Before I take my daily trip into the cesspool known as Xbox Live, I like going back to play the campaigns of the Halo games every once in a while. Now that Bungie's magnum opus has come to a halt (Until Microsoft's 343 begins the milking), I thought it would be fitting to countdown my top 5 favorite campaign in the series. My list will be quite controversial to many, but this is purely an opinion piece and you can feel free to disagree. So, here are my top 5 favorite campaigns in the Halo series. 
 

5. Halo 2:

Watching the E3 2003 game demo was a lot more enjoyable than playing the actual campaign. It was an incredibly underwhelming campaign compared to the original. It never had a single memorable set-piece, the mission design was uninventive, lacked open levels, the A.I. was dumb downed and the pacing was inconsistent. The story had an interesting premise by having to play as an Elite and showing the Covenant’s side of the conflict, but the transition from Master Chief’s tale to the Arbiter’s was jarring and convoluted. Then there’s the infamous cliff-hanger “ending” that we all know and hate. The campaign isn’t bad; it’s just mediocre. 

4. Halo: Reach:

This is a controversial pick, as fans consider it to be one of the best, except for me. The story tried to be emotional, but it was less heartfelt and more half-hearted. The characters were undeveloped and dull for a character driven story. Bungie didn’t expand some of the new elements it brought to the series, such as the jetpack plat-forming, zero-g gravity segments, space combat, and on-rails shooting segments. The planet wasn’t as atmospheric or immersive as Bungie claimed. It also lacked memorable set-pieces or big battles that Bungie were hyping up; where were the Scarab battles? While the enemy A.I. was excellent, the friendlies are dumber than they were in Halo 2 & 3. But I have to admit, the Elites were a bit too hyperactive and occasionally cheap on higher difficulty levels.  

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the campaign. The level design was rock solid, it was well paced, and there were good variations in the mission design. It’s just that the campaign had so much potential that Bungie didn’t tap. I will say that the ending was phenomenal; easily the best part of the entire campaign.

3. Halo 3:

This is controversial choice, as fans would consider it as one of the weakest. I’d say it was one of the strongest. It brought back the compelling mission structure, big battles, great enemy A.I. and open environments I loved from Halo: CE. The Scarab battles were one of the game’s biggest highlights; they made Half-Life 2’s Striders pale in comparison. The four-player co-op component was awesome too. The only complaints I had were its short length, the mission Cortana, friendly A.I. and its storytelling. The storytelling was very lackluster; it had so much potential to be more than a macho war story. Well, at least the ending was good. 

2. Halo 3: ODST:

Once again, along with Halo 3, it’s considered to have one of the weakest campaigns in the series. I on the other hand, find it to be much underappreciated. The contrast between moody night-time and high-octane day-time levels was brilliantly executed. The campaign is expertly paced and had the level design is superbly. The film-noir approach to the story worked very well too, and the characters were most humane in the series. It’s also, by far, the most tactical game in the series. The night-time levels were a fresh change of pace to the chaotic action of the series, focusing on exploration and atmosphere. It’s short, but sweet. I liked it, so bite me. 

1. Halo: Combat Evolved:

Well, this was expected. Even today, many fans consider CE to contain the best campaign. Why not? It had everything; inventive mission design, epic set-pieces, tight pacing, compelling storyline, great level design (The corridors aren’t as repetitive as people make them out to be), smart A.I., and a great ending. Sure, The Library was painful, but a lot of great games had one bad level. Play Half-Life's Xen and Ocarina of Time's Water Temple if you don't believe me. Every other mission was superbly designed, and brimmed with memorable moments. I will never forget storming an assault on the covenant infested beach on The Silent Cartographer. This was the game that started-off the series with a bang. Till this day, I consider it to have one of the best single-player experiences in the genre. 

Before I take my daily trip into the cesspool known as Xbox Live, I like going back to play the campaigns of the Halo games every once in a while. Now that Bungie's magnum opus has come to a halt (Until Microsoft's 343 begins the milking), I thought it would be fitting to countdown my top 5 favorite campaign in the series. My list will be quite controversial to many, but this is purely an opinion piece and you can feel free to disagree. So, here are my top 5 favorite campaigns in the Halo series. 
 

5. Halo 2:

Watching the E3 2003 game demo was a lot more enjoyable than playing the actual campaign. It was an incredibly underwhelming campaign compared to the original. It never had a single memorable set-piece, the mission design was uninventive, lacked open levels, the A.I. was dumb downed and the pacing was inconsistent. The story had an interesting premise by having to play as an Elite and showing the Covenant’s side of the conflict, but the transition from Master Chief’s tale to the Arbiter’s was jarring and convoluted. Then there’s the infamous cliff-hanger “ending” that we all know and hate. The campaign isn’t bad; it’s just mediocre. 

4. Halo: Reach:

This is a controversial pick, as fans consider it to be one of the best, except for me. The story tried to be emotional, but it was less heartfelt and more half-hearted. The characters were undeveloped and dull for a character driven story. Bungie didn’t expand some of the new elements it brought to the series, such as the jetpack plat-forming, zero-g gravity segments, space combat, and on-rails shooting segments. The planet wasn’t as atmospheric or immersive as Bungie claimed. It also lacked memorable set-pieces or big battles that Bungie were hyping up; where were the Scarab battles? While the enemy A.I. was excellent, the friendlies are dumber than they were in Halo 2 & 3. But I have to admit, the Elites were a bit too hyperactive and occasionally cheap on higher difficulty levels.  

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the campaign. The level design was rock solid, it was well paced, and there were good variations in the mission design. It’s just that the campaign had so much potential that Bungie didn’t tap. I will say that the ending was phenomenal; easily the best part of the entire campaign.

3. Halo 3:

This is controversial choice, as fans would consider it as one of the weakest. I’d say it was one of the strongest. It brought back the compelling mission structure, big battles, great enemy A.I. and open environments I loved from Halo: CE. The Scarab battles were one of the game’s biggest highlights; they made Half-Life 2’s Striders pale in comparison. The four-player co-op component was awesome too. The only complaints I had were its short length, the mission Cortana, friendly A.I. and its storytelling. The storytelling was very lackluster; it had so much potential to be more than a macho war story. Well, at least the ending was good. 

2. Halo 3: ODST:

Once again, along with Halo 3, it’s considered to have one of the weakest campaigns in the series. I on the other hand, find it to be much underappreciated. The contrast between moody night-time and high-octane day-time levels was brilliantly executed. The campaign is expertly paced and had the level design is superbly. The film-noir approach to the story worked very well too, and the characters were most humane in the series. It’s also, by far, the most tactical game in the series. The night-time levels were a fresh change of pace to the chaotic action of the series, focusing on exploration and atmosphere. It’s short, but sweet. I liked it, so bite me. 

1. Halo: Combat Evolved:

Well, this was expected. Even today, many fans consider CE to contain the best campaign. Why not? It had everything; inventive mission design, epic set-pieces, tight pacing, compelling storyline, great level design (The corridors aren’t as repetitive as people make them out to be), smart A.I., and a great ending. Sure, The Library was painful, but a lot of great games had one bad level. Play Half-Life's Xen and Ocarina of Time's Water Temple if you don't believe me. Every other mission was superbly designed, and brimmed with memorable moments. I will never forget storming an assault on the covenant infested beach on The Silent Cartographer. This was the game that started-off the series with a bang. Till this day, I consider it to have one of the best single-player experiences in the genre. 

This blog would've made a lot more sense if there were more than just six Halo games. 
 
I can only comment on four of these five campaigns but I'd have to say that Halo: CE was definitely the best out of all of them.

" This blog would've made a lot more sense if there were more than just six Halo games.  I can only comment on four of these five campaigns but I'd have to say that Halo: CE was definitely the best out of all of them. "

1: Halo: CE
 2: Halo: Reach
3: Halo 3  
4: Halo: ODST
5: Halo 2

You should've just included Halo Wars, too. Get 'em all in there!

" You should've just included Halo Wars, too. Get 'em all in there! "

Halo:CE has some of the worst level design I have ever seen. Its repetitive, its samey, its repetitive, it all looks the same, its repetitive, and the game essentially boils down to the same 3 seconds of gameplay repeated ad-infinitum. I haven't played Reach or ODST yet, but I'm guessing that my list would be exactly the opposite of yours.
 
EDIT: Oh yes, those levels are confusing to navigate as well. Mostly because they are so repetitive, in both geometry and texture.
 
REPETITIVE!!!

Odd title for this list. I always see people list Halo CE as the best campaign of all the Halo games but I dont see a single thing you listed there to prove that. The level design wasn't great and any level that was was repeated enough so it got tedious and those corridors are as repetitive as people say. The game had one good set piece which was the assault on the beach but Halo 3 had more, it had scarab battles and taking down big AA guns or destroying dropships in air battles. You mention smart AI but every Halo game has got intelligent enemies and Reach blows all of them out of the water in that regard. 
 
ODST for me would be near the bottom I enjoyed the game but it was at its best in the night time segments where it had a good atmosphere, most of the day time missions where just kinda the same. 
 
I really like all the games but Halo 3 is the one with most improvements and additions from its predecessors and it had probably the best campaign with a really good ending. I would place them like this Halo 3 == Reach > Halo CE == Halo 2 > ODST. I did not play Halo Wars but it looks OK.

EDIT: Oh yes, those levels are confusing to navigate as well. Mostly because they are so repetitive, in both geometry and texture.  REPETITIVE!!! "

Halo CE for campaign, Halo 3 for Multiplayer.

Although I haven't played Reach, I would go (1) Halo 2 (2) Halo 3: ODST (3) Halo: CE (4) Halo 3.
 
My reasoning for Halo 2 is what an unexpected move it was to play as the Arbiter, which opened up an interesting dimension of the Halo universe. The Arbiter is awesome and actually a fleshed-out character, which I appreciated. It's a bit like Raiden, I don't understand why people disliked playing as him when he was a cool character and added a different dimension to the story.  Also, dual-wielding (at least for me) was huge. I liked the different enemy types and weapons they added in, and the corridors felt less corridor-y. Didn't miss the openworld environment. The ending was a brutal cliffhanger but I really don't play Halo games for the narrative anyway. 
 
Halo 3: ODST is number 2 because it had the best setting, the best narrative, cool film-noir aesthetic and phenomenal music, as well as combat that was much more strategic - the day/night difference. Different characters and stories came together in a compelling way. 
 
Halo: CE is here because of the Library missions. And the awful-looking corridors that do an extremely poor job of suggesting where you're supposed to go and the bland-looking environments in general. And retrospectively no dual-wield.
 
Halo 3 was incredibly bland and uninteresting as a setting, narrative, as well as having no significant mechanical tweaks. Except ripping turrets out of the ground I suppose. Edit: and some other stuff, but still didn't like it.

" @ssj4raditz said:

" You should've just included Halo Wars, too. Get 'em all in there! "

Like I said before, I pretend that game never existed. I really hated it, not just because it was an over-simplified RTS, but it's Ensemble's last game. Those guys went out with a whimper. "

" @nintendoeats said:

EDIT: Oh yes, those levels are confusing to navigate as well. Mostly because they are so repetitive, in both geometry and texture.  REPETITIVE!!! "

Walk straight and shoot dudes.  "

" Odd title for this list. I always see people list Halo CE as the best campaign of all the Halo games but I dont see a single thing you listed there to prove that. The level design wasn't great and any level that was was repeated enough so it got tedious and those corridors are as repetitive as people say. The game had one good set piece which was the assault on the beach but Halo 3 had more, it had scarab battles and taking down big AA guns or destroying dropships in air battles. You mention smart AI but every Halo game has got intelligent enemies and Reach blows all of them out of the water in that regard.  ODST for me would be near the bottom I enjoyed the game but it was at its best in the night time segments where it had a good atmosphere, most of the day time missions where just kinda the same.  I really like all the games but Halo 3 is the one with most improvements and additions from its predecessors and it had probably the best campaign with a really good ending. I would place them like this Halo 3 == Reach > Halo CE == Halo 2 > ODST. I did not play Halo Wars but it looks OK. "

" 1: Halo: CE  2: Halo: Reach 3: Halo 3   4: Halo: ODST 5: Halo 2 "

I take serious issue with Halo 3's campaign.  As you pointed out, it was significantly shorter than Halo and Halo 2's, featured an atrocious level ("Cortana"), fairly uninteresting/retreaded locales, retarded friendly-AI (worsened by psuedo-co op throughout) and an uninspired finale.  The story also lacked the complexity of Halo 2, with the omission of the Arbiter's separate campaign, and was downright incomprehensible in the final acts.  But most importantly, it killed off my favorite character in the whole series. 
 
I hated it.

" I take serious issue with Halo 3's campaign.  As you pointed out, it was significantly shorter than Halo and Halo 2's, featured an atrocious level ("Cortana"), fairly uninteresting/retreaded locales, retarded friendly-AI (worsened by psuedo-co op throughout) and an uninspired finale.  The story also lacked the complexity of Halo 2, with the omission of the Arbiter's separate campaign, and was downright incomprehensible in the final acts.  But most importantly, it killed off my favorite character in the whole series.  I hated it. "

uhhh, isn't that all of them?

" uhhh, isn't that all of them? "

1. It's not a first-person shooter.
2. It wasn't created by Bungie
3. It was very, very bad.

6. Halo 3: ODST

ODST was a low point of the series. As fans, we have come to know and love a certain kind of Halo, one that follows the MasterChief and Cortana, and has a focus on the Halo rings, the flood outbreak, the war with the Covenant, and numerous other things. All this was stripped away from us with ODST, when we found ourselves as normal humans, who were given no character development, fighting the Covenant on the surface, with no space travel, big wide battles, or any of the other things we came to know and love in Halo games.

5. Halo Reach

Somewhat mirroring the above statement, Reach removed some of the classic Halo elements. We were presented with six individuals who quickly died, and did we care? Not really. They were bland and uninteresting characters not worthy of our time. Whilst the gameplay was fun, and we loved the opportunity to fight on Reach, this Halo game lacked the brilliant storytelling that others provided in bucket loads.

4. Halo 4

This game was great when it came out, though when all the fuss had died down, it allowed us to take a step back and really look at the game. There was something missing from it. Something that just can't be explained. Could it be the way the new captains acted? Could it be the lack of grunt speech? Whatever it was, the transition between Bungie and 343 was noticeable. The story in this game progressed nicely, but we just found ourselves hating everyone on the Infinity, due to a style of script writing that Halo isn't accustomed for. In the earlier games, there was complete understanding among the higher ups, allowing for efficient victories, and the way Lasky addresses the MasterChief, in that off hand manner, just makes us hate him even though we shouldn't. And, I can't believe these words are being said, I kind of missed the flood...

3. Halo CE

We are out of the deep end and are now getting in to the best of the best. The next three games are brilliant, though there are just small things setting them apart. The story of CE was brilliantly told, introducing this bold, new world that had never been seen before. There was the danger for over complication, but Bungie managed to avoid that through some top-line script writing. This game is in third merely because of those long missions that could have been cut down, namely running through exactly the same corridor time and time again in The Library and Attack on the Control Room.

2. Halo 2

Continuing the MasterChief's story is Halo 2. This game topped the story telling and gameplay from Halo CE, although everyone did miss the assault rifle. Halo 2 brought something new into the mix. The Arbiter. Most notably at the beginning of the campaign, when there were the cut scenes comparing the MasterChief's success to the Arbiter's failures, this new angle of approaching fighting was brilliant. Being in the Covenant, and experiencing the hierarchy's betrayal, added new feeling to the campaign. It would have been nice to end on a MasterChief mission though. Fans were surely expecting more when the Arbiter killed Tartarus, another short fight with the Cheif, maybe...

1. Halo 3

Halo 3 is quite a controversial choice, but this game, whilst being over-hyped pre-release, has been under-hyped post-release. This campaign saw some of the best missions of all time, notably the Ark and the Covenant, and moments like taking on the two Scarabs, and completing that Warthog obstacle course with that iconic music running at the end of the game, were able to make up for that mission (Cortana). This game brought out the best of Bungie, and saw the world that they had developed evolve even further. For that, I congratulate them.