Just finished playing through Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Halo Wars... in a little under two weeks. I still haven't figured out if that's because I have way too much spare time on my hands, or the games are shorter than I had thought. Either way, it was quite enjoyable.
Of those five, Halo is my least favorite. The story is pretty good, but the gameplay is pretty dated. There is also a lack of mission variety. It usually boiled down to: go to first area, fight a wave or two or three of enemies; go to next area, repeat; oh, Hunter fight (and I seriously did not remember there being so many Hunter fights); go to next area, fight another couple of waves. Still, I guess it is a testament to Bungie's game-developing abilities that despite its showing age, I still found Halo to be a fun play.
Halo 2 had better gameplay and the story was pretty good. I still think the Arbiter was an awesome addition to the series; I even liked playing his portions. A bit more difficult, but fun because it was a little different. I can't stand Miranda's voice actress, though.
Halo 3 is, in my opinion, the best when it comes to story and overall atmosphere. The slight improvements to the gameplay were nice, too.
Halo: Reach has the best gameplay. I guess it makes sense that their final game had the tightest control and most refined experience. The story is pretty good, too, and it does an effective job of creating a you-are-going-to-lose-no-matter-what atmosphere. If I had any complaint it would be that the ending comes a little suddenly. Also, I found the interaction between the SPARTAN III's and Halsey a little weird. Maybe it's because I don't know much of the back-story, but it just seemed a little off. I did, however, like the subtle difference in Jorge's feelings toward and his interactions with her.
And finally, Halo Wars. For me, the perfect strategy game, in that it actually requires little strategy at all. The cutscenes are incredible and the gameplay suits me perfectly. Story is pretty good, too, even though throughout most of it I had this strange feeling that something didn't fit right with the Halo universe's canon (one example being the stark difference between the Serina A.I. and AUNTIE DOT from Reach).
Overall, though, I greatly enjoyed each entry. Hopefully I will some day get Halo 3: ODST and Halo 4.
Post edited November 15, 2012 by Daedalus1138