8 Best Campaigns In The Halo Series, Ranked

Halo 5: Guardians

The campaign in Halo 5 is the middle section of the Reclaimer storyline. Many aspects of the game, such as the return of Blue Team and Buck, should result in an epic story. However, the campaign in Guardians suffers from an excess of exposition and a lack of memorable mission setpieces.After a while, maps set in Forerunner places seem to blur together. Furthermore, the Hunt the Truth pre-release story, which was hyped up in the game’s trailers and various media, differed greatly from the actual story of the campaign.

But perhaps the most egregious offence committed by the Halo 5 campaign is the inability to play couch co-op style.There is no splitscreen option for buddies who want to plunge into the tale together, which is a big flaw in a campaign.

Halo 4

The campaign of Halo 4 takes an unusual turn, focusing on Master Chief’s friendship with Cortana. AIs have a seven-year lifespan, and Cortana is nearing the end of her life as she enters the final stages of rampancy, a condition that affects ageing AIs.

While the main story of this game is an emotional tribute to Chief and Cortana’s time together, the campaign is plagued by environments that feel largely similar and setpieces that do not stand out (the ride on the M510 Mammoth being an exception). Long-time Covenant aficionados are dissatisfied with the dull weapon sandbox and perplexing changes to the Covenant concept.

Halo: Reach

Reach’s story is nothing short of tragically beautiful. The campaign covers the final days of Spartan squad Noble as they fight the Covenant on the desolate world of Reach. While little time is spent developing each Spartan’s personality, it’s clear from the start that the game isn’t about them. It’s about Reach’s downfall.

Aside from the story issues, Reach falls somewhere between the purity of the first three games and later installments with Call of Duty-inspired features like loadouts and sprint.Despite the alterations, the campaign contains some of the strongest setpieces in the franchise. Because of the sad tone of the series, launching into orbit to board the Covenant corvette, seeing New Alexandria burn, and the last mission remain highlights. You know the ending from the start. Reach was destined to fail. Bungie’s swan song captures the emotion of confronting an impossible adversary.

Halo 3: ODST

At launch, ODST sparked interest. In the decade following its release, the game’s popularity has outpaced its initial price criticism. Unlike later titles such as Halo 4 and Halo 5, ODST skillfully reveals that there is so much more to discover in the Halo universe. It even accomplishes this without being wholly distinct from the rest of the original trilogy.

ODST is a stage play that takes place in the wings of the Halo 2 and Halo 3 stage performances. The lighting is darker, the setting is more secluded, and the plot unfolds more like a detective book than a space opera. Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori are also excellent in this film, with a score that brilliantly balances the long, lonely night and daylight battle over New Mombasa.

The open world elements in the nighttime city connect the fragmented mission structure of ODST. Take your time with the silence. Pay attention to the city, and you’ll notice that it, too, has a personality, guiding and assisting you as you proceed. The finest level in the game is the city streets.

Halo: Combat Evolved

In many ways, Halo: Combat Evolved’s campaign is still the series’ pinnacle.It’s possibly the most cohesive product in the franchise, with a finale that’s as powerful as the beginning. Unlike some of the earlier games in the series, it doesn’t feel like anything is missing. You finish it feeling both fulfilled and pumped for the next adventure.

A weaker second act with backtracking and repetition-heavy segments like The Library and Two Betrayals holds it back. Its pinnacles include missions such as Truth and Reconciliation and The Silent Cartographer.An unbalanced armoury is also troublesome, as it is sometimes difficult to justify abandoning the pistol in favour of another weapon.

Halo Infinite

The campaign for Halo: Infinite introduced many new and exciting ideas to the series, the most notable of which being the shift to an open-world experience. This non-linear design decision allowed users to interact with the world and find side activities in whatever way they wanted. The plot focused on The Banished, a new enemy faction introduced in Halo Wars 2. Not only did Halo: Infinite provide Drive Mad gamers with unforgettable bosses and jaw-dropping visuals, but it also created the basis for the Halo story to continue.

The surroundings, however, become stale over time. You’re either in the ring’s wooded outer world or its metallic interior, with no spectacular setpieces to break up the monotony. Furthermore, there will be no couch co-op option for playing Infinite’s campaign, as there was in Halo 5: Guardians. Aside from these gripes, the combat has never felt more refined. The Grappleshot is fantastic, and fighting the Banished is exciting regardless of where you do it.

Halo 2

Because the story was split between the Master Chief and the Arbiter, Halo 2 was divisive at launch. Giving the Covenant their own time in the spotlight, on the other hand, helps fill out the universe and makes them more than one-dimensional bullet sponges as they were in the original game. Halo 2 set out to achieve more than its predecessor, and when it does, it shines like no other entry in the genre.

However, Halo 2’s campaign is missing its entire third act (possibly causing issues for Halo 3), and the game ends with an Arbiter mission rather than the Chief. It’s no secret that Halo 2 struggles, but it struggles because it dreamed too large. The peaks of Halo 2, such as the opening missions on Earth, are just fantastic.

Halo 3

No game is flawless, and Halo 3’s campaign is no exception.It must make up the slack left by Halo 2, and it struggles to balance the twin narratives created there. The Arbiter is reduced to a mute second player, while the Gravemind is reduced to a much simpler enemy.

When Halo 3 finally arrives, it does so with a bang. Levels such as The Storm and the final Warthog run represent the pinnacle of the series as a whole, not just the specific title. Everyone recalls the Marine’s surprise when he exclaimed, “We’ve got two Scarabs! In The Covenant, I repeat, two Scarabs!” This is what Halo is all about, and it’s why Halo 3 was one of the most anticipated and successful games of its generation.A thrilling journey around the galaxy is combined with outstanding gunplay, fantastic opponents, and phenomenal encounter ideas.

Halo 3 failed to live up to all of the promises made in Halo: Combat Evolved. That is an impossible request. Despite its flaws, it did manage to do what lesser shows have struggled to do: construct a satisfactory conclusion to their story. When the Chief crawled back into that cryo tube, fans knew they had truly won the fight.