It is not a faithful remake at all.

Legendary is completely different, and weapon balance is not the same at all. Legendary is comparable to Halo 2, as you are about as weak.

Every weapon has a longer delay before it become active after you swap.

The magnum has more magnetism, so you can n00b combo with the plasma pistol way easier.
The AR has half as many rounds, and can be used long range because you can zoom in with any weapon now.
Plasma Rifle no longer stunlocks and it sounds terrible, so its only use is on Sentinels.
Plasma Pistol is similar.
Needler feels like the Halo 2 version.
Shotgun range is nerfed, and audiovisual feedback is not as satisfying. Also mistakes like the MC cocking the shotgun after you place new shells in when there are still some inside (he should only cock after a shot, or after reloading from empty).
Rockets can lock on and track vehicles and turrets trivializing encounters.
You can use the Sword, SMG, Beam Rifle, Needle Rifle, and Sentinel Beam.
Sword Lunge is reduced significantly over Halo 2 (probably to prevent sword flying), and will 1 shot hunters to the back on Legendary.
The Sentinel beam is very good at killing elites.

The game breaks a lot of rules:

Sticking an elite no longer guarantees a kill. Red Elites can survive being stuck on Legendary.
Vehicle and passenger healthbars are not shown, even though the values are still used.
Carrier forms do not have physics when they explode, so the insanity of chain reactions flinging carrier forms everywhere no longer occurs.
Popcorn flood do not chain react beyond one extra pop anymore. As a result, they hang around longer and are harder to get rid of.
Knocking over a turret onto an enemy is no longer an instakill.
Powerups are activated by the player, not when you pick them up.
Flood can have shields, even the ones that are human form.
There are no health packs, and your heath fully recharges.
Covenant vehicles do not obey OG physics, and the warthog control scheme is awful unless you change it back to classic.
Magnum bullet magnetism is off, so good luck trying to hit a Jackal's hands from a distance. The shots will be pulled to the shield's center.

Tons of encounters are completely different because of the new sandbox. Too numerous to list.

Performance is terrible on PS5. The last three levels struggle during large Covenant / Flood battles. Instead of dropping the framerate, the game runs the animations at what look like 1/4 speed, so projectiles, and enemies stutter through the air. It looks horrendous. Foe Hammer's ship looks like it's teleporting during the Maw Run. It's not excusable that a 25 year old game can't run at 60fps on hardware 100s of times more powerful than the original target. Insanity.

Silent Cartographer and AotCR look very bad. Unstable visuals on reflections of forrunner floor and walls, and the snow effect in the bridges does not work at all.

Invisible walls everywhere where the OG had none. Numerous hand holdy audio lines added because they think we are stupid. Levels often redesigned, for instance making the armory necessary to go through in order to get to the engine room (and the engine doesn't have shutters anymore, so you don't have to time your grenade or rocket).

Cortana's voice acting is horrendous, and she sounds bored the whole time. I do not blame the actor, I blame whoever directed her.

It is not a campaign evolved. Sad this will be the way some people experience Halo for the first time, especially with regards to the story presentation.

Oh wait, no multiplayer!

* no PvP. You can still duke it out on campaign maps. Warthog joust on the beach!

It's worse. Straight up.

For the most part, I disagree. Now what?

I guess a fight to the death.

Snipers on Boarding action, or Magnums on Hang em High?

Oh wait, no multiplayer!

It's worse. Straight up.

For the most part, I disagree. Now what?

I seriously doubt that for the main cast. I don't think it's that bad. Sure, some lines don't come across as well, but I'm willing to bet that if we were used to the new version, and had not heard the old version, people would be saying what they were used to was superior.

Play the game through, then try to argue that.

It's worse. Straight up.

How does the new version of the "This cave is not a natural formation..." play out?

We know for a fact Generative AI was used in Campaign Evolved. I will bet there is a non zero chance some of these crappy voice lines were synthesized.

I seriously doubt that for the main cast. I don't think it's that bad. Sure, some lines don't come across as well, but I'm willing to bet that if we were used to the new version, and had not heard the old version, people would be saying what they were used to was superior.

How does the new version of the "This cave is not a natural formation..." play out?

We know for a fact Generative AI was used in Campaign Evolved. I will bet there is a non zero chance some of these crappy voice lines were synthesized.

I just played that level all the way through, and I gotta say, I haven't loved Halo this much in a long time. It was epic. I got stuck in several sections for a while, mainly because of oresources, and man, thank goodness for the plasma pistol. It reminded me that part of the fun of the game was how tactical it was. I was always asking myself, what is the best way to move forward here? I've had fun--especially when the muscle memory tactics didn't work like they used to.

There's a part in Assault on the Control Room where you exit a building onto a bridge, and there are two Banshees parked there. As soon as you leave that building, two Elites make a dash for the Banshees, but if you're fast enough, you can grab one and skip the building and elevator on the other side and head straight for the Control Room.

That section was maybe the absolute toughest for me in my playthrough. It's fine if you don't try to go for the Banshees, but I spent like an hour right there trying to beat those Elites to one of them. Partly it's just that I didn't have much ammo for my weapons, but I think there's an extra pair of Elites standing around, and a bunch of Grunts with Needlers. I just couldn't get the Elite killed before he grabbed the Banshee while also avoiding all the extra enemies--they just killed me too fast. It was really fun to try and get that done.

Keyes was really fun, too. The really pack those hallways full of Flood in a way I don't remember them doing in the original. There was one hallway where I backed up around a corner, and I swear the Flood kept coming for like five minutes. It made me wonder if they were just set to infinitely spawn until I pushed forward, but they did eventually stop.

I take it you've watched some of the cutscenes. What do you think? Although I like some of the original deliveries better, they're just what I'm used to. The cutscenes I've seen so far seem to take the material more seriously, and I like what they've added.

I take it you've watched some of the cutscenes. What do you think? Although I like some of the original deliveries better, they're just what I'm used to. The cutscenes I've seen so far seem to take the material more seriously, and I like what they've added.

It's a bit of a mix, for me. I like a lot of the new stuff, but miss some of the old. The Assault on the Control Room cutscene where we deposit Cortana is great, I think. It's less . . . frantic, I guess, but it really sells her absorbing everything about Halo in a way it didn't before.

I'm more mixed on the opening scene. In the new version, Halo isn't in the background, it's on the other side of the planet. It makes for a cool reveal, as we see it for the first time while we're on the escape pod, and it goes a lot further to really sell the Autumn being under assault with all the extra guns firing, leaving tracers everywhere in the skybox.

The redesigned levels are great, though. They changed the interior of Truth and Reconciliation a bit. Likewise, Assault on the Control room layouts have been changed, so it feels a bit less like it's just the same rooms and hallways copy/pasted throughout the level. The Library is the best change (and I didn't even dislike The Library). Instead of using the elevator to go up, we start at the top and work our way down, deeper into the facility, and every level gets more Flood infested. The Flood is significantly overhauled, too. It's basically the Halo 3 Flood, with Juggernauts showing up occasionally (no snipers, though, thankfully), and bodies being infected in real time. The Guilty Spark level looks great and has great atomsphere. And overall the game is impressive looking. The lighting is all great, as are all the effects. Subtle bullet trails from the assault rifle, the way the plasma shots light the environment. The beach on Silent Cartographer is the best looking beach I've ever seen in a game; the way the waves roll into shore is top notch. And this is probably my favorite iteration of Master Chief ever, they really nailed the design.

There are some nitpicks. The aim assist/bullet magnetism is far too strong. It's so strong that hitting the hands of the Jackal through the little shield notch with the pistol is damn near impossible--the bullets all track straight to the body and impact the middle of the shield even if you're aiming right at the little notch. While annoying, it has made for a bit more interesting fights, as Jackals can be a real pain with easily being able to knock them from behind their shields.

THANK YOU! I wondered what the heck was going on. I was worried that my vision was finally gone.

Performance is also occasionally a problem. It's not super awful or super frequent, but it is noticeable when lots of enemies are on screen, especially in Two Betrayals in the bigger outside battles.

My biggest nitpick is also the dumbest, but I miss real time cutscenes that use the actual game state. In the original, I loved parking the Warthog next to the Pelican at the end of the level Halo, then throwing grenades at it right before the cutscene started to try and flip the Warthog onto the Pelican in the cutscene. And early in that level when you activate the light bridge. I always broke the glass under the control panel so that the Chief dropped like six inches when the scene started--it made me laugh.

Also sort of a silly nitpick is that all the ice is gone! Assault on the Control used to have ice everywhere, now it's all just snow and mud. No more sliding the Warthog around on the ice. ): Although, otherwise the Warthog feels really good to drive (after switching the controls to classic). 343i has never made the Warthog feel good, but they kindof nailed it here, even if it doesn't feel exactly like the original.

Overall, though, I'm actually really enjoying Campaign Evolved. It feels very good, it looks good, and it even sounds great. Probably the best sound design 343i has pulled off, and it even changes convincingly based on environment (shooting inside the caves sounds really cool).

EDIT: I was in Keyes when I typed all that up. I just finished the game. I played on Heroic. It's been like five years or so since I lasted played through the original game, so maybe I'm wrong, but Heroic felt very easy in Campaign Evolved. There are some tricky sections, but not many. The enemy AI doesn't seem as aggressive. I've seen people saying they're using the Reach AI and behaviors, but they don't seem as aggressive as that, either. The Flood especially don't seem to rush as much. They make up for it in numbers, though. Again, maybe I'm misremembering, but enemy density seems higher, which is neat.

The Warthog run was cool. They did a lot of environment design there--it feels pretty convincingly like driving through a crashed ship. The Maw in general was really great with the visual overhaul. All the windows are blown out, so the ship is filled with sand and dust.

I have some of your quibbles--although I didn't monkey with the cutscenes as much as you, but the one cheat in AotC I almost always used is gone: in the area where you first go underground with the tank, I would hold back with the tank to avoid triggering the banshee, and use a sniper scope in conjunction with a rocket launcher to knock the banshee off the high platform on the other side of the stage, then steal it, fly it underground to kill all those guys from the air, then on the other side fly to the far door and saunter through the spooky empty hallways and then to the control room. It made the level much shorter, but the result was Assault was probably my most played level BECAUSE I could knock it out pretty quickly.

I just played that level all the way through, and I gotta say, I haven't loved Halo this much in a long time. It was epic. I got stuck in several sections for a while, mainly because of oresources, and man, thank goodness for the plasma pistol. It reminded me that part of the fun of the game was how tactical it was. I was always asking myself, what is the best way to move forward here? I've had fun--especially when the muscle memory tactics didn't work like they used to.

Specifics: I agree with much of what you said about it technically. I think it looks and sounds great. I like what storable power-ups bring to the table. The MSG is better than I thought it would be. Dislikes: The elites speaking English. I know why they did this, and some of it is additive, but really, David Scully backwards was more evocative. Also, his new voice acting is as good as ever, but the way the character is animated breaks to fourth wall in a way I found annoying. I noticed some new music that I didn't like. I really don't understand why they thought THAT was needed.

Although I've yet to finish, I did watch the credits, and seeing Mig, Claude, and Brian Morden's name made me smile.

I haven't played the new missions yet, but I'm eager to. I've come away liking this game quite a lot.

Would love to play those with you once I finish.

The prerendered Cinematics in Halo Campaign Evolved are:

AVC
1080 x 832
Stereo Audio

WTF are you doing Halo Studios? It's 2026. Why are we not UHD, 5.1 or 7.1 surround, and HDR?

In game cinematics will always be king.

The audio on the files is blank… No music, no sfx. No voice, except for the occasional voice line. MOST are silent… but a few are there.

Why would they do it this way? So weird. Maybe we can get them in 5.1 after all. But no 4K.

AVC
1080 x 832
Stereo Audio

WTF are you doing Halo Studios? It's 2026. Why are we not UHD, 5.1 or 7.1 surround, and HDR?

In game cinematics will always be king.

I take it you've watched some of the cutscenes. What do you think? Although I like some of the original deliveries better, they're just what I'm used to. The cutscenes I've seen so far seem to take the material more seriously, and I like what they've added.

I take it you've watched some of the cutscenes. What do you think? Although I like some of the original deliveries better, they're just what I'm used to. The cutscenes I've seen so far seem to take the material more seriously, and I like what they've added.

It's a bit of a mix, for me. I like a lot of the new stuff, but miss some of the old. The Assault on the Control Room cutscene where we deposit Cortana is great, I think. It's less . . . frantic, I guess, but it really sells her absorbing everything about Halo in a way it didn't before.

I'm more mixed on the opening scene. In the new version, Halo isn't in the background, it's on the other side of the planet. It makes for a cool reveal, as we see it for the first time while we're on the escape pod, and it goes a lot further to really sell the Autumn being under assault with all the extra guns firing, leaving tracers everywhere in the skybox.

The redesigned levels are great, though. They changed the interior of Truth and Reconciliation a bit. Likewise, Assault on the Control room layouts have been changed, so it feels a bit less like it's just the same rooms and hallways copy/pasted throughout the level. The Library is the best change (and I didn't even dislike The Library). Instead of using the elevator to go up, we start at the top and work our way down, deeper into the facility, and every level gets more Flood infested. The Flood is significantly overhauled, too. It's basically the Halo 3 Flood, with Juggernauts showing up occasionally (no snipers, though, thankfully), and bodies being infected in real time. The Guilty Spark level looks great and has great atomsphere. And overall the game is impressive looking. The lighting is all great, as are all the effects. Subtle bullet trails from the assault rifle, the way the plasma shots light the environment. The beach on Silent Cartographer is the best looking beach I've ever seen in a game; the way the waves roll into shore is top notch. And this is probably my favorite iteration of Master Chief ever, they really nailed the design.

There are some nitpicks. The aim assist/bullet magnetism is far too strong. It's so strong that hitting the hands of the Jackal through the little shield notch with the pistol is damn near impossible--the bullets all track straight to the body and impact the middle of the shield even if you're aiming right at the little notch. While annoying, it has made for a bit more interesting fights, as Jackals can be a real pain with easily being able to knock them from behind their shields.

Performance is also occasionally a problem. It's not super awful or super frequent, but it is noticeable when lots of enemies are on screen, especially in Two Betrayals in the bigger outside battles.

My biggest nitpick is also the dumbest, but I miss real time cutscenes that use the actual game state. In the original, I loved parking the Warthog next to the Pelican at the end of the level Halo, then throwing grenades at it right before the cutscene started to try and flip the Warthog onto the Pelican in the cutscene. And early in that level when you activate the light bridge. I always broke the glass under the control panel so that the Chief dropped like six inches when the scene started--it made me laugh.

Also sort of a silly nitpick is that all the ice is gone! Assault on the Control used to have ice everywhere, now it's all just snow and mud. No more sliding the Warthog around on the ice. ): Although, otherwise the Warthog feels really good to drive (after switching the controls to classic). 343i has never made the Warthog feel good, but they kindof nailed it here, even if it doesn't feel exactly like the original.

Overall, though, I'm actually really enjoying Campaign Evolved. It feels very good, it looks good, and it even sounds great. Probably the best sound design 343i has pulled off, and it even changes convincingly based on environment (shooting inside the caves sounds really cool).

EDIT: I was in Keyes when I typed all that up. I just finished the game. I played on Heroic. It's been like five years or so since I lasted played through the original game, so maybe I'm wrong, but Heroic felt very easy in Campaign Evolved. There are some tricky sections, but not many. The enemy AI doesn't seem as aggressive. I've seen people saying they're using the Reach AI and behaviors, but they don't seem as aggressive as that, either. The Flood especially don't seem to rush as much. They make up for it in numbers, though. Again, maybe I'm misremembering, but enemy density seems higher, which is neat.

The Warthog run was cool. They did a lot of environment design there--it feels pretty convincingly like driving through a crashed ship. The Maw in general was really great with the visual overhaul. All the windows are blown out, so the ship is filled with sand and dust.

I haven't played the new missions yet, but I'm eager to. I've come away liking this game quite a lot.

Also, Cortana… they somehow managed to put more focus on her assets and pelvic region than before and the whole thing feels more male-gazey than other iterations.

Reminds me of a meme I saw about how it was crazy ONI thought that for Miranda’s ceremony to honor her dad, it was ok to bring the guy who bashed his face in, and a hologram version of her naked mom.

Hadn’t thought about that. The Keys - Halsey relationship feels like fanfic to me. My headcanon won’t allow for its existence.

How weird would it be for the crew to have the captain yapping to a naked version of his baby-mamma all the time?

Also, Cortana… they somehow managed to put more focus on her assets and pelvic region than before and the whole thing feels more male-gazey than other iterations.

Reminds me of a meme I saw about how it was crazy ONI thought that for Miranda’s ceremony to honor her dad, it was ok to bring the guy who bashed his face in, and a hologram version of her naked mom.

I take it you've watched some of the cutscenes. What do you think? Although I like some of the original deliveries better, they're just what I'm used to. The cutscenes I've seen so far seem to take the material more seriously, and I like what they've added.

I saw some very cool additions to the cutscenes. There’s probably some nostalgia-bias here, but I think the original deliveries were largely better. Some of the lines that have been added are intended to clarify the plot, but… “the last time…” was a line that sparked so much speculation and intrigue and most of that mystery is paved over. It’s like they put a location marker over all the plot points because they didn’t want us to explore and lose our way.

Also, Master Chief moves weird and looks odd just randomly pointing his gun and firing a few shots here and there in certain cutscenes.

Also, Cortana… they somehow managed to put more focus on her assets and pelvic region than before and the whole thing feels more male-gazey than other iterations.

I take it you've watched some of the cutscenes. What do you think?

It depends. Some miss the point entirely. I think Silent Cartographer is a downgrade in the cinematic language telling the story.

Here's another downgrade: In the original, "I think we're just getting started" has the camera pull back to show the fighter drifting in the vastness of space, slowly becoming a speck against the infinite cosmos. How will he get home? In Campaign Evolved? A close up where the MC takes off his helmet, then cuts to black. The music doesn't even get to finish. Completely ruins the emotional weight of the ending.

Haven't gotten that far. That's a shame.