Halo: Campaign Evolved fixes the original's weakest cutscene 25 years later

Halo Studios has outdone itself with Halo: Campaign Evolved. It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than the chuds online are making it out to be.

Aside from the odd unnecessary change, everything that’s been done to Halo: Combat Evolved’s story, location, and gameplay has been done with love and respect for Bungie’s original.

Nothing says that more than one mission in particular.

When Master Chief and Cortana begin their assault on Halo’s control room, in the aptly named mission Assault on the Control Room, it almost feels like the crescendo of the story up to that point.

The music swells, you blast your way through a Covenant-infested cannon with a big tank, and scale alien architecture to finally gain access to Halo’s defenses.

In the original, Master Chief plugs Cortana into the command center, and she gets a bit of a power trip from it. As an AI, the foreign systems and forbidden knowledge of Halo are fascinating, but in 2001 the only way this could be conveyed to the player is through the dialogue.

Now in 2026, that remade cutscene solidifies to me that Halo Studios knows the ball, and Jen Taylor steals the show immediately.

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Halo: Campaign Evolved’s cinematic improvements do wonders for the game’s narrative

This time, Master Chief plugs Cortana into the Control Room, and there’s…silence. Chief starts to get a little nervous and asks if she’s alright before she explodes out of the console in glorious, golden form.

Cortana struts around the room waving her hands around, clearly digesting information we’re not seeing, and for the first time in 25 years you can finally see how this bold, new world engulfs her.

Xbox Game Studios

She then discovers Halo’s true purpose, and her giddy demeanour changes to one of fear. Again, all of the new information she’s processing is swirling around her brain, but Chief and the player are blissfully unaware. She frantically begs Chief to run off and find Captain Keyes, leading into the next mission.

Halo: Campaign Evolved’s cutscenes are hit-or-miss, as some work really well whereas others fall short.

The final scene in Assault on the Control Room works exceptionally well, and I was really impressed with the lengths Halo Studios went to in order to make such a twisted scene so memorable again.

It’s also a brief, fleeting hint towards Cortana’s ultimate fate, as her admiration of power and knowledge plays a pivotal role in the series going forward. Halo fans will know already, but I’m trying not to spoil it for new players.

Again, Halo Campaign Evolved isn’t a perfect game, and some of the changes don’t quite stick the landing. It’s by no means a bad game, though, and I’m excited to see what Halo Studios does with Halo 2 next.

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