Best Halo Game

Halo is a series with one hell of interesting history. The developer behind the original games, Bungie, was originally primarily a Mac-based developer, producing a fair few first-person shooters for the platform. While Halo original started life as a cross-platform Windows and Mac OS game, even being initially announced by Steve Jobs himself, Bungie was saved from financial oblivion by Microsoft, and then Halo went on to be an Xbox and PC exclusive that morphed into one of the biggest FPS series in history, as well as re-inventing the way that FPS worked on consoles.

With so many games in the series, as well as several different developers, how are you supposed to know which games are worth playing? Well, we’ve put together this list of the best games in the Halo series.

Halo: Combat Evolved

No list of the best Halo games would be complete without the OG Halo: Combat Evolved. Without this game both the subsequent games, as well as the massive extended universe, just wouldn’t exist. Part of the reason that the title was so impressive, was that it managed to mark FPS controls on console work, something the genre had struggled with in the past. Not only that, but in response to the Microsoft acquisition Bungie received a lot of hate mail, but when Halo was released and was a complete masterpiece, Bungie then received a lot of apologies too. Halo was just that damn good.

The controls were definitely the first thing that stood out, especially for console players. Before Halo, a lot of shooters that were excellent on PC were just complete trash on consoles. They’d use the face buttons to look around or some weird shoulder button inputs. Once Halo was released, pretty much every single FPS game that came after it used the twin-sticks style that Halo helped to popularize, and the genre has never looked back since. Aside from the impressive control scheme that helped to shift a lot of consoles, the game itself was just a lot of fun. The setting of a ring-shaped world was intriguing and brought a lot of mystery to the table that kept players wanting more, plus there were the horror elements introduced by the flood which turns the later hours of the game into something akin to a zombie shooter rather than a sci-fi FPS. The other enemies in the game, the covenant, also offer a great amount of variety, with a key aspect of their design being how easy it is to tell apart the different enemy types even from just a silhouette.

While the original title itself has graphics that have aged a little poorly, there’s no reason not to get full enjoyment from this game. Microsoft released The Master Chief Collection for PC recently that included the anniversary edition of Combat Evolved with updated graphics that make the game much more playable for newcomers to the series. Even then, the gameplay itself remains largely unchanged, because the original was such a beacon of the series that there weren’t many changes actually needed.

Halo: Reach

Halo: Reach somewhat divides fans of the franchise. It has some of the best gameplay in the series and even introduces certain game modes that are something of a staple these days, but the storyline did a lot that messed with the established canon. Despite this, the heavier focus on characters with actual personalities rather than the blank-slate approach espoused by earlier entries did help it to stand out, and that ending is still as traumatizing and heartfelt as it was when we first played it.

Reach is a world that many hardcore Halo fans will be familiar with. It was basically one of the strongest worlds under UNSC control, and even if you’ve not touched the novelizations or done a deep dive into the lore wiki, you’re probably aware that a lot of messed up stuff went down at Reach. That’s the subject of this game, with you taking control of a different squad of Spartans from the group the Master Chief was known to have come from.

While the changes to established canon did annoy some folks, there’s still a lot to like here. The gameplay introduced some useful features, such as swappable armor powers and updated or modified versions of older weapons. The real reason that many enjoyed the campaign of Reach was that it just felt a lot closer to the original Combat Evolved than the other entries in the series had done up until that point.

Multiplayer is another area where Halo: Reach really shines. All of the classic elements are there, great maps, a huge variety of gameplay modes, and user-generated content taken straight from Halo 3. The real added bonus here is the inclusion of Firefight, the series’ first cooperative multiplayer mode that really opened up more options for those without a competitive mindset.

Halo 3

Halo 2 was a great follow-up to the original Combat Evolved, but honestly, it was Halo 3 that tied the original trilogy together relatively nicely. For starters, the ending of Halo 2 had left many players feeling cold due to its abrupt nature, but Halo 3 didn’t have that sort of issue. It has a proper ending, and one that could have either led to the end of the series or allowed it to continue without ruining its impact if the sequel was handled correctly. There was also a slew of gameplay additions from Halo 2 that made it a great time both in multiplayer and during the main campaign.

Dual-wielding is back once again, but there’s also a bunch of new weapons this time which is a nice touch. The magnum finally got its scope back, even if it can never live up to the heights that the original Combat Evolved’s magnum managed to reach. There are also single-use power-ups that you can find scattered around the level that could be used to control the flow of the battlefield a little. These temporary abilities were a nice thought but honestly didn’t get used much. The useful ones were few and far between and because they were finite you’d often find players hoarding the good ones rather than actually using them, or just forgetting they even had them at all.

The real inclusion that Halo 3 bought to the series was in the multiplayer sphere. Both Combat Evolved and Halo 2 had great multiplayer and plenty of really fun game modes and maps to enjoy. However, it was the brand new Forge system that really made 3 stand out so much. It was incredibly easy to use and allowed players to create anything from custom versions of maps to specific challenges like SAWesque mazes or very precarious race tracks you had to fight to stay on.

Every game since Halo 3 has included some form of Forge because it’s just such a powerful tool when it comes to extending the life of Halo games. Add to that the amazing campaign that could be played either in co-op or on your own, and the return of all the elements that made CE and Halo 2 so much fun to play online, and it’s not hard to see why this was one of the top-selling games on the Xbox 360, and that doesn’t even cover the PC sales.

Halo Wars 1/ Halo Wars 2

Putting both Halo Wars games here might seem like a cheat, but there’s honestly just no good way to pick between the two because they both excel in different areas. If you’re not already aware of these spin-offs, Halo Wars is a series of RTS games set in the Halo universe, which gives those who enjoy strategy over action a bit more of a chance to get into the series.

Both Halo Wars titles feature some pretty classic RTS gameplay, modified to make them more comfortable for console players as well as PC players. They both feature a story-driven campaign, and can both be played co-operatively, albeit only via online services rather than the traditional split-screen that the rest of the Halo games offer.

The reason that both of these titles are present on this list, is because they’re both great in different ways. If you’re more interested in a solid story campaign then Halo Wars is the one for you. It has better maps that are much more memorable and unique than the sequel, which in turn makes the original campaign much more engaging and memorable as well.

Halo Wars 2 was still a great time and still featured a decent campaign, but the maps were a fair bit blander than the original. This meant that the main campaign felt less like an exciting adventure than it should have, especially when topped off by a pretty unsatisfying ending. On the plus side, the online play in Halo Wars 2 was improved, with faster response times and a smoother overall feel that certainly make this game worth picking up over the first one if you intend to play it online all that much these days.

Halo 4

This might be a bit of a controversial pick for many Halo fans, but Halo 4 deserves a place on this list purely because of what it managed to do. While it wasn’t by any means the best game in the franchise, it did give fans enough confidence that the new developers, 343 Industries, knew what they were doing. While the story did get a little bit convoluted at times, and would certainly have been confusing for anyone who wasn’t already deeply invested, the focus on the relationship between Cortana and the Master Chief was a great addition to the series, ensuring it was going to continue.

The gameplay of Halo 4, both in the campaign and in the multiplayer, is top-notch. It retains the feeling of the previous Halo titles while adding a lot of interesting new additions. There are several great new armor abilities, such as the sentry and shield powers, and a whole bunch of new and updated weapons that just felt great to use. The animations on the new Promethean weapons are amazing and add a bit of visual spice to the armaments that you didn’t find too much from previous titles.

Speaking of Prometheans, as well as the return of most of the alien species from previous titles, a new race of mechanical-looking being were also introduced dubbed the Prometheans. This new race had a bunch of different behaviors and attack strategies that kept fans of the series on their toes, as well as making things a little more interesting from a visual design standpoint.

Online also saw the return of some cool features like Forge, but the Firefight mode was replaced with Spartan-Ops. This was a story-based episode mode that was a welcome change, giving a bit more variety than Firefight had offered. Another interesting feature here was the ability for your online character to level up and gain ranks, something previous entries had mostly avoided doing. Whether you’re a fan of the game or not, you have to admit that without Halo 4 being the success that it was, we may not have had a Halo series at all anymore.

Final Word

While it is tempting to try and put every Halo game on this list, we feel that the games above embody the best qualities offered by the Halo series. Are there any games that you think we missed? Are there games on the list above that you think don’t deserve to be there? Let us know what you’re thinking in the comment section.