08 November 2012

Halo: The First Decade

I figured it'd be interesting to go through the Halo series, rating each level by level, and average out each game's overall score. I'm really just going by how much I personally liked them, not really aiming to be all that objective.

Halo: Combat Evolved
Pillar of Autumn - 9
Halo - 9
The Truth and Reconciliation - 9
The Silent Cartographer - 9
Assault on the Control Room - 8
343 Guilty Spark - 8
The Library - 8
Two Betrayals - 8
Keyes - 8
The Maw - 9
Average: 8.5

Halo 2
The Heretic - (cutscene; not counted) - 10
The Armory - (tutorial; not counted) - 5
Cairo Station -  7
Outskirts - 6
Metropolis - 7
The Arbiter - 6
The Oracle - 6
Delta Halo - 6
Regret - 7
Sacred Icon - 6
Quarantine Zone - 6
Gravemind - 8
Uprising - 6
High Charity - 7
The Great Journey - 6
Average: 6.46

Halo 3
Arrival - (cutscene & tutorial; not counted) - 7
Sierra 117 - 6
Crow's Nest - 5
Tsavo Highway - 6
The Storm - 7
Floodgate - 7
The Ark - 8
The Covenant - 9
Cortana - 8
Halo - 9
Average: 7.2

Halo 3: ODST
Prepare To Drop - (cutscene; not counted) - 7
Mombasa Streets - 10
Tayari Plaza - 7
Uplift Reserve - 6
Kizingo Boulevard - 7
ONI Alpha Site - 7
NMPD HQ - 7
Kikowani Station -  8
Data Hive - 8
Coastal Highway - 8
Average: 7.56

Halo: Reach
Noble Actual - (cutscene; not counted) - 6
Winter Contingency - 4
ONI: Sword Base - 7
Nightfall - 8
Tip of The Spear - 7
Long Night of Solace - 9
Exodus - 7
New Alexandria - 8
The Package - 8
The Pillar of Autumn - 8
Lone Wolf - (not complete level; not counted) - 4
Average: 7.33


Well, that's interesting. Each game's average score falls exactly one point below where I'd rate the game as a whole, objectively. So apparently the Halo games really are more than the sum of their parts.

The order of the games from best-to-worst is about right, I think. My personal list goes in the same order: CE, ODST, Reach, 3, 2.

I'll revisit this when I've had more time to process Halo 4.