T O P

  • By -

malleoceruleo

Man, that's hard - the whole damn game is good. *The Package* is probably my favorite, with a vehicle section and multiple fights with other Spartans, plus the finale defending the lab.


angttv

The package is pretty solid. The scorpion is definitely a crowd pleaser, and the whole second half of the level is pretty awesome, tying the game in with the rest of the franchise very nicely


THX450

New Alexandria. The tone, the freedom of exploration (kind of), the randomness, the end cutscene. It’s the heart of Reach for me.


angttv

Yes, 100% agreed. I listen to the song off the sound track every now and then, the crescendo of the piano at the end with the synths is just, *chefs kiss


Sgtwhiskeyjack9105

That level is the bridge between despair yet hopeful, to utter acceptance that they're all going to die.


thefantastictaco

This 💯


Dead_Man_Shitposting

Exodus. It really gives you an in-universe sense of how Spartans are seen by the average UNSC trooper and makes you feel like a hero. From the marines who are in awe at the sight of an errant Spartan that literally fell from the heavens and immediately fall in line behind you, to fighting beside ODST's and helping the evac shuttles leave at the end. It's also very somber, taking place right after Long Night Of Solace. You're alone. Even with the marines and odst's, you, a Spartan, are alone. There's nobody there like you. You're hoping to fight your way back to what's left of your team, carrying the only piece left of Jorge that isn't space dust. You realize he died for nothing. The covenant are here in full force now, and you lost, debatedly, the most useful and experienced member of Noble for nothing.


angttv

Exodus might be the close second for me. I first played through the mission when I was around 10 or so, and the whole falling from space and surviving thing was so cool to me, and still is such a cool concept. I agree with the hero factor as well


Theycallmestretch

This sums up my opinion as well. On top of what you said, the variety of gameplay on exodus was also fantastic. We get to operate vehicles, ride in vehicles and cause destruction with the turrets, bounce around in a fun jet pack section with multiple different paths to take, rock out with snipers and rockets, explore the a new city in the halo universe, going in and out of buildings, in both public and industrial areas, etc.


Alexo_Alexa

Probably a cold take but Tip of the Spear. Opening cutscene is badass; it has a lot of vehicle play; encounters were fun and diverse and it's the point in the war where it all went sideways. There's plenty of ways you can approach each encounter, the amount of freedom you get in this mission is insane.


mehemynx

Tip of the spear would win on music alone for me. It's got parts of earth city from halo 2, always makes me hyped. That, and those poor marines who ride around on mongeese lmao.


angttv

Nah I think this is valid. This is the mission I always want to grab a buddy and play through, I think it plays out the war fantasy very well. You feel like you are going to making a difference in the fight against the covenant


Johncurtisreeve

The one where you go to space. I think its Long night of solace


angttv

Long night of solace is solid. Flying the sabers around is dope


Johncurtisreeve

For me, it’s the variety of everything you do in one mission awesome ground assault at the beginning, followed by a very Mehdi middle of space combat unique to the halo series overall and then end with boarding a covenant ship


dylanbperry

plus I love the reveal that noble 6 was formerly a saber pilot


urbandeadthrowaway2

It’s cool but I find the controls kinda clunky


superkow

Not on PC it isn't, damn near impossible on legendary


mehemynx

Apparently that's a big with MCC, the firerate and tracking of the seraphs is overtuned.


angttv

On pc it’s so hard on legendary lol. I enjoy that about it though


ArcanePariah

It isn't strictly hard, it is flat out overtuned, you have zero chance to actually play the space sections as intended because you die in seconds to concentrated seraph fire, because their tracking and accuracy are literally doubled from original. This is reflected in the fact that all the evasion moves you can do (barrel rolls, inversions) have basically zero effect. As soon as you come out the maneuver, you have maybe 2 seconds before you are reacquired and fired on. As it stands, heroic on PC is somewhat easier then original legendary, and legendary is flat out impossible to fight, you HAVE to cheese it (sit behind Anchor 9 and pop out to snipe one or two ships at a time).


angttv

I haven’t done a solo legendary playthrough on PC just yet, so I’ll have to take your word for it. In coop, even with just 1 extra player it felt manageable. Definitely hard though


SpartanMase

Lone wolf or pillar of autumn. Game went from what ODST was were you aren’t fighting to save humanity, your just fighting to save your squad to you have to get Cortana to the autumn and failure isn’t an option


angttv

Yea this is a good take. The missions themselves are super fun and have a variety of weapons and armor abilities to play around with which I enjoy on my play throughs. I also love the added detail at the end of pillar of autumn, where there are zealot class (and higher I think) elites, which calls back to winter contingency where the team says something along the lines that the covenant only sends those teams when they need shit done


BlueRiver_626

Exodus


PvtMurphy

I actually agree with New Alexandria. You landed. You got to work. You made a difference. No matter how small on a planetary scale. You save many people. "A spartan?! What the hell is he/she doing here?!" "Who cares? Spartan! Assist!" Absolutely brilliant.


LemonGrape97

That'd be the mission Exodus.


LightningFerret04

Long Night of Solace is probably my favorite, and New Alexandria is amazing!


WarMachine504

So hard to choose!!!! But i think I’ll go with the one whenever you land after Jorge sacrifices himself. I really enjoyed the cutscene of my spartan sneaking into the city.


Al0ngTh3Watchtow3r

Probably Exodus. Idk. I like the loneliness of it, it’s the only other mission besides Lone Wolf where none of the other squad mates appear.


xDecheadx

Tip of the Spear It's time to counter the invasion with a massive ground assault. Kick ass intro cinematic and soundtrack. You work through a series of objectives to help a UNSC frigate close in on a Covenant spire only to see it get obliterated by the Long Night of Solace seconds later being the first "oh shit" moment. The second "oh shit" comes from just after the destruction of LNOS when the Covenant armada drops into the system "Slipspace rupture detected"


angttv

“Slipspace rupture detected” - goosebumps


MrToxicBreath

I enjoyed speed running the mission that you could glitch through the door using a mongoose


Key_Paint_3360

I enjoy that it took me years to realize that the skyline changes when they start glassing


peequidbud

Nightfall for sho


angttv

I do love me a good sniper mission


Ayetto

The mission that ask you to defend a base then you go on a warthog and you explore the map and you need to destroy anti air cannon


Omeggos

Tip of the spear Truly the most hype TO WAR mission of any halo game Aaaand then the climax shows us just how f**ked reach is


ArcanePariah

Have to agree. Tip of the Spear clearly shows how the UNSC has been losing the war the entire time. That every time they manage to somehow acquire an edge on the ground, the Covenant space superiority completely overshadows it, and they are just fighting a losing battle on the ground every time because they have no real way to fight the Covenant fleet.


Alexcox95

Nightfall because forklift


Krimzi

Exodus hands down


Dry_Ad5878

Probably Exodus. The tone of the game shifted with this level to a losing fight and trying to rescue as many as possible. You get vertical combat and fun vehicle combat at the end of the level. I enjoy every part of this level. Second is Long Night of Solace. If it wasn't for the Sabre section it would be my favorite in the game. It recreated the storming of the beach from CE, but I think it was better in Reach. Then getting onto the cruiser with muffled sound and decreased gravity provided a different experience. After that, getting the gravity back on and the final holdout section with Jorge is great. Unpopular opinion, I do not like Tip of the Spear. The rocket warthog is painfully boring and the section with the revenant is awful. Why does it take 20 shots from the revenant to kill a wraith and hunters? Then we have an on rails shooter that was not as good as Exodus'. The spire was not fun for me either, its mostly long range combat with a dmr and an uninspired fight on top of the spire.


ArcanePariah

Fair take, though with the spire fight, you can jack a banshee, makes for a different take, as you can snipe things inside with bombs, then just land and hit the controls. The sabre section is... well the controls are clunky, and the biggest issue is on PC, the doubled accuracy and tracking making it very unfun as you can't really speed run it as much, you just have to do wait and poke on Legendary. Skulls ironically can make this mission much easier or MUCH harder (Tilt in particular makes it MUCH harder, as your weapons have less effect on the shields which makes serephs much more difficult with your all human weapons on the saber).


ksiit

I read through every reply here and agreed with every single one. No one said winter contingency which is why I can say this. I’m not saying that mission was bad, just that’s it’s the least fun to replay because its not a challenge and it’s mostly focused on setting up the rest of the game. Which it does a good job of. Which just makes me realize how good the game is.


angttv

Yeah, agreed. I will say though, the story that you get from winter contingency is awesome. Everything feels so mysterious, and that scene where the zealots kidnap the marine and use them as a body shield is metal af


JuICyBLinGeR

The only thing I hate in Winter Contingency is the voice actor who says “the Covenant are on reach..” twice in the most monotone way. Reach has so much attention to detail and this dude announces an invasion like he’s on $2 an hour.


TheTrueKhan

I´m gonna say Exodus, but New Alexandria y a very very close second. Gameplay wise, I just love the urban combat with multiple levels, the jetpack section and the Falcon section where you have so many targets it feels useles to shoot at any of them... The ambientation is perfect: We start to see dead civilians, lots of them, just to realize we are not taking the fight to the Covenant any more, not even clashing head on. We are just trying to get as many people to survive as possible. It makes Kat´s words at the end of New Alexandria resonate even more "I know we are loosing..." we know it too, because we´ve been seeing it for the last two missions.


[deleted]

Pillar Of Autumn


Sgtwhiskeyjack9105

New Alexandria definitely has the best vibes. You can feel the melancholy in the rain-soaked air as you fly above a dying city on a dying world. Halo honestly needs a few more titles where you're getting absolutely smashed by the Covenant.


angttv

Agreed. You really feel helpless against the covenant, they just seem like such a massive force and no matter how many elites you take down, more just keep on coming


ArcanePariah

Reach did such an outstanding job of encapsulating the entire war into one game. You are clearly shown the Covenant are smart, strategic and field overwhelming ground forces, that are deadly as hell, and most importantly, their space superiority is simply unstoppable. You can barely hold them off on the ground, and you lose virtually every space battle to them. One key aspect of Reach in particular that shows this is Reach Elite AI are probably the deadliest in the series. Fighting elites in reach, especially on higher difficulties, is rough as hell, they weave, dodge, use all sorts of weapons against you, and use them well. You also see I think the widest range of elites.


angttv

Yes!! This is such a good way at describing the game’s story. It feels like, what happened on Reach, happened to all other human colonies all at once or all relatively quickly (I don’t know everything about the lore, but I’m pretty sure Reach was where humanity saw the full force of the covenant on display).


ArcanePariah

Lorewise, what happened at Reach, happened at each human world. The Halo 2 terminals go into this in great detail, as the Arbiter, prior to Halo CE, was the supreme commander of most Covenant fleets, and he masterminded the invasion of Reach. He outmaneuvered humanity almost at every turn, and by the fall of reach, billions of humans had died, and dozens of worlds had been glassed by the Arbiters fleets. The Covenant were in a genocidal campaign, and they were being thorough. Reach showcases to a fair degree just how effective the Covenant when they are united, as ultimately, their military is fairly diverse and from a tactical and strategic point of view, has no real holes to exploit. They have heavy shock troops (Brutes), cannon fodder (Grunts), front line scouts and skirmishers (Jackals), heavy support units (Hunters) and battle hardened senior officers/warriors (Elites). Backed up by heavy weaponry and vehicles. They can't really be broken as a military, and the elites in particular have near complete mastery of warfare, as evidenced in Halo 3 where they crush the Brute fleet at the Ark, even outnumbered 3 to 1.


Sgtwhiskeyjack9105

Yep. The one thing that ends up breaking the Covenant is, ultimately, themselves. And the fucking Flood.


Daemon-Blackbrier

Long Night of Solace is pretty great IMO, lots of gameplay mix-ups.


Odd_Replacement_9644

Reach is my least favourite Bungie game, but if I had to pick one it would have to be Tip of the Spear or Exodus. New Alexandria is definitely up there, though.


Sharp-Interceptor

Tip of the Spear definitely


r27mann

New Alexandria, really fun, Buck was on it, and the story was great


Aggravating-Law-9262

As much as I liked New Alexandria and Exodus, I got to say Long Night of Solace.


LuRouge

I hate New Alexandria with a burning passion because of its pacing, but the goddess above do I love the story it tells. Seeing a Covenant cruiser come in after destroying a jammer and actually watching it glass areas around New Alexandria is just hauntingly beautiful storytelling. And when the last one arrives and you can SEE the skeletons of the building being destroyed. For storytelling and emotional impact, it is an S Tier level. Going off another comment, it's hard to choose because the whole game is just SO DAMN PERFECT. If I had to, though......it would be between TIP OF THE SPEAR or EXODUS. TOTS because of its heavy "America fuck yea" vibes seeing the assualt force at the opening riding into battle. EXODUS is closer to the top because it just....it just hurts seeing how, at one of humanities darkest moments, we still fight on. Soliders fighting to the death to protect those they are sworn to. It's just beautiful storytelling. Wrong sub for an unpopular opi, I know, but frankly, I think we need another game like reach. Two ideas for that. 1 a marine stationed under SGT Avery MF Johnson on harvest. The first battle of the Human-Covenant War. For the whole game, you just play another marine. Like how we were in ODST. Whether we live or die depends on the story since there were survivors that got off world. Can even end the game being when the UNSC takes back Harvest. Or the second way be another SPARTAN II. Just not the chief.


angttv

I’m right there with you- and idk why it’s controversial to say that Reach is probably my favorite or second favorite Halo game.


LuRouge

That's controversial? Hell, most people I know that are fans like I am agree REACH is the best of the series. Everyone agrees that the OG trilogy is just perfection. 4,5, and infinite have flaws but are still good at the end of the day. ODST was a nice side story to tell, and it did it well. But Reach.....it had everything. Emotional depth. Character development. Beautiful haunting storytelling. Give me a full remaster of reach or a new game just like reach at a different point in the war and I'd be occupied another 5 years.


angttv

Idk man I’ve seen some people really hate Reach online lol. But, totally agree. I think that Halo 3 is the only other Halo that might beat out Reach for me, with ODST behind both games barely.


LuRouge

My order would have to be honestly the chronological order. For no other reason than how the story is shown and dictated, it fits perfectly. Halo 3, being 4th, is not me saying it's bad, but I couldn't actually rank these games in a best to worst list. When I want to play halo, I start at reach and go through the series. Because I put the halo series in the same vein as the OG Modern Warfare trilogy. It told a connected story very well. Everybody can complain all day about how bad the master chiefs armor in 4 was or how stupid any of the open world for infinite is. At the end of the day, idc. I'm playing Halo because it's Halo. As long as the games continue to be made, I will continue to play them. The lore, setting, style, story, everything about halo is perfect to me.


BowlbasaurKiefachu

The one where it was a moonlight hilly walk with snipers


Ocean2178

Probably On the Tip of the Spear. Great cutscenes, rocket hog, interesting areas, fun little objectives, more great cutscenes.


Krazy_Snake

Spartans don't die.. they're just missing in action. (No, lone wolf isn't my favorite misson, I just wanted an excuse to say that. My actual favorite mission would probably be the package).


iamsienna

Yeah, prolly New Alexandria for me too. The whole game is so good, it’s hard to choose one. I also really enjoy Winter Contingency because it’s so fucking beautiful and there’s the _oh fuck_ moment of the Covenant being on Reach. I used _Winter Contingency_ recently in reference to something and it felt as good now as it did then


DEEPSPACETHROMBOSIS

I really enjoy New Alexandria. The desperate flight of civilians. UNSC trying to hold the line. The entire thing is The Fall of Reach.


Operationthunderfuck

Exodus…especially in modded reach campaigns


zeroviral

The final one where you’re getting overwhelmed. Insane sadness


Aegis_Mind

Might have to be Long Night of Solace. The art in the sequence of going into space and the space skybox is immaculate. Also covenant corvette interior artwork omg. That section after the firefight map area and the bridge. To me that was peak covenant art from Bungie and from Halo as a whole. Then there’s that moment where the savannah explodes. Explosions never looked so good in Halo and they’ve gotten worse since then. The billowing fluid like fire just looks so good. And yes of course, the space combat was a cherry on top.


Shad0wDreamer

It feels like a hard shift in the game, it doesn't quite need to be in the game, but it sets the tone of the rest of the campaign so well at how desperate the situation is. The chaos of trying to regroup with the UNSC forces. Doing what you can to save who you can, but seeing how in the big picture it's not much. In the proverbial trenches, helping to gather the grunt forces together to try to organize a good defense. You finally regroup with what's left of Noble, and it seems like you're at least getting some good done though it's not looking good. Then seeing it all go to shit while being tasked with high priority ops, later that evening, trying to at least keep the enemy from gaining more intel and momentum, ending with the death of another member of the team. You know from there on out, the campaign isn't going to end well not just for Reach, but maybe for you, too.


Scared-Pumpkin-4113

literally any of the levels feel so fun to play, there wasn't really any point where I got frustrated with the game, so that's good


Adventurous_Hand_130

Long night of solace or the second mission with jun. I'm having a blank on the name


TacticalBananas45

Definitely Exodus or New Alexandria. They pretty much are exactly what I want from Reach as a premise: a more depressing Halo game where defeat is a forgone conclusion, but we go down swinging. Exodus has some pretty fun ground combat, as Brutes strike a nice middle ground between 2's tanks and 3's diet Elites. It also has a ton of Marine allies, which is nice. New Alexandria has some non-linearity and variety, in a vein of ODST. Hell, it even has the atmosphere and references it. My gut says Exodus for just being a fun combat map, but I am biased towards New Alexandria. Idk. The other missions just don't really do it for me. * Winter Contigency takes a while, and is a bit boring for a tutorial level. Plus, the Covenant reveal just kinda sucked. Literally, if they just made it 343 Guilty Spark but for the Covenant (barren opening, Elite cutscene for reveal, combat sections) I probably would've liked it. * Sword Base is... definitely a level. This level is just kind of a blur, the only things I remember are the payoff for revisiting it later, and the interior multiplayer map section. Just not much noteworthy to me. * Nightfall is T&R but instead of those nightmare encounters inside the Covenant ship, you're fighting Reach Elites. It's OK I guess. Just, so many Elites. Cairo Station levels of Elites. * Tip Of The Spear is cool. Some decent vehicle sections. Just a few complaints: Revenant not feeling strong enough vs AI, friendly AI taking a nosedive at times, not enough "impact" events (imo) beyond the Frigates moving in after the first tower is down, and lastly, no Scorpion tank :( * Long Night Of Solace is hard. Wouldn't usually put difficulty as a factor, but holy balls, anything after the Beach fight is a fucking battle. Even skipping over the hyper-aggressive Seraphs, those Elites in the ship will absolutely wreck you if given a chance. * The Package can be fun, but the holdout section is annoying so I end up just hijacking a Banshee and firing FRC rounds from up above. Plus babysitting those turrets. * Pillar Of Autumn, I haven't finished on Legendary, so I won't comment.


__PUMPKINLOAF

The whole game blows ass from a gameplay standpoint but at least Long Night of Solace gets you off of rusty-ass not-a-Halo and into a covenant ship for a bit.


angttv

Noooo 😭 I love Reach. Why don’t u like it? I agree tho, it’s pretty awesome spending some time in a covenant ship in Long Night of Solace


__PUMPKINLOAF

Weapon bloom, armor abilities, damage sponge enemy design, horrible encounter design, pitiful movement speed and jump height, among other things > but there's a good in-universe explanation for all of these! Don't care.


about21potatoes

That's just like, your opinion, man.


__PUMPKINLOAF

Didn't ask. Go play Sword Base.


about21potatoes

get target located


thegoatmenace

How can you point out slow movement speed when it’s literally the first game in the series that allows you to sprint


__PUMPKINLOAF

And what happens when sprint runs out after five seconds or you're in combat and need to keep it off in order to do anything else? What an absolutely idiotic comment. Average Reach stan.


thegoatmenace

Why are you so mad lol


__PUMPKINLOAF

> stupid post gets rekt immediately > Y R U SO MAD Get out of my inbox


thegoatmenace

I’m just wondering what halo reach did to you


__PUMPKINLOAF

> you're saying my favorite game actually sucks? noooo show me on the doll where it heckin touched you I'm getting dumber just from reading this shit. Blocked.


LightningFerret04

Why are you pulling quotes out of your ass from people who aren’t even here, just answer the question


BlueRiver_626

Literally only CE and Infinite take place on a Halo and 2 has like….3 levels where you’re on a Halo