// Articles // 13th Nov 2020 — 4 years ago // By Dane Townsend

The Bungie Halo Games Ranked

As of the time of writing, I’ve played every Bungie developed Halo game, some more recently than others. Halo 4’s arrival on the Master Chief Collection is on the horizon, and as a farewell of sorts to the Bungie era, I’ve decided to rank each Bungie Halo game from least favourite to favourite. I should note that I like all of these games, and I don’t consider any of them bad. I’m simply ranking them by how much I enjoyed them. With that being said, let’s get started.

Number 5: Halo: Combat Evolved

This is something of a hot take, but whilst I like quite a lot of Halo: CE, I find that the game’s structure is very lopsided. Up until “The Library”, the game’s pacing was mostly very good. However, as “Two Betrayals” begins, you realise that you’re actually being forced to replay “Assault on the Control Room” in reverse, only this time with even more frustrating enemies to deal with. “Assault on the Control Room” is one of the longest levels in the Halo series in general, and not only are you being made to replay it again, but you’re also replaying another level straight after, “Keyes” being a reversal of “Truth and Reconciliation” albeit with a few tricks up its sleeve. Along with “The Maw” again being overly long and tedious, these levels make for a very frustrating and disheartening third act that more made me relieved that I don’t have to play the game again than happy to be at the end of my journey. This third act combined with the repetitive architecture and long levels in general are what brings Halo: Combat Evolved down in my head.

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All of this isn’t to diminish Halo: CE being an incredible debut for the series and how revolutionary it was for the FPS genre, nor how fine tuned the weapon sandbox still is to this day. However, the aforementioned problems along with the weaker story when compared to the rest of the series hurt my first time with the game, and my overall opinion.

Number 4: Halo: Reach

Halo: Reach is a divisive game, and I’ve heard it called the best game in the series and the absolute worst. I actually quite like the game for the most part. Whilst it largely fails to establish meaningful personalities for Noble Team, it does succeed in personifying the planet of Reach and making you feel as if you really are on the losing side of a war. The interesting cinematography in the cutscenes and unique methods of delivering the story at times make it stand out from the rest of the series, and there’s a particular moment in the first level of the game that has chops to be the coolest sequence in the entire series.

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The weapon balancing in the story, unlike Halo: CE, is a little odd and that’s because it was balanced mostly around the multiplayer (which is probably why Reach’s iteration is so beloved by many), which leads to some weapons being completely redundant in the campaign. The levels are also sometimes paced quite strange, though not quite to the degree of Halo: CE’s third act. Overall though, Reach is a solid if unconventional entry into the series.

Number 3: Halo 3: ODST

Where the other Halo games concern themselves with putting you in the shoes of cyborg supersoldiers, Halo 3: ODST decides to throw that out of the window in service of making you painfully yet refreshingly mortal. If you want to hear my full thoughts on the game, I talked about it recently, but as a brief summary, it’s a noir inspired non-linear tale that manages to be one of the best campaigns in the series.

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For what is usually considered a side game, Halo 3: ODST packs a lot of punch in its short campaign, and delivers a condensed yet awesome experience that I feel puts it in the top three Halo games, at least for me.

Number 2: Halo 3

I missed out on the original zeitgeist with Halo 3, so it took some time for me to understand just how big this game’s release was. It’s such a weird thought that Halo was on equal footing with Call of Duty once upon a time (perhaps even more popular) but regardless, Halo 3’s release was massive. And miraculously, it delivered on almost everything. The game is tightly paced and never boring at any point, the balancing was finally (mostly) fixed and the game was outright beautiful. The addition of Forge, as well, was such a huge stepping stone for the series that it feels weird to imagine the games without it being added.

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If there’s anything that prevents me from liking it as much as the rest, it’s probably how the Prophet of Truth was treated. Because of the change of writers, he was written more like a generic big bad than the manipulative and interesting figure seen in Halo 2. This was a little disappointing for me, as his character was so compelling in the previous instalment. Nevertheless, the game holds up strong, and replaying it with my friend (when I’m able) has been great fun.

Number 1: Halo 2

At this point I think we’re all aware of Halo 2’s troubled development and how things had to be cut for Halo 3, but it’s surprising just how much holds up regardless of all this. The balancing is downright messy and borderline broken on Legendary, the game ends on an Arbiter mission, and they neutered the shotgun. But despite these marks on the game’s integrity, it is still undeniably a blast. “Cairo Station” and “Outskirts” are such an excellent pair of levels for an opening chapter and the added perspective on the other side of the war with “The Arbiter” is, in my opinion, genius. Thel ‘Vadam is for my money the best written character in the series and getting to experience his tragedy and subsequent redemption makes up for many of the hiccups and bumps in the road in the rest of the campaign.

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So, even with the knowledge of everything it does wrong and the frustrations I had whilst playing, I can’t stop myself from loving Halo 2. It isn’t a perfect game, not by a long shot, but it’s the one I have the strongest attachment to.