WhenHalo: Combat Evolvedwas released in 2001, it completely changed the first-person shooter landscape. It also transformed Master Chief into a household name for gamers around the world. Soon enough, the success of the first game led to a bevy of sequels, prequels, and spinoffs.
However, not all Halo games are created equal. Some are worth finishing the fight, and others aren’t even worth getting started. How will you know which titles are worth your time? Forget asking Cortana: just keep reading to discover my ranked list of every Halo game!
13Halo: Fireteam Raven
Unless you spend a lot of time at Dave and Busters, you may never have even heard of the arcade-only titleHalo: Fireteam Raven. Set during the events ofHalo: Combat Evolved, this game lets up to four players tear through six different missions, fighting various iconic enemies from the franchise. And if you and your buddies are relatively skilled, it won’t take much time or many quarters to experience this game in its entirety.
That’s part of the problem, though. As aHaloexperience, this feels very limited, offering no real story and very little replay value. The highlight of the whole experience is playingHaloby using a light gun game, but those charms will be largely limited to fans who are used to playing as Master Chief with an Xbox controller in their hands.
12Halo: Spartan Strike
Spartan Strikeis anotherHalotitle you might have missed unless you were just mainlining this franchise’s many spinoffs. It’s a sequel toSpartan Assault, and it follows the same top-down shooter model. There are a few welcome improvements here and there, including new levels and new enemies that ostensibly add replay value.
With that being said, this is basically more of the same. That’s great news if you likedSpartan Assault, but bad news if you were expecting the sequel to innovate in any real way. The story is interesting, but likeSpartan Assault, non-canonical. That’s sure to irk fans who enjoy following this franchise’s sprawling story from game to game.
11Halo: Spartan Assault
Halo: Spartan Assaultwas the franchise’s first top-down shooter. And as a top-down shooter, it’s pretty solid! There is a wide variety of enemies and levels, and hopping in vehicles like the Warthog dramatically changes gameplay. Plus, switching perspectives from the usual FPS design helps players better drink in the details of this fictional world.
With that being said, gameplay sometimes gets repetitive. For veteran gamers, this is a bit like playing classic titles like Smash TV. Sure, the run-and-gun gameplay is very fun, but its visceral thrills are also very fleeting. Don’t be surprised if you enjoy playing for a few hours and then decide you’d rather go play some multiplayer in theMaster Chief Collection.
10Halo Wars
Halo Warsis a real-time strategy game, a first for the franchise. In this way, the title serves as a glimpse of what might have been. After all,Combat Evolvedwas once designed as an Apple RTS (which might havemade the Mac a gaming powerhouse) before Bungie decided the game would work better as a console-based first-person shooter.
Generally speaking,Halo Warsdoes a great job of translating the RTS experience to console. Sure, it doesn’t have the versatility of classic titles likeStarcraft, but there’s something to be said for a solid real-time strategy game you may play with only a controller. Plus, this game is canon, offering lore-hungry players a powerful glimpse of this increasingly complex fictional universe.
9Halo Wars 2
If I’m being honest,Halo Wars 2doesn’t need an extensive review. It can really be summed up with just a few words. Specifically, “it’s likeHalo Wars, but slightly better!”
If you enjoyed the gameplay of the firstHalo Wars, you are sure to enjoy its sequel. A handful of improvements have been made, and the campaign presents some fun, narrative surprises for players to discover. Most of those play out via animated cutscenes that (as with the earlier title) are arguably the major highlight of the game.
8Halo 5: Guardians
Halo 5: Guardiansis something of a mixed bag among the mainlineHalotitles. From a narrative standpoint, the campaign is satisfying, and it builds nicely on the storyline ofHalo 4. But the game’s campaign is split between levels where you play as Master Chief and levels where you play as Spartan Locke. It’s a fun gimmick on paper, but you’ll likely be tapping your feet impatiently, just waiting to play as Master Chief once again.
The most intriguing thing aboutGuardiansis its multiplayer mode Warzone, where two teams of 12 players must compete to capture locations, take out computer-controlled Big Bads, and gather enough REQ points to deploy serious hardware to the fight. It was honestly the most innovativeHalomultiplayer mode since Invasion, and many veteran players (including myself) wouldn’t mind seeing it return in a future sequel.
7Halo 4
Halo 4follows up on all those earlier mentions of the Forerunners by giving us a new Big Bad who is a member of this ancient race. While you still fight some splinter Covenant, much of this game’s campaign has you facing foes who are entirely new to the franchise. That adds some welcome novelty, but there are times when it doesn’t exactly feel like classicHalo.
Speaking of feeling different, the multiplayer mode in this game is faster than in any previous titles. That’s because players can now sprint regardless of which armor ability they have chosen. Those armor abilities help make multiplayer feel very dynamic, and the permanent sprint fixes a criticism of earlier games: namely, that they were a bit slow compared to many other modern shooters.
6Halo Infinite
Halo Infinitehad a troubled launch and never really reached its full potential. With that being said, the game has a very fun campaign, complete with an open-world design and a permanent grappling hook. That sounds like such a small thing, but getting to feel like Batman while you traverse such a richly designed world made the campaign (ahem) infinitely cooler than it otherwise would have been.
And while it had a similarly rocky start (complete with a lackluster Battle Pass),Halo Infinite’s multiplayer is also very solid. Simply put, this game perfectsHalo’s Holy Trinity of guns, grenades, and melee. Every fight with other players feels appropriately meaty, and the growing number of multiplayer modes has added some much-needed variety to online play.
Long story short? If you deleted this game in its rocky first few months, it’s definitely worth reinstalling to experience all the improvements.
5Halo 3: ODST
A spinoff this high on the list? You bet!Halo 3: ODSTis a spinoff of (you guessed it)Halo 3and one of thoseXbox games you probably haven’t played but definitely should. It explores what happened on Earth during the events ofHalo 2after the Covenant dropped an invasion force on the planet before warping away. As such, you don’t control Master Chief and instead follow a group of veteran Orbital Drop Shock Troopers (ODST).
The game’s cast is a real “who’s who” of sci-fi names, with voices provided byFireflyalumni Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, and Adam Baldwin as well asBattlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer. They add spark and personality toODST, and the gameplay feels refreshingly different from earlier games. It’s also a relatively short adventure that you may beat in a single night or over a lazy weekend, which is good news for gamers with too little time for their favorite hobby!
4Halo 3
Halo 3delivered on Master Chief’s promise to “finish the fight” against the Covenant. As such, it delivers an epic story in which he has to team up with several unlikely allies in a mad dash to save the universe. Unless Master Chief can keep the bad guys from activating every Halo ring in the galaxy, then there will simply be nothing organic left alive to slash with an Energy Sword or stick with a plasma grenade.
The solo campaign is mostly satisfying, but multiplayer is whereHalo 3really shines. Playing the game cooperatively with friends is a blast, especially after you toggle on various skulls to make gameplay more challenging. Online matchmaking also provides a bevy of iconic new weapons and maps for players to duke it out. Finally, the addition of the Forge mode allowed players to create custom maps and gameplay modes, adding major replay value to an already-stacked multiplayer mode.
