Meaning the cohesive experience AT THE TIME OF ITS RELEVANCE, competitive viability, replayability, the whole shebang. Here are mine. Halo CE: 9.5 The perfect co op couch experience, nothing quite like it at the time. Still the most competitive Halo, and super easy to get into. Great mp all around, I knocked off half a point for BTB. Halo 2: 9.5 Very flawed coming from Halo CE but also revolutionary in that it pretty much created the online lobby system every console game uses now. Revolutionized the DLC model, pretty much changed the whole gaming industry. Also, ranking system. Halo 3: 9 Pretty much a shitty slow bullshit Halo 2 that was ultra caaual. Random BR, game breaking netcode. HOWEVER, awesome maps, the best BTB in the series, great support, huge community, tons of playlists, great ranking system. Tons of gametypes. There was something for everyone here. Also, <3 the physics engine Vanilla Reach: 3 **** AA's, **** the melee system, **** no bleedthrough, shitty strafe, short jump, slow movement, horrible maps, no ranking system, BLOOM, auto aim up the ass, hitscan everything, paper vehicles. The only reason it's not a 2 is because it had a good weapon sandbox, and invasion. V7: 6.5 Strafing was still sluggish, couldn't change the auto aim on everything either, but it was a step up. The 4: 4 Ordnance. Sprint. No descope. Flinch. Boltshots. Bullet Mag everywhere. No in game ranking. No further explanation needed. Halo 5: 5 Always online servers always shitting out. Bland maps, the worst weapon balancing in Halo. Terrible aiming. Ranked EVERYTHING, almost no playlists for months after launch. Shitty weapon sandbox. Horrible rank resets. No team vs team matching. Stupid quit penalties. Bs spartan abilities. But hey, we have good strafing and a semi auto utility weapon without spread or bloom.
I think I already gave my opinion about this, but what the heck. Halo CE: 9 Halo 2: 8 Halo 3: 7 Default Halo Reach: 4 Reach v7: 8 The 4: 6 Halo 5: 9 You are reading that right. I like the first and last Halo about the same.
As someone who got into Halo through Reach (yeah burn me bitches), I couldn't give a rating for CE, H2, and H3. Just didn't play their multiplayer enough. I'm a Reach kid. I give it a 9 (pls don't kill me) Halo 4: 4 This is the one game that made me angrier than Modern Warfare 3 did. Which I didn't think was possible. So much bullshit in multiplayer. Halo 5: 8 I like it. Arena and Warzone can be fun. Spartan Charge needs to be eradicated.
My opinions are skewed when it come to the older titles, i wasn't able to play multiplayer during their prime. So to be clear i will seperate my verdicts into campaign/Multiplayer. Halo CE Campaign: 10 Simply amazing for it's time, captivating me in this alien world with many twists and turns along the way. Amazing game Multiplayer: 6 Playing the multiplayer on MCC for the first time without nostalgia goggles on all the flaws stuck out like a sore thumb leaving much to be desired. Although btb sniping and 3 shot magnum kills are it's saving grace. The nuka nades are cool too. Halo 2 Campaign: 10 Just as fun as HCE but with new feels new twists and turns and new characters. Bad ass cutscenes, zero G, just everything was so cool. Multiplayer: 7 A realy solid multiplayer! Much improved sandbox ballence, maps are solid, huge skill gap, home to the iconic lockout formula etc. Halo 3 Campaign: 10 Sooo freaking epic oh my goodness i can't express in words all the feels. Just the right amount of serious tone, and blockbuster badassery. I guess a perfect mix of 1&2. The soundtrsck still gets me pumped and tesry eyed Multiplayer: 8 While agree with you multi all the inconsistancies with the meta game realy held back the potential i can't help but to adore the absolutly amazing maps, deep sandbox with the adition of equipment i still miss to this day, and variety of game modes. I can still play H3 to this day and have an absolute blast Reach Campaign: 9 I realy love the story, soundtrack, epic story, all of that good stuff. Just to be held back by the lack of familier cast, and the same AI formula becoming to underwhelming to stimulate the action sequences. Still an amazing spin off, i love my reach. Multiplayer: 5 Good sandbox, okay maps, AA's i would have been okay with if ballenced correctly. Def not a good replacment of Equipment. Still had enough ballence and consistancy to keep me playing more and more though Halo 4 Campaign: 5 Took itself too serious, made the rest of the goofyness of the franchise stand out more (why are we still using gunpowder?) this was the begining of the decline of the franchise for me. And seriously no improvment of the redundant AI formula makes me go insane just thinking about those linear levels. Multiplayer: 4 Was fun for a little bit, but the maps where absolutely horrible, loadouts imballenced at launch, ordanance etc... Forge playlists kept me comming back, as well as forging itself. But that's about it Halo 5 Campaign: 6/7 At least the cutscenes where cool, story improved, although cortana irritated the heck out of me. Perfect way to ruin a character. Still haven't finished it, can't stand killing dumb AI anymore Multiplayer: 8 Yes! I actualy love the multiplayer! And i'm more of a slow paced H3 guy at heart. But the extremely ballenced sandbox, 60fps, ranking system, teamplay, equal starts, heart pounding gameplay keeps me comming back for more. Amazing forge support! Amazing support and updates in general, i'm a happy customer. I can play casual or competitive when i want to. Just a great multiplayer in general --- Double Post Merged, Jun 20, 2016 --- HEATHEN!!!
Numerical ratings are pointless. CE 2v2 - Fun Halo 2 - Not fun anywhere Halo 2 Anniversary - Not fun anywhere Halo 3 BTB - Fun Halo 4 Squad DLCs - Fun (except Heavies) Halo Reach 2v2, Invasion, Squad, Objective - Fun Halo Reach Anniversary - Fun at first Halo 5 2v2 Customs - Fun If it's not listed, it wasn't fun beyond the occasional anomaly. I used to make these lists and pick apart all the different elements, but at the end of the day all that matters is whether I enjoyed it or not. For example, Halo 4 with all its bullshit was incredibly fun in Squad DLC, so nothing else really mattered.
*sigh* This is gonna go exactly like the Beyond thread for this, so I'll put Halo 1 at 10,000,000 and call it a day
CE: 8 -Great game, can't quite put my finger on it but it just feels like something is off. H2: 7 -Maps are fantastic, like the sandbox. Button combos are an exploit in the game, not a feature. Anyone who defends them.. *sigh* H3: 9.5 -melee system was/is garbage. Also, that br. Reach: 6.5 -maps were meh and screw bloom:nobleteam: H4: 4.5 -Haven/Exile for days, annoying sounds and graphics.. vehicle gameplay pretty much saves it H5: 8 -Spartan charge is cancer, warzone is too repetitive, most of arena is actually enjoyable to me
I'll stick to rating just multiplayer experiences and since Goat broke the number rating flow so I'm gonna score them on a scale of Warden Eternals; golf rules so the more Wardens you have the worse the score. I'm also going to stick to the "time of release" perspective as I'd score them differently now. Halo CE - x1 Warden: Fresh, new, fun, and exciting. It was the big boss of the growing 3D FPS world and spawned hundreds of clones on and off consoles. Halo 2 - x3 Wardens: More of the same but now with dual wielding, broken maps, and Street Fighter-inspired controls for punching and shooting. Halo 3 - x2 Wardens: Wasn't the cleanest but better than the previous on account of it was less broken and had way more content to push. Halo Wars - x8 Wardens: Baby's first RTS running at a solid 15FPS. Doing random matchmaking resulted in players mad that you're not as good as them or mad that they suck balls. Halo 4 - x6 Wardens: Okay, what happened here? You're giving me the same **** but waaaay different. This game acted like I had a choice but the correct answer was only ever Saw to the ordnance question. Halo 4 on MCC - x5 Wardens: I know it is the same but it felt... different? Like they dropped off a Warden somewhere on the way to work. Maybe it only seemed better because everything else on MCC was broken all to hell. Halo 2A - x5 Wardens: Nice idea, bad execution. Game felt unfinished, but at least it felt like it was from 2003. Halo 5 - x4 Wardens: Deceptively fun at first but quickly wears out its welcome as even after 50+ hours of play you can't remember any of the maps' names because they aren't memorable in the least. Game is more fun casually but they don't support filthy casuals outside of Warzone.
343's first failure - not putting the Title update in the entire game and listening to the people who liked default Reach.
Also got into Halo through Reach, but I have a decent amount of experience in Halo 3 on 360 + MCC. (I’m rating out of 4) Halo 3: 2 Halo 3 did a lot right, but I just hate playing it. Everything just felt sluggish, the hit detection was awful (no hitscan + bad BR spread + no dedicated servers = can’t hit ****), and everything sounded wimpy. Halo Reach: 3 Not a fan of Armor Abilities (Armor Lock PTSD), but Reach played pretty well. Movement, hit detection, and graphics/sound were greatly improved over 3. The game probably would have been better without AAs, but they didn’t do too much damage. I like bloom as a mechanic, but the DRM had a bit too much. Probably my favorite “casual” Halo game. Halo 4: 3 (Barely) I only give this game a 3 because the overall feeling of the game was fantastic. For the first time, you actually felt like a Spartan. Ordinance and Loadouts were absolutely garbage, meaning gametype that started with “Infinity” sucked, but when turned off (Legendary Slayer) it played pretty well. People can argue over the details all day but the core gameplay was definitely there, and overall I did have a lot of fun in this game. Halo 5: 4 (Arena), 1 (Warzone) Finally, a Halo game that feels fast and fluid while also actually being an arena shooter. Not loadouts, no ordinance, no equipment. For the first time since CE, the Magnum is actually an effective weapon, though the AR isn’t completely useless at the same time. The new movement options add a lot to the game (except Spartan Charge). Warzone is ****. I sold all my REQs a few months ago.
Halo 1 - Most competitive Halo, while being the most fun 9.5/10 Halo 2 - Like multi said, a pioneer in console gaming 9.0/10 (1 point off for SMG starts) Halo 3 - Best overall community of any console game ever 8.0/10 (pretty much 2 points off for the BR) Halo: Reach - Pretty much a terrible game at launch, but it still had the fun factor. I don't know if we're including later iterations, but ZB/NS was actually really good. 6.5/10 Overall Halo 4 - An absolute abomination of a "competitive shooter" even without the Halo title slapped on. This game makes Doom look competitive. 4/10 Halo: The Master Chief Collection - 343 payed me to say I don't remember 11/10 Halo 5 - Terrible aiming system, terrible utility weapon, terrible maps, terrible spartan abilities, terrible weapon sandbox, and so on. 2/10 Halo 6 - It's been 228 and one half days. Water supplies are running dangerously low, and the survivors are starting to seem thankful that 343 even has matchmaking in this game. A few of us are still trying to fight it, but I fear I will soon be completely alone in competence. If you're reading this, send help!