Halo: The Master Chief Collection
I don’t care for Halo one bit. Before playing this the extent of my experience with the franchise was the multiplayer modes of various titles. But I saw the MCC on sale a while back and I figured I might as well try it just to say I’ve played it. Keep in mind that this is purely from a campaign perspective, as I sincerely don’t care about the multiplayer
Halo: Combat Evolved
Every time I hear people praise Halo 1 they always say stuff like “it proved that First Person Shooters could work on console!”
Have you seen the amount of shooters in the N64 library?
Literally the only 2 things Halo brings to the table is it’s admittedly really good shield system and the 2 weapon system (which just so happens to be one of my least favorite things in modern gaming). So I really don’t get why this game gets so much praise. On that note…
Good God this game is a slog to play sometimes. The weapons never actually feel like they do damage, the enemies take way too long to die, the level design is repetitive and somehow manages to heavily involve backtracking despite being level based. I get that this is to be expected of the first game in the series, but it’s to the point that I simply can’t recommend anyone ever play this game.
Also the story is almost identical to Metroid Primes.
4.5/10
Halo 2
This is pretty much the same game mechanically, just with better weapon balance and marginally better level design. The only new mechanic is the ability to duel wield certain weapons, which is neat but ultimately doesn’t add too much to the game as you burn through ammo twice as fast and can barely use it before having to switch out.
Story wise, Halo 2 does a good job of being a follow up to the original, by fleshing out the covenant as a culture and their reasoning. Playing as an elite was a neat concept, but they never really go anywhere with it. You’re effectively just playing as Master Chief but with a new skin.
Halo 2 is definitely better than the first, but still retains most of the same issues.
5/10
Halo 3
Honestly, I don’t have a lot to say about this one. It’s definitely the best one so far, with deployable equipment being a pretty good addition to the game, but it doesn’t really do anything that extraordinary. Nothing in this game made me think “wow, this is really cool.” But at the same time, there’s really nothing wrong with it either. No part of the game made me tear my hair out in frustration like the first 2, the worst it got was a single level that got kinda repetitive, but even that paled in comparison to some of the earlier garbage.
Halo 3 is a great conclusion to the plotline of the first 2 games. It ends the story so conclusively that they could’ve just ended the franchise there and nobody would really say anything, at least not about the story.
6/10
Halo 3: ODST
ODST is weird, as it’s tone, structure, and mechanics are completely different. You’re not playing as Master Chief, but rather you play as a group of “Orbital Drop Ship Troopers,” with whichever one you’re playing as specifically depending on the level. Right away, this by far has the most interesting setup in the franchise, as you’re effectively trapped in an earth city that’s currently being occupied by an invading force and have to fight your way out while figuring out what happened to the rest of your team. To do that, you have to go through a semi “open world” map to each level. Unfortunately, this map involves little more than walking from point A to point B to get on to the next level while occasionally fighting a handful of enemies. It honestly just breaks the pacing of the story, and it alone is the reason why I’d put this game just below Halo 3 as it’s otherwise on equal ground with it.
5.5/10
Halo: Reach
Reach is a prequel to Combat Evolved where you play as an unnamed Spartan (the same classification of soldier as Master Chief) defending the planet “reach” from the invading covenant along with the other Spartans in your crew. Mechanically, Reach is pretty much the same as 3, but they replaced the deployable equipment with armor modifications, which are effectively the same thing, but now they’re rechargeable abilities as opposed to single-use items.
Reach does a really good job of putting you in the shoes of the Spartans as they hopelessly defend the planet as it falls. There were moments when I legitimately felt anger towards the Covenant. Though the game kinda falls into the cliché “pseudo character study where everyone in the group dies one-by-one to serve a greater cause,” I still enjoyed its story. This is definitely my favorite Halo game, though I still wouldn’t overly recommend it to anyone.
6.5/10
Halo 4
I find it kinda weird that 4 was even in the collection. It’s the only one here that was developed by 343 studios and it’s plot kinda separates it from the rest of the games as it doesn’t follow the same war that the other 5 did. It’s definitely the odd one out.
Likewise, I definitely don’t think 4 holds up to previous titles. Aside from the weapon balance, 4 somehow manages to share the exact same problems as the first 2 games. The level design is tedious, the enemies are complete damage sponges, and the new stuff implemented just doesn’t feel fun to play with. Unlike the first 2 games, though, not even the story could save 4 as it felt completely unnecessary and brought up more questions than answers. Maybe it’s because this is the sixth Halo game in a row that I’ve played in the past 2 weeks, but I simply didn’t have fun with this one.
4.5/10
I gotta say, this entire franchise feels incredibly mediocre. Even at its best with Halo 3 and Reach, I never truly felt like I was having fun with it. It’s not a bad series, but I sincerely don’t understand the hype behind it, as I always feel like I could be playing something better.
5.5/10