Top 10 Halo Games with the Best Campaigns

The Top Ten

Halo 3

Released in 2007 for the Xbox 360, Halo 3 concludes the original trilogy with humanity making a final stand against the Covenant and the Flood. The campaign is known for its large-scale battles and supports four-player cooperative play. It also introduced Forge mode and was developed by Bungie, with publishing handled by Microsoft Game Studios.

LOVE campaign. My favorite mission was the Ark. I also liked Crow's Nest because it was great to speedrun the mission.
Halo 5: Locke took up too much time, and I hope in Halo 6 he will be an ally that I can kill and teabag. Halo 3 had a great multiplayer. My favorite map was Valhalla. It doesn't have many connections to the lore, which I'm crazy about. All in all, Halo 3 was a world record game!
Halo 2

Halo 2 launched in 2004 for the original Xbox and significantly expanded the series' narrative scope. The campaign introduced the Arbiter as a second playable character and explored internal divisions within the Covenant. It also marked the franchise's debut on Xbox Live, helping to define console online multiplayer.

So nice to see this one on top. It's hard to pick between this and Halo 3. By itself, Halo 3 beats it by a nose, but when you consider the two as parts of a single narrative, Halo 2 is ultimately a more enjoyable and memorable experience.

Very underrated campaign. It ends on one of the best lines in gaming history: "Sir, finishing this fight." Then ending on such an epic cliffhanger.

So many memories playing this campaign when I was younger. I would play it repeatedly because of how great it is! I even find myself playing it again in the Master Chief Collection.
Halo: Combat Evolved

Released in 2001 as a launch title for the original Xbox, Halo: Combat Evolved introduced players to Master Chief and the Halo ringworld. The campaign follows the UNSC's conflict with the Covenant and the discovery of the parasitic Flood. Its gameplay and storytelling established the foundation for the entire Halo franchise.

Halo CE's campaign has achieved a delicate balance between the gunplay, AI, mechanics, and level design never met by any FPS single-player mode. There were no external weapons and features that ultimately would've destroyed the invaluable balance, which also explains its clever minimization of weapons or other features and factors that the successive Halos introduced.
Its plot was undoubtedly as grandiose as the level design. What can only be described as an epic story, CE fizzles with outstanding dialogue, unforgettable characters, unmatched levels of atmosphere and tone, and significant themes. CE's campaign has set a gold standard for the FPS campaign that has never been met for 17 years.
Halo: Reach

Developed by Bungie and released in 2010, Halo: Reach serves as a prequel to the main Halo storyline. The campaign focuses on Noble Team and depicts the fall of the planet Reach from multiple perspectives. It supports both solo and cooperative play and was Bungie's final Halo title before the franchise transitioned fully to 343 Industries.

I really disliked Reach's campaign when I first played it. I was annoyed that the story totally did not line up with the events in the book. I also thought it was boring to play through. Now, though, I just overlook the obvious contradictions because the story in and of itself is good when not compared with the book.
Bungie did a great job of putting the player in the shoes of a Spartan Three, whose makeup is weaker than, say, the Master Chief. The Covenant feels much stronger in this game, particularly the Elites. You're fighting a battle you already know you're going to lose (if you're even the least bit informed with the Halo canon).
As the game progresses, the Covenant are too numerous to deal with. At one point, you have to watch a large number of escaping civilians get slaughtered. It's definitely the saddest Halo campaign by Bungie. I used to not care that much for the members of Noble Team, but now I appreciate the subtle emotion and personality they all have. Though I found the in-game objectives boring compared to the epic missions in the other games, I think that further reinforced the message of the game. You're not the Master Chief. You're not on the offensive. You're on the defensive. And you're losing.
Halo 4

Released in 2012 for the Xbox 360, Halo 4 launched the Reclaimer Saga and marked the return of Master Chief as the central protagonist. The campaign introduced the Forerunner antagonist known as the Didact and explored the evolving relationship between Master Chief and Cortana. It was the first mainline Halo game developed by 343 Industries.

The gameplay may have been pretty inferior to the past Halo games, but the story of Cortana and Chief's relationship was amazing. I didn't feel this way at first because I was put off by Cortana's rather sexualized appearance (which was me being shallow, I guess), and for some stupid reason, I thought they were shipping the two together.
But really, her appearance symbolically serves a good purpose: the contrast between her being the more "human" character and the Chief being the emotionally repressed soldier encased in a half-ton of armor. It's clear that the love they have for one another is platonic, which makes the story that much more impactful considering all the millions of times the romantic trope has been used (especially in video games). I honestly think 343 did an excellent job of showing the Chief's human side through his special relationship with her.
Halo 3: ODST

Released in 2009, Halo 3: ODST follows a squad of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers navigating the ruined city of New Mombasa during the events of Halo 2. The campaign shifts away from Master Chief and focuses on a more grounded, investigative style of gameplay. It also introduced the Firefight mode and featured a distinct noir-inspired atmosphere.

I think that, while the story is definitely not the best, it is certainly intriguing. The story puts you in the shoes of someone who is not an invincible fighting machine, similar to the scenario in Reach. Of course, this game was basically a test for Reach's campaign. If you look at it for a minute, you start to see the similarities.
I liked the idea of having to use strategy to beat my opponents rather than just going in guns blazing, so this game is most enjoyable on Heroic. The characters are all interesting and have their own unique charm to offer (Buck is the best. If you disagree, fight me).
To top it off, the soundtrack is absolutely amazing, and you can tell it apart from every other game just by the first note. Every song fits its mission perfectly, and this is something I feel is overlooked by most about this game. Another aspect that is overlooked is the fact that it is tied in with the events of Halo 2 almost from start to finish. You see the carrier take off and experience the after-effects, which is kind of neat.
The only objective of this game is to get out and survive. That's it. Of course, this game is short. It is only a spin-off after all. Even so, I believe that it has the second-best story (beneath Halo 2) out of all the games. If this game were longer, I think it would be the best Halo game campaign out of all the games.
Halo 5: Guardians

Released in 2015 for Xbox One, Halo 5: Guardians introduces Spartan Locke as a co-lead and places a stronger emphasis on squad-based mechanics throughout its campaign. The story alternates between two fireteams and expands the Halo universe with themes centered on political tension, artificial intelligence, and loyalty. It features four-player online cooperative play but does not include split-screen support, marking a notable change for the series.

It's an enjoyable game, in my opinion. I love the campaign and other features included in it.

Halo campaign had great graphics, and the missions were out of this world.

A lot of people hate this one, but I personally like it better than Halo 4.
Halo Wars

Halo Wars is a real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios and released in 2009 for the Xbox 360. The campaign follows the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire as they confront Covenant forces across multiple planets. It uses a top-down perspective and simplified controls designed specifically to make strategy gameplay accessible on consoles.
Halo Wars 2

Released in 2017, Halo Wars 2 was developed by 343 Industries and Creative Assembly. It continues the story of the Spirit of Fire as it battles the Banished, a powerful splinter faction led by Atriox. The campaign is set on the Ark from Halo 3 and supports both solo play and cooperative modes.
Halo: Spartan Strike

Halo: Spartan Strike is a top-down twin-stick shooter released in 2015 as a follow-up to Halo: Spartan Assault. The campaign consists of mission-based gameplay framed around a UNSC combat simulation and is set during and after the events of Halo 2. It was developed by 343 Industries in collaboration with Vanguard Games.

I believe it has a good story if you forget it is a simulation. Look at the story as a true Halo game.