Which Halo Is The Best?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 18 чер 2024
- I think now is finally the right time for me to answer the question: “Which Halo is the best?”
Halo Infinite has been out for 18 months, I’ve played all eight mainline Halo games in the series through again over the past 12 months and I’ve spent most of my free time writing about Halo too.
Now, all that’s left to do is choose my number one Halo, as well as the unfortunate campaign propping up the bottom of my list.
If you enjoy the video, do consider subscribing, and thanks for watching!
Patreon: / ben_plays_games
Twitter: / benplaysgames5
Instagram: / ben.plays.games
#halo #bungie #343
Contents:
00:00 - Intro
00:35 - Eighth
05:17 - Seventh
11:04 - Sixth
16:57 - Fifth
22:46 - Fourth
28:50 - Third
35:00 - Second
41:23 - The Best Halo - Ігри
✅ Subscribe: ua-cam.com/users/BenPlaysGames
🖱 Support the channel: www.patreon.com/ben_plays_games
I can see this video in particular being a bit controversial! Do let me know how you'd rank the games and why.
Hope you know the MCC isn't all of the Halo game's ur missing acouple
I agree with your order of your First Halo game choice and the order of your last four Halo game choices even though I haven't play Halo Infinite as of the date of this comment. I would have changed the order of your Second to Fourth Halo game choices to be in a different order. Good video anyway. 👍
Halo 2 for story, Halo Reach for total package.
Can't argue too much with this. 2 is definitely the one for me story wise and say 3 or Reach are the most well rounded of them all.
halo 5 had the best story, halo infinite had the most content, halo 4 was the best sequel
lol just kidding they're all trash
Halo 3 seemed the most well rounded. Great campaign, an improved multilayer that fixed all of Halo 2s issues, and so many new features during a time where people actually used them to make the community better. I'm still chasing the high Halo 3 multiplayer left me with.
@@Blox117 You had me in the first half.😂
@@spartanq7781 also halo 5 req packs is better than ODST
As a total experience, it’s always going to be 3 for me. The ad campaign leading up to everything, the story, the music, that bombastic ending- everything. Reach and Combat Evolved are tied for a very close second, but 3 will always have that special place in my heart.
The marketing trailers were enough to give chills!
I went to a midnight launch even for 3, was so excited. It totally lived up to expectations too, which was a huge relief considering, as you hear about in the video, I wasn't the biggest fan of 2. I still remember going online and there being 1.1 million people or so playing too, insane.
My friend came over to my house the day I got Halo 3 and we stayed up all night beating the campaign. Years later he ended up working at Bungie!
@@sam_ac_smith That's awesome, my dream job would be working in video games!
I think Halo 3 gets elevated too much due to nostalgia. It was good, but the writing for the campaign was sub par compared to the rest of the series or at least the Bungie games
Halo 3 had the best levels, Halo 2 had the best story, CE had the best sci-fi atmosphere, Reach was the most well rounded. And all of them had the best music. Great video by the way, really well done ranking.
CE also had the best AI imo
Reach is absolutely not well rounded lmao. The gunplay is among the worst in the series. Every weapon is such a headache to use. Halo 3 is the most well rounded
I find Reach's story and gunplay quite bad. The plot is non-existent until the last two missions. My ranking:
1. Halo 3
2. Halo CE
3. Halo 2
4. Halo 3 ODST
5. Halo Reach
Ehh, I would disagree. It may be the best designed but for its actual intelligence, halo 2 and 3 is leagues better. Halo 3 are much more squad oriented while halo 2 are more tactical. The only issue with halo 2 ai is they like to stand in the spot, but thats due to them being programmed to, which I guess was to save on performance they actually have a checkbox to enable always move during combat, in which, if the ai is in combat, it will attempt to always be moving.
The halos proceeding ce also gave you the option of letting your allies drive, and swap weapons. In reach they can also detect invisible enemies.
The way the ai also behaves is better in the new games. The ai orders in halo 1 are very simplistic compared to halo 2 and even more so than halo 3 and reaches task trees.
Halo 1 ai also have a bad habit for friendly fire.
@@bringthecheese9504 Nice troll!
One thing I rarely hear anyone touch on that puts CE above the rest, in particular 2. For me it’s the sense of mystery. The upgraded graphics with 2 and 3 are nice and a natural progression; but the limitations on CE made the world feel more alien. I remember loading up H2 for the first time and being both excited and disappointed to see plants and cars and details that added the the story, but made it all feel familiar again. There’s something for me that’s magical about CE that helps me escape the every day. Your analysis and ranking is spot on (though I would rank infinite above odst personally
Strongly agree with this. CE has this great sense of mystery, adventure and exploration. I also think it has the very best art direction in the series.
It also feels kinda… lonely a lot of the time? Thar also helps create that feeling. And just excellent ambience sound design where the soundtrack turns off and let you really breathe in the environment.
This might very well be the most important but at the same time least talked about thing about CE and definitely ought to have more recognition
I guess I’ll add to my thoughts a bit too. It’s not that CE lacked all modern things, but those familiar things were more like Easter eggs than parts of the environment. Whether it’s the missing cat billboard or the cafeteria menu or the thirsty grunt making modern references. The environment was the essentials of space warfare operations. Even the assault rifle is dramatically different than modern rifles, but then they brought in the battle rifle that looks like just about most generic rifles. There are a lot more details I’m not thinking about right now, but I loved CE because it was science fiction and the others are fantastic, but just a little less mysterious
I touch on the mystery of Combat Evolved in my video covering The Library, as there are a lot of interesting comments made by Guilty Spark. I used to spend hours on the forums reading fan theories, was a simpler time on the internet.
Just curious, why Infinite over ODST?
My big issue with 4 was that it never gave me the feeling of heroism that the bungie games gave me. Ce 2 and 3 felt so epic, then 4 felt more like call of duty
I noticed that Halo 4 could be a Halo clone if they just renamed the main characters and factions. Even the aliens are different from all the other games.
@@rhamlet5290 you're right. It always bugged me that they changed the covenant species so much.
I like 4 but this is the bigger problem... But I think that 343 didn't want to do so much heroism. Chief acted like a soldier and at the end, he loses Cortana while he still hoped to save her. Everything was for this. It wasn't to "heroize" the Chief again, although he really was a hero. The game portrayed his despair of losing someone important. And he still not going to Earth before stopping the greatest enemy to humanity...
Hmmmm, anyway, 343 could have done a little better. But I think it was a good first job for them...
343 sucks that’s why
Overall I think Halo 2 has to be the best in the series. I believe the flip in Halo 2’s storytelling cannot be understated how ballsy and compelling it was. Halo: CE was this mystifying yet contained story and Halo 2 just opened up an entire universe- that was done so exceptionally well it created a almost 20year devoted fandom. That I for one know will last a life time.
Glad to see Halo 2 getting the love it deserves. It had some amazing music, exceptional characters with believable and understandable motives and beliefs. And the progression of the story just worked. The stakes felt high and the arbiter was a welcome addition and helped us experience the covenant from another angle. It was the perfect sequel and only suffers from a rushed/ cut short ending.
Some part of me would love a full on remake of that game. But with Halo's recent history I'm not sure what studio could do it justice.
Thing is Halo 2 is the best in almost everything (I'm talking only about Bungie Halos btw): story, writing, soundtrack etc. all goes to Halo 2, but it messed up so bad the gameplay and level design Halo CE established that it feels a slog to play though most of the times. Still a million times better than Halo 4 or 5 and it's still an incredible game.
@@jasinjonuzi1784 I agree that Halo 2 is just simply the best Halo in every respect but I don’t understand what you mean by a slog with gameplay? I never felt that. The gameplay was just as much fun as CE.
@@ky.holden99 Halo 2 all the way mate !!
@@jedi196 Maybe it's just me but I don't feel like any Halo reached the peakness of Halo CE gameplay (it's not because of nostalgia, i picked up the series with Reach). Halo 2 gameplay often felt buggy (one example is melees not registering or enemies melees extending through ur back), also Bungie felt the need to nerf various weapons which imo damaged the sandbox since many weapons became useless (looking at Halo 2 pistol). Last thing I want to mention is legendary and I've got only one word to describe it: cheap. As I've said this game is still fenomenal but I can't help but think that without these issues it could have been a masterpiece.
(I'm not english so sorry if my english is bad.)
Combat Evolved will always be my first love, but Halo 2 is my favourite for how much it fleshed out the Universe
Also the Theme tears right through my soul each and everytime I hear it...
I think some of the best moments in any halo games are when you’re alone, bungie had a incredible way of making the player feel completely alone and very isolated.
It’s hard to explain but it just hits different playing halo CE past the half way point or controversially cortana from halo 3. It evokes a feeling I just can’t explain.
I love Combat Evolved's openness, game can be pretty chill at time just wandering around the outdoors when there aren't any enemies nearby.
Introvert much?
Honestly I feel like the art style from CE aged better than 2
Completely agree. I love playing through CE with the old graphics even if I enjoy the new one, but the old graphics of H2 makes my eyesight literally blurry a bit. I don't like that I don't like it, but it is what it is. Halo 1 to me is timeless.
Espescially after the graphics bugfixes in the last few years I think CE is downright gorgeous. The way metal reflect in forerunner structures alone is just so pretty. It’s like alien sacred brutalist architecture. Austere and simple yet somehow grand.
2 goes for a less bright, more Earthy colour palette, which isn't as visually engaging as Combat Evolved. It still looks fantastic.
Every time I play Halo 2 anniversary edition, I think “huh, I wonder what this looked like back in 2004”. I push the button to swap the textures, and it looks like a foggy, greyed out mess wherever I go.
This is a bit unfair because like how much of ce was horribly ported to pc with a lot of graphical glitches and missing effects, so was halo 2 watered down. If you have an original copy of halo 2, it looks much better, just like how we fought as a community to keep halo ce original vision and art alive, we have to make sure halo 2s doesn't die either.
As for art styles, halo 2 in my opinion looked better character model wise, like any of the moving ai characters and designs looked way better, but halo ce was simplistic in its detail for the environments which meant it was in a place where artistically it doesn't age poorly as it looks stylistic. Halo 2 went for a more realistic look, so it aged more poorly as tech improved. Halo 3 went for a more stylistic look again which is why the game still looks great to this day, barring a few facial models. The lighting in halo 3 and odst was just perfect and they haven't topped it since.
For me it has to be Halo 2. People criticise the smaller vehicle arenas but I always felt like they give just enough space for maneuvering while not being _too_ large. The gunplay felt just right, the Battle Rifle is my favorite weapon, and the flood encounters were moody and dark which really helped them feel menacing. Heroic also feels like the perfect difficulty for me there. I love 3, but I'm stuck in an annoying valley where Heroic feels a little _too_ easy, and legendary feels a little _too_ hard.
Honestly I love how the split in the comments so far feels very even, Bungie made an incredible series and it's great that everyone has an iteration they feel speaks to them personally
I found H3 legendary to be too easy, actually! CE legendary is the most balanced imo.
Love your last comment there in particular and completely agree - there's such a split between the different games and who ranks them where (apart from 4 and 5 which haven't had as much luck). Also, no one's called me stupid or similar yet, which is nice, as it does tend to happen once or twice when I do these videos haha.
Going from Golden Eye to Halo CE is something you wouldn't understand unless you lived it. Incredible!
18:44 Tell me you didn't just try to toss a grenade at that sniper jackal. 🤣
Sometimes you have to dream big.
Halo 2 for me. Story, gameplay, atmosphere, art design, characters, and just the general feeling of the game are just right imo
Halo 2 is king ❤
For me, 2 falls down a bit too much on gameplay. If it were more like CE, 3 and Reach in that regard, it would have been second on my list or even potentially number one.
@@BenPlaysGames I mean you can’t go wrong with any of those
I'm a sucker for great ai companions and I think halo 2 did it the best. The marines here are tough and smart enough to take on squads of covie on their own, even when greatly outnumbered. A squad of 2 or 3 marines can handle a squad of covie without player help, even until heroic difficult, and on legendary, if you play aggressive fast and smart with marine BR support you can make some encounters a breeze.
Halo 3 marine ai is also, decent but individually weaker, you can have an entire squad on legendary die to 1 brute shot brute, which doesn't happen in halo 2. Barring halo 2 ultras, marines do not get wiped as easily as they could in halo 3.
In halo 2 they feel tactical and coordinated, they only really fall apart due to legendary enemy ai just having ridiculous damage numbers, if you mod the game to level the playing field, you'd find that marines are actually one of highest tiered ai, usually outperforming elites. Especially the elites with similar health values (elite minor and marine have 100 hp, or 150)
Marines in halo 2 are best equipped with BRs, sniper rifles, beam rifles and carbines. They land headshots pretty regularly so they easily dispatch of gru to, jackals, and brutes, quickly leaving the elites to fight a squad of marines on their own.
@@halinaqi2194 Halo 2 Marines are amazing! I find the Elites when you are the Arbiter a little too crazy haha.
For me Halo CE is and always will be the best game in the series. It has by far the best gunplay, controls, atmosphere, and soundtrack, not to mention there's never a single dull moment and missions like 343 Guilty Spark are among my favorites of any video game I've ever played. It's a timeless masterpiece that holds up 20+ years later.
I echo your thoughts Victor, game's a masterpiece that was so, so far ahead of anything else on console when it came out. You just don't get a lot of games like that nowadays with the leaps between generations becoming less and less important.
By far the best gunplay and controls? That’s objectively wrong and you know it
@@MrDudeman9442bro hasn’t used UNSC weapons
I mean you are definetly viewing it with rose tinted glasses. I played halo 1 much later on than when it released, but there are dull moments. There is a lot of repeated level geometry, and sections when you just find yourself moving around with nothing going on.
If halo ce had 1 main flaw it would be the repetitive use of level geometry to pad out run time. People like to congratulate ce on how wide open the battle fields are but, I disagree. A lot of the large areas have often little enemies populating it, and inwould prefer more focused vehicle arenas like that of halo 3 or 2 in which they have the resources freed up from large arenas to add more stuff to the encounter. Like you come out of the cave in two betrayals and you see a group of covenant chilling on a hill with a couple banshee overhead and 15 or so flood rushing, but this massive area only has 1 or 2 points if interest, with the rest of it just being space.
@@halinaqi2194yea I think this creator is looking at it with love goggles for sure. It's a great game but very dated and painfully slow paced missions (not all but enough to be a chore to beat in one sitting)
My friend and I legit fell asleep during a marathon run of it. We stopped on the last level cuz we couldn't stand it any more. At least 2 and 3 I can beat in one sitting cuz it doesn't have as many dull moments.
Playing 2 betrayals on legendary co-op is still among my favourite gaming memories. Smashing our way through an active battlefield was fantastic. Debating who takes the rocket launcher or the sniper rifle. Ah, great days
and then both getting blown up by the rocket flood, good times haha
Everything you said applies to my bro and I.
It has to be reach. It was the first halo game I played and it has a special place in my heart. Pure nostalgia moment.
First one you play will always be remembered fondest I reckon. That's might be why I'm such a raging Combat Evolved fanboy.
@@BenPlaysGamesI played CE first but halo 4 is my favorite. I'm a sucker for love stories lmao
Nostalgia doesn’t mean it’s good. I have nostalgia for sharkboy and lava girl. It doesn’t make it a good film.
@@ethanbenson Comparing that t o reach is a crime lol
@@ethanbenson Sharkboy and Lavagirl is a classic though.
I love all the Bungie Halos but CE is the one that I find myself going back to play through the campaign again the most. It was my first FPS game and a core part of my childhood.
have u played any of the hlaf life gmes
@@magninecul8922 Yes Ive played Black Mesa, Alex, and 2.
Nostalgia bias right there.
ODST is a very close second for personal favorite, especially because it's a fairly mongoose heavy game if you want it to be, and I love that little thing, but it doesn't have three gates.
If it was a list based on soundtrack quality, ODST would be close to the top for me, absolutely love it. Game's just so atmospheric.
Halo 3 has a lot to love besides its soundtrack. It introduced Forge, which was the first thing I jumped into when I got it. It's multiplayer was king back in the day. It was THE reason to have XBOX live. I still jump into custom games from time to time. The soundtrack is god tier. And more importantly, it actually made the brutes a fantastically fun enemy to fight, and set a gold standard for enemy AI. It's art design is great. It's voice acting is fantastic, especially Jen Taylor's. It also gave us softness in some of the characters, and a little depth, which is just fantastic. And then there's the Covenant. It's the best Halo mission. Not the best Halo 3 mission. The best Halo mission. It's a gold standard for me, for how to transition from outdoor to indoor spaces, and include fantastic vehicle segments. Plus, it helps that Halo 3 generally feels less gimmicky than Halo 2.
Odst is my second favourite also, the entire setting was intriguing to me, and playing when I was young with a friend has so many memories
I'll never not be mad that Reach and ODST aren't top 2.
I love halo, but I loved how different those two games were, expanding the universe I loved so much.
reach HANDS down has the best campaign and in my opinion had a community that was still truly active
Those are my two favorite games to replay, but I do have to give CE the credit it deserves for building an amazing world, story, and atmosphere. Especially once you consider that Halo CE did it all completely from scratch.
The game shows its age a little bit, but it will always be the most iconic Halo game.
People really sleep on halo wars. I can see why, but it is still really well put. Somewhat ironically it feels a bit more grounded in the halo universe than the mainline titles.
You have a point. The first HW is a fantastic game.
Videos on Halo Wars coming soon!
@@BenPlaysGames Maybe after your frustrated solo attempt and you are done with that review we can talk about how to improve your strats and see HW with refreshed eyes after. If you are still up for it.
@@KeithBoehlerDefinitely! To be fair, I think I would have been a lot better if I wasn't on stream, it's pretty hard to really think hard about a game like that while also trying to talk about it. I feel good about the second half stream, going to finish strong.
The larger levels of Halo CE made it feel like you were fighting on a larger battlefield. That is a major thing I love about it.
Except most of the time it was copy and paste. As you waddle around and accomplish nothing. Try again.
I was introduced to the series with Reach, but Halo 3 is my current favorite. My only complaint with H3 is its too short!
Halo 3 could have legit been 2-3 missions longer without it feeling drawn out, game's got so much variety.
Quality over Quantity. All mission in halo 3 are unique and they aren't as linear as halo 2. And didn't recycled the maps on various missions like halo ce. Halo 3 has many plot holes though.
Halo 3 will always have a special place in my heart as the first halo I played.
Having said that, I played every halo that came on the 360, Playing CEA last, and even tho I already knew the story and watched playthroughs... The first time you get introduced to the flood, really creeped me out and gave me chills, it's really really well done 👌🏻
Nice to see an acknowledgement of Exuberant Witness; she gets forgotten (unsurprisingly considering 5 as a whole isn't worth remembering), but I actually quite liked the character and wouldn't mind seeing her return in a good Halo game.
She reminds me of the original Monitor of Installation 07. Too bad we never got a chance to meet that monitor because of “plot.”
An awesome character I'm 99% certain will neve be mentioned again!
absolutely loving your longer form content lately! these videos must take a lot of work so it’s greatly appreciated. keep up the great work as always brother!
Honestly you have the best Halo content on UA-cam. The long-form content is awesome and I’d love more of that, but I’ll honestly watch any/all Halo stuff you put out! Keep up the good work!
That's really kind of you Matt, thank you dude. And will do!
Long format video essays like this have been increasingly popular on UA-cam over the last few years. There’s a lot of creators that think they’re better at them than they are. With that said, you do a great job with these and I love each entry!
Cheers Joey! I absolutely love long form video game stuff and have been watching them for years, but I do have one gripe. Recently, a lot of the new ones I've checked out have been more descriptions of the game rather than a critique/analysis - "then the main character went here and did this" etc etc. Not a big fan of that kind of thing, it doesn't really add anything that I couldn't experience by playing the game.
Good job on the length of the video very long and I enjoyed it ❤
Cheers Todd, appreciate that!
Great video and analysis as always. For me, 3 will always hold a special place in my heart. Upon a recent series playthrough, I actually found myself enjoying ODST the most!
Thanks SW20 (that's not a reference to the postcode is it?). ODST's a cracker, love jumping into the missions for a quick blast of Halo when I've not got a ton of time.
Halo 2 imo was the best competitive FPS of all time. From a team vs team aspect and FFA. From gameplay, map design, sandbox and skill gap… it was all perfect.
It was so exciting to have a fluid, intuitive way of playing an FPS on console. Myself and friends had spent ages previously hooking an Xbox up to the PC so we could play Combat Evolved 16 player online through Gamespy, which was so awesome, but to be able to do it so easily when Halo 2 came out was incredible.
Great video! All the points you put forward were obviously well thought out and well presented, very entertaining stuff as always! My fav will always be Halo 2, just since that's what I played first, wonder what they could have done with another year of development time on that. Thanks for the content as always.
Nice one pchurch! Was a real labour of love getting this one done - I planned to do a couple of minutes for each game but it just kept growing and growing. My wonderful fiancée was very patient with me, as I spent a ridiculous amount of time working on it the last few days. Agree re Halo 2 as well. It's the Bungie title that was clearly most affected by a lack of development time and I'd have loved to have see what it would have been like with an extra 12-18 months work done on it.
Fantastic watch! I really enjoyed your take on the strengths and the weaknesses of each game. What you found compelling and what you think fell short. You weren't overall biased either you gave criticism where it was due, but also praise.
Cheers mate! I always try to give a fair appraisal where possible, although I struggle at times with Combat Evolved as I love it so much.
Thanks Ben, your description of Reach perfectly describes reach to me. I too was in college when Reach releases meaning I too rushed through the campaign and worried more about the countless hours of forge and multiplayer with friends ahead of me.
I've since replayed it thanks to it's inclusion into the MCC. I now have a whole new level of respect for it!
Thanks for the videos Ben❤
No worries Kyle, appreciate you checking them out!
I've thought about it for awhile and it's got to be Threach. 3 and Reach played back to back or concurrently.
3 and Reach definitely the most solid campaigns in the series, they're my most played after Combat Evolved.
When you finally pull out all the stops and make a “which halo is the best” video that really doesn’t give us much hope for what is to come in the future. (Also first.)
No need to worry mate, still plenty of life in the old dog yet!
@@BenPlaysGames good to hear! Keep up the great work!
@@ChefandTheArbistor Cheers dude, will do!
So excited for this one! Cheers!
No problem Thomas, hope you like it!
Reach. Great level design, story, pacing, characterization, gunplay, new abilities, new weapons and a massive expansion to the sandbox (literally and figuratively with forge world)
Already here baby, fun to listen to these at work
Enjoy mate!
I've been looking forward to this!
Hope it lives up to expectations my man!
My powers have doubled since the last time we met count
@@jackmb9760 Good. Twice the pride, double the fall!
Let’s go😂😂
Halo 2 is not only my favorite Halo game but it very well might be, in my opinion, the best video game ever made. Although I'll admit, I didn't really have a true appreciation for Halo 1 until many years after I first played it. I loved Halo CE right from the start, but it wasn't until I went back and replayed the game in my late teens and early adulthood that I really began to see just what a masterpiece it was. Honestly, it makes me rank Halo 3 in third place, which feels wrong because of how amazing of a game it was, but H1 and H2 and just a little bit better.
Great video thanks for sharing
No wozzas, glad you enjoyed it!
Outstanding content again
Cheers Hoytfx!
Halo CE, 2 or 3. Take your pick, the order is up to you. Story, art design, multiplayer, campaign, so-on - it doesn't matter. I'd say CE is top in all these positions, but compared to anything more recent than 3 (or ODST), it doesn't matter.
Nothing made after 3 is canon - all those stupid novels aren't canon either - because I said so!
Reach for me, I spent a lot of time in all of them but the most time in Reach. Love that game despite its imperfections.
Halo 3 is my favorite. It just seemed like one of the biggest leaps in terms of graphics, and multiplayer in the whole series. The story is so epic and awesome and it just has so many incredible moments. I had so much fun with my friends on this game, it’s just legendarily awesome.
Halo 3 is not only the best halo game, but the ultimate halo experience. The halo community at the time was at it's absolute peak, so many new players wanted in on the fuzz, custom games were dominant, forge was so addicting, just the halo games after couldn't capture the same energy as halo 3.
Enjoyed the video Ben, I would’ve put halo infinite before Halo 4 as I’m still bitter about how it conned me into taking a day off work on release only to find out you couldn’t download the campaign until after 6pm!
Another excellent analysis. Looking forward to more!
it can’t be anything but CE for me. it’s the complete package. amazing story, amazing music, amazing and fair gameplay, amazing multiplayer, and so much more. sure other halo games might have CE beat in one department or another, but everything in CE is at least 9.5 worthy
100% agree.
Halo CE will always be my fave halo, i remember playing a fun goffy game to a complete horror game that gave my younger nephew such bad nightmares.
To this day 343 guilty spark is my favorite level of all video games
The first two notes of the score of that open in halo 5 are quite similar to the avengers main theme in fairness Ben 😂 I felt the same, I know that's how Spartans are in the lore but without that doom eternal style pace and game play mechanics I felt like the pace had hit the breaks when you actually start playing yourself
Halo Infinite open world for me was amazing. I felt the addictive gameplay and fun AI really never got old. I wish they went with for of a Gears 5 approach and had separate small open worlds with different biomes and side quests. I want to see Chief, Weapon and the Pilot back again and more of the banished architecture. Also 343 easily created the best forerunner aesthetic next to CE. Infinite for me is the second best after Halo 2.
Halo 3 was the first FPS game I ever played, since that for me is the best Halo for the variation of weapons and vehicles, the ost still have a special place on me, every time I get back to this game is like playing for the first time, I just love it so much.
As one of the main Bungie gameplay developers famously said, You can have the graphics, physics & sound, but if the game doesn’t nail that 30 seconds of fun over and over again while playing it, then you’re not going to have a good video game, So I agree wholeheartedly that Halo1 definitely nails that 30 seconds of fun over and over again better than all of the other Halo games.
To me, Halo really fell off after Reach. I played Halo 4 but did not continue on afterwards. I love watching your videos and am able to be filled in on what has happened after 4, but to be honest I don’t think I’ll ever get around to playing 5 or Infinite. Of all the games I did play, Halo 2 is my absolute favorite followed by Halo CE, Reach, 3, ODST and 4. The way 2 expanded upon the Halo universe is one of the reasons why it’s my favorite for me. Also, the Halo 2 brutes were my favorite version of them by far. Their tenacity and difficulty to fight made for some of the most exciting enemies to come up against for me (legendary was a bit ridiculous though lol). All in all, fantastic video man! Looking forward for more to come!
Cheers jack! I'd say 4 and 5 can be skipped but Infinite might be worth a go if you ever find the time. It's got a lot of issues but the core gameplay is very good.
@@BenPlaysGames that’s good to know, I’ll have to give it a run through sometime here soon. Thanks for the heads up!
Yeah Cortana is a drag, but that black screen followed by “you found me” gets me every time
I don't know if your aware of this but in the books, Reach fell in about 3 hours and was mostly set in space. I don't know how well that would've translated to Video Game and it's understandable why Bungie changed it.
yes ít waso
I still believe that CE plays better than most other shooters well into the mid 2010s, battlefield I feel only caught up with battlefield 1, cod with black ops 3 and far cry with 3. There’s just something about CE that is so FUN and still somehow grounded
I mostly agree with this list if we are talking about only the campaign, but if we are looking at multiplayer the reverse order is mostly correct. I don't care what people say about Halo 5 "not feeling like a halo game in it's movement" It was simply better than anything else before. I don't think it plays well with controller but as someone who played it on PC I have to say that game had the best core gunplay and movement I have ever seen. My only problem with it was spartan charge, but almost everything else was awesome. They could release Halo 5 today with competitive SBMM on PC and it would be way more popular than MCC and Infinite combined. Not amongst halo fans but amongst general gamers.
really exited for this video :) ...
not tier related but does anyone else really dislikes that the MCC helmet supposed to represent all halos until 4 is a completely unrelated helmet?
1, 2 and 3 are all tied for me. Each one is great in their own way. I'll never choose a favorite
Halo did flourish on PC. That’s where I first played it!
Halo Custom Edition and the Halo Maps website were where I spent a ton of my teenage years back in 2005
My favorite halo was 3 since it was the first one I played and actually payed attention to the story as much as an 8 year old can. With that being said this video kind of triggered me because it was placed 2nd and even worse I agreed with all your points. I hated those cortana slowed down moments lol.
Great video man!
I played Halo 3 the most, but 2 is my favorite campaign because of the story and characters. Every Halo game, to me, is fun to play. I don't care so much if 2 had more restricted levels than the first game or its sequel.. it had something special that the others didn't, and that's a witty story with interesting characters. Also the music and setpieces in Halo 2 are total perfection!
Good video, I enjoyed listening to your perspective on this great series.
Hunt the Truth, especially the audio drama following the reporter, is some outstanding marketing even by the standards set by the Bungie games. I'll never stop mourning the game we never got which actually follows up on it.
WOW, 10/10 ranking. I love Halo 2, but it really is weaker than Reach, CE, and 3. INSANE RESPECT FOR CE AT #1. People think just because the graphics are old that it isn’t fun. It’s is a masterpiece! People complain about the backtracking, as if they don’t understand the hardware limitations in 2001. CE story is simple and amazing, the soundtrack is BEYOND iconic, the gameplay is incredibly fun and replay-able, so valid bro, I’m subbing right now!
Your best yet. I can't get enough.
Cheers Jason, appreciate that mate!
Loved the video, but I think you should have specifically noted that you were only rating campaigns earlier. Unless I missed it if course
Tbh for me it’s 3, I only started playing halo when MCC came out but this was always the most fun for me, and apart from metropolis these where the missions I’d always play again and again even if I had only just the day before
Fantastic analysis. I think the only thing I'd potentially change would be Reach and 3, but it comes down to personal preference. It's disappointing but expected that 343 is a cut below the Bungie releases, and that goes for the score as well, and speaking of...
Could you imagine trying to rank that Bungie score? Marty O'Donnell is a god among men and I don't think I could actually rank his works because they're all bone-chillingly amazing.
Nice one Steve! Ranking Halo's scores would be nightmarish task. I actually have no idea what order I'd place them in at all.
When I played CE this year, I couldn't believe it was made in 2000, same with halo 4, I thought it was made in like 2015
So the first time I played Halo CE it was on some dodgy PC version that had been ripped off an Xbox. Can confirm it was still the most mindblowing game my 12 year old self ever experianced, even with our PCs extensive libriary of fps classics. I will never forget how capitivated I was just from the opening few frames of cutscenes alone.
Been playing halo since CE. To me CE/ Reach will always be my favorite. 2 and 3 and ODST I will always love as well
I don’t think gaming ever got better than a Halo 2 Xbox LAN party with friends, pizza, and Mountain Dew code red.
I bought my first Xbox Console (360) the same year the 10-year anniversary of Halo One (Combat Evolved) came out but knew nothing about Halo or any other video game for that matter but purchased Halo 3 because it was on sale for $10 at "Hastings". It was THE VERY FIRST video game I ever purchased and I fell in love with it and to this day I prefer Halo 3 above all the others though I do now own ALL of the Halo games. It was a couple of months later after I got good at using the controller that I purchased the anniversary edition of Halo Combat Evolved which is in my Top 3 Halo games. Reach is in there also.
Halo 5, which is a critical game in the HALO Series, could have been made a lot better by allowing you to just play Master Chief instead of the back and forth character thing. I liked the addition of being able to rescue or be rescued by another team member but not much more than that. It was kind of like multiplayer without the bother of having to find an actual human to control the other team members who sometimes got in the way or even shoot you in the back. 😆 They weren't much help in a big battle, they just kind of shot at whatever you were shooting at and ran around alot. It was actually two games in one, and one of which I didn't care for. Once I Mastered Halo 5 I spent the next few years impatiently waiting on #6 "Infinity" to find out what the hell was up with Cortana. I also purchase all the other Halo games during that time and got good at them before they finally released "Infinity".
I WAS VERY LET DOWN to find out they skipped over the whole Cortana thing & went right to the end of the Banished War where Master Chief had the task of salvaging what he could of his comrades and Humanity. The "Seasons" it's a great idea so I have no friends for the multiplayer part. Most of my friends are in their sixties and sadly don't play video games.
Though there were subtle hints at what happened with Cortana it was/IS still quite a letdown.
Was in my 50s and severely injured is why I started playing video games. Couldn't walk for five years thanks to a hit-and-run driver. I'm a lot better now and don't play as often but when I do it's generally one of the Halo games. Come to think of it, I haven't played Halo One in a few years now so I think I'll go do that right now and afterwards play Halo 3 for the 5000th time.
Later Yall. 🤠
My favourite - at least for campaign is ODST. It feels tailored for my taste with the atmosphere, music and being a smaller scale story, plus its built on 3's engine so it has aged well
It might not be the popular opinion but Halo CE is my favorite. There was just so much charm with that game that it'll always be my favorite
I joined the halo franchise late when I played halo 4, since it’s my first game into the series I have a soft spot for it, but I completely agree with how the new introductions to the enemies were handled compared to other titles, on that note I can’t choose between halo 3 or combat evolved being my favorite there are just so many good things about em
As a newbie to halo a couple years ago, I always used the anniversary graphics, thinking the original didn't look good. After your recommendations and revisiting the games, I liked the original graphics. The atmosphere was there unlike in the remaster.
(Edit:this may have nothing to do with the video but I just wanna address it)
Reach has my favorite multiplayer. Also my favorite gun, the needle rifle. It’s the only game that feels timeless to me. I go back to it and even as the years pass. I don’t feel like it needs a remaster or graphical update.
And since it hadn’t been mentioned in this video, can we talk about how good the voice acting is in the entire series? ESPECIALLY for video game standards?
This, exactly this. I never once thought we should have a Reach remaster or update. It looks, sounds, and plays just as well as you need it to.
Rewrite Id’ do to Halo 5: Evil Cortana is Cortana frag with Logic Plague and wishes to use Composer tech to digitally equalize all life like Gravemind wanted to, but organically with Flood. From that ONI wants to take control of Logic Plague Cortana to dominate Galaxy, Agent Lok as their main agent. Artiox and Banished become allies with Chief against ONI/Cortana in later titles?
My man giving Reach the respect it deserves
Halo CE is top of the list for me as well. A great time, and it has an atmosphere that I never really felt in the other Halos to the same extent.
Honestly, I think the graphics have aged pretty well for what they are, the art style and simplicity of it make it feel more timeless to me. I look at Halo 2's graphics and I never gelled with it as much
LETS GOOOO BEN!!!! I know this video will be one of the best yet! Cheers!!!
No worries Woodsy!
Unrelated but I dig the thumbnail. I wonder if that thumbnail could be made with halo 5 added on the bottom and halo infinite on the top.
Would be an epic wallpaper
I always viewed Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 3: ODST as parts of the same whole. Something about those games elevate them above the rest, even though I love nearly every game in the series.
Interesting thought, have never viewed them in that way. ODST being part of Halo 3, according to its title, always annoyed me, though - it definitely should have been Halo 2: ODST or Halo: ODST.
Even to this day, I still visit CE for pure nostalgia's sake.
Great minds and all that!
5 had some interesting depth and subtext that I don't think anyone has seen.
1.The warden was always fully under Cortana's control. The "conflict" between warden and Cortana was a show to motivate chief into position.
2. Cortana did not have full access to the Domain. She did not have full control over forerunner materials. She needed reclaimers to activate the access. The buttons Chief presses on Genesis activates a structure and allows Cortana to gain the full access to the Domain.
3. Cortana manipulated Chief to give her access to all the forerunner tech using the warden. She wanted to keep Chief and blue team in order to have reclaimers available if she ever needed them to unlock or access anything else.
4. She was totally rampant and her goal was to gain control of all forerunner stuff to impose complete control over all species in the galaxy. She likely didn't care about the other AI either, there was no cure for rampancy. Everything was just a tool, a means to an end. As for what she wanted to do after full control, I doubt she really knew. It was just her rampant personality driving her to seek power and control.
5. Was still a garbage halo game, no one cared enough to even try to figure out this obvious stuff...
The unanswered questions drew me in. 343 Studios answers pushed me away.
OG Halo 1 will always be in my heart
Personally:
2 (specifically with the enhanced cutscenes, those are simply beautiful) for the best full package
Reach for the campaign
4 for the multiplayer/forge/custom games
1 for nostalgia and fun, 2 for story and covenant background and lore, 3 for game play and multiplayer online, ODST for cool missions and wierd unique art style and earthbound fighting, reach for shooting feel, 4 for modernizing and bringing halo to a new level and the first new faction since Halo 1, and i played 5 super fast 1 time years ago and havent went back
I think what would be neat is if there was a game, somewhat like Reach, where you take on the role of Spartan Griffin, and it takes place in the 6 month time period where Chief is floating in space, beginning with the Banished’s strike on the Infinity, where you escort Lasky down to Zeta Halo, and you would attack the Banished in an open world campaign like Infinite’s and it would end with a “current objective: survive” like mission down at Infinite’s dig site. The end would be watching from inside Chak’ Lok’s torture machine in the Tower as Chief fought Chak’ Lok’ and set you free, then from Griffin’s point of view he would tell Chief all he knew, and it would end with Griffin passing away like he did in Infinite. Kinda like Reach plus Combat Evolved plus Infinite. Maybe it could include some interaction with Cortana and Atriox.
Reach has always been my favorite. The story line, the characters, the assassinations, the customization of 6, it is such a good game and the one I grew up loving. But halo 2 is also amazing
The hunt the truth podcast released to promote halo 5 was unbelievably good, i was crushed when the campaign didn't deliver the same quality
incredible!
Thanks Stephane!
When I'm deciding which game to play, it's usually between Halo 3 and Reach (with ODST being a common alternate)
Halo 1 = Great way to introduce the flood, variety in scenarios, atmosphere
Halo 2 = Story, gameplay and twists
Halo Reach = Graphics, Gameplay, Story
If you want to enjoy the mission cortana more I'd suggest trying to speed run it. This is coming from someone who hates both. They just work well together for some reason