Hard decisions. Halo CE had an amazing campaign at the time, Halo 2 put console online multiplayer on the map, Halo 3 was a juggernaut back in 2007, and the multiplayer is still great.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
What is the best game in the OG Halo Trilogy?
- Thread starter Uncle at Nintendo
- Start date
2. The multiplayer was the best and the maps for it were perfect. Halo 3 has maps that can kick rocks, and fuck BR spread and equipment.
plus not a big fan of Halo campaigns that aren't the first game.
plus not a big fan of Halo campaigns that aren't the first game.
CE>2>3
CE was great at everything, MP included if you did LAN parties; 2 had a terrible SP but great MP; 3 was "meh" all around.
CE was great at everything, MP included if you did LAN parties; 2 had a terrible SP but great MP; 3 was "meh" all around.
I think I like 3 the most. Campaign was great, multiplayer pulled me back into gaming after a year and a half off, and it was a really nice conclusion after the cliffhanger in 2. I actually kinda hated 2's campaign, too, but loved the multiplayer. Halo 1 is easily the most influential of them.
Halo 3's campaign was awesome, so that. Not that the others weren't good.
It's probably the only gaming trilogy that doesn't have a weak link. Well, maybe GTA 3D as well.
It's probably the only gaming trilogy that doesn't have a weak link. Well, maybe GTA 3D as well.
I think 3 has the lowest number of bad campaign missions, so I'm going with that one. I know people love Assault on the Control Room but fuck if that isn't the longest slog of an FPS level I've ever played and I always take the bridge skip. ALWAYS. And Halo 2 has Gravemind, which I think is probably the most infuriating level in all of Halo, and it also has Jackal Alley (skippable), Jackal Valley (skippable), and Jackal Galley (not skippable but there's a good path for hightailing it to the exit). Much of Halo 2's awfulness can be mitigated by skips, in general, but it doesn't make those things any less awful.
Halo 2 has the greatest collection of MP maps in gaming, period - each perfectly tuned for both Slayer and Objective games.
One bomb on this was insane.
One bomb or CTF:
Two Flag:
King of the Hill:
8-player assault:
And it just keeps going...
Water Works
F-ing BURIAL MOUNDS
CONTAINMENT
Just non-stop greatness. All unique. All with amazing secrets to learn. All fair. All with decent-good spawns. All with a totally different feel. All that got better the more experienced you became. No game nowadays releases a collection of maps this broad and of this quality.
One bomb on this was insane.
One bomb or CTF:
Two Flag:
King of the Hill:
8-player assault:
And it just keeps going...
Water Works
F-ing BURIAL MOUNDS
CONTAINMENT
Just non-stop greatness. All unique. All with amazing secrets to learn. All fair. All with decent-good spawns. All with a totally different feel. All that got better the more experienced you became. No game nowadays releases a collection of maps this broad and of this quality.
Last edited:
Halo 2 was the game I've played the most MP in in any game at all and I definitely loved the story at the time. I played the updated version multiple times in the MCC and have the most achievements in that one than any of the other ones. I guess my fave is Halo 2!
Replaying CE a couple times this decade thanks to anniversary and MCC, I came to notice that it reuses levels and environments a lot, and the lack of XBL means I never got to play much multiplayer; I'd give it to Halo 3 no doubt.
Halo 3. Best campaign and best multiplayer of the original trilogy (although 2 has better multiplayer maps).
3. Multiplayer was untouchable at the time, a blast to play, and the campaign didn't have the rehashed levels of CE or the so-so pacing and cliffhanger ending of 2. Some of my best gaming memories with my friends happened over Halo 3, and it's the only game I ever skipped a day of school for, after staying up all night and plowing through the campaign.
i would never wish that on my worst enemy
also lockout top 3 map
I have the fondest memories of Combat Evolved. Definitely my favorite campaign and co-op experience. I played the PC version online a lot too but I didn't really play Halo 2 or 3 online enough to compare them.
Halo 3 has the least number of bad campaign missions so I honestly have to put that as number 1. The second half of CE is just playing the game backwards (featuring AotCR, which is easily the most exhausting mission in bungieHalo history), and 2 has fucking Gravemind.
Halo CE for the campaign. It has an incredible atmosphere that hasn't been topped by its own sequels. The best forerunner art style in the game (pearlescent look with weird holograms > boring grey sheets in later games) Some of the GOATs missions designs. Perfect linear mid-sized sandboxes. Multiplayer is pretty phenomenal too. LAN CTF on Blood Gulch all day every day. Best AI in the series, still, somehow (even if it's smoke and mirrors). Chunky physics, like flipping a warthog looked like something out of an 80s action movie. Dat legendary Soundtrack
Halo 2's multiplayer has the best maps in the series, you're catered for whether you like small arena maps or if you're down for big map mayhem. The designs are a masterclass that the sequels could barely reach. Vehicle jacking is the bomb. It's a shame the mongoose and theatre mode were cut, it would have been amazing to have that in an already full MP package. I actually really like the campaign, I'll give you that the non-ending is lame and that legendary is broken but it has so much charm in its locations and overly ambitious story. Dat Rawk music
Halo 3 has a fairly polished campaign but it doesn't have much of a soul, lots of funnelling through areas that lacked the exploration of CE. Some really badly written events for some of the side characters. Multiplayer was a big step-down imo, slower movement, terrible FOV, a BR that didn't really work online, poor weapon balance, maps that lacked some of the clever movement paths of Halo 2. Theater was great though.
Halo 2's multiplayer has the best maps in the series, you're catered for whether you like small arena maps or if you're down for big map mayhem. The designs are a masterclass that the sequels could barely reach. Vehicle jacking is the bomb. It's a shame the mongoose and theatre mode were cut, it would have been amazing to have that in an already full MP package. I actually really like the campaign, I'll give you that the non-ending is lame and that legendary is broken but it has so much charm in its locations and overly ambitious story. Dat Rawk music
Halo 3 has a fairly polished campaign but it doesn't have much of a soul, lots of funnelling through areas that lacked the exploration of CE. Some really badly written events for some of the side characters. Multiplayer was a big step-down imo, slower movement, terrible FOV, a BR that didn't really work online, poor weapon balance, maps that lacked some of the clever movement paths of Halo 2. Theater was great though.
Going through Cortana in Halo 3 is a bigger nightmare than any of these lol.
Cortana is easy peasy. So many good jumps to just avoid fights completely!
Halo 3 was great in college and Halo 2 was a fantastic MP event for myself and my High School buddies but damn nothing holds a candle to the magic that is Halo 1. From SP and co-op (Assault on the Control Room) to LAN parties and XBConnect it was goddamned magical. Some of my fondest memories in and out of gaming.