The Best And Worst Thing About Every Halo

this is my list of the best and worst thing about every Halo campaign beginning with Combat Evolved and finishing up with infinite I've also tried to avoid choosing wider Concepts such as Graphics gameplay soundtrack and the like instead opting to be a little more specific throughout let's get started in my recent Halo Combat Evolved retrospective hit the card on screen now to have a look see at that I highlighted the game scale and accompanying sense of wonder as one of its unique selling points going one further I think it's probably the most unique of them all and the best thing about the game as a whole starting with a view of the titula ring from space you might be disappointed to find that Halo's campaign kicks off with the pillar of autumn a bog standard Corridor shooter Affair but then you crash land on Halo and take your first tentative steps out into a strange new world with the rest of the ring jutting out into the sky and natural Green Plains disturbed by artificial structures remnants of a civilization long past soon enough you'll also EXP explore the jagged cliffsides of Truth and Reconciliation the silent cartographers tropical island the snowy surrounds of assault on the control room and many more particularly during the game's first half every time you start to wonder whether Bungie has run out of captivating new backdrops for you to Feast your eyes on they introduce another and another and another what momentarily threatened to be a narrow experience early on quickly blossoms into something big beautiful and vast as a mysterious world that evokes feelings of amazement and uncertainty in equal measure unfurls ahead of you it's a remarkable combination of atmosphere and aesthetic which leaves me a gast even in the present unfortunately as much as I'd like to make the claim that Bungie manages to keep everything feeling fresh right through to combat evolves conclusion that would be a bit of a fib the worst thing about its campaign is its repetition during its second half it is an issue caused by both the introduction of the flood and you being forced to return to environments you've already visited remember assault on the control room good because you'll end up playing it again with a flood-based coat of paint when you reach two betrayals what about Truth and Reconciliation well P ultimate level Keys serves you up a less enticing second helping of its premise with much the same except for the presence of the flood and who can forget the pillar of autumn you don't miss it for long as you head back to its wreck occupied by every faction featured in Combat Evolved during the mo for the game's last Harrah because Halo's gameplay is so refined so perfect it's easy to ignore this particular floor as you'll no doubt still have a great time even with the overwhelming sense of deja vu that being said if I could improve the game in one way reducing repetition and throwing in more areas unseen during its first half would definitely be top of my list when I first played Halo 2 back in 2004 the trio of chairo station outskirts of metropolis and their healthy doses of Master Chief focused action left me sufficient enthralled and ready for more but then there was an unexpected transition just when I'd really found a rhythm and was itching to gun down more Covenant all of a sudden I was playing as one of them instead I wasn't at all enamored with the idea at the time and while I still think the arbiter's levels tend to be the weaker parts of Halo 2's campaign gameplay-wise on the story side of things the tale of his Redemption is the best thing about the game punished for his failure to prevent the destruction of installation 04 during the events of Combat Evolved what starts with a suicide mission leads to the arbiter's eventual realization that everything he believed was wrong to the extent that he even attempts to convince brute Chief and Tartarus and others to defect with him while there were a huge number of dissatisfied customers around the time of Halo 2's launch because of the Arbiter opinions softened considerably fairly quickly after in large part I think because his story is so well written there is also an added benefit to time spent with the AR Arbiter and that is the inner workings of the Covenant and the prophet's minations also being laid bare at the same time it turned a formerly one dimensional foe into a fascinating adversary I recently played Halo 2 on legendary difficulty for the first time in a long time on stream and while I did enjoy the feelings of satisfaction after getting through basically any encounter it also reminded me of just how wonky its balancing is it is the worst thing about Halo 2 many of you watching would have heard of the infamous Jackal alley and the snipers who will end you quicker than you can say screw this I'm going to throw my Xbox out the nearest window however that segment is but one entry on a laundry list of sections I'm convinced function as some kind of new age torture device for gamers even if you're somewhat experienced you will die and you will die a lot and while dying isn't a big deal when playing a game on its hardest difficulty it is when a lot of those deaths seem decidedly unfair most things can kill you extremely quickly indeed and most things will kill you extremely quickly indeed you will be exploded shot meleed and exploded again from seemingly nowhere with alarming regularity to the point smashing your Halo 2 Disc with a hammer soon begins to seem like a completely viable course of action Halo 3's best thing is the way the majority of its levels are paced with Bungie demonstrating total understanding of how to design missions which make the sandbox gameplay Loop they first developed shine brightest the trilogy's closing ch is to me a mostly Flawless mix of its two predecessors when it comes to pacing as you essentially Get The Best of Both Worlds the enormous environments found in Combat Evolved are present and correct in three think levels such as SVO Highway the ark and the Covenant but there has also been some streamlining to ensure a more consistent action orientated Rhythm like two where in Halo's Maiden outing there were occasions where proceedings slowed perhaps atad too much due to the size of its areas and in its sequel level design was often too narrow bordering on claustrophobic which led to fast a paced gameplay in three Bungie gives you plenty of scale but is more considered in how they use that space which lends a wonderfully steady drum beat to progression there are still moments of downtime but they're never too long and equally while many encounters are frantic Affairs which require a great deal of attention be paid to them you're always given ample opportunity to catch your breath once they have concluded I love all three games in the trilogy don't get me wrong but because of its facing Halo 3 is always my first Port of Call when I fancy being consistently entertained the worst part of Halo 3 is by far and away the inclusion of the constant interruptions by Cortana and the grave mind in total there are 28 of them spread across seven of the campaign's nine levels so unless you decide to stick to only replaying the ark and Savo Highway There Is No Escape as the screen distorts your movement Slows To A craw and you're forced to listen to one of the pair ning away and despite their being so many of them not one comes across as anything other than intensely irritating you'll likely be sick of them by the time you reach the game's penultimate Mission Cortana a slog even without any interruptions and by the time it's concluded you may well have been reduced to little more than a quivering wreck due to the extreme frustration caused by the Staggering number of interludes it includes what really gets my goat is that these monstrosities are the only times we see Cortana for much of Halo 3 other than the recording of her found at the end of Floodgate and they are no substitute at all I cannot think of any words harsh enough to adequately express my extreme displeasure every time one of them occurs if someone had asked me prior to Halo 3 ODSTs release whether I thought a combination of military scii and film Noir would work I'd have probably said no way in actuality the decision to blend what you might think are two somewhat conflicting Concepts was one of Bungie's most inspired decisions and the best thing about the game the commitment to film The War can be found in every corner of the campaign the game's atmosphere is somber and Moody with much of the rookies portion of the plot unfolding during the dead of night while he explores a city turned Ghost Town nonlinear storytelling and flashbacks both Staples of the genre are utilized to tell the tale of a detective of sorts hunting for Clues a familiar setup also used often in film The W even its soundtrack accommodates the shift in tone with posos and saxophones used frequently and other elements of jazm music Incorporated ODST was developed by a smaller team with far less of a budget than was available for the games which preceded it and so there was always a very real risk that it would turn out to be just another Halo except with no Spartans and less spectacle thankfully the film Noir influence along with several other design decisions helped make sure it was still a noteworthy entry into the series regardless of resources this next one will probably be my most controversial take or maybe not but the worst thing about 3 ODST for me is bungee wasting new mombasa's potential searching the dark and dangerous city streets for Clues is at first an exhilarating experience and the feeling of isolation of being a small fish in a very big pond is like no other however once the initial atmospheric luster wears off around halfway through the campaign it begins to feel Bland and I always find myself thinking about how much better it could have been Covenant ships could fly overhead with search lights you have to avoid if you choose to fight every Covenant Squad you come across harder and harder groups could start populating the map incentivizing stealth where possible perhaps there could even be the odd civilian hold out you can lend a hand to which would in turn make a particular sector of the city safer those are just a few ideas off the cuff and I'd have loved to have seen just a few more interesting mechanics integrated into the city to keep it engaging right through to the campaign's conclusion as it stands Every Time I Think of OD st's new mombassa one of my first thoughts is always of the missed opportunities to create a semi-open world which delivered in every way possible not just in terms of atmosphere considering Halo reaches status as Bungie's farewell title it is genuinely impressive how much inventiveness they still manage to bring to the table that continued Ingenuity on display is the best thing about the game's campaign honestly every playthrough comes with a tinge of sadness and I can't help but feel distinctly disappointed when each comes to an end as it's clear Bungie still had much more to give there are so many ways they mix things up during reach telling a big budget story not about master chief but about other Spartans a decision which might have led to disinterest from some letting you fight alongside those other Spartans as part of a team introducing new Concepts such as long night of solace's space sequence the free form randomized objective Brilliance of later Mission New Alexandria or the sobering end to Noble 6's Journey during Lone Wolf a battle it's impossible to win you could even choose your own armor and have it used during the game's cut scenes a level of campaign personalization unseen in any Halo title prior the sheer number of new bits and Bobs Bungie managed to pack in Here There and Everywhere is astounding and that we'll never know what weird and wonderful things they might have done next with the series is a crying shame my short list of the worst things in Halo Reach wasn't very long to begin with but there is one item which definitely stands out from the crowd that item is weapon Bloom for those of you who aren't familiar with what I'm talking about weapon Bloom is essentially how your bullets spread as you shoot your gun fire faster and your bullets will become less accurate take it slower and you'll generally find yourself hitting your target a lot more you can see Bloom reflected visually on your Crosshair too with the inner reticle expanding to reflect your weapon's current accuracy or lack of it the problem with reaches Bloom is that it's overly aggressive to the point it sometimes seems as if shots that definitely should have hit their target inexplicably miss their Mark while there have been various tweaks made to it over the years it's still not great and although later entries have also featured it Halo infinite for example they've mostly done a better job integrating it in Halo Reach I've always detested it 343 industries's handling of Cortana throughout Halo 4 is immaculate and the best thing about the game's much maligned campaign we all knew cortana's rampancy was coming it had been in the post since close to the beginning of the franchise but for knowledge and time for buildup was no guarantee the story line would have eventually pay off but pay off it did with for containing some of my favorite scenes between Master Chief and Cortana including her ruminations regarding the nature of existence at the start of shutdown and the pair's discussion about the prospect of Chief working with a new AI in the future at the end of composer it all culminates in an incredibly touching final meeting following the daa's defeat which elicits exactly the right emotions and ends a 4game long relationship on the highest of notes what happened later was incredibly disappointing with 343 undoing all their Stellar work in an instant by bringing Cortana back for Halo 5 but examining Halo 4's depiction of Cortana in isolation you'd be hardpressed to describe it as anything other than terrific with the flood finished at least for the foreseeable future 343 Industries needed to come up with a new enemy for Halo 4 so that the series trademark multiaction firefights didn't become a thing of the past they didn't do an altogether brilliant job although I have several issues with how Halo 4D Devi from the established series formula the introduction of the Prometheans is the worst of the changes the flood are an enemy who divides opinion as many people hate fighting them as love taking them on and yet for all the problems some fans have with them they've always received quite a lot more praise than the Prometheans ever have which makes for a pretty damning indictment of 343's new faction while they are certainly a more Dynamic enemy than the flood they do use basic tactics Beyond simply charge at masterchief they are somehow still much less fun to actually engage most Prometheans are bullet sponges their teleporting all over the shop often feels unfair and the Watcher's ability to resurrect enemies while also being quite hard to hit in the heat of battle makes them an infuriating foe to tackle they also lack any real personality and have little interesting backstory which ultimately means that along with them being uninspired at Best in gameplay terms it's hard to get attached to them from a story perspective either I'm one of those gloomy Beggars who doesn't have a whole lot positive to say about Halo five guardians it is for me the worst game in the series by a distance however fire team Osiris's trip to sang Helios is the definite highlight it's an intriguing setting with its ancient ruins and huge caves and chasms and the parts you're able to explore have all been painstakingly crafted to get the best out of the game's movement the Civil War which has erupted across the planet with the Arbiter in the thick of things is an interesting premise too and later witnessing him and lock meeting face to face was very enjoyable even if it didn't exactly work with the scene between the pair 343 added to Halo 2 Anniversary there are a lot of parts of Halo 5 which don't float my boat but sang Helios isn't one of them on balance it's the best thing about five's campaign by a fair old distance the worst thing about Halo 5 is 343's decision not to properly follow up on the story set up during the game's pre-release hunt the truth promotional material introducing new Spartan lock it looked as though a lot of five was going to be centered on hunting down Master Chief for crimes he made or may not have committed there are two trailers I particularly enjoy one showing Lock about to dispatch masterchief and another showing Chief about to put an end to lock in similar circumstances with it not being clear whether one or both depicted real events an ARG and episodic podcast content was also used to promote the concept with hours and hours of audio logs created for fans to listen to it was a genuinely amazing marketing campaign then we got to the game itself and none of it was really present for the first third of the story lock is hunting down Chief and they do eventually meet and have a really underwhelming fist fight but the Shades of Gray hunt the truth introduced aren't anywhere to be seen with little else matching what's featured in five either it's one of the biggest disconnects between a big budget game's marketing and its actual content I've ever seen the best thing about Halo infinite is its aesthetic and I really cannot overstate how superb a job the gamees artists did prior to its launch 343 said that big inspiration for Zeta Halo was the Green Hills of Halo Combat evolve second level and frankly they hit the nail on the head the installation looks exactly like a bigger Bolder version of that mission's map with some gorgeous new areas mixed in for good measure such as the ship graveyard and the huge Lake below ground the same can be said too in fact the Forerunner architecture is a particularly big achievement as it might be the best in the entire series with a look that is futuristic and or inspiring without ever feeling being overdesigned every environment is clean and Crisp And it adds a huge amount to a game I've never thought is Cutting Edge in terms of RAW graphics there are plenty of other visual flourishes to love too Master Chief's gen 3 armor is my favorite in the series for example and the human weapons especially have a more down-to-earth look compared to four and five which I'm also a big fan of while change may be inevitable when it comes to Halo's future I'd not at all be unhappy if infinite's visual style was near wholesale carried over into whatever game we end up getting next stepping out into infinite's open world of Zeta Halo I must confess I did feel a few of the same Goosebumps as those I experienced when starting to explore installation 04 for the first time some 20 years prior for a time my renewed Viger remained too as I ran and drove and grappled my way across the map capturing fobs rescuing Marines eliminating high value targets and clearing outposts it doesn't take long though before you soon realize that once you've seen a few of the different offerings littered across infinite's map you've practically seen them all and that lack of imagination that open world repetition is the worst thing about the game sure the terrain might change and the groups of enemies encountered May differ from time to time but all of the side missions at their core are very similar to one another despite being a rather vocal opponent of the series jumping on the open world bandwagon prior to the game's release I was perfectly happy to be proven wrong if 343 was able to avoid all the usual Trends indeed I could really see the potential if the transition from linear to something more free form was handled with a great deal of care what we got instead was the most unimaginative design possible and all it really ended up doing was adding useless padding to a series which never needed that to begin with and with that we run out of Halo titles to talk about thank you so much for watching the video boys girls and Spartans if you thought it was the best or at least pretty close then do consider liking subscribing and sharing your best and worst things about about the HALO Series and alls well we'll hang out again soon

Channel: Ben Plays Games

Views: 153,461

Keywords: halo, halo combat evolved, halo 2, halo 2 anniversary, halo 3, halo combat evolved anniversary, halo 4, halo 5, halo 5 guardians, halo infinite, master chief collection, halo master chief colecion, halo best, halo worst, halo gameplay, halo analysis, halo review, halo critique, bungie, 343 industries, halo good, halo bad, halo campaign, halo mission, halo level, master chief, halo cortana

Id: ya5zzFN7_A8

Length: 19min 3sec (1143 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 15 2023