The Halo series reigns supreme in large part thanks to its invigorating multiplayer component and the jaw-dropping quality of its campaigns. The first two games almost single-handedly solidified the Xbox as a console gaming brand and went on to have two of the most anticipated sequels in gaming history. Halo isn’t just a good game. It is an icon, a grand franchise that has lasted for two decades thanks to the superlative nature of each entry.
There have been seven mainline Halo games since the release of Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001. Campaign quality has fluctuated throughout the series, with some clearly more enjoyable than the others. Read on if you want a look at the Halo campaigns ranked from worst to best.
Updated January 30, 2022 by Jerrad Wyche: With Halo 5 being so divisive among fans in regards to its campaign mode, fans across the globe were curious to see if Halo: Infinite returned with an iconic and enjoyable campaign featuring Master Chief. The game currently sits at a score of 87 on Metacritic, so it’s safe to say it hit a high-quality benchmark, but it’s important to understand where it lands when compared to every other campaign in the Halo franchise.
8 Halo 5: Guardians
Halo 5’s campaign is the middle portion of the Reclaimer storyline. Many aspects of the game — like the return of Blue Team and Buck — should lead to an awesome story. But Halo 5’s campaign suffers from an overload of exposition and not many memorable mission setpieces. Maps set in Forerunner locations tend to blend together after a while. In addition to that, the Hunt the Truth pre-release story that was hyped up in the game’s trailers and assorted media differed widly from the actual story of the campaign.
But perhaps the most egregious offense the Halo 5 campaign perpetrates is the inability to play it couch co-op style. There is no splitscreen option available for friends who want to dive into the story together, and that is a major failing when it comes to a Halo campaign.
7 Halo 4
Halo 4’s campaign takes an interesting route, focusing on the relationship between Master Chief and Cortana. AIs have a life span of seven years, and Cortana faces her demise as she goes through the end stages of rampancy, a condition aging AIs suffer from.
While the base story of Halo 4 is an emotional tribute to Chief and Cortana’s time together, the campaign is plagued with environments that feel largely similar and setpieces that do not stand out from the crowd (the one exception being the ride on the M510 Mammoth). The bland weapon sandbox and confusing alteration in Covenant design don’t sit well with long-time fans of the series.
6 Halo: Reach
Reach’s story is nothing short of beautifully tragic. The campaign follows the final days of Spartan team Noble as they put together a last stand against the Covenant on the doomed planet of Reach. While little time is given to developing each individual Spartan’s character, it’s clear from the get-go that the game is not about them. It’s about the fall of Reach.
Story problems aside, Reach sits in a middle ground between the purity of the first three titles and later installments with Call of Duty-inspired features like loadouts and sprint. The campaign has some of the best setpieces in the series despite those changes. Launching into space to board the Covenant corvette, watching New Alexandria burn, and the final mission remain highlights in the series thanks to their solemn tone. From the beginning, you know the end. Reach was always going to fall. Bungie captured the feeling of fighting against an insurmountable foe in their swan song.
5 Halo 3: ODST
ODST garnered contention at launch. Over a decade since its release, affection for the game has grown to surpass initial price criticisms. Unlike later titles, like Halo 4 and Halo 5, ODST successfully demonstrates that there is so much more in the Halo universe to explore. It even manages to do so without being entirely separate from the rest of the original trilogy.
ODST plays out in the wings of the Halo 2 and Halo 3 stage plays. The lighting is moodier, the atmosphere more isolated, and the story plays out like a detective novel instead of a space opera. Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori are also at their best here, with a soundtrack that perfectly balances the long, lonely night and daytime warfare across New Mombasa.
ODST’s scattered mission structure is unified by the open world segments in the nighttime city. Take that quiet time slowly. Pay attention to the city and you can see that it too is a character, guiding and helping you as you progress. The city streets are the best level in the whole game.
4 Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo: Combat Evolved’s campaign still remains the series’ high point in many ways. It’s maybe the most coherent package in the franchise with an ending that lands as strong as the opening. Unlike some other games in the series, it doesn’t feel like it’s missing anything. You finish it equal parts satisfied and excited for the next adventure.
It’s held back by a weaker second act with backtracking and repetition-heavy levels like The Library and Two Betrayals. Its peaks are missions like Truth and Reconciliation and The Silent Cartographer. An imbalanced armory is problematic too as it’s often difficult to justify tossing the pistol aside in favor of any other weapon.
3 Halo Infinite
Halo: Infinite’s campaign brought a lot of new and refreshing ideas to the franchise, with the most prominent being the switch to an open-world experience. This non-linear design choice allowed players to interact with the world and track down side activities however they liked. The story focused on The Banished, a new enemy faction that played a major role in Halo Wars 2. Not only did Halo: Infinite provide players with memorable bosses and jaw-dropping visuals, but it laid the groundwork for the Halo narrative moving forward.
However, the environments grow stale over time. You’re either on the woodsy open world of the ring or in the metallic surroundings of its interior, with no grand setpieces to alleviate the monotony. This complaint aside, the combat has never felt more evolved. The Grappleshot is outstanding, and fighting the Banished is enjoyable no matter where you do it.
2 Halo 2
Halo 2 was divisive at launch due to splitting the story between the Master Chief and the Arbiter. However, giving the Covenant their own time in the spotlight helps flesh out the universe and make them more than the one-dimensional bullet sponges like they were in the first game. Halo 2 set out to ambitiously accomplish more than its predecessor, and when it succeeds, it truly shines like no other entry in the franchise.
However, Halo 2’s campaign lacks its entire third act (which caused potential problems for Halo 3), and even ends the game on an Arbiter mission instead of the Chief. Halo 2 struggles, that’s no secret, but it struggles because it dreamed too big. Halo 2’s peaks, such as those opening missions that take place on Earth, are absolutely excellent.
1 Halo 3
No game is perfect, and Halo 3’s campaign has problems. It has to pick up Halo 2’s slack, and it struggles to balance the twin narratives established there. The Arbiter is mostly relegated to a mute second player and the Gravemind is reduced to a much simpler villain.
When Halo 3 lands, however, it lands with a stunning finish. Levels like The Storm and the final Warthog run are the peak of the series, not just the individual title. Everyone remembers the surprise of the Marine’s cry of “We’ve got two Scarabs! I repeat, two Scarabs!” in The Covenant. This is what Halo is all about; this is why Halo 3 was one of the most anticipated and successful releases of its time. Stellar gunplay, great enemies, and phenomenal encounter designs mixed with a riveting romp across the galaxy.
Halo 3 didn’t live up to all the possibilities written in the stars of Halo: Combat Evolved. That’s an impossible ask. It did, however, manage to do what lesser series have struggled to accomplish: craft a satisfying finish to its story despite its missteps. When the Chief crawled back into that cryo tube, fans felt assured that they had truly finished the fight.
