(Companion vid, aka the tl;dr version)-

Lamentable as life may seem at times, value is ultimately perspective, and you’re the only person who can ever define what’s good about the everyday for yourself.


Whatever you end up valuing, hopefully it doesn’t involve whatever the fuck this show is

The general sentiment that has pervaded my first hand experience with Halo: Campaign Evolved (H:CEv) so far, can be made distinct and surmised thusly: the vibes are off, my dudes. From the discomforting parallels of reminiscent feelings H:CEv possesses, when juxtaposed to the original Stars Wars Trilogy special editions, in all of their jarringly altered glory, to the nostalgically based uncanny valley effect of the reality not matching the memory, to the every present fact that the game totally lacks competitive multiplayer in every conceivable form, H:CEv is a tough pill to swallow, if we are to discuss value propositions involved. Is there anything worthwhile to discuss, beyond the basic elements that made up the original game, in all of its revolutionary glory? Yes, and we will get to that, though I feel a bit of a rant coming on, so let’s tuck the idea of a “worthwhile mention” in the back pocket for now.



As mentioned prior, a lot of the problems (outside the biggest yikes! being the exclusion of multiplayer) boils down to lingualism, marketing…and delivery mechanism, now that I think about it. The idea behind H:CEv, and the problems that come part and parcel with the title, are reminiscent of some of the same follies that befell Halo 3: ODST back in the day, in that they took something that could have very well been suited as a content update for The Master chief Collection, or more realistically, some paid DLC for the MCC, and released the package to a lot of fanfare, and ultimately would have quelled much of the negative push back of what H:CEv ended up being.



For the record, I never heard rumblings behind the scenes this was ever meant to be DLC, but considering what’s on offer, it makes a lot more sense than a stand alone game, hence why I bring up ODST, as that game was intended initially as DLC for Halo 3, but became such a beefy undertaking with so much to offer, Bungie ended up justifying a full retail release. There was push back against what was seen as an anti-consumer transgression back then, as well, and ODST similarly did not come with competitive multiplayer attached to it, but did come with an impressive campaign, and a new mode in the form of “Firefight” that ended up having some amazing replayability to it. Though people were unhappy in which the way the game was delivered, there ended up being enough value involved that people lessened their grumblings and settled on “good enough” when all was said and done.



I am not so sure H:CEv will have quite the same luck at a similar happily ever after, however, for a number of reasons. Firstly, the gaming landscape has dramatically changed since 2009, Secondly, Halo is no longer the proverbial cock of the metaphysical gaming walk, and thirdly, though more of an anecdotal speculation on my part, the average media literacy for gamers as a whole has deftly increased, so publishers and developers can’t get away with the same kind of bullshit now as they did 17 years prior. To that point, when it comes to their hobby of choice at least, gamers are a keen lot, and can spot some BS a mile away. Cue H:CEv, which almost comes off as this queer novelty, and maybe even in some sense, a weird gimmicky advertisement for the value of Game Pass, as through the justification of having Game Pass, it is free to play*…dismissing the notion of the monthly sub price of game pass of course, which people have pointed out makes it not free, though this back and forth exchange quickly devolves into just a dry semantics argument as to what “one” is or is not “paying” for, but I understand the attention drawn to the paradoxical faux pas of the usage of where the term “free” is involved, and there is plenty of worthy merit held within that debate, however cyclically dizzying the points may be.



The air surrounding the issue, while seemingly inertly pedantic, is also low key infinitely infuriating, as I’m envisioning a Microsoft PR person who would hypothetically placate the title with a “having their cake and eating it too” mentality, via a loop hole exploit with conversations surrounding H:CEv as follows. On the one hand, they could defend the game saying it is worthy of the price tag, as it represents a full game experience with all of the content included….(Counter Point being)…even though by historical standards, it is the least complete version of Halo 1 released to date, which would then suggest it should have a lower price tag, especially as there already exists a readily available version of Halo 1 to play on Game Pass, with even more content available on The Master Chief Collection.

I then imagine an immediate pivot to the counter point, if a reporter gave too much push back on the lack of value on offer where a retail release is concerned, as the rep would then go on in mentioning it is free with game pass to play, with an odd implicity imbued with said mention, that somehow excuses the game’s less than content offerings due to its “free nature”, as if Game Pass games get a pass for somehow being “less than”, ironically denigrating their own service in the process, accomplishing the complete opposite of what they set out to do by the services mention. Everything is perspective of course, and if you break apart the hypothetical exchange that just went down, in any consideration, H:CEv ends up becoming a challenge to defend without completely warping the perceived fabric of reality to do so.



This is where I guess an explicit articulation on my part should be at the ready and accounted for, just to make my stance a little less amorphous: I not only enjoy playing H:CEv, I was one of the people who even bought the game early to play before launch day, so for all intents and purposes, you’d think I would be forcing a more positive narrative upon the situation given that, but I am a fair and rational man, and just because I enjoy playing a game, doesn’t discount the furious multitude of fucking issues the title possesses.

I’m also aware of what works for me doesn’t work for the grand majority, as I often find myself falling far outside the standard range of where normativity is concerned, and what I’m personally okay with vs what my intuition tells me about what the average consumers expectations are, will be wildly differing in ultimate reality. Speaking upon H:CEv in this way and through this lens may seem odd to some, but it is with a mindful effort, taking a more objective, aggregating approach of how this launch is likely to be perceived, weighed against known standards and realities of the industry itself, I then feel justified in mentioning the worth while thought experiment that bares relevant fruit in my efforts of where this deconstructionism maintains cogent relevancy.



In any case, going back all the way to the beginning of my article, in speaking more directly about a “worthwhile” mention involving a positive element that H:CEv has to offer, will likely have to bleed into tomorrow’s article, as I’ve gone way over my usual quota limit, but I took a bunch of screen grabs from playing a mode called “Campaign Remix”, new to H:CEv, so I may as well speak to it to some degree, to help lend connective tissue to the screenshots used within this very article.

To that point; Campaign Remix essentially involves randomizing skulls (objects that change properties within the game world), that both distort gameplay, and vary difficulty in a variety of ways. This is further enhanced in its own interesting ways, as every time you start a campaign, you can press a button to randomize which skulls are activated, making it different every time. So from bigger explosions, to randomized weaponry and troops, to making enemies on Legendary look like push overs, to being able to fly across the map like some kind of god damn super saiyan, to constantly taking damage, or simply having infinite ammo and grenades, to even being able to play in third person, the mode is great fun for those who are looking for something unique and want a chaotic challenge, to boot. And it goes without saying, like most things Halo, it becomes an infinitely more enjoyable kind of zany mayhem with a friend in co-op, so while the game drowns in a sea of issues, I’ll give H:CEv credit for what is admittedly a groovy little mode.



Its inclusion, however, is just totally dwarfed by the gargantuan mound of issues that come contingent with the overall idea of Halo: Campaign Evolved, in and of itself.

~Pashford