The year is 2531. In the year 2531, during the infancy of the Human-Covenant war, human scientists stumbled upon a new world. Named "Lumoria", the planet was laden with both flora and fauna as alien as anyone had ever seen before. Nestled amongst the planet's varying terrain lie architecture left behind by a once seemingly all-powerful race known as the Forerunners. But what began as a scientist's greatest dream of study and discovery quickly turned into destruction and terror when the Covenant found the planet as well. When the Covenant attacked the human research vessel, the scientists had no chance. Their final hopes lay in a beacon dropped in desperation. A beacon found by you. Arriving at the planet aboard the small, stealthy UNSC Frigate Endless Horizon, your mission is to defeat the Covenant, discover the mysteries behind this new world, and give humanity their hope back. Welcome to Lumoria.
After the hype wore off I found that this campaign wasn't great. It's an incredibly ****** community made campaign, and I'm extremely disappointed with it.
The encounters were very simplified and provided no depth. I think they were only made to feel challenging and not interesting. To make matters worse, the designers chose to add an unnecessary number of actors in many encounters. In a common battle, the number of particles being drawn hit the upper limits really quickly and it resulted in many effects just simply being dropped by the engine. There's nothing more noticeable than firing your assault rifle and NOT seeing muzzle flash.
Level design was particularly tacky. In a vain attempt to match Halo: Combat Evolved's appearance, the level designers thought they could replicate Forerunner structures. The end result was one of overdone remakes of classic buildings, horribly implemented rips from Combat Evolved's levels, and completey original designs that broke the consistency of the map.
Voice work wasn't particularly special, but I can't hold that against the creators. If the project were funded, maybe, but as a labor of love, no.
Custom animations on the other hand were extremely disappointing. They seemed haphazard or rushed, and I felt the need to cringe every time I saw one in a cinematic. From the drop pod door being bashed open to the conclusion of the final battle, I felt every animation was grossly underwhelming.
Imported and custom models and shaders. Sickening. The pastel edits of most of the original enemies, vehicles, and scenery objects was a really questionable decision, and the shaders for custom and imported models had inconsistencies that broke the design.
On the whole, I would not recommend this campaign. It doesn't play great, it doesn't look great, and it doesn't feel great. 1/10