Seeing Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary running relatively well on a chip designed for an iPhone wasn’t on my bucket list, but here we are. YouTuber @GhobsoGaming has put the iconic Microsoft IP through the wringer to test how well it performs, and it has me wondering why Xbox hasn’t tried porting these games to mobile, given its full multiplatform strategy.
Surprisingly — or perhaps not so surprisingly, after seeing the MacBook Neo play Cyberpunk 2077 — Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary runs at around 50 – 60 FPS. That means it should maintain at least a stable 30 FPS throughout the entire game, showing just how capable mobile chips are these days.
To get the game working, macOS uses Crossover, which translates Windows instructions into something a Mac can understand, without needing to dual-boot into Windows. It's similar to Valve's approach to Linux with Proton on SteamOS.
The game launches via Steam with anti-cheat disabled and runs at 1900 x 1200 resolution. FidelityFX, AMD’s upscaling feature, is set to Performance mode, while graphics are set to High, with settings tuned for stability, meaning if settings are lowered, it is likely you could get a stable 60 FPS.
On my Xbox Ally X, I can easily get over 60 FPS in every Halo title on MCC. However, it is obviously more expensive. All in all, it’s not too shabby for a laptop running a mobile processor. I’d personally like to see Halo 3 move over, as it’s my favorite. Searching online, I instead found someone who tested Halo 4 and was able to achieve an almost stable 60 FPS, so maybe it really is time for Halo on mobile.
Are you impressed?
As cool as this is to see, there is still something weird about seeing Halo on a Mac. That’s especially true when you remember its first introduction was by Steve Jobs at Macworld in 1999, which makes this feel like things have come full circle.
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