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This thread is making me want to play the Halo games again. I’ve played 1-4 but not ODST, Reach, 5 or Infinite. Might have to fire up the Series X for some play time perhaps this weekend.
Y'all are smoking crack. Nearly every level in Halo 2 is a masterpiece, but "Gravemind" is the greatest level, and also probably the most challenging, in all of Halo.
First things first. There's really two campaigns in a single game. One is the Master Chief's journey, one is the Arbiter's journey. I'll color code those (green for Chief, purple for Arbiter). Meanwhile, within those journeys, except for the first level, "Cairo Station", all levels are really two halves of a same level broken up to keep level lengths reasonable, or to parallelize the dual narrative:
- (1) Cairo Station
---- (2) Outskirts
- (3) Metropolis
---- (4) The Arbiter
- (5) The Oracle
---- (6) Delta Halo
- (7) Regret
---- (8) Sacred Icon
- (9) Quarantine Zone
---- (10) Gravemind
- (12) High Charity
---- (11) Uprising
- (13) The Great Journey
I get that most don't care for the back half as much as the front half, but I think a lot of gamers over the years detached due to the weakest episode in the game: the "Arbiter"-"Oracle" episode. Yeah, it's a bit of a letdown after that banger 1-2-3 opening. There's also no question Master Chief's journey is greater than the Arbiter's. It's only disappointment is its final level. Every other level is a masterpiece of first person shooting history.
Because, sure, "High Charity" is obnoxious, given the presence of the Flood, but "Quarantine Zone" as the second half of its episode (with "Sacred Icon") has to be the best Flood level in the franchise. And every Flood stage in the game except those in "High Charity" are vastly more enjoyable than in Halo CE or Halo 3 for one simple reason: the Arbiter's invisibility ability. It makes holding forward possible.
"Uprising" is the Arbiter's "Gravemind". Again, and I don't mean to blunt the word's impact by overusing it, but it's a goddamn masterpiece.
Finally, I understand some don't like "The Great Journey" because of vehicle play, but vehicles is part of what makes Halo so great among shooters. For some reason, most don't care for anything but the Warthog. It's why even a lot of Halo hardcores complained about "Long Night of Solace" in Reach. Well, here's some hard truths for those with rose-tinted glasses. The CE banshee is clumsy & boring, the ghost was a pointless pile of shit designed for autists, and the tank is a joke where a single plasma pistol charge from a jackal or grunt counters the most powerful piece of cavalry in the game. Only the Hog is good. The same can't be said for Halo 2's vehicles. They're all fun, challenging, responsive, and balanced.
I was just skimming through the video playthrough of Halo 4. Every stage is incredible. Unlike no less than Halo 2, the campaign I rate most strongly of all, there's not a weak level, and in fact, there isn't even a weak stage, really. Frankly, one could make a powerful argument it's the best campaign in the whole franchise if it just didn't lack the narrative thrust of the earlier installments (the story is by far at its strongest when it is less developed, at its most mysterious, in Halo: CE). But it also isn't crippled as CE was by the plodding, imbalanced vehicle play, or Hunters that can be downed with a single pistol to the back, for example. And unlike the original trilogy...no Flood. It's glorious.
I'm being a milquetoast acquiesting to dogma mostly steeped in the ignorance of those who have never really played it to rate it as low as I have.
I loved the PC version of Halo 1. I played the shit out of CE on the Xbox, especially splitscreen and system link. My buddies and I were hardcore competitive with that and Fusion Frenzy (original).Download the original PC port of Halo with mods, no input latency with KB/M.
Probably going to play Reach sometime in the near future
I think that might be ODST. Definitely the red headed stepchild of the franchise.Which one is kinda like visually dark and dingy and you start off in a city, i think in Africa, I hate that one
Good for their time but in retrospect it's super repetitive with the same enemies showing up over and over again. Multiplayer was a blast though. Much prefer this to CoD.
LOL, there are few games in history that have held up as well. Still masterpieces. Not repetitive at all.Good for their time but in retrospect it's super repetitive with the same enemies showing up over and over again. Multiplayer was a blast though. Much prefer this to CoD.
That's ODST. Easily the least popular game in the franchise.Which one is kinda like visually dark and dingy and you start off in a city, i think in Africa, I hate that one
Felt the same.Good for their time but in retrospect it's super repetitive with the same enemies showing up over and over again. Multiplayer was a blast though. Much prefer this to CoD.
And what modern campaigns, pray tell, are less "repetitive" with enemies? Give us all several examples of single player first person shooter campaigns from the last 10 years that are superior, and make Halo 2 or Halo 3 seem stale in comparison?Felt the same.
We all played a TON of the first 3 Halos when they were released. We were all just Xbox players, so that was what you played if you only owned those systems, as no other FPS compared. Tried going back and playing coop with some friends, and I was bored after a short time. Maybe it is just me, but I couldn’t go back home. At least campaign wise. The MP on the collection was still pretty darn fun though.
Can’t remember the names of the levels. I think it’s level 6 ot 7. The library maybe? It has been a minute, and relying on feelz. It is the one with flood and those flying ray gun wielding sentries where you get the ray gun type weapons from them. Its flood and them, through fairly mundane forerunner curved hallway after curved hallway. Just bored me. What can ya do?And what modern campaigns, pray tell, are less "repetitive" with enemies? Give us all several examples of single player first person shooter campaigns from the last 10 years that are superior, and make Halo 2 or Halo 3 seem stale in comparison?
Can either of you name any?
That's Halo CE. Yeah, as I wrote above, it's the only one that feels dated by modern standards-- just slow and clunky. But that's understandable. It came out in 2001. Every FPS from that time or earlier feels dated including those that were on PC. Halo 2 and Halo 3 are a completely different story.Can’t remember the names of the levels. I think it’s level 6 ot 7. The library maybe? It has been a minute, and relying on feelz. It is the one with flood and those flying ray gun wielding sentries where you get the ray gun type weapons from them. Its flood and them, through fairly mundane forerunner curved hallway after curved hallway. Just bored me. What can ya do?
Titanfall 2 single player was superior to me
Unfortunately, 1 was the one we played Coop in again… MP was still fun, with those overpowered pistols. That was still a blast. I thought he was posting about halo 1, so that’s my badThat's Halo CE. Yeah, as I wrote above, it's the only one that feels dated by modern standards-- just slow and clunky. But that's understandable. It came out in 2001. Every FPS from that time or earlier feels dated including those that were on PC. Halo 2 and Halo 3 are a completely different story.
Also, btw, if you queue the MP with 2 you're more likely to get put into Halo 2A which is the updated MP with modern shot registration and some graphical overhaul.