For all its faults and whatever is going on at Halo Studios, you have to admit – Halo: Campaign Evolved can be a very pretty game. With the development team shifting over to Unreal Engine 5, there’s a photorealistic feel to Bungie’s classic art direction, one that provides a stunning experience, even with a few caveats.
Of course, the question remains: Which platform is the best, and if you’re not playing on PC, what’s the console of choice? The answers may or may not surprise you. Without further ado, let’s outline exactly what you can expect, starting with…
A Surprisingly Strong Console Showing
Regardless of your console, be it Xbox Series X, PS5 or PS5 Pro, you have two graphics modes to choose from: Quality, which runs at 30 FPS and, obviously, prioritizes resolution and graphical fidelity, and Performance, delivering 60 FPS at the cost of image quality and some dialled-back settings.
Each platform uses dynamic resolution scaling, but in different ways. PS5 and Xbox Series X rely on Unreal Engine 5’s Temporal Super Resolution while PS5 Pro relies on Upgraded PlayStation Super Spectral Resolution.
PC is a whole different conversation. We tested Campaign Evolved on an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti, and 32 GB of RAM. Even with the console versions remaining competitive, the PC version ultimately wins out.
PS5 Quality vs Xbox Series X Quality – Almost Identical
As the first Halo title to ever grace PlayStation’s consoles, you have to wonder how the PS5 matches up to Xbox Series X. Surprisingly, very well. When testing Quality mode on both consoles, they delivered similar results in frame rate and image sharpness.
Environmental density, foliage and geometry shine through in the remake, as does global illumination, reflections, shadows, and lighting, with neither console showing a distinct advantage over the other. Textures and material quality look near identical, and both work well enough in hitting that 30 FPS target. But what about when performance is the main benchmark?
PS5 Performance vs Xbox Series X Performance
As noted earlier, Performance Mode on consoles targets 60 FPS. Dynamic resolution scaling is in effect on both platforms, resulting in lower rendering resolution and a softer overall image. The fidelity takes a hit in places, which is most noticeable in the environmental detail and lighting. It may not affect your overall immersion, but it is noticeable.
This may not matter for those who prefer performance over fidelity, especially in a shooter. To that end, both consoles hit 60 frames per second, even if there’s the infrequent dip here and there.
PS5 Pro – The Clear Console Winner
But of course, it’s the PlayStation 5 Pro that pulls ahead in both Quality and Performance Mode, offering better fidelity. PSSR 2 delivers better image reconstruction, which translates to superior visual quality when playing at 60 frames per second. Furthermore, because of the stronger GPU, that performance is far more stable than the base consoles. You won’t find any 120Hz or uncapped framerate modes but kudos to Halo Studios for ensuring the basic modes excel.
PS5 Pro Quality vs PS5 Quality
So you didn’t want to buy a PS5 Pro when it launched for $699, and now it costs $899. Surely it doesn’t make that much difference when compared to the base PS5 in terms of fidelity for Campaign Evolved, right? Well, surprise, surprise, at least on Quality Mode, because they’re actually closer than you might think.
While they differ in their reconstruction methods, and the PS5 Pro edges ahead thanks to a cleaner image overall (especially when it comes to the finer, temporally unstable details), the remake still looks very good on PS5. Both hit 30 FPS pretty consistently, so you really can’t go wrong with either.
PS5 Pro Performance vs PS5 Performance – The Biggest Pro Upgrade
But as we noted before, performance is ultimately what matters for a first-person shooter, especially one that needs to make some visual compromises on base consoles. PS5 players will need to deal with softer image quality and reduced graphics settings for a reasonably solid 60 FPS. A significant sacrifice but still not enough to deliver the absolute best performance among all platforms.
The PS5 Pro suffers none of this, though. Besides hitting the 60 FPS target more consistently and boasting better image quality courtesy of PSSR 2, it also retains some settings from Quality Mode. As a result, the difference in fidelity is incredibly stark, putting it ahead of the PS5. Again, Quality Mode will deliver the best possible visuals – even going as far as competing with the PC version, which we’ll get into later – but as far as the best possible console configuration, the PS5 Pro in Performance Mode easily wins out.
The PC Version – Much More Scalability
If you’re playing Halo: Campaign Evolved on PC, it’s for two reasons: First, mouse and keyboard- no further details needed. But second is the scalability and amount of control over different settings. For instance, you can tweak the geometric quality, global illumination, reflections, lighting quality, and more, which the console versions don’t allow.
Is this the most extensive range of graphical options in a PC release? Not even close, but it’s far from nothing, and the results are pretty stunning at 4K with all settings maxed and DLSS set to Medium.
PC Performance
How does all this fare during actual gameplay, though? With so much detail on-screen, and how hectic things can get during a typical Halo mission – grenades flying, Grunts exploding, vehicles overhead – you would think Campaign Evolved would buckle under the weight of its technical ambition. But thankfully, that’s not the case. It manages to stay around 60 FPS while more demanding sections drop into the mid-50s.
Your mileage may vary, of course, but though we didn’t test it first-hand, dropping the resolution to 1440p would likely help, given the abundance of GPU headroom.
PC vs PS5 Pro Quality – The Real Graphics Comparison
So with these parameters established, how does the PC version with maximum settings fare against the PS5 Pro on Quality Mode? Surprisingly, the latter’s fidelity is strikingly close to what the higher PC settings offer, making it roughly akin to playing on High to Ultra preset. Considering this is Halo Studios’ first release on PS5 Pro, it’s pretty impressive.
Now, that said, the PC version is superior overall because its individual effects manage to go further than the PS5 Pro, resulting in noticeably higher fidelity.
PC vs PS5 Pro Performance – Bigger Difference
Performance Mode on PS5 Pro makes the differences with the PC version all the more stark. Even with some Quality Mode settings carrying over, and PSSR 2 delivering well, its overall fidelity ranks lower. Even if the PC version is relying on DLSS, it has the benefit of reconstructing images at the maximum graphical settings into 4K. However, just because PS5 Pro’s Performance Mode pales in comparison to PC doesn’t mean that the actual performance is a let-down.
Where the Consoles Beat Our PC Configuration – Consistency
Because even with more fidelity, the PC version ultimately falls behind when it comes to consistency. While our configuration averages around 60 FPS mostly and drops to mid-50 FPS where justified, the PS5 Pro delivers better stability, more consistently targeting 60 FPS throughout. It’s a slight trade-off for those incredible visuals, and even if the consistency is by no means awful – hitting 60 FPS more often than not is still worth praising – this does show just how well the console versions, especially PS5 Pro, have been optimized.
Pre-Rendered Cutscenes – The Disappointing Part
On a side note, perhaps the most disappointing thing about Halo: Campaign Evolved is that all the pre-rendered cinematics are in 30 FPS. That’s the case across all platforms, and while not sticking out as much if you’re playing on Quality Mode, it’s painfully obvious when playing at 60 FPS, especially when going to 30 FPS and then back to 60. The fact that the PC version suffers the same even with more powerful hardware is also a shame.
Final Verdict
Once again, to no one’s surprise, the PC version wins out when it comes to fidelity, thanks to its wider range of customization and optimization. Still, the PS5 Pro is a close second, followed by the PS5 and Xbox Series X pretty much neck and neck. And while the overall winner is still the PC version, the PS5 Pro wins out among consoles for its balance of quality and performance. The Xbox Series X comes in second, only slightly ahead of the PS5 due to a more stable frame rate on Performance Mode.
Regardless, the fact that Halo Studios can deliver such strong results across the board, bringing the PS5 version so close to PC in terms of quality while also ensuring that the base consoles don’t fall too far behind. If those rumored Halo 2 and 3 remakes end up happening, then this may be the start of something special for Halo on Unreal Engine 5.
Halo: Campaign Evolved – PS5 vs Xbox Series X vs PS5 Pro vs PC Graphics Comparison
Source: Buzz Trends Updates
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