For twenty-four years, Halo belonged to Microsoft. Xbox from 2001, PC from 2003, and that was the deal, it never changed. So booting up the very first Halo on a PlayStation still feels slightly wrong, in the best possible way. Halo: Campaign Evolved is a ground-up remake of Combat Evolved, the game that sold the original Xbox back in 2001, rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5. And for the first time in the series' history, you don't need an Xbox to play it.
I grew up on this game. Wiring four Xboxes together at a mate's place, one screen split four ways, everyone yelling at each other until stupid o'clock. That's what Halo is to me. So going back to the ring, the Warthog runs, the Silent Cartographer, all of it rebuilt and running like a modern game, hits a nerve I wasn't ready for.
It plays brilliantly. Sharp, weighty, exactly the Halo you remember but moving like a shooter made this year. And here's the bit no one reviewing this on an Xbox can tell you: on a DualSense, it feels lovely. The haptics land, the triggers add a bit of bite, and the DualSense is one of my favourite controllers going, so Halo on it is a genuine treat.
It plays great, it feels great, and part of me still reckons it doesn't feel right, because I'm not holding an Xbox controller.
That's the honest bit, and I'll say it because most reviews won't. Twenty-odd years of Halo being an Xbox thing is baked into me and my brain hasn't caught up. That is not a mark against the game, it plays too well for that. It's just a real reaction, and if you grew up the same way, you might feel the same little tug. Sit in it. It passes.
It's more than a fresh coat of paint, too. There are three brand-new prequel missions on top of the original ten, the original voices are back and re-recorded (Steve Downes as the Chief, Jen Taylor as Cortana), and there's a stack of new weapons, a redesigned Warthog and collectible skulls to hunt down. Modern movement is in as well, sprint being the obvious one, and they've made it toggleable if you're a purist.
If I'm nitpicking, and I am, I'd have loved them to take the movement one step further with a proper mantle or ledge-grab, the kind of thing most modern shooters have now. That's the one change that would have made it feel completely fresh rather than classic-plus. It doesn't dent the game, it's the smallest complaint I've got, but it's the honest one.
For anyone who played the original, this is a must-pick-up, you already knew that. The exciting part is the wave of PlayStation players who have never touched Halo in their lives. This is their way in, finally. There's four-player online co-op and two-player split-screen as well. I held off on co-op until the game was properly out, and I'm looking forward to playing through it with my kids this week, which is exactly the kind of memory this series handed me in the first place.
Halo Infinite felt like it was on the right track and then went quiet. I really hope this remake is a sign there's more Halo coming, because the series has too much history to sit still.
For me it was an absolute blast. Pure nostalgia, playing brilliantly, and a proper doorway in for a whole new audience. Playing it on a PS5 still feels a little strange, and I've made my peace with that. It's Halo. I love it. Simple as that.