Darth Rosenberg said:
It depends what, exactly, you mean by "best" campaign. CE's campaign's iconic in gaming, sure (beach assaults, Libraries), but I'm not sure many/any would suggest those maps were particularly well designed by today's standards.
ODST's my favourite Halo, so I'd very much differ on "alright". ;-) I loved the different tone and structure, and for anyone who's a fan of Firefly, ODST's about as close as it gets to a Firefly-Halo mash-up. One of Marty O'Donnell's most accomplished and diverse scores, too.
Agreed it's the most full featured Halo, and I think it's absolutely fine as a game (I liked the new abilities). However, as much as I enjoyed customising my own [female] Spartan, and fighting in a team of Spartans in an impressively bleak ongoing tragedy (not something games particularly deal in often), I found it a huge letdown when it launched. I got the collector's edition with Halsey's journal, and made a point of reading it before starting the game. That was a mistake...
Reach's story adds absolutely bugger all to the series, and as a piece of lore building and character narrative, I feel the journal trounces the actual game as a work of art in its own right. Reach was a huge downer to end on for Bungie, as regardless of how polished and fully featured it was, it never felt like it had a reason to even exist. The series never felt more like it was spinning its wheels than Reach.
I actually really enjoyed Halo 4 (favourite score in the franchise... ), but 5 looked to be going in a design direction I just don't care about, and I've only heard very mixed things about its campaign. Might pick it up in this sale, though, depending on what price Witcher 3 and/or Fallout 4 are offered for.
1. I think Halo CE has the best storyline and atmosphere of them all to be quite honest, especially with that amazing cutscene at the start of Two Betrayals [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzhJWMv_BNw]. And I think the level design is still pretty good to this day. I can completely understand why people didn't like the Library though. I liked the pure focus on combat in that level personally and Guilty Spark gave some verryyy interesting info on the Flood during it, even if it was hard to hear him over the yelling and the gunfire. XD
Also, the weapons were nice and meaty. It has my favorite version of the shotgun. And let's not forget the pistol. And finally, in Halo CE, it was kind of an adventure alone most of the time. Yeah, you had other humans to back you up sometimes but besides that, you were totally alone on that ring, and everybody else was too. And that stranded, lonely, peaceful feeling mixed in with wonder as you traversed that incredible huge ringworld was kind of unforgettable for me.
After that, all the other Halo games lost this lonely adventurous feeling and never regained it really. ODST came a bit close but that was it.
2. I liked the tone of ODST and it's got one of my favorite tracks of the series. (Deference for Darkness) HOWEVER, the story didn't really seem to go anywhere and the gameplay was rather lacking, honestly. VISR was cool but the lack of dual wielding and Equipment and etc... Eh. Also, not a fan of the health system. Yeah, technically you had more health than Halo 1/2/3 but the thing is, once it was gone, that was it until you got another health pack. And that coupled with the automatic checkpoints made it rather annoying sometimes.
3. Agreed for Reach's storyline. It didn't really make me care until the very end. But to be quite fair, then it REALLY made me care. Lone Wolf is one of my most favorite missions in Halo and I could not have asked for a better sendoff to Halo, campaign wise. As to the gameplay, the weapons needed to be buffed in my arrogant opinion. This game along with 2 made weapons feel kinda weak with a couple exceptions. And finally, the gameplay is actually objectively worse than 3. I can prove it.
Halo 3 had:
- 4 Grenade Types, 2 of each
- Dual Wielding
- Equipment
- More new weapons, only one weapon was removed (Brute Plasma Rifle. Even that, though, was added later into Halo: ODST.)
- Completely Regenerating Health, no Fall Damage
- Can now carry the 2 different mounted weapons as well as the 2 new Heavy weapons that were added (Flamethrower and Missile Pod).
- No bloom
Halo Reach had:
- 2 Grenade Types and still limited to 2 of each.
- No Dual Wielding
- No Equipment, added AA's which didn't affect combat enough or affected it too much.
- Some new weapons added, some were taken out, some were reincarnated. None of the new ones felt that exciting though and some of the old ones got nerfed for seemingly no reason.
- Partially Regenerating Health, Fall Damage reinstated
- No Flamethrower or Missile Pod
- Bloom
So all that compiled with the high kill times made Reach's combat just seem... Rather inferior and on 2's level. Now, personally, I LIKE the idea of AA's. But I wouldn't have done it in quite the way they did it.
4. Halo 4 was... Forgettable. BUT, I don't blame 343 for that really. And the game had an awful lot of potential. The thing is, this game had a really rocky development cycle and it really does show, unlike Halo 5, where it seems they were sitting on their asses eating cake all day. Story wise, the focus on Cortana was a good twist but that was the ONLY thing that was good or memorable about the story. Everything else just seemed rushed if not unexplained.
Gameplay wise, the new promethean weapons didn't really... Add anything new. We got the Scattershot which was just a rapid fire weak shotgun really. Which was a crying shame because I would have loved a powerful Flak Cannon in Halo. We got the Binary Rifle which was just an OP'd Sniper Rifle. The Boltshot a pistol with a charge-up Mauler attached. The Incineration Cannon just a rocket launcher, the Lightrifle just an OK mixture of the two battle rifles and the most redundant of them all, the Suppressor just an SMG, and the Pulse Grenade which was woefully underpowered but they never buffed them.
The Promethean Weapons look really good on their face but ironically, the whole time I was using them, I was just like, "Really? This is pretty much all of what this supposedly advanced alien technology has to offer?" I mean, for example, these weapons are supposed to incinerate enemies a lot, right? Why the hell don't you make them have small area denial effects too, setting afire any surface you happen to shoot? Not saying necessarily that they should do that, but man, where'd the imagination go?
5. Anyway, yeah. Don't give Microsoft any money for Halo 5 please. If you have to play it, just pick up a friends copy and play it. Or just get it used. You can get a nice condition used copy for $20 [http://www.ebay.com/itm/Halo-5-Guardians-Microsoft-Xbox-One-/152075402223].
Is the multiplayer in 5 at least fun? I'm wondering where I should start to get the best MP experience since I missed the glory days of Halo 3 MP people love talking about.