Halo is really good when you don't have 343 in your ear trying to make a new one

[USBPoet]

Replayed the entirety of CE on Heroic (A feat that I didn't manage to accomplish despite having played the game since I was able to hold an Xbox controller), and MAN is it a good game. Great gameplay, solid difficulty curves, enemy variety and maps that feel real, and an atmosphere that blows a lot of games out of the water. It's started me playing through the Original Trilogy again. Great stuff.

 

[Andrew]

enemy variety and maps that feel real

This for me is the defining trait of Halo CE. Your enemies feel like they inhabit the world and it is so immersive. Little details like shooting off the jackals’ shields hooked me from the word go, man.

 

[USBPoet]

This for me is the defining trait of Halo CE. Your enemies feel like they inhabit the world and it is so immersive. Little details like shooting off the jackals’ shields hooked me from the word go, man.

The scene from 343 Guilty Spark is genuinely one of the best horror twists in an FPS that I've seen. The slow march through the swamp, the everything, it's so good. No spoilers for anyone who's played it but it's genuinely amazing

 

[mercedes]

yep i love halo 1-3...
cant decide between 2 or 3 as my favorite

 

[KeplerElectronics]

I played through the whole series on gamepass during lockdown, and despite not growing up with them, they absolutely hold up. ODST in particular really stuck out as a favorite, the atmosphere is awesome. I do really want to go back and replay Reach, I played it last and was getting a bit burnt out on Halo by that point. I still enjoyed it, just not as much as a lot of people seem to.

I will say that plot notwithstanding, Infinite's campaign is actually pretty fun thanks to the grappling hook, especially once you figure out how to spam it to build up speed.

 

[crantheman]

Replayed the entirety of CE on Heroic (A feat that I didn't manage to accomplish despite having played the game since I was able to hold an Xbox controller), and MAN is it a good game. Great gameplay, solid difficulty curves, enemy variety and maps that feel real, and an atmosphere that blows a lot of games out of the water. It's started me playing through the Original Trilogy again. Great stuff.

I had the same experience in college with my roommates. We picked up 2 packs of Yuenglings and blasted through Heroic on a Friday night. I never played Halo before then but my roommates helped me out and taught me the controls. Once we got to the third mission I adjusted to the gameplay/controls pretty well. Despite not being familiar with Halo, after that night I understood why it is so beloved by many. The experience and story of Halo CE is very consistently good without any points that make you want to quit/take a break in between.

It was also fun to hear my roommates' stories about them playing Halo with their cousins, dads, coworkers and such. Although I grew up a Nintendo kid, it's so cool seeing how much Halo touched the lives of so many people in the 2000s and 2010s.