Halo is a huge gaming blindspot for me, which is part of the reason I caved in to the crazy deals and bought the bundle. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and really don't want to get burned out trying to play through everything. I really want to hit the highlights, both in terms of action and story to get ready for 5. Any recommendations?

Silent Cartographer on endless repeat.

Seriously though that level /is/ what sold me on Halo. I haven't played enough of 3 or 4 to give any recommendations, but Halo 1: silent Cartographer is just fantastic

1 - The Silent Cartographer

2 - Delta Halo

3 - The Covenant

4 - Infinity

Though Halo 1 levels are easy to get lost in (including Cartographer). I really liked Assault on the Control room but it's gigantic.

And in 3, I felt The Ark was superb, as well. That and The Covenant are a damn good back to back. Though The Storm is pretty intense.

Yeah, Silent Cartographer is good so far. It's amazing how Halo 1:CE holds up. So, unless I'm missing something, I can't see that there's a way to just play cut scenes for missions I want to skip; however, there is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL50p_Qv1BU.

Came to make sure people recommended Silent Cartographer. I am not disappointed.

My other picks would include:

• Two Betrayals (Halo)
• Outskirts (Halo 2)
• Metropolis (Halo 2)
• The Storm (Halo 3)
• The Ark (Halo 3)
• The Covenant (Halo 3)
• Halo (Halo 3)
• Reclaimer (Halo 4)

Obviously not the answer you want, but I do really recommend just playing through all of them. If it's for Halo 5, you still have a few months before its release, you won't be burnt out by Halo by the end of playing through all of them. You're not going to get the story if you play them at random, unless that's not what you care about, which would make playing the campaign kind of pointless I think. I also recommend Legendary, because the games, at least to me, are just funner, even though they can be more frustrating in spots. I say go easy first through the entire thing, and then go Legendary if you want more Halo, especially due to the potential of enjoying it more. Trust me, you'll feel better knowing you actually played them, than any alternative. It's unfortunate Reach isn't on the collection (yet?)

And for ODST, you can skip a lot of it (that "open-world" sucks, aside from the smoky soundtrack). But it has some of the tightest Halo levels, specifically Uplift Reserve, Kizingo Boulevard, and ONI Alpha Site.

Silent Cartographer is a classic. I really enjoyed Truth and Reconciliation and the winter levels though. Man, Halo 1 was fucking rad.

I don't remember much of 2. There was New Mombasa, which is a fun name, and then insect convenant that sucked balls, and then going through some place on fire, and then at some point you play as a cool Elite, but it's all a blur after the fire part. I think I played through that campaign once, whereas I spent a toooooooooon of time with Halo 1, both on Xbox and PC.

I'd recommend playing through all of them on Normal. Shouldn't be too hard nor should it take that long if you've ever played a shooter before - each campaign is at most ten hours long. I'd wager that an average first playthrough of the later games takes the standard shooter length of 6-8 hours.

Yes, they got a little shorter, but they still feel pretty meaty (and that's probably a good thing for newcomers, if the recent blog by @grantheaslip is any indication).

I really love Assault on the Control Room from Halo CE. You start in the indoor narrow passageways, and after a bit you break out into a wide open canyon full of snow. The music starts playing and banshees fly over, there's a battle going on between marines and the covenant and the world just feels like it's alive even when you're not there to watch it.

The snow also reminded me of Phendrana Drifts from Metroid Prime and that's an instant win in my book.

I also want to add (while I don't know if it's the same for Halo 3, ODST, or Halo 4), you can also turn skulls on, like infinite ammo. I think it'll make it so you don't earn achievements, but seeing as you don't even care to play through the game anyways, I assume achievements don't matter that much, so I still consider going through it, but perhaps turning some of those skulls on.

Considering that 4 is easily the weakest Halo game, and 5 seems to be following a similar direction, in my opinion you'd be better off using the time you would spend playing 5 to play 1, 2, 3 and ODST instead.

/opinion

wait, what? there's a skull for infinite ammo? was that introduced for MCC or something? because i remember skulls making the game harder, like scarcer ammo, with the odd one for fun like party-grunts or extra dialogue, but definitely no cheats.

OP, i recommend playing them all in order on heroic, and then maybe skip a level here and there if it's pissing you off, like the flood levels, no big loss there, but most of it is quality.

If you're at all interested in story, you're probably doing yourself some measure of disservice by not playing all the games front to back. Halo's plot doesn't have a lot of complexity, but the games have always carried a strong internal continuity.

If you keep the series on Normal you'll be able to appreciate Halo's unique style of combat while hopefully not getting so bogged down that the venture becomes a complete slog.

The best mission from each game:

• The Silent Cartographer (Halo: Combat Evolved)
• Outskirts (Halo 2)
• The Ark (Halo 3)
• Coastal Highway (Halo 3: ODST)
• Reclaimer (Halo 4)

Having just replayed the entire Master Chief Collection, these were the standouts for me.

Honorable mentions go to The Covenant (Halo 3), Halo (Halo: Combat Evolved), and Kikowani Station (Halo 3: ODST).

@hh: It's only for the first two Halo's. Also, not always; I mean, there was the grunt birthday one (as you mentioned), which doesn't make it harder. That said, yes, they are more about making it more difficult, and I'm not entirely sure if some of them are new. The ones you mentioned are correct, but yes, there's an infinite ammo skull for the first two Halo's in the collection. There's also some other pretty awesome ones which can be an advantage or disadvantage, which makes grunts explode into plasma after they die. I don't think that's new, but it might be. Then there's also one in which you'll be able to melee an enemy, and you'll get a grenade out of it (though infinite ammo makes that pointless).

@historyinrust: The games may not be complex, but Halo has a lot of parts, so I'm not sure saying it doesn't have complexity is the correct thing to say about it, unless you just mean in terms of what's seen in the game.

I mean, broadly speaking, the in-game plot never goes beyond savior-must-save-us space opera. Some extremely elemental political stuff in Halo 2. Nothing where you're entirely out of sorts if you aren't paying complete attention.

There's lore and whatnot, and at times that's hard to follow because of dodgy storytelling/worldbuilding more than legitimate complexity. I'm referring here to Halo 4.

Overall, complexity isn't the thing that makes Halo's narrative tick.

And I suspect @jerkchicken doesn't have any interest in chasing down anything related to the novelizations or expanded universe. Because come on.

It kind of gave me a Metal Gear vibe. So, I guess I'm half way through Halo CE. I'm going to make an attempt at playing all of them, I think.

@jerkchicken: Highly recommend playing through all of them, go into as much detail as you can with 1 & 2 especially. If you want to play co-op, add me on Live: R3D x DR4GON (those are spaces between the x. I made the gamertag when i was 14, back when numbers as letters was "cool" lol).

Dude they are still hella cool! High five bro!