What's your favorite Halo game? The Assembly
Metarch 102 posts Mendicant Bias Metarch 102 posts
Mendicant Bias
Wouldn't be an Archive board without the age old thread so here it is.


MYTHIC TIER


- Halo:CE
- Halo:2
- Halo 4
- Halo Wars


Legendary


- Halo 3
- Halo:Reach

Heroic

-Halo 3: ODST


ODST would be legendary tier however i didn't find the game long enough and the game was more stealth based than guns blazing, which is exactly how Bungie intended.  I think it would have been more appropriate for the ODST's to actually make the landing on Solemen Penance under the guise of nabbing a Highly Valued Target, yet later being purposed to obtain a fabled engineer while damaging if not destroying the ship prior to exfil.
 This would have been a nice callback to exploring a Covenant ship in Ce while providing an alternatively refreshing atmosphere.


As for Reach the canon issues hold the game back more than anything else. While "Tip Of The Spear" did it's job of a decent large scale assault being diverted from the head on engagement was one the the biggest blue balls i've gotten besides ODST's intro and a few parts of Halo 3 (rolls eyes at " The Storm").  Attempting to shed light on Reach's massive underground Forerunner structures by simply introducing a ship,involving Cortana, yet never explaining what was going on severely disappointed me as well.
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holice Chronicle 1 posts
holice
My favorite game is Halo 4. We see the Chief having to handle a problem that a bullet cant fix. Namely Cortana going rampant.
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Venture Jones Admin 119 posts
Venture Jones
Honestly...I like Halo 5. It has grown on me and I really enjoy it. The story is ok for me too, but I never really went back to the campaign in the past games a whole lot too. The customization would be one of my only issues. I want my gold star. Legendary tier, because I never expected to enjoy it this long.

But Halo 1-3 would be Mythic tier for me. With Halo 3 ODST a close addition, only for the MP. Though the campaign is dope. The reasons for 1-3, well...isn't it obvious? They're the OGs!

Halo Reach and the rest would be Heroic tier. Really good overall, just not my first picks, but my last.
🏜🎻🎮👌
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Gob Metarch 113 posts
Gob
I won't list all of them, but rather one for each tier.

Mythic:

Halo 3. I say this because it was the first Halo that I played through it's entire life cycle, and got to experience at it's peak. The campaign does have some holes in it, but at the time I was unaware of all that. So really to me it was a very cinematic and immersive experience, with the music and settings to be the most memorable. The fact that I did it all co-op with my brother makes it that much more special to me. On the Multiplayer side, I've poured tons of hours into. It introduced me to real online play. Headsets and lag, competitive and creative things like Forged maps and custom games. Screenshots and saved films seemed way ahead of it's time too.

Legendary: 

Halo 2 was the first Halo I ever got my hands on. Played it at a cousins house on holidays when the whole family was over. I actually can remember my first assassination clear as day. It was a 1v1 on Beaver Creek, where we would pass the controller to our partners when we died. I don't know what made me hit the B button to melee, but when I did a pink spartan when flying down a ramp and the room blew up with excitement. On the campaign side of things, H2 is one that gets into detail about political and cultural aspects of the covenant, and the parallel of a theocratic alien covenant, against a gritty future military really makes this title stand out. Not to mention the great a varied cast of characters.

Heroic: 

I might have to go with Halo 5 on this one. We all know all the disappointments it had, so I'll focus on the positives. The "guns down" levels really gave the game a chance to breath, and let you interact and observe what ever environment you were in. I hope we see these return and expanded on in the future. Speaking of which, the environments are some of the best in the series, imo. I wont make a list but they all felt "alive" in some way. In some parts they did feel a bit crowded, but when they shined, they shined. I wish Osiris got a little more depth but they are absolutely ripe for development in the future. The cutscenes also looked incredible, I just wish they were longer. They feel more like ads before a YouTube video rather than actual cutscenes. 

Honorable mentions:

Halo: Reach - Reach switched up the formula a bit in a way that today feels pretty clunky. Forge made great advances here and set the stage for the amazing forge we have today. The highlight of the campaign was the feeling you got that the planet was actually being invaded and actually falling. The throwaway characters and canon issues in it though prevent it from being higher on my list.

ODST - Groundbreaking in the you weren't playing as a spartan for the first time ever (or since?). It had the underdog feeling of fighting from underneath, with a mystery and a sense of urgency. Again, generic, corny characters hold it back a bit. The "stealth" in this game doesn't amount to much more than crouching and walking in a big circle around enemies. Obviously this is on the Halo 3 engine, so it's not gonna be much different, but if ODST were to make any kind of return, I'd like to see the stealth expanded on with indicators or a stealth system or something. When this game got announced as "Halo 3: Recon" I was heavy into Rainbow Six Vegas and wanted it to have a cover system and everything, lol. Still doesn't sound like a bad idea now that I think on it. 
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British Tyrannosaur Chronicle 15 posts
British Tyrannosaur

Halo 3 simply because it was my first one. But I do really love the campaign,

Lately I've recognized the faults and behind the scenes issues. In gameplay lately i notice how bad the gunplay is.
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DARK REIGN12 Creator 13 posts
DARK REIGN12
Halo 4, 2, and ODST for me as Mythic. 

Halo 3 and CE as Legendary.

Halo Reach and 5 as Heroic
Twitter

Now I'm Motivated!
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DisMANTLERr Chronicle 14 posts
DisMANTLERr
MYTHIC

Halo 4
Halo 2
Halo 3: ODST

LEGENDARY

Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Wars

HEROIC

Halo: Wars 2
Halo: Reach
Halo 5: Guardians
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Quirel Chronicle 67 posts
Quirel
Not going to go through with the Mythic/Legendary/Heroic rankings, but I will name the game that most improved in the rankings: Halo Wars.

I didn't like it at all when it released. I hated it as a Halo game, I was disappointed in it as an RTS, and I generally thought it was whoring out the franchise. Now I think it's a charming little game that did a lot of things right, when you take into account the fact that it's an RTS built for the console. And there's all these little touches that show that the guys at Ensemble Studios really did care about the universe, from the unlockable timeline to the absolutely gorgeous environment art in the first half of the campaign.

Are there things I would have done differently? Absolutely. But I'm not sure how much of that is doable on the console, and many of my ideas would probably drown the game in features that wreck the balance and add nothing to the game's depth. As delivered, Halo Wars was a helluva game, and I can't wait for the threequel.
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Mendicant Bias Metarch 102 posts
Mendicant Bias
Frankly speaking Halowars 2 is absolute garbage in terms of plot, i’m not sure how they mastered story telling on the first installment only to completely disregard any structure for the sequel.

The entire playthrough i kept asking Gob if we were missing anything as the plot was nonexistent.

I’m not sure if the Banished  jumping to a point outside of the Galaxy is a bigger issue than SoF magically ending up there as well. What other portal exists for the Banished to travel through if not how did they get the location and how long was the journey?

After that the campagin is nothing more than keeping the Ark from Banishment control which has zero sense of urgency or desperation because we know they aren’t going to control the Ark and everything feels so blatantly pointless.


I grew up on Command & Conquer specifically the Red Alert and Tiberium series'. Not a single game had a campagin so unfocused or devoid of meaning as Halo Wars 2.  This is the first Halo game i genuinely saw more as a money grab than anything and everyone knows how much i hate Halo 3 and Reach.
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Quirel Chronicle 67 posts
Quirel
Mendicant Bias wrote:
Frankly speaking Halowars 2 is absolute garbage in terms of plot, i’m not sure how they mastered story telling on the first installment only to completely disregard any structure for the sequel.

The entire playthrough i kept asking Gob if we were missing anything as the plot was nonexistent.

Simple answer: The guys who wrote Halo Wars packed up and moved on to other projects. Halo Wars 2 was developed by a completely different developer. I'm not sure anyone who worked on the original worked on the sequel.

Mendicant Bias wrote:
I’m not sure if the Banished  jumping to a point outside of the Galaxy is a bigger issue than SoF magically ending up there as well. What other portal exists for the Banished to travel through if not how did they get the location and how long was the journey?

Oh joy, just wait until you read Hunters In The Dark.
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Mendicant Bias Metarch 102 posts
Mendicant Bias
Quirel wrote:

Simple answer: The guys who wrote Halo Wars packed up and moved on to other projects. Halo Wars 2 was developed by a completely different developer. I'm not sure anyone who worked on the original worked on the sequel.

Quirel wrote:

Oh joy, just wait until you read Hunters In The Dark.



I was on the Halowars forum when the original devs shutdown but expected some to transfer over.

Yea i’m still catching up picked up Mythos yesterday might snag another book tommorow.
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Quirel Chronicle 67 posts
Quirel
Mendicant Bias wrote:



I was on the Halowars forum when the original devs shutdown but expected some to transfer over.

Yea i’m still catching up picked up Mythos yesterday might snag another book tommorow.

I left a few months before the game launched. They changed the forum software, and the new build wouldn't accept special characters in a username. So that was the last of Rasq'uire'laskar.

I do not actually recommend Hunters In The Dark. It's easily one of the weakest novels that 343i has put out in the last four years. I recommend either Broken Circle (Everyone but me seems to like it) or Last Light.
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HurryingCandy Creator 42 posts
HurryingCandy
Main Game = ODST
Long time fav  = Halo 2
WOW game = Halo CE
: O Game = Halo 4
O_O Game = Halo 3
Yeah = Halo Wars
Nice = Halo 5
Nice 2 = Halo Wars 2
Ok = Halo Reach

That's also my order of favorite game Best to least
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Tense Chronicle 18 posts
Tense
Mythic Tier:
Halo 3
Halo CE

Legendary Tier:
Halo Reach
Halo 4
Halo 3 ODST
Halo 2
Halo Wars

Meh Tier:
Halo Wars 2

Shit Tier
Halo 5 
AND DEY SAY ZULUL AND DEY SAY ZULUL AND DEY SAY ZULUL
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Gob Metarch 113 posts
Gob
Mendicant Bias wrote:


The entire playthrough i kept asking Gob if we were missing anything as the plot was nonexistent.



The cutscenes were good though,

HurryingCandy wrote:
Main Game = ODST
WOW game = Halo CE


Halo is not a World of Warcraft game
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Rampancy Chronicle 5 posts
Rampancy
Mythic Tier
Halo 2
Halo 3: ODST
Halo: Spartan Strike

Legendary Tier
Halo 3
Halo: Spartan Assault

Heroic Tier
Halo 4

Normal Tier
Halo: CE
Halo: Reach
Halo Wars

I Forgot This Game Existed Tier
Halo Wars 2

Shit Tier
Halo 5: Guardians
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jungle_penguins Chronicle 2 posts
jungle_penguins

While the main campaign is mediocre, I like Halo Wars 2. Gameplay is more refined, for better or worse. (Better being multiplayer not revolving around Scorpions, worse being maps feeling same-y.) The expansions are an improvement over the main campaign, especially Awakening the Nightmare. All the units have a lot of charm to them (though pretty sure they used filters way too much for some of the Banished units). And the Phoenix Logs are a good read.

Also, great concept art  https://www.artstation.com/artwork/QBANL
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SilentRebel38 Chronicle 5 posts
SilentRebel38
It's hard for me to say exactly which is my favorite. Each game has something that I like that the other doesn't. For that purpose, instead of ranking the games in tiers, I'm ranking them in categories.
Story: Halo 2
Campaign: Halo 3, Halo CE
Soundtrack: Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 5
Artstyle: I personally like a mesh between old and new, one where the classic dominates without overshadowing the modern details.
Gameplay: Normally, I don't mind the gameplay. So far, I've enjoyed every Halo game despite of how they're played. But if I had to choose, it'll be Halo 2, Halo Reach and Halo 5.
Multiplayer: Halo 2, Halo Reach and Halo 5.
Features: Halo 2 Anniversary, Halo Reach (some of) Halo 5

Ranking the games is very different for me, but here's how I would classify them in terms of my overall enjoyment.
MYTHIC TIER
Halo 2
Halo Reach

LEGENDARY TIER
Halo 5 Guardians
Halo Wars 2
Halo Spartan Strike
Halo Combat Evolved
Halo Wars
Halo Spartan Assault
Halo 3 ODST
Halo SOI Campaign (A Halo CE campaign that adds new weapons, including weapons from the Universe and returning ones with new designs, some level redesigns, etc. 
 Take a look (video by Vengeful Vadam)

HEROIC TIER
Halo 3
Halo SPV3
Halo 4
Sins of the Prophets (A Sins of A Solar Empire Rebellion mod that replaces every faction with the UNSC and Covenant, including ships from the lore and completely new ones)

NORMAL TIER (Mediocre)
This folder is empty

EASY TIER (Bad)
This folder is empty

As you see, I mostly enjoy every game despite their flaws and even included 3 mods because I feel they need more recognition, given the effort put into them, especially Sins of the Prophets and the SOI Campaign (I also appreciate the effort put into SPV3, but this mod is much more popular due to being in development in so much time. It managed to get some 25.000 downloads in it's first months).
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LimyMage918 Chronicle 4 posts
LimyMage918
I feel obligated to separate then based on campaign and multiplayer experience so here we go.

Starting with campaign,

Mythic
Halo 2
Halo ce
halo 3
odst
reach

Heroic
halo 4
halo wars
halo wars 2

Normal
fire team raven
spartan ops

what the heck
halo 5
spartan assault
spartan strike

imo, bungie were masters at making a good campaign. all of the games I rated as mythic have a number of missions that I can play hundreds of times and never get bored with. the heroic rated games I felt had good campaigns and stories but I don't usually want to repeat them as often as the mythic games.


And now for multiplayer ratings (based solely on how much mindless fun I have while playing them)

Mythic
halo 3
halo 5
reach
halo 2
halo wars 2

Heroic
halo ce
halo 4

Normal

odst
halo wars

halo 3 is my favorite multiplayer wise for it's equipment, physics, and great maps. halo 5 despite it's many bugs and flaws has a pretty fun multiplayer and a lot of potential for custom games. plus warzone is my all time favorite gamemode. halo wars 2 I felt plays better than it's previous game and has much more interesting units. the reason halo ce is in heroic is because even though it has great maps and is generally really fun to play with friends I feel like you're forced to use the pistol in order to do well.

overall halo 2 is my favorite halo.
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J kid789 Chronicle 1 posts
J kid789
Remember Reach. 

Halo Reach was my first game in the series. My Mom didn't let me play shooters growing up, and when I could, Reach was the first one I got . The customization was on point, the armor design was functional and stylish, the multiplayer was AMAZING, forge was and is the best the franchise had ever seen, and the campaign. Oh the campaign. Yes it had its issues with the canon, but you can't tell me that besides that it wasn't a damn good play. It was emotional, exciting, and being able to see your on customized Spartan was a great addition. 
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