For me, Halo has always been about campaigns and storylines. Sure, I loved multiplayer modes – especially SWAT – but I always wanted to immerse myself in the epic overarching narrative. Despite not quite reaching the same dizzying heights in the last decade or so, Halo remains the definition of Xbox’s hold on multiplayer FPS games.
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I’ve ranked every Halo game ever made on this page, in order of my opinion. Hear me out. Like you, presumably, I’m a Halo fan.
This list won’t cover every single Halo release ever in all territories, but the mainline games and the spin-offs. Quality and quantity of gameplay, the plot, and how they hold up are all factors in the ranking.
16
Halo Recruit
A Disappointing, Teasing Taste Of VR Halo
Halo Recruit was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it venture into the world of virtual reality. There’s no story as such, and It isn’t considered canon.
There isn’t even any movement. The entire thing consists of five minutes of dual-wielding Magnums and firing at targets on a firing range. And that’s about it.
Sure, it’s exciting to feel like a Spartan in real life, using the motion controllers to pick up UNSC weapons and work on your aim. But in truth, like Windows Mixed Reality, Microsoft’s first VR system, Halo Recruit never took off.
It’s a shame really, because there’s a lot of potential for a Halo VR game. Clearly the time isn’t quite right. Yet.
15
Halo: Spartan Assault
Halo’s First Tentative Venture Into Twin-Stick Mobile Shooters
Next up, it’s Spartan Assault. As a top-down twin-stick mobile shooter, it was a new direction for Halo.
You play as Spartan Sarah Palmer (as seen in Halo 4), fighting alongside Spartan Davis as you explore why the Covenant is so interested in the planet Draetheus V. The plot is set out as a combat simulation, based on the events that happened between Halo 3 and Halo 4.
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I got it when it first came out, and although I did finish the campaign, which was fun, I didn’t exactly fall in love. While the levels were bite-sized and short (about five to ten minutes per mission), they were still repetitive, and the in-game microtransactions didn’t go down well with me.
Now, clearly, it wasn’t too bad. The later Xbox version had a multiplayer option, and I was hooked enough to finish the campaign, after all. But after that? I’m pretty sure I deleted it and never thought about it again. Until right now.
14
Halo: Spartan Strike
A Much Improved Sequel, But Still Not Real Halo
When the follow-up to Spartan Assault dropped, it was clear that the developers had learned from their past mistakes. Spartan Strike was made in the same top-down twin-stick style, but it offered much more to do and much better graphics.
You play as an anonymous Spartan (who I believe is supposed to be ‘you’ in the same style as Reach). Across 30 missions set in two time periods, Halo 2 and post-Halo 4, there’s a wide variety of mission objectives and engaging battlefields.
Having said that, I still feel like Spartan Strike is neglecting something, and for me, the main thing missing is character development. There’s also no multiplayer option at all.
For a mobile game, it’s good. But it’s still fundamentally a mobile game, and that’s not really what Halo is about.
13
Halo 5: Guardians
All The Intrigue With Little Of The Execution
Halo 5: Guardians picks up after Halo 4. Master Chief is committed to redeeming and saving Cortana. The UNSC sends Spartan Locke to stop him.
It’s a tense story about humanity losing control of the technology it creates.
Playing through the eyes of a different Spartan (Locke) was an intriguing risk. It doesn’t work for me, because you only get three missions as Master Chief, and it feels like playing against yourself. Still, it’s an interesting idea.
The graphics were second to none, and expanding on the previous Halo 4 storyline remained refreshing – yet divisive.
Now, from a neutral perspective, the narrative is fantastic, filled with twists and turns and emotional appeal. Yet, to the lifelong Halo fan, the (spoiler-friendly) ‘incidents’ with Cortana left me questioning, well, what was the point of it all?
12
Halo Wars 2
An Excellent Story In An Excellent RTS
Halo Wars 2 is set 28 years after the events of Halo Wars. The crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire awaken near The Ark, a Forerunner installation that builds Halo rings.
With no idea what’s happened to the rest of the galaxy, your job is to fight back Atriox, a Covenant rebel, who’s building his own army using The Ark’s power. The story is incredibly engaging, and Atriox is probably the best villain Halo has ever had.
Like the first installment, the voice acting and cutscenes are fantastic. Multiplayer also brings a unique approach via the Blitz mode, but I find that it’s missing some – soul. No?
11
Halo 4
An Emotional Yet Dull Version Of The Halo Of Old
When Halo 4 came out, I remember the excitement of the enhanced graphics. Compared to previous Halo iterations, it looked visually incredible.
Four years after Halo 3, Master Chief (who’s in cryosleep) crash-lands on the Forerunner planet Requiem. Cortana is dying, slowly deteriorating due to AI rampancy (basically, she’s thinking herself to death). The campaign explores what it means to be human.
As 343 Industries’ first title in the Halo series after taking over from Bungie, everything felt revamped. We were introduced to Master Chief’s new enemy, the Prometheans. Multiplayer was excellent, and online, everything felt fantastic.
Apart from, in this case, I remember feeling reluctant to even pick up the Xbox controller when it came to the campaign. It took me an awfully long time to finish the story because I just didn’t feel the joy.
10
Halo: Fireteam Raven
Future Halo VR Games Should Learn From This Four-Player Arcade
I find Halo: Fireteam Raven quite an exciting addition to the Halo franchise. It’s an arcade-only game developed in conjunction with Raw Thrills, and it’s a Halo fan’s dream.
You’ll play as the titular Fireteam Raven, a group of ODSTs on their way to help Master Chief on the ringworld. It’s set parallel to the events of Combat Evolved and quite literally offers a refreshing perspective.
Fireteam Raven is an on-rail shooter, so you don’t have to worry about moving. All you have to think about is firing at Combat Evolved-style enemies from your force feedback seat. On a 10-foot screen.
It’s a fantastic four-player experience. I only wish it were more accessible so more Halo fans could give it a go.
9
Halo Wars
A Revolutionary Step Into Console-Based RTS Games
I enjoy real-time strategy games, and Halo Wars is a fun example. Set about twenty years before Halo: Combat Evolved, you try to stop the Covenant weaponising a Forerunner fleet. It feels like the stakes are high, in part thanks to the somewhat underrated score.
The multiplayer options were fun, especially the 2v2 and 3v3 modes. Still, let’s be honest, it was the same as every other strategy game out there, just with Halo masks.
It was made by the same people responsible for Age of Empires, and that’s pretty obvious in the gameplay.
Halo Wars was a major player in bringing RTS games to consoles. While that makes it a trailblazer, it also introduces obvious problems compared to PC.
Naturally, the controls have to be simpler, and that spills over into a less strategic combat system.
For me, what really makes it stand out is the cinematic cutscenes. I played that game purely for those. The graphics were mind-boggling for its day, and I loved the desperately hopeless images of Marines fighting elites.
8
Halo Infinite
Open-World Campaign And Endless Multiplayer Updates
Halo Infinite picks up 18 months after Halo 5: Guardians. After being defeated by Atriox, Master Chief is left stranded in space, until a lone pilot rescues him from the debris.
What follows is an epic open-world ring adventure, in which Master Chief uncovers what happened to Cortana, re-establishes UNSC control on the ring, and prepares to fight Escharum, Atriox’s successor.
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The Banished’s Zeta Ring homeworld is beautifully designed, and Halo Infinite is certainly the closest spiritual successor to the original Combat Evolved. It’s probably the most intimate storyline Halo has ever made, too, and that’s a big bonus in my mind.
However, like all open-world scenarios, the game dragged. It’s probably as good as an open-world Halo could ever be – it’s just that, if I’m perfectly honest, I prefer a linear approach.
7
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
A Faithful Recreation Of The First Halo Game
In 2011, we were treated to a remastered version of the first Halo game ever, Combat Evolved. The Anniversary edition is a fantastic example of how to re-do a cult classic.
It kept everything pretty much exactly the same, apart from redoing the graphics and audio. You can toggle between the old and new graphics at the push of a button – that was Combat Evolved‘s party piece.
Of course, bringing an old video game into the present did introduce a couple of snags. For instance, the backgrounds and scenery seem repetitive compared with modern standards. But hey, we can’t complain!
The only reason I’ve put Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary lower down on this list is that it’s a copy-and-paste of the original. That’s what I wanted from it, to be clear, but it also means there’s nothing particularly special about it compared to the first Combat Evolved.
