We’d like to have faced off against less Forerunner and Promethean enemies, of course, but overall it’s an entertaining ride.
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The campaign was full of evocative moments, too, as Cortana battles against the ‘rampancy’ that is affecting her mental state.
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While Halo has never really been praised for its visual fidelity in the past, Halo 4 was absolutely gorgeous when it released on Xbox 360, and presented the series in a much darker tone. But 343 Industries decided to bravely implement their own vision of where Halo was heading, which deserves some credit. Halo 4 was always going to be intensely scrutinized, perhaps unfairly, for being the first Halo game after Bungie passed on the baton for the franchise. But ODST goes off the beaten path as a Halo game, encouraging you to put the pieces of this day-old warzone together, and deserves its fifth-place slot for that reason. You’ll end up backtracking through a lot of areas, too. The tight alleyways and corridors are certainly a change from the usual vistas of other Halo games, while it’s hard not to feel underpowered compared to Master Chief’s usual capabilities (or underwhelmed by some of the scripted cutscenes). The so-called ‘detective’ elements are light, with Bungie content to use a smashed-up vehicle or waylaid helmet as a prompt for a ‘flashback’ to another ODST’s mission. Instead, you play one of the UNSC’s Orbital Drop Shock Troopers – a rank of soldier that plummets into battle inside a protective missile – waking up from a crash landing in a ruined, Covenant-covered city and piecing together the events of the night before. ODST is a curious entry in the Halo franchise, in that you don’t play as Master Chief at all. The biggest tragedy? That the campaign ever ends at all. The spaceship battle level is a startling break in the pacing, too, pitting you against Covenant warships before putting you back, breathless, on the ground. Reach’s campaign is a thrilling and off-beat look at the Halo universe, introducing new power-ups for sprinting, invulnerable ‘armor locks’, and hologram decoys. The last-stand endgame, too, is one of the finest and most memorable levels in the franchise, and it’s hard not to shed a tear for what was lost. This is a game that is all about goodbyes, both from Bungie and its array of Spartan characters, as Reach’s team of super soldiers are slowly picked off in a brutal battle for survival. This prequel game takes place on the planet of Reach, a farming planet that fell to the Covenant in the early years of humanity’s struggle with the galactic cult. Halo Reach holds a special place in many gamers’ hearts, as the swansong of Bungie before it passed the mantle onto 343 Industires. For all its successors, this is where the formula was forged, and that makes it the best Halo game, bar none. The opening levels of Halo: CE may still be the franchise’s best, with the chaos of a claustrophobic ship boarded by Covenant soldiers, leading into the calm and open vistas of a Halo ring – and it’s this tussle of on and off, fast and slow, hurting and healing, that makes Halo what it is. The iconic pistol and assault rifle were introduced here, while the chance to flip between human and alien weaponry was inspired, making each encounter a thrilling chance to shake up the way you played. More than anything else, though, Halo: CE showed off what Bungie’s team could do with gunplay. Its vision of galactic warfare, alien technology, and humanity on the brink of defeat – while introducing one of gaming's best supporting characters, Cortana – captured the hearts of so many players, and showed that Xbox was here to stay. Microsoft making a game console seemed like a laughable prospect only 20 years ago, but its lineup of launch games proved otherwise, and Halo: CE was a massive part of that. Halo: Combat Evolved is the game that started it all, and it’s hard to give the game as much deference as it deserves.
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