The upcoming remake of Halo: Combat Evolved has been attracting plenty of attention. Whether that be the surprise of seeing the signature Xbox character making his PlayStation debut or the shift to the ubiquitous Unreal Engine that powers many modern games, plenty of fans have plenty of opinions about the game. One of the most contentious touchpoints with the game so far, though, may be in the visuals of the remake.
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In an effort to attract attention to the remake’s upcoming release, Halo Studios uploaded a six-hour video of the iconic score playing over footage of the visually remastered Halo ring. While the music and tenor of the game felt right, plenty of fans felt frustrated by the look of the Halo ring itself. This reflects a struggle that gamers have had to face with graphics plenty of times over the years, where even the most impressive, realistic graphics might not be the right pick for a specific game or title.
The Problem With The New Halo’s Graphics
The titular halo of Halo series is crucial to the plot of Campaign Evolved, a massive space station that contains the Covenant threat and has the power to wipe out entire galaxies. In the original game, the vast ring was hard to fully make out from a distance. This helped the ring gain a natural sense of mystique and wonder, leaving plenty of details to the player’s imagination. This might have been due to the technical limitations of hardware capabilities in 2001, but it was also a naturally compelling aspect of the setting’s design. By contrast, the new Halo ring is much more vivid and detailed, a benefit of the game’s modern graphics and the advanced capabilities of platforms like the PS5 over the original Xbox. This has left fans without that natural sense of wonder and curiosity that the original ring brought out in them.
The environments are much flatter in this more realistic depiction of what something like a halo ring could look like, leaving it less exciting even just as a gamer to witness from afar. The sense of scale afforded by the specific ring in the first game isn’t quite reflected in the version from the new one. The interlocking metal chunks of the new model make the halo ring feel more like a giant spaceship rather than an otherworldly creation. Some have argued that it’s also a problem with perspective, suggesting the game’s visual aesthetic was driven more by trying to force a sense of scale rather than letting it occur naturally. Regardless of the specific fault that different players have found with it, it all speaks to the frustration fans are feeling when seeing this take on the halo ring.
Why Realistic Graphics Aren’t Always The Best
Realistic 3D graphics have often been a selling point of new generations of tech, with cutting-edge technology often bringing players into more distinct, vibrant settings. However, that’s not always the key to making a truly great game. The key to a really engrossing world is the sense of wonder and immersion that it creates in a player. Sometimes, realistic graphics can do a great job of that. Other times, as with the Halo: Campaign Evolved remake, those realistic touches can make something vast feel much smaller by accident. The best graphics are the ones that transport the player to somewhere new and unexpected, like the first game in the Halo franchise.
The pursuit of good graphics over all other concerns has resulted in some gorgeous but hollow experiences, whereas games with lesser computing power but more specific art design have successfully felt like something wholly unique. It’s a challenge that has existed for generations of game developers, especially once 3D became a fixture of the medium. Platforms like the GameCube and the Nintendo Switch have been decried for failing to match the graphics of their competitors, but their more stylized approaches have become just as (if not more) famous than some of those platforms’ more vivid games. There’s also the concern of how graphics age with each passing generation, whereas a focus on style can stand the test of time. The original Halo ring felt vast, even if it wasn’t nearly as detailed as modern consoles can make it.
By contrast, the new ring feels dull in comparison. It’s a shame, too, because it suggests that the weirder touches of the Halo aesthetic that always helped keep the series from feeling too similar to other sci-fi properties might have also been smoothed over for the sake of realism. Sometimes, those strange touches and unique textures that are created by the technical limitations or limited potential can become key elements of the design aesthetic. It gives the games their own unique visual language, whereas the more realistic approach just makes everything — even a massive planet-sized circular artificial world — feel dull by comparison. Halo: Campaign Evolved‘s updated ring should be awe-inspiring, but the efforts to make it more “modern” have only taken away the charms that made it so cool in the first place.
Do you think the new halo ring looks bad compared to the original? Or do you think the new graphics make it look better? Let us know in the comments and on social media!
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