The visuals are so on-point and the upgraded sounds are perfect. It's crazy to see all of these cutscenes in such high quality, and they did a great job bumping them up a few gens. I like the Sarge especially, they did him so solid - it's perfect. Cortana and Keyes, too. They all look so cool and true-to-character. The Arbiter's armor is sick. They've actually got me re-watching these cutscenes - they're quite movie-like at times. The detail and atmosphere is astounding. I love the story of Halo 2 as well, so it's great to see that the cutscenes are just pure art. I think I like the story in Halo 2 the best of all of them. I'm also finding little cutscene terminals that show you new cutscenes that flesh out the events more and visually fit pretty well.
And then transitioning back to the game is almost seamless, not too much of a downgrade at all, really. It keeps like 90% of the atmosphere. The only thing it could really do with is some better AA, though honestly I think in this case the 'crispness' of the original wouldn't go well here anyway. It does look like it has some kind of SSIL, SSAO, better particle effects overall, bloom and emittance on glowing items/projectiles (shields, sticky grenades, explosions and plasma projectiles illuminate nearby surfaces more dynamically, even casting shadows.) The hi-res textures make all of the weapons, armors, and enemies look fantastic. The textures and materials also take advantage of different kinds of stacked surface-mapping techniques now possible, so you can have surfaces with multiple normal bump maps, specular maps, different kinds of transparency/diffraction qualities, even depth-buffer-activated post-processing.
All of the old shiny and metallic surfaces benefit most notably from this. They're actually super-pleasing to look at now, much more natural. I think the fake global illumination adds a lot as well, you get that slight color shift in the little occlusion and detail shadows, and the color of the light on surfaces is more relative to things around it rather than just corresponding to flat-baked global lighting values for each tile. The lighting makes much better sense across contrasting combinations of multiple different surfaces with more of those small detail shadows and varied light across surfaces. Glowing translucent objects also make a huge jump up in appearance, things seen on some armors, as well as things like the beam sword and the shields. Much more plausible and natural with pleasant glowey characteristics.
You've got more granular lods for more detailed large spaces. No need for the "chaser" gradient fog, it gets a more natural kind of volumetric fog. I think it might even have a godray system - the kind with that angle-activated bloom they sometimes include that casts a slight glow on things lit by angular lights at certain times. It all gives everything much more depth. The lighting varies as you move through spaces with a range of finer qualities that make it all pop and blend nicely. There's a constant feel of progression and tension with the ever-shifting atmospheres - the flashlight still comes in handy. Also lots of nice decals to add different kinds of grit and 'spark' on top of the textures: things like dirt, rust/watermarks, dents, etc. Everything is much more ornate. The lighting, and more detailed materials responding to lighting in more dynamic ways add a lot to the atmosphere when you're going in and out of buildings and there's flickering lights and things like that. Obviously we've got lots more polygons too. Just a lot of nicely done touches.
I've had a chuckle at how much more immersive it is than I remember. It's almost like playing it for the first time, when I was a kid with way less knowledge of shooters, or what they would become after that. There's something about the whole experience of this game that still feels kind of un-replicated to me. It feels so different from modern shooters in terms of gameplay and atmosphere. The gameplay is no nonsense, no superfluous things being shoved in your face. Just brisk challenges in engrossing environments with killer atmosphere thanks to a soundtrack that is almost oddly tranquil in this beautifully ethereal way, yet fits oddly well. The battles are truly larger than life. You're just kinda going from badass thing to badass thing. They really wanted to make it fast paced and epic, and they definitely succeeded.
But it will catch you slipping up. This is from a time when shooter campaigns were really king, and this was a thoroughly well-crafted one in terms of the challenges, flow, and theming. Like, you can tell they wanted you to get fully into it in every way. It was meant to blow your mind and make you wanna get really good at it, and then challenge all of your friends. This game was to basically plant a big flag for Xbox. I thing that's why it still holds up in spite of actually being pretty simple. It was made with lots of care. I gotta say, on just Heroic difficulty, this game's campaign wastes no time throwing you into tons of shit. By the start of the second level you're fighting of a long gauntlet wave of enemies. I think there are at least two "flying-bugs-with-needlers" passages sandwiched in with the waves, too. That only ends when the two sentient worm things that are fast, tanky, and can only be damaged from a couple of small areas arrive with their big lunging attacks and green death cannons. Finish those and you can begin a CQB slalom across an old-world-looking sprawling slum, dancing around in sniper alley, to emerge into fast paced vehicle combat against even bigger multi-enemy platoons. Whole bunch of crazy stuff after that, coalescing in you taking a tank over a rampage on a bridge and destroying entire fleets of various enemy craft, ending in you battling 4 tanks and a bunch of banshees. It just never lets up lmao. And it's never looked so good.
It's been a pretty good challenge, but I've also had to laugh at how immediate it's been for me - I just kinda got the feel right away and got sucked into the gameplay. Everything about it just feels great. It's one of those games where everything about it just makes sense, there are these crazy flow states you get into - everything is so quick and smooth. It's just like, "BAM!" you're smack-dab in the shit and havin' a blast. There are really a lot of different ways to traverse and clear the field, things you can switch around on the fly for leverage, too. It's kinda all about chaining quick decisions and being opportunistic with different weapons. These enemies are smart - I swear they are smarter than enemies in most modern shooters at times. There are ways to beat all of them reasonably but they don't often let you off easy with overly dumb moves. Toy with them and they'll toy with you. You can gain strategic advantages, play art-of-war tactics and control the battlefield. But when you face them directly it's no holds barred and they really do just about everything to both kill you and STAY ALIVE.
I mean, the major enemies are all pretty good at actively maintaining their own relative safety, and they do know how to apply steady pressure. They too have read Sun Tzu, it seems. They will actively try to put you in the lowest success probability category as they can get you while elevating themselves on the battlefield. You find yourself dancing your way in and out of situations with different enemy types and their tactics, working the terrain and countering their reactions to you, taking the right opportunities. The enemies will mock you like big bro slapping your head for underestimating any of them. "GAH!!" They just HIT you and it can be an overwhelming and comprehensive loss. These hoards systematically destroy you and are deceptively well-coordinated.
All that said, I do think they might've slowed it down slightly, and made it a little easier overall. It's hard to say if that's down to how it looks, higher frame rates, or engine differences. The feel is on-point, though. One thing I really notice is that sword lunge doesn't feel as floaty. It doesn't have as much 'timing jello' in the start and has a bit more weighty of a trajectory. What the combat does still have is the fantastic hit detection that makes long-range and strafing combat an absolute joy.
It's been running a pretty smooth 60FPS, too. I'm just finishing the first flood level. They added this crazy metal song to the part when you dogfight in the banshee, running defense for the ship carrying your mates. It was actually pretty sick, really better music than you could ask for in a game. It's got these tastefully ambient little post rock sections as you transition through combat passages - the whole thing really fits with the pacing of the flying combat. It legit could do well on a modern progressive metal album, lots super-solid riffs and key changes, seriously competing with stuff coming out today. Reminded me a lot of the band Periphery.
It's cool when you remember that the game originally featured Steve Vai, a popular shredder virtuoso at the time - there's some sick guitar work from him at key moments. So now they add some really epic and technical modern metal to it. I just wish it was a little longer, because it ran out early, and I fought the last 15 seconds in silence
Still, it all looks, feels, and sounds so damned good - very cinematic with the music. I was having a real anime moment zippin', boostin', twistin', loopin', gunnin', and bombin' the other banshees out of the sky while this soaring dogfight metal was groovin' on along. It was one of those moments that was so well-done that it knocked me off my game and I accidentally jumped out and unalived myself. I was a bit taken aback.
This flood level looks amazing too. The lighting and materials are so much better for the horror atmosphere. These flood levels were always so unsettling and foreboding and with more to work with, they've done a
great job of taking that aspect to the next level. I think it's all very accurate in terms of all of the details and mood it adds, as someone who played the crap out of this from his teen years into his 20s. The flood levels were always my favorite back in the day, and it looks like I'll be in good hands with them here. So far it all looks like the projection the original game made in my imagination, like how they actually might've wanted it to look back then if they were remotely able to.
I think they got the assignment. As long as it doesn't bug out. I think you canactually uncap, but it's one of those 'unreccomended' things in the menu. I may try it. Either way, stoked to keep playing.
This is, I guess a bit of a benchmark game for me just due to the impact it had on me at the point in my life when it came out. Games were way more locally social then, too. So to be able to run legendary campaigns meant you went and played with more people in person, to take them through it when they couldn't quite cut it. People actually wanted the glory of beating this campaign on legendary even though the game was bullshit hard on legendary. I played it with at least 20 different kids. A ton of us across different groups around town played multiplayer. I got to know a ton of people in town through that game. As fun as live could be (we'd get together there too and harass the public,) split screen competitive play was often way more fun, in away. This game was such a great pastime. Now, I just appreciate how lucky we all were, and better understand how well-made this game actually was. It's only that much better for the improvements to visuals, sound, atmosphere, and weapon feel. When the fidelity of everything is closer to something modern, it almost highlights to me how good the foundation of the game actually is.
