Now that I discussed whether or not Halo deserves critical acclaim, I want to know what your view towards each Halo game or the series as a whole.

I'm going to state my opinions, I'm not going to go in full detail as I'm going to make it brief and to the point.

Halo Combat Evolved: 5 Stars

A superb and memorable FPS that deserved the hype it received, not only did it help push how console first-person shooters can work but it pushed the genre as a whole further. Innovative combat model, impeccable A.I., fun vehicles, riveting gunplay, interesting enemies, good story, epic set-pieces, and huge outdoor levels made it an instant classic. No Halo, no Xbox.

Halo 2: 3 and a half Stars

Decent game but watered down many of the mechanical features of the original and the weapons were very unbalance. The campaign was dull and it lacked the "oomph" and the power of the original, the story was convoluted with a cheap cliff-hanger ending. The multi-player featured tons of great gameplay features and maps, even introduced matchmaking. It's a decent sequel but it's the most rushed and unpolished game of the series.

Halo 3: 4 and a half Stars

Offers the best multi-player out of the entire series, it's very well balanced and fun with a ton of meaningful content. The single-player was fun but forgettable, doesn't help that the story is the worse of the trilogy and the omission of Elites is a slap in the face as the Brutes are not as fun to fight. Still, this is arguably the best online experiance exclusively for consoles.

Halo Wars: 3 Stars

Decent attempt of making a console RTS that works, but lacks strategic depth that makes RTSs that are worth playing. 

Halo 3 ODST: 4 Stars

Best campaign and story since the original. Fire fight is a great addition to the series, as it's just as fun as Gear of War 2's Horde mode. Too bad it's a basically an expansion pack with a price of a full retail game.

For me, this series is a total mix bag but there isn't a single downright bad game in the series. This is my last Halo thread for now.

No replies!? That truly makes me a sad panda. :(

Halo CE: 4 stars on Xbox and 4.5 on PC with Level editor - great SP campaign, deep world and loved the vehicles

Halo 2 : 3 stars SP 4 stars MP - SP started to lose the plot and MP was clearly becoming the focus and reason for the franchise

Halo 3 : 3 stars SP 5 stars MP - SP remained weak I thought, if a bit better than 2, while MP was great but it was clear MP was what the franchise was now about, to the apparent detriment of the SP


Overall - pretty damn good series, even if I remain disappointed the SP campaign fell apart after CE and the focus clearly shifted to MP.

Hopefully Reach will actually provide the best campaign in the series since Combat Evolved, or it could be one of the years if not the years biggest gaming dissapointments. Who knows? If it turns out to be a dissapointment, then Crysis 2 will probably live up to GOTY candidate status.

Halo: At the time, I thought it was overrated (girlfriend's nephew got it for X-mas 2001. I only played it for a few minute before deciding it sucked). I was ready to hate that game from day one because I was a PS2 fan. Playing it almost 8 years after it released, I realized that the game was way ahead of its time.

Halo 2: Had to live up to impossible hype. For fans of the first, it truly delivered. Great multi-player, the few times I actually tried it. Playing as the Arbiter wasn't a good idea in my opinion but it was a surprising twist (like Raiden in MGS2) and it showed Bunjie wasn't content to pump out the same old sequel.

Halo 3: Actually the first Halo game I'd ever played before I went back and bought the first two. The only reason I bought it was for the massive hype. This game made me a believer. Some people who'd followed the series closely had huge expectations and thought that the game sucked. I guess I was looking at it with brand new eyes. I was blown away by the weapons and vehicles and (believe it or not) the story. For a while, I thought it was the best 360 game on the market. Only multi-player scares the hell out of me, to this day!!

Halo 3: ODST: I never felt compelled to give this one a try. For me, the Halo story was over with Halo 3. I actually played the series for the story and not the multi-player!

Halo Reach: Looks good. I may pick it up if the single player campaign is good. I don't mind a good multi-player campaign, either.

Was a fan of the original and the game didn't satisfy me, reasons I'll show in this video.

Halo 2 wasn't bad at all, but it did have a lot of flaws that most seem to have overlook. 

^^
My assumption is that Halo 2 was designed to be played online so some compensation had to be made. I don't know. I'm not a big multi-player Halo gamer. The game thrived online like nothing else until this year so, I guess they did something right.

Halo 1: 5/5 - Played a minimum of 2000 hrs.  Addicted since launch. I had just moved onto consoles from PC and this was the only game that could break me from my Diablo 2 crack addiction.  Single player was so fun that I used to reset the level if I died at all... on legendary.  I was able to make it through roughly half the game that way -_-

Halo 2: 5/5 - Played a minimum of 4000 hrs.  Hello XBL.  This game ate up entirely too much time.  Skulls made the insanely difficult legendary co-op even that much more difficult.  This game invaded my dreams (day and night) and had me humming that damned Halo tune entirely too often.  Once the modders took over tho... no fun :(

Halo 3: 4.5/5 - Played a minimum of 2500 hrs.  Sweeeeet, no more modders and foooooorge! Skulls once again made the legendary mode difficult and entertaining and matchmaking has always seriously kicked ass.  Oh the grin on my face with my first triple laser kill! The Halo website with kills/deaths trackers added greatly to the metagame.  The only reason I didn't play this game more was due to my senior year of college.

Halo Wars: 4/5 - Played roughly 100 hrs.  Finally an RTS based game where the controls felt right.  After a few hrs of being annoyed here and there, the control scheme set in and I felt that the game did many things most console rts games do not: switch between units quickly, highlight wanted units easily, and move around the map very quickly.  The rest was very enjoyable.. I just did not crack out on the online aspect like any good PC RTS makes you.

Halo ODST: 4/5 - Played roughly 200 hrs.  Sadly, I have not completed this game just yet :(  I have been sidetracked with too many other damn good games to give this game its justice.. Firefight mode is amazing, the dark gameplay is awesome, the co-op is fun.. Thanks to Dragon Age, ME2 and Borderlands.. I just did not have time.  It is currently #2 in my "needs to play" pile.

Halo Reach: Will buy day one.  can.not.wait.

Obviously I am a Halo addict.  I have purchased the collectors editions, many of the mcfarlane action figures, have the original Halo 1 Master Chief stand/display, and many original Halo promotional posters... sadly no functioning warthog :(

Just going to compare the single player campaigns:

Halo 1: 4/5. The game didn't age very well to be honest. Some of the level designs are just very bad and repetitive. You can easily get lost even with the help of arrows. Some levels are still memorable though (can't remember the name of the one where you drop from a Pelican on some beach, but that one was nice). Still had some of the best co-op experience ever though! I'd say I'm raising the score by .5 just because of that!

Halo 2: 4/5. Legendary is just a bitch in this game, if you play alone that is. Snipers everywhere, cheap enemies camping just for you to appear. Overall, bad enemy spawns pretty much everywhere. I must say I'm one of the few people who liked the cliffhanger ending! Some of the best music from the franchise are in that game (I'd say I'm raising the score by .5 just because of that). The Arbiter missions are not bad, but the one when you encounter the flood is just too long for no reason.

Halo 3: 5/5. From having played the other games more than ten times each in my life, I'd say this game has definitely the most balanced single player campaign around. The levels always bring something new to the table. You really get to try every weapon and vehicles in the game, plus most of the missions are long with epic battles. The 4 player co-op is a nice bonus too. My only disappointment is that the first mission is not that fun to be honest.

Halo ODST: 4/5. Nice use of an open environment with the Rookie. Only thing I really hate about the game is that everything is so dark and the grenade throw was changed for no reason at all. The game is definitely better when playing with someone else. I wouldn't recommend it any other way. Also, amazing soundtrack!

That is all.

ugh looks like these Halo series threads pop out every 3rd day...

Halo: 9.7
Halo 2: 9.0
Halo 3: 9.5
Halo 3 ODST: 8.6
Halo Wars:8.5