Dun-dun-dun-duuuuun, dun-dun-dun-duuun-dun-dun-dun.........ok I’ll stop.

This game actually reminded a lot of Return of the Jedi, in that although I don’t think it’s overall as good as what came before it, (Empire Strikes Back and Halo 2 respectively) I overall prefer it for the emotional impact, being that’s it’s the big capstone on the first Halo trilogy.

The chief (heh heh) difference between this and Jedi however this is also a video game, and a damn good one at that. This is easily the most fun I’ve had with this series so far solely from a gameplay standpoint, from the standard combat to the more big set pieces like the Scarab fights and the final Warthog run, both of which being my favourite sections if you’re wondering. Also I cannot begin to emphasise how big a Godsend it is to actually be able to melee the Flood, it results in encounters with them being way less cumbersome.

Now as for the story, as mentioned I do think it’s a slight downgrade from 2, but only really when it comes to the villains, more specifically the Prophet of Truth. I know it’s a tired criticism to bring up the inferior new VA or how he’s now reduced to just a raving lunatic, but it’s gotten to that stage for a good reason. Fortunately that’s my only major gripe with the story, otherwise I think it overall fares really well. Seeing Chief and the Arbiter properly team up was awesome and a great culmination of the latter’s arc, the character deaths like Johnson feel earned and satisfying, and you finally get to kill that Guilty Spark prick!

Overall I’m quite pleased with this series so far, and I’m looking forward to hopefully checking out ODST and 4 soon, and of course Infinite whenever that comes out. 10/10

Well talk about a step up in quality, huh? Pretty much everything that I didn’t like about CE is improved upon here. The level design is greatly improved and isn’t nearly as repetitive as CE was at several points, the stories way more compelling, and thanks to the remastered graphics and cutscenes add a greater cinematic quality that wasn’t able to be fully achieved with the OG Xbox’s hardware.

Starting with the plot as that’s easily what I have the most to say about, I really love the split narrative which frequently swaps between Master Chief and the Arbiter. Seeing the villains get more solid expansion on their hierarchy and how they reacted to our actions in CE was really intriguing, and I’m honestly shocked that a lot of fans actually derided the game for not solely focusing on Chief again. We also get a fair share of great new characters introduced such as the Prophets, Rtas ‘Vadum, Miranda Keyes, Tartarus and the Gravemind. Sgt Johnson is also way more prominent here then he was in CE which is definitely a welcome. Of course how could I be talking about the characters without mentioning the Arbiter? Between Keith David’s fantastic voice work and the development over both this game and Halo 3, he’s easily my favourite character in these games so far, even more so than Master Chief.

Now moving onto the gameplay. As mentioned I find the level layouts to be way more engaging than in CE, which I stand by. There aren’t reused areas in excess, and if there were (I never noticed any myself) a clear effort was made to try and change it up enough that it still felt distinctly different from before. The combat hasn’t seen many changes from last time, chief exception being the introduction of dual wielding. While I like the spice it can bring to fighting enemies, I’m 90% sure it was why the Assault Rifle went unused for this game, and that really disappointed me. But hey, we can finally use Energy Swords!

Overall I’d say Halo 2 was more than a worthy follow on from CE, taking the things that worked about that game while building and improving upon the flaws present as well. 9/10

(Played via The Master Chief Collection)

NGL, a massive reason this is a 6 is owed to how big a pain in the ass the penultimate 3 missions (The Library, Two Betrayals and Keyes) were to complete. Far too much of all 3 were just repeated sections, as well as reused in the case of the latter 2, with just hoards of the Flood, which are easily the most annoying enemy in the game.

My one big negative out of the way, this games still pretty fun. I do find the gameplay a bit less varied than Reach, but I’ll excuse it since it was the first of the series. The stories also a lot more engaging then I expected, with the Flood adding a great horror factor despite how annoying they are in gameplay sections. I also enjoyed a lot of the little interactions between Master Chief and Cortana, it helped give Chief a bit of character despite mostly being a static protagonist for most of the proceedings.

Combat Evolved actually reminds me of Mario 64 in a lot of ways, that was another game changer that while still fun could be quite cumbersome to play at times, though I’d happily do 100 coins on Tick Tock Clock over The Library ANY day of the week. Still though this was a good time for the most part, and I’m excited to continue through the main line series in the coming months. 6/10

(Played via The Master Chief Collection)

For many years now I’ve heard about the Halo series, but for the longest time I’d never played them. Now, thanks to my friend Dostwood I figured I’d at least try out 1-4, as well as ODST and Reach to see what all the fuss was about. I mean I’m making him watch all of Evangelion so I might as well return the favour. Fortunately I think it’s payed off because this games awesome.

The gameplay is really fun with a lot of nice variety outside of the shooter gameplay (personal highlight for me would be New Alexandria) and the story is really engrossing, especially given how rarely alien invasion narratives aren’t often set during the actual invasion. I also like how it ties into Halo C.E with you delivering the A.I Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn, and according to my brother the cutscene of the Pillar in space is actually taken at least partly from C.E, so that’s pretty neat. Oh and that final mission where you just fight until you die? That was a stellar way to bookend it.

So yeah, this game rocks alright, and I’m really looking forward to playing the later games, not Halo 5 though lol. 8/10