7. Halo 4 - a mediocre first try for 343, which has mismanaged the franchise past the point of no return. With boring, linear, and lazy level design; QTEs and scripted events; lackluster AI; and a mawkish story, the campaign in Halo 4 is a serious low point for the franchise. Multiplayer is no better. Ordnance and loadouts and a slew of other unnecessary "innovations" spoil the proceedings.
6. Halo 5: Guardians - sometimes it feels like 343 is comprised entirely of art directors and graphical engineers. Like Halo 4, Halo 5 looks amazing but it suffers in level design and AI, two essential parts of the Halo experience. Also, whose idea was it to play the majority of the game as the boring Osiris foursome, leaving Master Chief to the side? Thankfully multiplayer is much improved over 4, with the quasi-return of arena shooting. The coolest mp mode of the bunch - and 343's greatest gift to the Halo universe - is Warzone (although the microtransactions can bite me).
5. Halo 3: ODST - a significant departure from the traditional Halo formula that surprisingly works. The soundtrack is among Marty's best; the gunplay is as good as ever; and the Horde-esque Firefight mode is ridiculously fun and addictive.
4. Halo Reach - despite an insufferably slow start, the campaign in Reach ends amazingly, with some of the best open-area improvisational gunplay in the series. Multiplayer is ridiculously rich in modes and options, although let down somewhat by armor abilities.
3. Halo 3 - although its campaign felt a bit stiff and unoriginal, the multiplayer in Halo 3 is, arguably, the best of the series and best of the genre. Huge, meticulously designed levels with tons of modes, weapons, and matchmaking options.
2. Halo 2 - with two playable characters, more diverse locations, and a greater emphasis on vehicular combat, Halo 2 improved upon the original game in a number of ways. Multiplayer, although not exactly what Bungie wanted, was groundbreaking for home consoles.
1. Halo: Combat Evolved - the best Halo game. The best launch game. The best Xbox game. The best shooting game. The superlatives go on and on. With amazing graphics, controls, level design, storytelling, artificial intelligence, and, most importantly, tactical shoot outs, Halo stands today as a masterpiece, the game against which all other Halos are judged. Multiplayer was still in its infancy and not yet as customizable or deep as Halo 2 and 3, but it was still a lot of fun, particularly over LAN.
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