-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Best Halo campaign level? The Ark.
- Thread starter StoppedInTracks
- Start date
There is a reason Assault on the Control Room is in a lot of the "best of" playlists in MCC.
Yes, it reuses environments, but that is Halo CE's gimmick. It has a little bit of everything - tanks, banshees, indoors fighting, outdoors fighting, rocket launcher, sniper rifle, etc.
My personal favorite is The Ark for reasons mentioned in this thread. Same with The Covenant. I actually think Silent Cartographer is a bit overrated although I do enjoy it.
Halo Reach still has the best campaign to me. The starfighter level and the level where you fly between skyscrapers are some of my favorites.
Yes, it reuses environments, but that is Halo CE's gimmick. It has a little bit of everything - tanks, banshees, indoors fighting, outdoors fighting, rocket launcher, sniper rifle, etc.
My personal favorite is The Ark for reasons mentioned in this thread. Same with The Covenant. I actually think Silent Cartographer is a bit overrated although I do enjoy it.
Halo Reach still has the best campaign to me. The starfighter level and the level where you fly between skyscrapers are some of my favorites.
The Lamonster
Member
Agreed, although I'd include The Covenant with it. They are back-to-back the best and most complete Halo experience one could have.
MaverickVII
Member
I know everyone loves AotCR but honestly I have more fun playing Two Betrayals.
The Jackdog
Member
Yeah i could probably get behind this. Composer from h4 i like a lot (ducks) and maybe highway from 3.
I honestly think I'm a bigger fan of the atmospheric levels from Halo CE. AotCR is a great level from the standpoint of fighting through basically a small army of Covenant, but in terms of the atmosphere of the game and story at that point I don't think it's one of the stronger bits. 343 Guilty Spark drips with atmosphere. Silent Cartographer has that rush of finally being on the offensive. The Maw has a feel of closure plus the tension and rush of trying to get out alive. Halo is all about setting up the feel of the alien world you're on.
Damn, CE in general is such a damn solid game.
Damn, CE in general is such a damn solid game.
User 73706
Banned
Time for some unpopular opinions since all the actual good levels have already been covered:
Mombasa Streets, Halo 3: ODST
New Alexandria, Halo Reach
Shutdown, Halo 4
Shutdown has some really fun interior sections, and the combat feels a little more balanced against the Promethean units since your Pelican's armory has you armed to the teeth. Ironically, though, all the good ones are the ones that can be skipped due to the speedrun exploit.
Mombasa Streets, Halo 3: ODST
New Alexandria, Halo Reach
Shutdown, Halo 4
Shutdown has some really fun interior sections, and the combat feels a little more balanced against the Promethean units since your Pelican's armory has you armed to the teeth. Ironically, though, all the good ones are the ones that can be skipped due to the speedrun exploit.
This is evidence of how great Halo is. How many shooters really are there where people remember the names of levels and talk about them years later?
My favorite Halo level is Long Night of Solace from Reach. I love fighting together with the other Spartans at the beginning, the space combat is a good change of space and excellent transition, and then the zero G combat on the Covenant ship. So good. And it ends on a very emotional note, followed immediately after by sheer hopelessness
.
Exodus in Reach is also good. They really capture the feeling of the besieged city, the civilians being caught in the crossfire, etc. And I love fighting alongside the troops with jump jets.
From Halo CE, I see nobody has mentioned Truth and Reconciliation? From the night time sniper raid that really feels like guerrilla warfare, to the first appearance of Hunters, then battling it out on the Covenant ship to find Cpt Keyes? Come on, this was a great level.
Halo 2, I really like Outskirts. Captures the feeling of all out urban war, and it's my favorite Scarab encounter in the series.
Halo 3, the best level is Covenant as has been said.
To be honest I don't remember individual levels from ODST, but I've never had the chance to replay it. It is essentially the cast of Firefly in Halo though, and that makes it amazing.
Bleh. Sometimes I want to get an Xbone JUST to have a Halo machine because that's all that interests me on that console. But the rational part of my brain knows it isn't worth it.
My favorite Halo level is Long Night of Solace from Reach. I love fighting together with the other Spartans at the beginning, the space combat is a good change of space and excellent transition, and then the zero G combat on the Covenant ship. So good. And it ends on a very emotional note, followed immediately after by sheer hopelessness
Your partner sacrifices himself thinking he's just saved the planet, then wave after wave of Covenant ships arrive to seal your doom
Exodus in Reach is also good. They really capture the feeling of the besieged city, the civilians being caught in the crossfire, etc. And I love fighting alongside the troops with jump jets.
From Halo CE, I see nobody has mentioned Truth and Reconciliation? From the night time sniper raid that really feels like guerrilla warfare, to the first appearance of Hunters, then battling it out on the Covenant ship to find Cpt Keyes? Come on, this was a great level.
Halo 2, I really like Outskirts. Captures the feeling of all out urban war, and it's my favorite Scarab encounter in the series.
Halo 3, the best level is Covenant as has been said.
To be honest I don't remember individual levels from ODST, but I've never had the chance to replay it. It is essentially the cast of Firefly in Halo though, and that makes it amazing.
Bleh. Sometimes I want to get an Xbone JUST to have a Halo machine because that's all that interests me on that console. But the rational part of my brain knows it isn't worth it.
ebullientprism
Member
WTF I have played this game and this level about a bazillion times and didnt know this.
This thread reinforces my feeling that Halo 3 is the best Halo game. Seriously, its middle section is the absolute best this series has to offer. And by middle, I mean pretty much every mission outside of Crow's Nest and Cortana
I also love the first and last missions... yeah that game is great.
I also love the first and last missions... yeah that game is great.
DarthWalden
Banned
I highly disliked everything after truth and reconciliation in Halo.
Too much reused assets and rooms.
I must be the only one who dislikes the open vehicle sections on these halo games. If I'm in a warthog I usually just race past all the enemies and I find the scorpion buts evens worse.
Too much reused assets and rooms.
I must be the only one who dislikes the open vehicle sections on these halo games. If I'm in a warthog I usually just race past all the enemies and I find the scorpion buts evens worse.
Scully Scully Scoo
Member
the first half of halo ce is terrific, i really like that level where u are inside the covenant ship. later level get annoying as u are backtracking too much so i stopped playing
Bornstellar
Member
Having recently played through every campaign on Legendary, I think the Composer from Halo 4 is up there.
RSB
Banned
Yeah, people usually mention The Covenant as their favorite level in Halo 3, but I like The Ark and Tsavo Highway a bit more.
Anyway, the Halo trilogy has some truly amazing levels. Halo, Silent Cartographer, Assault on the Control Room, Two Betrayals, Outskirts, Metropolis, Delta Halo, Gravemind, Tsavo Highway, The Storm, The Ark, The Covenant... Seriously, how can you go from that to Dinklage Defender Simulator 2014? Bungie pls.
If I had to choose my favorite overall I'd still pick Assault on the Control Room. Sure it's very repetitive visually, but the actual encounters are very varied and fun, and that's what counts. Of course, Halo CE still has the best combat in any FPS, that definetly helps.
Anyway, the Halo trilogy has some truly amazing levels. Halo, Silent Cartographer, Assault on the Control Room, Two Betrayals, Outskirts, Metropolis, Delta Halo, Gravemind, Tsavo Highway, The Storm, The Ark, The Covenant... Seriously, how can you go from that to Dinklage Defender Simulator 2014? Bungie pls.
If I had to choose my favorite overall I'd still pick Assault on the Control Room. Sure it's very repetitive visually, but the actual encounters are very varied and fun, and that's what counts. Of course, Halo CE still has the best combat in any FPS, that definetly helps.
I thought the same when I read the thread title, but the two are both easily some of the best in the trilogy. In general despite it feeling shorter I've always thought H3 had the strongest campaign by far. Halo 2 has too many moments of bad pacing and Halo 1 had... well, awful pacing but key moments that were very very good.
Small Mailman
Member
Gotta go with The Covenant here. Fucking brilliant. Halo 2 and Halo 3's campaigns may have the greatest stories in First Person Shooters for me.
Chaotic-Strike
Banned
This thread is seriously lacking Truth and Reconciliation the sniping portion with that music elevates it to amazing status. I love the indoor bits even if they did reuse it a lot later in the campaign.
It's one of my favorite Halo campaign mission along with The Silent The Silent Cartographer and the Covenant.
It's one of my favorite Halo campaign mission along with The Silent The Silent Cartographer and the Covenant.
TheAdmiester
Member
TANK BEATS EVERYTHING!
Woah man, I could do this all day.
Woah man, I could do this all day.
Gnome Scat
Member
The Covenant was better, but New Mombasa Streets were the best.
Yeah I'm a big fan of Truth and Reconciliation. Brilliant level with the sniping/stealth section going int the close quarter combat. The music and atmosphere is excellent as well..
Small Mailman
Member
Twilight Gap
Member
No.
too long for its own good.
StoppedInTracks
Member
Razgriz-Specter
Member
Silent Cartographer
Alone sold me an XBox
Alone sold me an XBox
AgentOtaku
Member
Honeslty yeah, though prefer the visuals of The Ark
Twilight Gap
Member
User 73706
Banned
All Ghillied Up and No Russian versus a good 12-16 levels most people can namedrop at a moment's notice, though.
I've had 10x as much fun in Assault On The Control Room and Silent Cartographer ALONE as I've had in all the other levels of every Halo game COMBINED.
These two are almost unique in the Halo series by how they allow completely different experiences from time to time. Halo:CE has a few other levels that are good at this too, but in Halo 2 Bungie started forcing you into a specific vehicle, or forcing certain weapons on you. There's "scorpion sections" or "warthog sections".. and sometimes they're epic as hell.. but in Halo:CE the levels were playable in so many different ways. I didn't need to use the scorpion if I didn't want to.
I get why people love The Covenant, but when playing it I would be trying different things and most of them wouldn't work. There would be an invisible wall or something else keeping me from changing the way the level plays. It's still a great level, but I don't experience something new each time I play it.
My top 5:
1. Silent Cartographer
2. Assault On The Control Room
3. Halo
4. Truth & Reconcilation (seriously underrated)
5. The Ark
If you've played through that top 4 in co-op on Legendary and you don't understand the genius of those levels... gaming isn't for you. Thanks to the OP for kinda reminding of how good The Ark is though.
These two are almost unique in the Halo series by how they allow completely different experiences from time to time. Halo:CE has a few other levels that are good at this too, but in Halo 2 Bungie started forcing you into a specific vehicle, or forcing certain weapons on you. There's "scorpion sections" or "warthog sections".. and sometimes they're epic as hell.. but in Halo:CE the levels were playable in so many different ways. I didn't need to use the scorpion if I didn't want to.
I get why people love The Covenant, but when playing it I would be trying different things and most of them wouldn't work. There would be an invisible wall or something else keeping me from changing the way the level plays. It's still a great level, but I don't experience something new each time I play it.
My top 5:
1. Silent Cartographer
2. Assault On The Control Room
3. Halo
4. Truth & Reconcilation (seriously underrated)
5. The Ark
If you've played through that top 4 in co-op on Legendary and you don't understand the genius of those levels... gaming isn't for you. Thanks to the OP for kinda reminding of how good The Ark is though.
StoppedInTracks
Member
Not disagreeing here. Halo series is extraordinary.
From the time that passed since I wrote the OP I have replayed The Ark and The Covenant. With all respects to people above I really cannot see how TC is better than TA. Because you fly Hornets? Two Scarabs? Killing Truth? I think it plays heavily on nostalgia from Halo 1 because it looks almost the same as The Silent Cartographer... I was kind of getting bored riding those elevators up & down to be honest. It is a good level but TA overshadows it IMO. It just flows better.
Both The Covenant and The Ark take tons of inspiration from SC/AotCR. If anything The Ark has it the most, since the final interior area is very closely based on the geometry inside the main building in SC.
(I would personally have associated the green environments on TC more with Halo from Halo 1 than SC. Meanwhile, the level Halo from Halo 3 takes a lot of inspiration from AotCR and The Maw. Of Halo 3's final four levels, Cortana is the odd one out in that it references Halo 2 instead of Halo 1.)
ViewtifulJC
Banned
get out
One of the few others I can think of, yea. Also Shock and Awe in CoD4 was just as memorable for me.
RSB
Banned
CoD campaigns are nothing to write home about, IMO. Sure, they can be somewhat fun the first time, but replaying them really shows how so linear and scripted they are. The shallow gameplay and poor AI don't help either.
Halo, on the other hand, shines the most on replays. That's where you can really appreciate how dynamic and replayable the encounters are.
The Silent Cartographer is hands-down the best level. Assault on the Control Room is a close second, which is great as it immediately follows The Silent Cartographer.
ODST is good, but this was unfortunately around the time where Microsoft began to get greedy and marketing started to unfavorably influence the Halo series (name, price, etc). Luckily, the core game remains intact. It does a decent job filling in where Halo 2 fell short (Earth). Reach and onward are best left alone.
ODST is good, but this was unfortunately around the time where Microsoft began to get greedy and marketing started to unfavorably influence the Halo series (name, price, etc). Luckily, the core game remains intact. It does a decent job filling in where Halo 2 fell short (Earth). Reach and onward are best left alone.
Yup. Only one true king.No.
Silent Cartographer and Assault on the Control Room are my 2 favorite levels from any halo game.
SC: I loved the beach atmosphere and that you could explore the entire island. That was pretty fucking impressive at the time, and then going into the two inner sections of the island was also awesome. I loved the ambient sound effects, the (sometimes lack of) music, the ability to squeeze that damn warthog EVERYWHERE. So much fun.
AonCR: My favorite parts are the glass floors in the triangular hallways, and the bridges. I don't know why but something about those two features made my brain explode as a kid. Being able to look down, and then a bit later you are actually fighting in that area, that was nuts. Then looking up, and suddenly you were ON those two high up bridges. Being able to sequence break things was also a lot of fun. Unlike a lot of people, I actually liked the night-time green hued revisit of this level too.
SC: I loved the beach atmosphere and that you could explore the entire island. That was pretty fucking impressive at the time, and then going into the two inner sections of the island was also awesome. I loved the ambient sound effects, the (sometimes lack of) music, the ability to squeeze that damn warthog EVERYWHERE. So much fun.
AonCR: My favorite parts are the glass floors in the triangular hallways, and the bridges. I don't know why but something about those two features made my brain explode as a kid. Being able to look down, and then a bit later you are actually fighting in that area, that was nuts. Then looking up, and suddenly you were ON those two high up bridges. Being able to sequence break things was also a lot of fun. Unlike a lot of people, I actually liked the night-time green hued revisit of this level too.