Halo turned 15 years old today, and while the series might seem dated it's still great for a variety of reasons. An amazing sci-fi story about humans defending earth from an evil force, a bad ass protagonist, amazing multiplayer, and much more. But the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Halo is those great moments in the campaign. The series has so many defining moments that made player’s jaws drop. Whether its Noble Six being thrown off a ship into space by Jorge as he sacrifices himself or Master Chief doing whatever epic stuff he always does, it leaves players in awe at its summer blockbuster-esque moments. To celebrate 15 years of Halo, we ranked 5 of the best moments throughout Halo history. This is exclusive to the games, so you won’t find any moments from the movies or books here. Also be mindful of spoilers from the entire series.
5. Halo 4 – The Awakening of Master Chief
Halo 4 was 343 Industries first solo outing in the Halo series after Bungie left to pursue other ventures and they decided to take the series in a slightly new direction. After defeating most of the covenant in Halo 3, Chief decided to take a nap in cryosleep and told his AI companion Cortana to awaken him if she needed him. After four years with Chief floating through space, Cortana calls out for him and he busts out of his cryosleep chamber to discover a new enemy awaiting him, the Forerunners.
Chief is sent out to investigate a disturbance on the ship and discovers an entire Covenant fleet boarding the Forward Unto Dawn. As he takes on the enemies, he realizes there’s an even bigger threat, one that he can’t beat with a few bullets and pure strength. The entire ship is being pulled into a Forerunner planet called Requiem and he can’t escape. The ship eventually lands on the planet with Chief stuck on the planet. It’s an awesome intro for Halo 4 and shows how awesome Chief is even after being out of the game for 4 years. It also set him and Cortana on a new journey that fleshed out both characters.
4. Halo 2 – A New Perspective
Halo 2 is a very memorable game in general but who can forget the first time you play as someone but Chief. Not only did the game switch to a new character, it wasn’t even a human! It was The Arbiter himself. After learning about the evil plans of The Covenant, The Arbiter allies with humanity to take down the evil force.
As big of a twist that was, Bungie went a step further by letting you play as him! While some find his missions less compelling compared to Chief’s, it was certainly a big moment for players. We not only get a new perspective on the war for humanity, but we also learn more about the Arbiter himself. It adds a brand new layer to the game and is a moment most Halo fans will never forget.
3. Halo: Combat Evolved – The Ringed Planet
After an explosive opening mission that leaves planets stranded on a new mysterious world, players discover the Halo ring. Players are filled with mystery and awe as they explore the beautiful planet filled with strange technology and foreign structures while battling Covenant forces. You’re scrambling for anything you can get your hands on so you can defend yourself and defend the marines who managed to survive the crash. It gave players their first taste of the universe they were jumping into and was a major moment for not only Halo but the original Xbox. People who bought Microsoft’s first attempt at console gaming were able to quickly see what the console was capable of in terms of graphics, scale, and more. It is a mission that could be shown to anyone curious about the console to sell them on what is now one of the biggest brands in the world.
2. Halo 3 – The Covenant’s Last Stand
On the eighth level, The Covenant, the UNSC fight against the Covenant during their last stand. This is the last time players fight the alien force in the game and even though they put up a hell of a fight, players can taste victory.
The UNSC takes on not only the remaining Covenant forces but two Scarabs (those bad ass, massive spider-like tanks) which Chief is tasked with taking down while marines fire on it from the distance with Scorpions and Warthogs. This level is memorable for so many reasons and I could write a whole article just about this mission! During the mission, I had a smile from ear to ear thanks to that iconic score playing over the chaotic battles.
1. Halo: Reach – The Death of Noble Six
The moment that stuck with me the most as a fan of the series is the final scene of Halo: Reach, Bungie’s final game in the series. The game sees the legendary Noble Team battling to hold onto planet Reach throughout the game, but despite all of their efforts, they’re unable to save it.
As players progress as Noble Six, they watch their entire team gets killed off in a number of heroic ways. While it is a punch in the gut to see all of them die, there’s nothing more painful yet badass as seeing Noble Six die. Noble Six is left standing in his soon to be grave as the Pillar of Autumn escapes and there’s nothing left to do but survive. Waves upon waves of enemies come at Noble Six as he fights in his war-torn armor, he uses everything around him to his advantage including enemy weapons and mounted turrets. Sadly, the Covenant gets the best of him and he meets his demise.
In his final moments, takes off his helmet and tosses it on the ground and picks his assault rifle back up and continues to fight. Players are left watching the battle through the perspective of his cracked helmet lying in the dirt as enemies bump it while charging the spartan. They eventually outnumber him and he fights them with just his bare hands, but he’s not strong enough. They tackle him to the ground and an enemy pierces his body with an energy sword.
The game then cuts away to a shot of Noble Six’s damaged helmet lying on the ground as dirt and dust consumes it. After a flash forward in time, the once hellish looking landscape has turned into a beautiful meadow with grass and flowers and it almost looks like an entirely different place as everything is pretty much gone. The only thing that remains is Noble Six’s helmet.
We hope you enjoyed our list and if you think we left anything out, leave us a comment below! We’d love to hear your favorite Halo moments as we know there are lots more moments in the series!
