Which Halo Has The BEST Campaign?! - The Act Man

what's up everybody this is the act man here and today i thought i'd answer a question older than the forerunners themselves which halo has the best campaign just like all my other videos this one will be based entirely on pure facts no subjective opinions if you disagree with me please leave immediately because i am always correct damn right i am the series has seen its fair share of ups and downs but one thing has remained common kicking ass in outer space wish you were here and with halo infinite still far off in the horizon i thought it would be the perfect time to revisit every main halo campaign it's going to be a tough ranking system but here are the five categories level design are the missions enjoyable and interesting enemy design and ai do the enemies display intelligent behavior are the enemies fun to fight weapon sandbox is there a diverse and satisfying array of weaponry how many strategies are viable difficulty is it fair balanced and challenging story how is the quality of the cast characters and storytelling keep in mind the scale and rating system i use is relevant to the series itself not to the fps genre as a whole cortana's our concern now sir oh man oh damn i'm getting my whooped why is this happening to me ha but of course i haven't eaten my butterfinger yet yes that's right with that smooth chocolaty taste even you can conquer halo 2 on legendary that's not all my friend if you buy two butterfingers you'll get an exclusive emblem in halo infinite buy eight and you can get up to four which you can flex on your friends look at this exclusivity you can redeem those emblems by using the link on screen and in the description but wait there's more because on their website you can enter for a chance to win a brand spanking new xbox series x really act man i just gotta spend two bucks and i'll get an exclusive emblem and a shot at a series x that's right massive thanks to butterfinger for sponsoring this video and now our feature presentation all you green horns who wanted to see covenant up close this is gonna be your lucky day we're getting that touchdown and coming out swinging with halo ce and though this game is old enough to buy a firearm and smoke tobacco the campaign itself is timeless i could honestly just toss up footage of the opening of halo and leave it at that not only are the levels expansive and open but nine of them take place on the ring itself and they got kick-ass names truth in reconciliation silent cartographer classic assault in the control room butter me raw 343 guilty spark the meme is true ce has nine amazing levels and one mental stability test i can't tell you how many times i've booted up this game just for some two betrayals action tons of different unique encounters and best of all is the lack of invisible barriers you can do some crazy stuff exploring these levels there's a certain wonder in exploring the ring and all its many secrets but ce narrowly dodges a perfect score here because of some of the repetitive layouts in copy-pasted rooms back in 2001 ce blew everyone away with its amazing ai and i once said the gameplay is something of a chess match where each enemy has its unique role learning what they do how they react is a huge part of winning the only real complaint is how hunters can be exploited easily it's so entertaining to watch the ai fight each other the panicking grunts bold and brash elites floaty sentinels invisible and sword elites the rush tactics of the flood this has been the template for amazing and unique ai design in fps titles for years so it's no wonder why ce gets a 10 out of 10 here while later titles have the advantage of a wider sandbox combat evolved keeps it nice and simple unlike in the multiplayer every weapon is viable even on the hardest difficulty though you will keep a shotgun handy for close encounters in later levels one thing to point out that applies to every halo and to a broader extent all fps titles is the direct correlation between fun factor and how viable the weapons are if most of the guns suck or aren't usable in most situations then it takes the fun out of the game but ce has no problem with that what can i say i love blasting through packs of grunts with the assault rifle nine out of ten now here's where things get interesting because i think ce has the best tuned difficulty the one frustrating part about it are these bastards rocket launcher flood boys but unlike the dreaded sniper jackals there's plenty of ways around these guys and they don't appear nearly as often once you start seeing spec ops elites in the 9th and 10th missions though that's when things get sweaty on legendary the difficulty is tuned to near perfection it's a true test of skill and mastery 10 out of 10. combat evolved was my first true love cortana master chief captain keys the covenant flood and halo ring all kick-started my passion for the sci-fi genre captain keys is pretty cute too what was that containing what is still one of the best twists in gaming ce's story is unforgettable god damn it jenkins fire your weapon there are too many don't even think about it marine for the time and even now the story is amazing and set the foundation for years to come 10 out of 10. this is it baby hold me and the prophets learn of this that they will take your head when they learn fool they ordered me to do it ah halo 2. a game so unbelievably hyped there was no way it could meet expectations but in some ways it exceeded them bungie's second attempt at a halo did not go smoothly and it's notorious for how excruciating the development was which clearly took a toll on the staff and the finished product the levels are amazing from an art style perspective most exciting was hopping into high charity and getting a more extensive look at the halo rings infrastructure but try taking a shot every time you get stuck in a room or courtyard and have to fend off waves of enemies until a door opens also the levels are much smaller and shorter than ce and frustrating in the same way the library is tons of enemies just continue to pour in from all directions so it can be a real slog to play through additionally most of the vehicle sections are extremely linear with few paths to maneuver around the levels are decent at best 6 out of 10. halo 2 still has pretty good ai and they made hunters actually imposing sword elites are much less threatening and there's a way to exploit the ai and their melee that wasn't present in ce although this is offset by the amazing addition of equipping your allies with weapons of your choice not to mention fighting alongside the covenant as the arbiter are you kidding me and your allies actually do some damage this time around it is so awesome gearing your squad up with the best weapons and oh my jesus you get to fight with hunters notable standouts include the addition of the giant vehicle crushing sentinel but because bungie was built on an indian burial ground the rocket launcher flood actually got worse in halo 2 because they can lock onto your [ __ ] vehicle brutes were a huge deal back then and to be honest they're just bullet sponges in this game the biggest problem with two's enemy design is it has so many enemies that you need to kill immediately which often leads to you having to memorize their locations or else seven out of ten the enjoyment of the sandbox entirely depends on one question are you playing on legendary if yes be prepared to use nothing but the plasma pistol br carbine and snipers if no then hell yeah brother dual wield those smgs get up close and personal with the sword grab two needlers and spread that pink mist i just about crapped myself when i saw arbiter pull out an energy sword for the first time and being able to use the fuel rod cannon something i always wanted the goss warthog kicks ass and it was nice seeing more covenant vehicles though the magnum was neutered on heroic this sandbox kicks ass eight out of ten unfortunately trying to play halo 2 on legendary is about as fun as getting the mark of shame branded on your nut sack it pissed me off so much i made an entire video about it it's decent on heroic but i just feel like i can breeze through it without much trouble the gap between difficulties is astronomical there's no perfect way to play halo 2. bungie also screwed up the melee by making it a one-hit kill on legendary which pretty much negates any close range combat you can't mess around with halo 2 legendary man it's do or die you're either a man or you're not this was not my grave but i was welcome in it one word sniper jackals six out of ten drawn quite a crowd if they came to hear me big they will be disappointed are you sure what the game lacks an intricate level design and fair challenge it makes up for with its phenomenal storytelling introducing fan favorite characters like the arbiter artas tartarus the three prophets man this story gave us the whole mythology of the covenant it gave the flood more of an identity and purpose and just when you thought you wouldn't be surprised by the flood a second time around what is that the freaking grave mine shows up oh boy this is the most quotable game in the series kill me or release me parasite but do not waste my time with talk the voice acting straight fire and the opening bomb sequence is one of the most iconic scenes in game history combat evolved gave us the basics but halo 2 brought the storytelling to a level that the series has since never reached easy 10 out of 10. halo 3. [Music] while halo 2 had much more restrictive closed environments halo 3 brings things back to basics and takes it beyond levels are massive filled with tons of allies and enemies the art direction is gorgeous with graphics that have aged very well the sheer amount of paths to your ultimate goal is staggering the battles here are way more epic than anything we've ever seen that part in the arc where you got like 20 marines and vehicles backing you up three scorpions or having four mongooses ride around all with rocket launcher marines on the back i could play this all day halo 3 may have fewer missions and an overall shorter run time than ce but it defines quality over quantity 10 out of 10. bungie learned a lot of lessons from halo 2 making the flood brutes drones and sniper jackals far less of a headache to fight on a technical level the scarab functioning as its own independent ai rather than a scripted set piece the flood actually feel like a real horde of space zombies being brittle but attacking with massive numbers it's a shame you don't fight elites but the brutes more than make up for it 10 out of 10. halo 3 boasts the most expansive weapon sandbox in the series large in part due to the number of dual wheeled combos not to mention heavy weapons and equipment with all the new additions shooting aliens in space has never been this fun or satisfying equipment added a lot of versatility to some of the encounters and we got some new vehicles with the brut choppa which can ram enemies and take down vehicles like nobody's business and the prowler which acts as a replacement for the spectre there's no end to viable strategies in halo 3. it's the most fun to experiment with 10 out of 10. three is near perfect in terms of difficulty on legendary you can take slightly more damage than you couldn't too but not as much as ce and with so many allies in most missions you can rely on them more than ever the only real problem is cortana which well i'll leave it at that but also vehicle sections where on legendary you can get killed insanely fast everything else though feels just right nine out of ten words so easy halo 3 feels shorter than the first two games but it serves as a perfect finale to an outstanding trilogy capping things off and finishing the arcs of our favorite characters with sergeant johnson 343 guilty spark the grave mind and truth it's bittersweet to see how far our cast has come and it is unfortunate that two of the voice actors were swapped out some of the dialogue is a bit cheesy and the grave mind lacks presence in the actual story but traveling to the ark stopping the construction of a new halo defying the grave mind and the great journey is an experience i'll never forget 8.5 out of 10. [Music] although technically an expansion we still get set for a combat drop and have to count odst as its own beast it's probably the shortest of all campaigns but taking place entirely on earth as someone other than chief or the arbiter that's ballsy but it sure paid off and added some humanity to the halo universe because of this the levels are pretty cool exploring earth is something we only got a taste of in halo 2. the interconnected paths of mombasa streets was so amazing to explore the transition between present and flashback was done so well level design 10 out of 10. not much has really changed about the ai besides the new engineers which act as support units of course there's no flood flutter sentinels to fight so we got less variety than halo 3. eight out of ten odst gave us two new additions in the form of a silenced smg and magnum though iconic staples of the orbital drop shock trooper their function is less than impressive had these weapons actually utilized a stealth mechanic it'd be a totally different story but if you shoot your cover is blown as if they weren't silenced at all the magnum is basically the same as halo 2 and you don't have access to dual wielding it's still fun as hell but that's mostly because it's piggybacking off of halo 3. 7 out of 10. phantom's inbound why am i not surprised a bit more challenging than three since the smg and magnum don't hit as hard also you don't have regenerating health anymore which means you can really get screwed over in a tough fight if you're low on health but you know you aren't a cyborg super soldier and the gameplay reflects that legendary is tough but i prefer this on heroic eight out of ten lord hood may have given you clearance but it was my op and it's my interrogation we only captured one it's very delicate don't worry i know what the aliens like it's kind of amazing how so many people consider odst to have the best story in the series when almost every single character is brand new it goes to show how incredible the writing and atmosphere is the odsts are such a great group and we finally got a true romance between buck and veronica i never thought i'd see you again yeah well here i am the audio logs gave an interesting backstory to the covenant attack on earth and it was nice playing as each of these characters on their journey to clean up the streets however with its shorter run time and lower stakes the story doesn't feel as impactful as previous titles eight out of ten odst is definitely the oddball of the series and the only game did not feature master chief but it still plays a strong hand with its charming cast of characters and given us more of that buttery halo 3 action are you ready for halo reach [Music] reach was the send-off to halo's legacy this was bungie trying their absolute best to send things out and i gotta say the levels reflect that you got an outstanding variety with many clear homages to the original new alexandria is especially awesome for its combo of falcon action and boots on the ground gameplay exploring the destroyed city was real memorable and the last mission hot diggity what a way to end things reach has the perfect combo of variety with jet packs vehicles armor abilities a dog fight section and all sorts of experimental levels 10 out of 10. reach also includes every covenant enemy we've seen up to this point though it ditches the flood and sentinels brutes are no longer shielded and elites have taken back their role as your shielded equals skirmishers aren't too different from jackals but their presence is recognized with all the different types of enemies reach creates the biggest and most dynamic encounters in the series noble team will follow you on almost every mission and you'll get some bonus marines to boot only flaw reach's melee system is busted it comes out too fast and is undodgeable 9 out of 10. replacing the classic battle rifle with the dmr was a bold strategy cotton but reach's sandbox has plenty of reasons to be different as a prequel bungie had an excuse to give us new gadgets with the focus rifle plasma launcher plasma repeater and the iconic grenade launcher we do have fewer overall vehicles than in halo 3 but reach still has a great variety on legendary many strategies are much riskier but for the most part you can still rely on pretty much anything you can get your hands on the revanant and falcon are big highlights and i hope they return in halo infinite because of the fewer tools at your disposal reach suffers slightly here 8 out of 10. reach's difficulty is interesting on legendary these are the toughest elites in the series you are not going to have any luck trying to stick them with a plasma grenade it takes a whole lot of firepower to drain their shields and you can't get too close because of the one-hit melee kill they are fast and ruthless reach brings back the health pack but on legendary it feels more like a hindrance on heroic the challenge is pretty good but not as perfect as ce on legendary reach is fairly low on the [ __ ] scale and you should be proud to beat it on the hardest difficulty eight out of ten and now you're sending us the office of naval intelligence believes deployment of a spartan team is a gross misallocation of valuable resources i disagree the story is pretty divisive among fans but i adore it returning to reach the start of the human covenant war was perfect seeing an older generation of spartans work as a team really fleshed out their role as super soldiers dr halsey is also an amazing character who gives us context on cortana's creation and wraps up the series in a neat little bow and bringing back captain keys real pretty you sure know how to milk my nostalgia udders don't you bunji good luck sir good luck to you spartan the big complaint tends to be directed at noble team with many claiming there are flat cardboard cutouts i disagree backgrounds in atmosphere one way to get their attention and although they don't have nearly enough screen time their journey in defense of reach is legendary their personalities are unique fleshed out just enough to make me want to see more of them 9 out of 10. with its melancholy soundtrack and ending reaches an emotional roller coaster from me as a long time fan i made it count george i really did may not have as big an arsenal as 3 but its sandbox ai level design are all peak bungee first attempt at a halo game wasn't real pretty now the levels aren't terrible but i thought they'd be taller the missions feel uninspired and to be honest i can't recall all of their names like i can with bungie's games requiem is kind of a cool setting but i don't know how to describe it other than futuristic now the mega elephant section seems awesome but it's stifled by being on rails and giving the player no control over its movement honestly nothing really stands out to me or makes me feel like oh yeah i gotta replay that six out of ten here's where things get screwy i can't put my finger on it but all the enemies just don't behave like they used to elites have the same fast unpredictable jankiness that reach had but this time you don't have the bonus health like he did in ce additionally the covenant seemed to always use the charged plasma pistol shot and its accuracy is insane the inclusion of prometheans at first seemed interesting but mechanically they are more annoying than the flood the crawlers are just mindless drones while the knights teleport away at random or teleport in your face and kill you instantly gotcha [ __ ] it's just a nightmare to fight them i just can't understand why so many of the weapons in halo 4 have insane tracking ability it makes dodging behind cover your only option so gameplay comes down to a snail's pace more often than not 6 out of 10. visually all the promethean guns are bonkers feels like halo and it has this weird gravitational design unfortunately the new weapons feels like something scrambled the insides they're either borderline useless or carbon copies of pre-existing weapons you do have armor abilities but they're not as useful this time around the sandbox is redundant and uninteresting but halo 4 is crippled by something far worse extremely low ammo capacity one example the plasma pistol used to drain one energy every five shots now drains two energy every shot and with no dual wielding you are constantly scrounging for ammo 4 out of 10. halo 4 is challenging for all the wrong reasons unpredictable ai [ __ ] mechanics useless weapons and absurd ammo capacity all these factors make it almost as irritating to play as halo 2 on legendary it's because the game forces you into the same boring playstyle that absolutely cripples a halo game's legendary difficulty taking out everything from range being very methodical and slow about it it lacks all thought and strategy 5 out of 10. give me that chip i am ordering you to surrender that ai no sir [Music] [Applause] i personally didn't enjoy the direction four took with the characters or setting but i can respect it the subplot of the forerunners is very confusing if you aren't a lore fanatic and i do feel like showing the forerunners kind of ruin the mystery behind them for what it's worth the dynamic between chief and cortana had a lot more depth before this is all over promise me you'll figure out which one of us is the machine and although we didn't have a clear figure leading the covenant no replacement for arbiter sergeant johnson miranda or captain keys it's still a decent story for halo the didact was rather unimpressive and his rhetoric felt super cliche but every now and then i might pop this puppy in just for the story 7 out of 10. hey lou five guardians well this is where things get spicy for both the story and game play the new mechanics give a type of freedom we've never had before but in some ways their inclusion makes the level design more boring sure it's got some wide open areas and a few dope locations like saint helios that was a big highlight but no battle ever feels as big as anything we saw in reach odst or halo 3. the art design is all kind of samey and none of the missions take place on an actual halo ring five out of ten well it's better than four sort of for some reason all the covenant enemies feel drastically different to fight against in 343's games than in bungies but besides that every weapon prometheans use has some type of lock-on feature the needler hunter fuel rod plasma caster and so many weapons hone in on the player so it's tough to dodge even with the dash your allies don't help much either sometimes just hilariously getting stuck in place and they can't be bothered to unfuck their programming and revive you the ai is prone to all sorts of glitches man big and small but it's all made up for with the seven warden eternal boss fights i can't believe how many times they recycled this guy prometheans aren't as obnoxious as halo 2 sniper jackals but they aren't really fun to fight either i will say shooting the glowy spots was oddly gratifying being known for its revolutionary artificial design was what made halo so enjoyable but they seem to forget about that in five four out of ten spartan charge and ground pound are neat additions to your arsenal but for a campaign they don't make a worthy replacement to equipment armor abilities or dual wielding what makes the campaign so tedious is the same problem halo 4 had a pitifully low ammo capacity it's simply not fun to run out of bullets three times in every fire fight weapons perform similar to their past incarnations but the sound effects lack that classic oomph they once had 343 did improve the promethean guns so i'll give them that 6 out of 10. halo 5's challenge suffers from a few fatal flaws being balanced as a squad-based shooter this gives you about as much health as you did in two on legendary so you're constantly getting gunned down like a rat and halo 3. adding on to this the over-reliance on lock-on weapons bullet-spongy enemies lack of ammo guardians is just tedious man and overcoming the challenge doesn't feel satisfying six out of ten woof i've given my piece on the story even if my old videos are well old and poopy i stand by many of the points i made cortana was our concern now but maybe she shouldn't have been guardians doesn't feel like a halo game and it doesn't tell a halo story at least four had a bit of what we loved about the originals maybe next time you rescue us you can give us more time to pack next time the new direction was promising buck was back this new guy lock seemed as badass as the master chief they were bringing in blue team the return of arbiter halsey and lasky looked like all the pieces were there but what we got was a story that didn't know what it was trying to tell is this about the guardians is it about cortana in chief's relationship the new fire teams warden eternal in the end most of the characters didn't have anything cool or important to do their dialogue was just filler most disappointing rivalry in game history i'd rather be locked up in armor restraints three out of ten so that's the long and short of it of course my campaign reviews go more in depth on each title but now it's time to give my final rankings which is the best halo campaign are you ready marines sir yes sir it should be no surprise that guardians ranks at number seven with its poor design forgettable campaign and directionless story it's not only unfun but aggravating in a way none of the other campaigns are it kind of derailed the whole franchise and really brought up questions about where the series was headed at the very least you can get some enjoyment out of it but guardians doesn't excel in any way it's better than a few cod campaigns i'll give it that but without a doubt it's the weakest in the franchise and i have no desire to replay it [ __ ] you [ __ ] you coming in at numero says putting halo 4 here might get me some flack but i can't forgive how chief and cortana were written the challenging gameplay loop is terribly monotonous which all but kills any enjoyment the game could have had i will say it's worth playing just to see master chief and cortana's relationship evolve even if it is over dramatized definitely has the weakest gameplay in the series but it's got some redemption through its story halo 4 has the best emotional weight the last five slots were hard to place but the reason i put odst here is mostly because of its status as an expansion it's not as long and borrows most of its elements from halo 3. of course it is a kick-ass expansion and the cast of characters are memorable as hell jumpers it features some of the most unique level design with mombasa streets you know i could live in a world without odst but i wouldn't want to this game has the best soundtrack and atmosphere at number four it's the last hurrah reach which is the perfect send-off we had a huge variety of weapons enemies and tactics to use and reach's soundtrack is a close second to odsts the story of noble team was a tragic tale that'll always make me shed a tier or two a bittersweet ending to a fantastic series it's got its flaws but amongst the franchise it's definitely worth replaying a whole lot reach as the best graphics and art style it was a tough call whether halo 2 or reach to get the third spot but i am just a sucker for this dialogue man the character dynamics are incredible halo 2 has the best writing in the franchise by far the gameplay a disappointing follow-up to ce and it's borderline psychotic to play this on legendary but even though it lacks a balance with its challenge the story makes it all worth it the story is simply unbeatable halo 3 is well deserving of spot number two it offers the most variety of any halo with the vast amount of enemies weapons and vehicles there's a thousand ways to beat these levels and halo 3 in my book lacks the one thing that would have brought it to the top spot halo 3 has the best ending and replay value if you know anything about me you expected combat evolve at the top and that's because it has all the great elements of the other games except the difficulty on legendary is as perfect as it's ever going to get there is no better challenge no satisfaction greater than what combat evolved offers it is a true test of skill for fps fans and the narrative stands strong alongside its sequels there is always something special about bungie's first halo and it's the purest out of them all i give it the top spot because it has in my book the fewest flaws coming here was reckless you two know better than this thanks so there you have it combat evolved is the king hope you enjoy the video share your own rankings in the comments below big shout out to all my patrons and anyone who bought awesome act man apparel yes the merch store has opened check it out and while you're at it don't forget to follow me on twitter and instagram join the act clan discord server 2 just be an act fan alright everyone that's all i got for today this is the act man signing out [Music] peace

Channel: The Act Man

Views: 1,268,057

Keywords: halo 3, halo mcc, halo reach, halo 5, the act man, which halo is the best, act man halo, halo review, halo 2 campaign, halo 3 campaign, halo 4 campaign, halo reach campaign, halo ce campaign, halo campaign review, halo top 10, best halo game, halo gameplay, halo combat evolved, halo tier ranking, halo infinite, halo infinite gameplay, halo legendary, halo story, halo story explained, halo 3 odst, halo mcc update, 343 industries, bungie, microsoft

Id: o9v0L0nPCNw

Length: 34min 30sec (2070 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 20 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/TUBBS2001]

Honestly, halo 3 odst slaps mercilessly. The story, the characters, the music, and halo 3 gameplay. It’s just so much fun.