I was always a PS2/PS3 player until about 2 years ago when I purchased a 360. I only have ever played the first Halo game and liked it well enough, but never got around to playing the subsequent titles. Is Halo 4 a good jumping off point for someone like me? Or should I go back and play at least a few of the other games in the series?

Pay Halo Reach , altho the latest (and finest Bungie game) it is in the narrative sense the first in the story ... also I liked that you could make your Spartan mark 3 (Master Chief is a Spartan mark 2 ... in case you wonder)

You're going to want the other Halos at some point. The world is pretty rich, and each game makes the fiction of the next just a little better.

You might be able to get away with playing 4 first but some of the contextual stuff will be lost on you. Where the main character is at when the game starts, who you're fighting, why you're fighting.

You could probably just shotgun 1, 2, and 3 at bare minimum to get caught up. Reach and ODST are both really good, though, so if you like your Halo don't skimp on yourself.

Thanks for the info guys, looks like ill have something to do over Thanksgiving break!

the halo story is just your usually sci-fi nonsense that just goes up its own ass and out again each game.

the reason you should play halo is that it is a fantastic shooter with superb machanics.

Play Reach, Halo Anniversary (because it's not worth dragging out an original xbox) and 3 for story purposes. I'd say Halo 2 is important, but that game was its multiplayer.

Anyway you're going to want to put in some serious Halo hours before 4, a huge part of why 4 is a big to me is the return of Master Chief. Without the context of why that's important the game may lose a lot of its impact.

Fuck all that, just play Halo 4. Yeah there's loads of lore and stuff but it's not that good (in my opinion) and, like someone else said, you shouldn't play Halo for the lore, you should play it because it's one of the best playing shooters ever. You don't need silly sci-fi lore to enjoy the multiplayer. Jump in now while it's current. If you love it and want to know more, you can always go and play the others later. I just worry that you'll burn out on the mechanics if you go and play Anniversary then Reach then 3 then ODST or whatever.

Go have fun with the remake of Halo 1, then play Reach and then get Halo 4. That's my advice for new Halo players.

@Bobafeet: Experience the content in this order:

• Forward Unto Dawn
• Halo: Reach
• Halo wiki run
• Halo 4

Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo: ODST are all distinctly set within a very specific arc that have little to do with where this new trilogy appears to stand. Now, I would also recommend doing some wikipedia stuffs before Halo 4 to cover some of the hidden content in Halo: Anniversary and Halo 3. The Forerunner article, the Didact article, and the Librarian articles are probably the main three (read in that order). Do that after finishing Reach, but before Halo 4.

I suggest playing Reach, then Anniversary, then 2, then 3, then 4, and Wars and ODST at some point.

You are3 wasting your time playing Halo for the story. It also doesn't help that the games are terrible except for Reach.
 
Avoid at all costs.

Okay everyone is saying play older games, but my question to you is do you enjoy competitive multiplayer FPS? If so, get Halo 4. You can catch up on the fiction online, enjoy the story, and then enjoy the best Halo multiplayer available at the moment.

@Bobafeet said:

I was always a PS2/PS3 player until about 2 years ago when I purchased a 360. I only have ever played the first Halo game and liked it well enough, but never got around to playing the subsequent titles. Is Halo 4 a good jumping off point for someone like me? Or should I go back and play at least a few of the other games in the series?

Halo 4 would probably be a good starting point because it is the beginning of a new story. Buy it and then just wiki what happened in the previous games.

@Bobafeet said:

@project343 awesome, this looks great and the most time efficient. Thanks!

Forward Unto Dawn does a pretty good job at really nailing where humanity stood pre-Covenant war--and it's a well done movie (available for free all over the web/on Halo Waypoint). It also introduces an incredibly young Master Chief (at the age of 15).

Halo Reach moves forward in the timeline a fair bit from FUD (but is still pre-Halo trilogy) and puts the Spartan initiative into the spotlight a fair bit: genetically perfected supersoldier-types and shows off exactly how they work in situations of war. It is also a spectacular Halo entry that isn't dated like Halo: Combat Evolved or Halo 2.

There is a lot of nuance to the extensive history of species in the Halo universe. There are Forerunners--a species that came before modern civilization and built some really impressive technology but have apparently ceased to exist. They seem to play a huge part in this new trilogy. Those wiki articles are vital to getting you caught up without going into the 'Covenant civil war' or 'the Flood' that were essentially the focal point in the original trilogy.

@Bobafeet: Play Halo 1-3. Look into ODST and skip Reach. That's where I stand on the whole Halo issue. Halo: Combat Evolved is still the best in the series and I'll by that statement.

Halo 2 solo legendary

Skip all this Master Chief nonsense and just play Marathon.

@Guided_By_Tigers said:

Halo 2 solo legendary

AKA Jackal aimbot mode