• 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.

What Are Your Top 3 Halo Levels?

MaddenNFL64

Member
I'm ordering them from third to first, but you don't have to do the same.

BTW, I used http://halo.bungie.org/screenshots/ for the pics.

3. Halo

17.jpg


It's not only the level that introduces us to the lush, open environment of Halo, but it also introduces us to the Warthog (well, we saw it in the intro, but that doesn't count ;) ). Plus, it's just damn nice to look at the purty background :p.

2. Silent Cartographer

b30_08.jpg


Just on the setting alone, this level owns. Flying onto a hostile island, and storming the beach with your fellow marines is just unforgettable.

1. Two Betrayals

c40_07.jpg


It was between AotCR & Two Betrayals, but I chose the latter in the end. I know this is the backtracking level, and it uses the same environments as AotCR, but it's still pretty satisfying IMO. It's long, there is a ton of fighting, and it's very dynamic. You're jumping in & out of Banshees throughout, and onto a Ghost, and a Warthog if you choose. Plus the enemy variety is great, since every enemy you've faced is present & accounted for in this level, and they're all fighting you & eachother. The Flood is really giving the Covenant hell, so it's fun, and helpful to just watch who wins. Oh, and did I mention the Banshees? :p
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
#3
scrn_004.jpg

Silent Cartographer. yes, its definitely the most beautiful stage in the game. i love the variety between the indoor action and outdoor, but there arent as many particular battles that rock like my 2nd and 1st favorite stages...

#2
scrn_039.jpg

Halo. everything about this stage is pure bad ass. i love how it opens with the crashed escape pod and the covenant scout parties. i love the underground bit with the light bridge. i love the latter marine rescue trips to the rocky area and the forerunner bases. but best of all is the battle to hold the ground at the first forerunner structure (with the huge beams shooting out of it). playing on legendary, and fending off waves and waves of covies all the while trying to keep your men safe is awesome.

#1
scrn_045.jpg

Assualt on the Control Room. its got the vehicles. its got length. its got the best battles. nuff said.
 

Ghost

Chili Con Carnage!
the 3 classics have been mentioned already but i also really liked the first flood level (i think it was called the flood or something) the atmosphere was great and i was truly freaked out the first time i played, a rare occurance in an FPS game.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Ghost said:
the 3 classics have been mentioned already but i also really liked the first flood level (i think it was called the flood or something) the atmosphere was great and i was truly freaked out the first time i played, a rare occurance in an FPS game.

343 guilty spark ;)

i also like the maw, and especially keyes, as its pretty fucking intense
 

6.8

Member
In before "they're all over-rated".

Am I the only one that would include Truth and Reconcilitation? I love the intensity of most of it.
 

Kon Tiki

Banned
343 guilty spark and Silent Cartographer are the ones that really stand out. I have not played the SP levels since the game came out. I forgot the names. :(


Oh ya, the ending level too :p So there thats 3.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Truth and Reconcilitation, Silent Cartographer, and Two Betrayals are my three favorites. However, I also love Halo, 343 Guilty Spark, and Assualt on the Control Room (the forward edition of Two Betrayals...but the second visit is better).

Keyes and The Library were my two least favorite, though. Lots of mindless areas to wade through while killing shit tons of enemies over and over again. The intro and ending levels were solid, but not amazing (outside of the final run).
 

Sander

Member
Two Betrayals for reasons mentioned above and The Maw with it's great indoor battles and final sequence stand out. After that, well I like them all actually :p I'm probably the only one who isn't esoecially fond of Silent Cartographer though, the (short)battle right after touchdown is nice, but the rest is average to me. I don't dislike it, but definately not at the top for me.
 

SyNapSe

Member
I really like 343 Guilty Spark, and Silent Cartographer the best. Halo is a fun level too.. Assault on the Control Room is too damned long :( I do like the Battles and getting to use the ghosts and Tank.

Oh yeah, Two Betrayals.. BANSHEES!
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
i should add that Two Betrayals should easily be in my top 3, as it rocks just as hard (or very nearly) as much as my #1 pick... but its just too familiar, and i wouldnt feel right having both of those stages in my top 3 list ;)
 

Redbeard

Banned
Which was the level before the Library? 343 Guilty Spark? The Flood cutscene and the end when you're running for your life with all the marines while the Flood are attacking from all around through the fog - that was one of the game's highlights for me.

I'd also add Truth and Reconciliation and Assault on the Control Room.
 
Bah! Multiplayer is where the fun is at!

#1) Chill Out - Close quarters combat with sniping still a reasonable alternative.

#2) Blood Gulch - More then just an empty canyon. The way the hills obscure parts of the level is subtle but makes all the difference in the world.

#3) Danger Canyon (PC) - Go outside for some vehicle action, or inside for some in your face combat, but your team needs to balance its efforts on the two routes in order to make any headway in CTF.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
3. Truth & Reconciliation

scrn_030.jpg

If you like to snipe, and I do, this level is heaven. A great mix of combat encounters, from long-range sniping; open battles with your Marine backup; running-and-gunning through the halls of an enemy cruiser; and bruising battle where you are pinned down in a hanger with poor position and seemingly hopelessly outnumebered.

Plus, the second part of the level is a radically different experience depending on whether you bring your sniper rifle into the ship or not.

2. Two Betrayals

scrn_070.jpg


Shotgun: Check.
Huge Level: Check.
Ghosts, Banshees and Warthog playable: Check.
Tons of Flood vs Covenant vs Master Chief battles: Check.

This level rules.

1. Keyes (yes, keyes)

d20_12.jpg

d20_18.jpg


Unpredictability is a huge factor behind the replayability of a level. For me, Keyes plays out a little different every time due to the huge number of Covenant vs Flood vs Master Chief encounters. Throw the shotgun into the mix and tons of grenades, and this level is simply explosive. The battle through the valley to the ship, the furious battle through the ship to the Captain, and the brutal exit are all memorable and never seem to get old. I play this level often.

I should note that I only play on Legendary now, so that ups the replay value significantly.
 

Prine

Banned
Two Betrayals is my faourite.

Still play it today on Co-Op, infact its the only game i come back to, and its been 3 years. Game of the generation, that is, until november 9th :p
 

Sander

Member
Keyes is intense. I like the part where you can sit back and watch two Hunters and some Elites being attacked by hordes of Flood :)
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Mr. Lemming said:
Bah! Multiplayer is where the fun is at!

#1) Chill Out - Close quarters combat with sniping still a reasonable alternative.

#2) Blood Gulch - More then just an empty canyon. The way the hills obscure parts of the level is subtle but makes all the difference in the world.

#3) Danger Canyon (PC) - Go outside for some vehicle action, or inside for some in your face combat, but your team needs to balance its efforts on the two routes in order to make any headway in CTF.

thats an entirely different thread...

but heres mine anyways

#3 Hang em High.
(no decent screen found :( )
a great map for spamming with grenades and abusing invisability :). lots of intense battles between all the cover. easily one of my favorites

#2 Damnation.
players_1.jpg

so many different ways to play this map effectively, and its just looks great. very well laid out, and i love the multiple levels

#1 Bloodgulch.
rocket_oops.jpg

a true classic. this map is nearly perfect IMO. its big enough for all kinds of vehicles, but not so big that they are needed. you can snipe, you can sneak around the edges. lots of fun to be had with any gametype you want to play.
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
Sorta off topic, but are the Hunters in Halo 2?

Anyway, if they aren't, it's probably because they were kicked out of the Covenant for getting owned with one pistol bullet all the time ;).
 

Saturnman

Banned
I like AOTCR and Two Betrayals about equally. Another favorite is Halo.

It's hard to pick just 3, but I guess those are the ones I'd pick.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
MaddenNFL64 said:
Sorta off topic, but are the Hunters in Halo 2?

Anyway, if they aren't, it's probably because they were kicked out of the Covenant for getting owned with one pistol bullet all the time ;).

yeah, bungie has mentioned them several times in the updates... mostly in regards to how the ai behaves. in one update, they talked about how they set up a battlefield full of debris and obsticles to test how the ai for each species acted... they said grunts kinda mindless ran around objects, elites leaped over shit with amazing agility, and lastly, hunters just barreled through the environment knocking shit out of their way :)

hunters will fucking rock in halo 2
 

SyNapSe

Member
MaddenNFL64 said:
Sorta off topic, but are the Hunters in Halo 2?

Anyway, if they aren't, it's probably because they were kicked out of the Covenant for getting owned with one pistol bullet all the time ;).

Yeah, my friend and I played through AotC over the weekend on legendary. My friend kept doing the one shot in the back/orange area kill to Hunters. That's cool and all..

but wtf, why does it take 18 million shots w/ anything else.. even Melee'ing them isn't very effective.

For instance, I picked up the needler.. now.. you'd think even a small amount of needles DIRECTLY into that orange area would be death. Even 5-10 needles causes a decent sized explosion.. certainly more damage than one bullet shot would, you'd think. :\
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
Yeah, it's very wierd. That one bullet is stronger than a full mag of AR ammo emptied out point blank :\.

And I didn't know you could melee them to death. Gotta try that, but it'll probably take awhile :p.
 

Saturnman

Banned
Since people like to go off topic, how about your favortite weapons?

1. Screw the haters, I like the Needler. I wouldn't use it if it were the only thing I got, but as a secundary weapon, I love it.

2. The shotgun. Close range, but powerful. Knowing when and how use it should make it easier with the even closer-ranged Plasma Sword in Halo 2.

3. Sniper rifle. Great sense of power with this thing. I still have trouble with one-shot kills with Elites.
 

Ghost

Chili Con Carnage!
apparently the Hunter weakspot has been removed. But you can take armour off now so i guess its a case of popping of the back armour with a few shots then laying your gun to rest in the soft orange flesh, repeatedly.
 

Saturnman

Banned
I like the feel of the assault rifle but aside from grunt control, why does it have to be so weak with everything else? Convenant shields and armor makes this weapon hard to choose over the Plasma pistol and rifle.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
yeah, the needler is VERY effective in SP, mostly in confined hallways were there is no room to dodge. a full clip can quite easily take out even a charging gold elite.

picking 3 favorite weapons is kinda hard, as there really is a use for each and everyone of them...

i guess my favorites would be plasma pistol, pistol and shotgun
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
That sounds like a nice way to handle it :).

As for my favorite weapons:

3. Plasma Rifle - As everyone knows, the Covenant, especially the Elites, are really vulnerable to their own weapons. I chose this over the pistol because i'm lazy, so I need automatic fire :p.

2. Pistol - It's overpowered, and it has a nice 2x scope. 'nuff said.

1. Shotgun - I guess I could plant some AR fire on the Flood & then melee them, so they don't come back up, but I like the way they usually stay down with this ;).

Oh, and is it assumed that MC is going to visit another Halo again in Halo 2? Theres supposed be thousands right?
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
MaddenNFL64 said:
That sounds like a nice way to handle it :).

As for my favorite weapons:

3. Plasma Rifle - As everyone knows, the Covenant, especially the Elites, are really vulnerable to their own weapons. I chose this over the pistol because i'm lazy, so I need automatic fire :p.

2. Pistol - It's overpowered, and it has a nice 2x scope. 'nuff said.

1. Shotgun - I guess I could plant some AR fire on the Flood & then melee them, so they don't come back up, but I like the way they usually stay down with this ;).

Oh, and is it assumed that MC is going to visit another Halo again in Halo 2? Theres supposed be thousands right?

i think its only confirmed that the MC will visit the wreckage of a halo...
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
siamesedreamer said:
Sidewinder with all vehicles >>>>>>> every other mp level combined

i'm sure your right, but unfortunately its extremely rare i get to play multiplayer with even 4 people, let alone more then that. and sidewinder with that few people = dull.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
People who hate the needler haven't tried playing through the game on legendary. Its basically a free kill against any elite you come across.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Saturnman said:
Since people like to go off topic, how about your favortite weapons?

1. Screw the haters, I like the Needler. I wouldn't use it if it were the only thing I got, but as a secundary weapon, I love it.

2. The shotgun. Close range, but powerful. Knowing when and how use it should make it easier with the even closer-ranged Plasma Sword in Halo 2.

3. Sniper rifle. Great sense of power with this thing. I still have trouble with one-shot kills with Elites.

1) I'm with you, Needler all the way. Not useful in all situations, but it is my preferred method for taking out Elites, and it's great for remote-detonating grenades on the ground.
2) Shotgun. What to say? It's just plain fun to blow Jackals 20 feet through the air.
3) Pistol. Versitile, fast, powerful. Headshots are always satisfying.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
MaddenNFL64 said:
That sounds like a nice way to handle it :).

As for my favorite weapons:

3. Plasma Rifle - As everyone knows, the Covenant, especially the Elites, are really vulnerable to their own weapons. I chose this over the pistol because i'm lazy, so I need automatic fire :p.

2. Pistol - It's overpowered, and it has a nice 2x scope. 'nuff said.

1. Shotgun - I guess I could plant some AR fire on the Flood & then melee them, so they don't come back up, but I like the way they usually stay down with this ;).

Oh, and is it assumed that MC is going to visit another Halo again in Halo 2? Theres supposed be thousands right?

Bungie confirmed that Halo 2 will take place in part "in the wreakage of the previous Halo". Also, the Halo in the game was number 04, so it's tough to tell how many others there are.
 

SyNapSe

Member
Schafer said:
People who hate the needler haven't tried playing through the game on legendary. Its basically a free kill against any elite you come across.

Yes, the needler and Plasma Pistol are VERY helpful in Legendary. The needler is a total waste in MP though.. you can easily dodge almost all of the needles. You also can't carry very much ammo for it.. 4 reloads. :\

I really like carrying the AR + Plasma Pistol. The AR will take down grunts even in Legendary, and you can use the Plasma Pistol to instantly remove Elite's shields, so that the AR can do damage to them.. It's able to fire enough even if they move around you can keep chipping at them so there shields don't regenerate.

Also, I hate the fecking Jackals in Legendary. The plasma Pistol basically eliminates them
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
SyNapSe said:
Also, I hate the fecking Jackals in Legendary. The plasma Pistol basically eliminates them

yeah, the jackles get quite a bit tougher in legendary. they just fire that pistol so quick, they can tear through your shields in a few blinks of an eye. i cant wait to face of against them in the hardest difficulty in H2, where they'll use group/formation tactics (as seen in the new mombasa demo)
 

MaddenNFL64

Member
GhaleonEB said:
Bungie confirmed that Halo 2 will take place in part "in the wreakage of the previous Halo". Also, the Halo in the game was number 04, so it's tough to tell how many others there are.

Right, 343GS said each Halo had a pulse range of 25,000 lightyears (i'm assuming Earth years, but that's just wierd since he had no inkling of Earth, or how long a year on Earth was at that point :\ ), so it can't be thousands :p. Oops.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
MaddenNFL64 said:
Right, 343GS said each Halo had a pulse range of 25,000 lightyears (i'm assuming Earth years, but that's just wierd since he had no inkling of Earth, or how long a year on Earth was at that point :\ ), so it can't be thousands :p. Oops.

I can't find a link to it, but somone on HBO once put up an image the Milky Way galaxy, with circles representing the 25,000 light year radius over the top to illustrate how many it took to cover the galaxy. It was se7en. I can't say I was surprised.
 

Flynn

Member
T-1000_Model3 said:
Give me the library on the hardest difficulty. That stage on that setting will have the hair on your ass cringe in fear. Beautiful.

I was going to make a crack about there being no love for the library, but here it is.

Gamers=Mascochists
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Fjord said:
Yeah really on Legendary the Library becomes one of the best levels (hated it on normal).

Yeah, it's intense as hell. Truly amazing run-though of it, download this. It's the winning speedrun thorugh the Library on Legendary for HBO's contest - he's fast and never dies once in the level. I was amazed.

http://files2.bungie.org/gnf/gnf_library.mov

All of them are here:

http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/goingnowhere/status.html

The Silent Cartogapher in just over four minutes blew me away.
 
Top Bottom