Life is one big grey area, and due to this notion, it’s of great importance one appreciates how the black and white all blend together to create the intricate majesty of existence.


So majestic…

For anyone following along with my Halo coverage thus far, one may jump to the conclusion I am not that big of a fan, based on my push back of the unfortunate misery and mire that absolutely bedevils Halo: Campaign Evolved (H:CEv), in all of its jilted sense of warped existence. This premature conclusion jumping would indeed, betray said jumper, as I am quite a long time fan of the Halo series, in both seriously dedicated and far reachingly enduring ways, but as I made mention the other day, within the realm of rational objectivity, or at least the sane amount one can muster in a subjective deconstructionism such as this, just because I like something or have fun with it doesn’t magically negate existing flaws or real and present failures the title possesses, and when all is said and done, the truth will alays set one free.



With all of that said, and to avoid elaborating in quite the same way on the laundry list of issues H:CEv does unfortunately sport like I did yesterday, I will avoid doing so, by instead mentioning how it was kind of nice to be able to focus on some positivity for a change, as I was able to give some proper ups to H:CEv for doing something unabashedly right for once, and that was in the praise I gave the game for its mode “Campaign Remix”, which randomizes the skulls you’ve collected every time you start a new game, with often times wacky or brutal results.

A big piece of that is indeed the relevancy of co-op, as Halo is certainly one of those games where a player two so immediately enhances the quality ten fold, that it is very possible had I played through the game with a buddy, I may have had even less to gripe about, as a lot of times, mood can directly impact perception of events quite considerably, and goes a long way in understanding why so many companies in the past always tried to schmooze gaming journos with any number of pleasantries and creature comforts, in making them fat and happy in preparation for a game review.



Putting that point aside, with a nearl instantaneous intensity, so I do not fall off the cliff of tangent, and totally lose myself in a separate rant, I do think there is perhaps a bittersweet loneliness that begets my Halo playing as of late, as in the past, I always had a reliable co-op partner to speak of, which as mentioned, always made the game that much better. Perhaps the whole rhythm and flow of the gameplay feels a bit off due to the lack of “the other” not there, and it was indeed the lack of a player 2 at one point that irked me so, in there being an absence felt so greatly, I was forced to remember the tragic lack of competitive multiplayer no where to be found in relation to H:CEv, and this chain of events generated an unrelenting irateness within me.



Not just Halo, mind you, as there are a few all star titles that are absolute beasts of worthiness in their respective genre that I have no tolerance for whatsoever by my lonesome. The biggest example I can think of is Diablo 2, where when I play by myself, I am bored to tears within five minutes, but get me and one buddy together, I am ready to stay up for the next 24 hours just grinding for gear and goodies galore. Borderlands definitely falls into the same camp, and I want to say just about any side scrolling beat em up, but those are primarily designed with higher player count in mind, so I’m not sure that particular preference of mine is too irregular with that fact in focus. I suppose I’ll throw the Civilization series in here too for consideration; totally night and day levels of enjoyment between challenging AI and going against a human element.



Well, I avoided one tangent just to fall head first into another: that’s life for yah. Refocusing on Halo here, I think the Campaign Remix scenario is a good way to get more mileage out of a game, as it is reminiscent to me of custom map packs for something akin to what one might find in a Doom mod, where fan created content reigns supreme. After you’ve beaten the core game in every conceivable way ten times over, and you’re still somehow totally jonesing for more, remembering you have an army of content creators at the ready, hard at work producing new level packs and WADS out the wazoo, in which to test your mettle against any number of batshit insane level designs and challenges, you know you’ve found your people and a place to call home. As a single player junkie myself, someone who loves brutalizing difficulty levels, speed running, and 100%ing things (though these days one must be selective as time is a thinning and precious resource), being able to further custom tailor the experience is par excellence….and again, especially where co-op is a consideration.



Remixing old content is not the only trick up H:CEv’s sleeve, however, and in attempting to deliver some extra value, for all of its failings, it does deliver three new bonus missions which act as a mini prequel story to the first Halo, where Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson end up being sent out on a mission where not all is what it initially seems. This was a part of the game that I remember seeing get the most focus in the lead up to launch, and I kind of forced myself not to play it until I had already reexplored the old content, and was just about ready to write about it, as I truly wanted a fresh sense of vigor about me as I dug into the new stuff to see what kind of gold we could excavate from the fertile soil.



I was cautiously approaching this one, with all of that said, as in spite of my peaked interests in the matter, possible concern remained, as I had envisioned the extra levels as being plagued with all kind of issues, if mistakes of the past were once again revisited. What Immediately sprang to mind was the well intentioned but ultimately misguided “Spartan Ops’ that were included as post launch support of Halo 4, and they were not fun pills to swallow. The theory was good, but the execution was lacking, for a few reasons. The missions themselves felt quite flimsy, like they truly didn’t carry any weight, and also felt devoid of interesting combat encounters, instead usually just throttling the player with cheap enemy placements. Overall, not a great inclusion to the Halo universe.



I’m happy to report that at the very least, the first of those three bonus missions “Boarding Action”, is a solid level in every regard. Halo Studios bring fully fleshed out cutscenes to help give the story that extra bit of oomph, and of course, much like the rest of the game, they left Marty O’ Donnell’s music well intact, as they haven’t lost their fucking minds in thinking they could ever top that score, or even fathom for two seconds someone bringing more flair to the game with a different musical vibe in their wildest dreams. So from both an audio and visual standpoint, the first bonus mission Boarding Action, signals to me these levels are going to slot in just fine within the universe, feeling right at home within the Halo canon.



Of course, it wouldn’t be Halo if it just looked and sounded good, as its always been about that fabled 30 seconds of fun, and Boarding Action does a great job of taking cues from the original Halo’s combat encounter design, as the level feels very much “of the era”, in how the game utilizes the Convenant, and how the player goes about fighting them. Since this retelling of Halo 1 does take elements from other Halo games, there are plenty of extra weapons not found present in the original game, like the sword, the beam rifle, the needle rifle, and the Brute Spiker, to name a few (but not even all) of the weapons available to you at the ready. The player is also clued into an interesting subplot that builds upon mystery in interesting ways, and both new environments and faces to the Halo lore, lends a freshness to what is on tap in the first bonus mission, so from taking the old and remixing it with some new, the whole thing is done quite compellingly, with a beefy hour of gameplay to be had from just the first level alone.



So yes, while it is the unavoidable truth that H:CEv is beset with issues, after sticking with it for a bit, and uncovering some of the gems that lay buried within, there is still some good to be had and enjoyed by all. I suppose I’ll take a look at another bonus mission tomorrow, and see what kind of ramblings that ends up prompting from me.

Till then.

~Pashford