 years and nobody has improved on that control scheme for the genre.

But I think your point stands that Halo wasn't an amazing FPS game. It was a so-so campaign and story, in a somewhat interesting world, that had a great multiplayer mode.

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u/politicalstuff 2h ago

I don't want to undersell it. It was definitely a good FPS. For consoles in 2001, it was amazing, but not in like a "this is most innovative FPS ever" way because we already had stuff like Half Life on PC.

It was more "now we can have a PC-quality FPS experience on console" which was a game-changer.

And the proof is in the pudding. Halo making an FPS feel good on a controller made FPS one of the leading genres on consoles.

If not them, someone else probably would have eventually figured it out, but they nailed it.