Rank the Halo Games

[Mr Light]

Now that Reach has been released the Halo franchise is complete... until Microsoft milks that cow dry How do you rank them?

I haven't played Reach yet, I won't until it gets cheaper six to twelve months from now

1. Halo 2: most people seem to dislike this one but for me it was the perfect combination. A great story with shocking twists and turns. Remember when we didn't even know we'd be playing as an Elite for half the game? The introduction of Gravemind... the Arbiter... the Covenent schism...

The huge amazing set pieces. The Scarab tank walking over you and then you having to board it and destroy it. Seeing the Covenant in an Earth city. The boss fights. High Charity. The ending fight against Tartarus.

The controls were the best they ever were. I think it handled better than Halo 3. The duel wielding was awesome.

2. Halo 3. As I said I found the controls just a tad "off" from 2's perfection but still good. The graphics were absolutely amazing, my god. While the story wasn't as shocking or cool as 2, I really love how they built the love story between MC and Cortana and showed the inspiration that MC is to the rest of the military. And it was so sad when Johnson and Keyes died. And what a great ending... MC goes back into hibernation, waiting for the next one.

There were lots of great sequences but I didn't think it was quite as amazing as 2. I really didn't enjoy that stage inside the Flood. Of course I always hate fighting the Flood. Oh that's another thing. I much prefer fighting Elites to Brutes, and you don't fight Elites at all in this game.

3. Halo. At the time it was absolutely revolutionary and amazing. Such amazing controls. But in comparison... the story is a little blah and you have to fight through the same goddamn room over and over again.

4. ODST. I really did not enjoy the hub world half of the game. It was depressing and boring walking around this dead city with nothing in it but the occasional Covenant group. And your character is so weak compared to Master Chief, which I didn't enjoy either. The actual flashback missions were much more enjoyable, almost worthy of the Halo name.

5. Halo Wars. It achieved the impossible and made a workable RTS on a console. It was briefly fun but nothing amazing. Story was just alright.

 

[PsychoPere]

Speaking of "milk[ing] that cow dry," Microsoft representatives did recently state that one game every three years would not be enough...

Here's my list, keeping in mind that I have yet to play Halo Wars.

1. Halo: Combat Evolved - the nostalgia pick, my first Xbox game
2. Halo: Reach - a perfect concentration of everything Halo
3. Halo 3: ODST - loved the sense of isolation presented by the hub world, enjoyed playing as a non-superheroic soldier in the fight against the Covenant
4. Halo 3 - a fitting end to the Master Chief's fight
5. Halo 2 - playing as the Arbiter was a welcome surprise and I had no problem with the the cliffhanger ending but one of the games had to take the last position on the list

 

[Dac]

Halo Reach: Like Marty said, this is the definitive Halo by the people who make Halo.

Halo 3: ODST: A superb single player experience. It took the scope of the end of humanity and focused it into the lens that was one man and one night. A beautiful game.

Halo: CE: The original. I played this on PC, not Xbox, so I was a little late to the game, however I still have fond memories of playing it online. It was short for me due to Halo 2 coming out a month later, but it was fun and the first time i'd played online. The campaign was great too.

Halo 2: The campaign was good, not mind blowing imo like Reach or ODST, but the multiplayer. Wow. This is the game that made Xbox Live. My first experience was a game of BTB on Waterworks, talk about epic. That was huge match with a tonne of people all chatting through my TV. At the time that was amazing, today we all take it for granted but this was a watershed moment.

Halo 3: Don't get me wrong, I love this game, it was a satisfying ending, but the multiplayer on this just paled in comaprison to 2. The maps mostly sucked and the gameplay felt sluggish. This was a good game, but it wasnt a good Halo game.

Halo Wars: A competent console RTS with cutscenes befitting a motion picture. However, while competent it was nowhere near spectacular. I liked it, but its the weakest installment in the saga.

As for the future, I hope a dev picks it up (gearbox?) that respects the lore and tone of the franchise. I don't want a call of duty rip off. I want crazy alien weapons and environments. I want to play with odds greater than you can get in a modern day setting. I want a story that drives the action, not the other way around. I want Halo.

 

[6079SmithW]

I like Halo 2 the best, although I have not played Halo:Reach or ODST yet, so I can't judge them. One reason I love Halo 2 is nostalgia. It was the first Halo game I played and played countless multiplayer with my room mates the first two years of college. Those were the days! It is the Halo I compare the other ones to.

The multiplayer- So much better than Halo 3. All the dual wielding combos, including needlers (pink cloud of death!). The SMG seemed more powerful than in 3. The maps were great, memorable and exciting. Halo 3 multiplayer just seemed boring and I grew tired of it quickly.

The story- So great! The covenant split and civil war, getting to see the covenant side of things, the Arbiter and his character arc, the scheming Prophets, Gravemind giving a voice to the flood, and the invasion of Earth (OMG!).

The settings- Cool fighting in a space station, and then actually fighting outside the station! New Mambasa, Halo ring, and High Charity all beautiful, fun environments.

I am really biased towards this game due to its being the first Halo I played. I knew nothing about the story, which made it so epic. Who are the Covenant and why are they at war with humanity? Who is Master Chief? What are the Flood? Who are the Forrunners and why did they disappear? Why did they build Halo?

I really like stories dealing with ancient civilizations and mythology in general so I found the Foreruuners and the Covenant religion based around them intriguing. I also love things that have a sense of ancientness so I liked all the Forerunner artifacts and buildings. Even the flood are an ancient menace.

 

[Skywalker]

As for the future, I hope a dev picks it up (gearbox?) that respects the lore and tone of the franchise. I don't want a call of duty rip off. I want crazy alien weapons and environments. I want to play with odds greater than you can get in a modern day setting. I want a story that drives the action, not the other way around. I want Halo.

The Halo franchise will be handled by Microsoft's in-house studio 343 Industries, which is run by former Bungie employee Frank O'Connor. So at least there'll be someone in charge who knows the series.

 

[Mr Light]

This bring to mind another poll question, do you play it for the campaign or for the multiplayer. I'm not on XBL so I only play it for the campaign and have no idea what the death matches are like. I don't think I would enjoy that anyway I'm sure I'm not nearly good enough a player to survive for five seconds

 

[Dac]

I play for both, but Multiplayer is a such a huge aspect of the game, your seriously missing out. Everyone is crap to start off with, and your paired automatically with fellow noobies. You won't be facing off against a world champion in your first match.

 

[6079SmithW]

I do not have an XBox live account because I cannot afford to pay monthly fees and I don't have wireless internet in my room at home. When I used to play online multiplayer (years ago) I mooched off of room mates, signing in on their account or as a guest Since those days are over I play games only for the campaign.

 

[PsychoPere]

Campaign, but I'll do some multiplayer occasionally when a friend is online. I just don't care for multiplayer in general with random people. I prefer single-player in all of my games, really.

 

[Servo]

I've only played Halo 3 and Halo Reach.

I played Halo 3 for the first time after it had been out for a few years, and I was pretty underwhelmed. I mean, it was good and all, but it just wasn't as good as I was expecting after two years of hype. I didn't end up playing Halo: ODST, and I wasn't really going to bother with Reach, but my sister bought it for me as a present. I'm glad she did. Reach is the game I was hoping Halo 3 was going to be. Great campaign, great multiplayer, and I love pratting about with the Theater mode.

So, I'd vote for Halo: Reach as my favourite game of the series, with Halo 3 taking second place by default. I plan to pick up ODST pre-owned at some point, cause I've heard a few good things about it, and Reach has convinced me to give the franchise another go. Hell, I might even try and get the first two Halo games, just to give them a go.

 

[Skywalker]

1. Halo 3: ODST - I know, blasphemy! But I just loved the mood and atmosphere of the campaign, and the squad's camaraderie.
2. Halo: Reach - My only gripe is they didn't go deep enough with Noble Team. But the campaign itself was beautifully done.
3. Halo 2 - Honestly, I don't remember a lot about this since it's been years since I last played it, but I really liked playing as the Arbiter, and watching the Covenent Civil War unfold.
4. Halo - I refuse to call it "Combat Evolved." Again, it's been years since I last played it, but I remember liking it a lot. More for its setting than for its lead character, though.
5. Halo 3 - I absolutely hated the level where you had to travel through Gravemind or whatever trying to find and rescue Cortana.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm not a big fan of either Master Chief or Cortana.

 

[-Brett-]

1. Reach. I like Headhunter and Invasion. The new weapons and vehicles are fun. Armor abilities are a mixed bag. Even if it's ridiculous, I still like the jetpack.

2. Halo 3. Mostly because it's the first one I played online. My internet connection in the 1 and 2 days sucked.

3. Halo 1. Copy/paste levels were annoying, but the combat was fun.

4. Halo 2. Hard to judge it. I only played it on the 360 and the emulation sucked. At least I assumed that was the problem. I tried to enjoy it, but it was kinda distracting to see characters sitting in mid air because their ship didn't load.

I'm sure the Halo community would call me a "noob" for this, but I also missed the assault rifle. The battle rifle was probably fine for multiplayer, but in single player there was never enough ammo for it.

5. ODST. No online multiplayer to speak of. Short campaign. Overpriced.

 

[SPCTRE]

1. Reach
2. Halo (PC version for multiplayer/Xbox version for Co-Op)
3. Halo 3: ODST
4. Halo 3
5. Halo 2
6. Halo Wars (Although I don't think it belongs in this ranking because it's a different genre.)

My ranking is based on both singleplayer and multiplayer aspects combined.

I'll elaborate later and post my campaign- and multiplayer-only rankings as well.

 

[Sephiroth]

Halo 2: there was a lot of fun hidden stuff, the graphics were greatly improved, and the story and levels were better thought out, and the MP maps are all classic
Halo CE: even with the cut and paste rooms, this game is a classic, I hope 343 studios re-makes this and 2 for the current generation
Halo Reach: this game has more of a Halo 1 feel with more of a halo 2 feel when it comes to multiplayer, but the weapons kinda suck
ODST: finally, a look at the Halo-verse without the chief, the introduction (FINALLY) of the engineers, and foreshadowing of the events of Halo 2
Halo 3 is the weakest of the lot for me, it turned brutes into elites, in Halo 2 there was a ton of stuff to find if you went out of map, no such luck with Halo 3 and it's tightly controled story maps, the MP maps were kinda lackluster and unbalanced (example: last resort spawns one team next to the shotgun and the other next to the sniper rifle, and both teams are within line of sight, 8 times out of 10 the initial 10 seconds of the match sees the shotgun side team wiped out)

I don't count Halo wars as a halo game, and I suck at RTS, so I have only played the demo, which I disliked

 

[clint g]

Halo Reach is the only Halo that I feel lives up to the hype.

Halo 1 had terrible level design and was vastly over rated in my opinion (time splitters had similar controls and Perfect Dark had better mutliplayer options)

Halo 2 was a half-finished, rushed mess. It gets points for pretty much being THE Xbox Live game.

Halo 3 was an improvement over the first two, but still had some level design issues and looked a bit dated compared to other games coming out at the same time.

 

[LightningStorm]

I can't choose an overall best, because they all are so different in what they offered.

Halo 1 to me has the best campaign of them all. None of the subsequent games' campaigns are as replayable to me as this one is. Of course this game didn't have online multiplayer, but I did spend many many hours playing friends in multiplayer mode and it was a ton of fun.

Halo 2 introduced the online multiplayer and that obviously owned pretty hard. This game made gametypes that were not Slayer actually fun and playable so this was a plus. The campaign on this game however was the worst campaign of any game EVER. I HATED it, I mean words cannot describe my extreme deep-seated hatred for the campaign in this game.

Halo 3 didn't really bring anything new or special to the table except Forge, Theater, and much needed enhancements to the game. This was the first game that I thought was actually better (Multiplayer-wise) than Halo 1. The campaign here was very good and replayable.

Halo 3: ODST at first I was reluctant to even get this game because it felt like nothing more than an expansion pack to Halo 3. Then I played it once and HAD to have it. The campaign here was amazing, for me it was a VERY close 2nd to Halo 1. Then the introduction of Firefight, OH MY GOD. This alone makes this game a strong contender for BEST of all of them. I loved Firefight in this game could play it for hours on end.

Halo: Reach, not technically it's still too early for me to really say where this game falls. So far the potential it has is SICK, this could easily blow away all other Halo games. However, having finished the Campaign on Legendary, I'm still not impressed enough to put it above either Halo nor Halo 3: ODST. The multiplayer feels about the same as Halo 3. I wish they hadn't completely gotten rid of any of the guns from any of the previous games. I'm of the opinion that literally every gun and every version of every gun should at least be available to put on a map via Forge, yes including the Pistol of Doom from H1 and the Battlerifle of Death from H2 and H3. I would also have liked to have the Pistol from ODST and the automatic battle rifle from ODST. The firefight mode in this game is silly good too, but I still feel that the ODST version was more fun. Making it an online matchmaking thing was genious, though they need to handle the stupid slowness of it.

So until Reach is out for longer I can't put it at the top yet. I'd have to put H1 at the top for Campaign, H3 at the top for Multiplayer, and ODST at the top for Firefight. H2 was pretty terrible, really.

 

[Skywalker]

I'd really like to see Microsoft remaster Halo and Halo 2 for the Xbox 360, similar to how Sony remastered God of War and God of War II for the PS3. I'd really like to replay the first two games, because they're pretty hazy in my memory now, but I'd rather play them in HD.

 

[Rett Mikhal]

Once a sequel purist, always a sequel purist.

The first Halo is the only one worth its weight in anything.

 

[Mr Light]

For those of you picking Halo 1, how do you feel about repeating the same rooms/corridors over and over again?

I'll always remember my favorite set in Halo 1. It's when you're at one end of the valley and at the other end is just an open mass of 20 Covs with a couple tanks guarding the Banshee you have to steal to fly up to the tunnel in the mountain.

 

[PsychoPere]

For those of you picking Halo 1, how do you feel about repeating the same rooms/corridors over and over again?

Well, the first few times I played the campaign way back when, it didn't bother me too much. When I got around to, say, the sixth time... But it paved the way for everything that has followed, so it will often get the nod from me based on nostalgia and opening the franchise in the first place. And I am a franchise fan, not just a fan of the games; I've been reading the novels as they come out (though I have yet to purchase the Evolutions anthology or the comics collections) and I quite enjoyed the Halo Legends animated anthology.

I'll always remember my favorite set in Halo 1. It's when you're at one end of the valley and at the other end is just an open mass of 20 Covs with a couple tanks guarding the Banshee you have to steal to fly up to the tunnel in the mountain.

If I'm remembering correctly, that was near the end of the game, right? I used to sneak past the tanks by staying on one side of the map, grab the Banshee, then swing back around and blow the hell out of the Wraiths.