Halo Campaign Evolved has mostly landed well with fans, rebuilding the classic 2001 shooter in Unreal Engine 5 and launching on PlayStation for the first time. Developed by Halo Studios, the re-imagined outing for Master Chief was handled by a different team to the one that created it back in the day – Bungie.
Now that the game is out, one of Halo’s original co-creators has had a chance to play through it all – on heroic difficulty, no less – and although he had a few positive things to say about it, there are a few bug bears he wanted to air out on X.
In particular, Marcus Lehto, who is a former art and creative director at Bungie, took aim at the way in which Halo Studios has approached the art style of the Halo ring in Campaign Evolved.
Lehto goes so far as to call the new Halo ring design, “the most offensive thing we see every time we boot up the game”.
Writing on X, Lehto says: “While Forerunner tech was metal (not stone) it was also ancient, vast, alive, and a tomb to the horrors that lurked within. It had seen hundreds of millennia of conflict. Yet the game shows it as shiny metal that looks like it was built a few years ago.
“The main menu ring is the most offensive thing we see every time we boot up the game. It should feel massive, dark, mysterious, sinister, but also full of wonder. This new ring looks like a shiny new toy – out of scale, no mystery, damn ugly.”
In the replies, Lehto clarifies that his biggest issue is the “pure scale of the design”. “It lacks all the micro detail that should give it the epic scale it deserves,” he explains.
He also points out that in the lore of Halo, Installation 04 (the ring we explore in Campaign Evolved) is located on the fringes of the Milky Way galaxy. In the original game, that can be seen in the background – but it’s nowhere to be found in the Halo Studios remake.
The art design of Campaign Evolved is something that caught a bit of flack in early reviews. While Unreal Engine 5 delivers impressive visuals in some areas, the art design in other areas like Covenant ships are left looking pretty artificial and samey with all the bright lights and reflections scattered around. It’s something I pointed out in my own review for Express Online.
Despite having a fair few negative things to say about Campaign Evolved, Lehto did say that he ultimately ‘loved’ his playthrough on the Heroic difficulty. “It was simultaneously a blast from my own past and fresh re-envisioning of the game I helped create. Perfect, no. Fun, absolutely yes!”
This bodes well, as it seems like we’re getting another remake of Halo 2 if Halo Team gets its way. The secret Legendary ending cutscene shows Sergeant Johnson evacuating the ring while breaking the fourth wall and announcing, “See you in the sequel.”
Microsoft is yet to announce what’s next for Halo.
