Halo: Combat Evolved is a legendary FPS game. It cemented Xbox’s status as a home console, bridged the gap for shooters between PC and home consoles, and brought many innovations. LAN Party, two-weapon system, an intriguing world, setting, and story, with a depth of lore to explore.
And its levels certainly revolution the genre as well, with open areas, freedom, varied environments, eschewing the close corridors of shooters like Doom and Wolfenstein.
I can’t say how much I love this game, and the impact it had on my life. So I’m going to rank the 10 levels, from worst to best!
10. The Library
Yeah, no surprise. Probably the most infamous levels in the franchise, and maybe all of gaming. It’s easily the most disliked one. Taking place entirely inside a structure on the ring, it feels very different than the past 6 levels. Mainly because you just fight the alien parasitic forms of The Flood. I’m fine with just fighting the, after they were just introduced the previous level. And how they keep attacking you from everywhere, show how deadly and unstoppable they are. You are pushed to your limits, and by the end, you breathe a massive sigh of relief.
But the biggest problem is the repetitive level design. Halo 1 suffers from this, but The Library is the worst. All the floors basically look the exact same, and eventually it’s just draining on you with the firefights. I hated this level so much that once I beat it, I never went back to it for years. Also, I got lost the first time, and had to restart the damn thing. Fortunately, the remastered version offers arrows to help guide it.
It also doesn’t help that the only one to talk is the Monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, because Cortana and human allies aren’t present at all. While I do go back and play this level, not nearly as often as I do most others.
9. Keyes
Going back to the Truth and Reconciliation in the midst of the Flood and Covenant fighting is interesting. Seeing the desperation of the Covenant trying to prevent the Flood from taking over the ship and escaping the ring, while showing the Flood’s ability to adapt quickly. The line Cortana tells you “Look, in the corners. The Flood are gathering bodies here,” always sent a chill down my spine.
The objective is simple; rescue Captain Keyes from the Flood. But knowing how the infection works, you can’t actually complete your objective. Hearing Keyes over the coms tell you abandon him, hearing his cries for pain, very well done.
And seeing him absorbed into a proto-gravemind disturbed and intrigued me when I first played it.
But while I don’t hate this level like The Library, it just doesn’t do anything for me. Seeing a ship you previously boarded, albeit differently, makes sense, but still, it’s repetitive. Fortunately, the encounters aren’t, especially with the special-ops Covenant coming onto the battlefield.
8. Pillar of Autumn
The first level to introduce you to the game, and the journey you go on, was very memorable. But I believe the first level of a game should be near the bottom, because you want the game to keep getting better, and not peak too early.
First, going through your tutorial, then seeing the covenant attack, the game gives you small doses of gameplay, enemies, and weapons at a time. The corridor shooting is familiar with other shooters, to slowly reel you in, and it’s still a lot of fun. Looking out the windows into space, seeing a mysterious ring world, it adds this feeling of isolation and vastness of space.
While it may be a straight forward level, it offers an interesting distraction; you can start killing the ship’s command crew, and Cortana will call in invincible marines to kill you. It was always fun just going off script, betraying your troops, and actually hiding where the crew flies the ship, so the marines can’t get you. This was an appetizer to show how different Halo would be. Overall, a very solid opening mission that doesn’t pull him back in as much to replay it.
7. 343 Guilty Spark
The first time you encounter the flood, one of the biggest video game twists (The Flood are never mentioned nor teased about) was a shocking experience I’ll never forget. Just the level’s description “creep through a swamp to meet the only enemy the Covenant fear,” was a big warning to the final secret the ring holds.
This level has the best environmental storytelling of the series. You’re dropped into this dark swamp by yourself, the fog adding to the horror elements, the music enhancing the mood and atmosphere. You see scattered Covenant, just Grunts and Jackals, terrified, but not of you. You see figures in the distance moving erratically.
Then you come to a structure, and silence takes over the rain and swamp. An elevator slowly rises, daring you to descend the structure. You see remnants of battles, fewer covenant, barricades destroyed, green slime dripping down, and soon, no one. No Cortana to keep chatting. Except for a crazed marine who keeps shooting you, saying he ‘won’t turn into one of those things. These monsters are everywhere, they took the live ones.’ It’s unsettling, like you’re being watched.
Then you discover the footage of your Captain and marines accidentally unleashing the parasite, and the game turns from a sci-fi action shooter, to straight up horror, a style like Aliens. After discovering the Flood, you simply have to escape. You see Covenant getting overwhelmed, the corridors, halls, the rooms start blending in, your mind playing tricks on you. For years, I didn’t know you could go back to the first elevator you came, only for it to come crashing down.
When the second elevator takes your further down, dread increases. Seeing blood smeared along the walls as you descend further into this nightmare. But after fighting off the new enemy, making your way out to the swamp, and encountering scattered marines, you feel a little bit at ease. Until the Flood swarm you, and your teleported away from the Monitor.
I use to dread this level, noy playing until I discovered the Flood, but older me absolutely loves the set-up, tension, environmental storytelling, letting your imagination run wild, and the discovery, the pay off, it’ amazing. One of the most unique levels in gaming.
6. The Maw
The final level, going back to where it all started, it a nice narrative bow.
You see the crashed Autumn, heavily damaged, a feeling of sadness. But you need to destroy its engines to destroy Halo. And you gotta go through Covenant, Flood, and Sentinels.
A simple level, that while you go back to some area from the first mission, a lot is new areas you visit, and the damage makes it look vastly different.
Destroying the engines was an arduous task, but nothing like the Warthog run. Seeing the countdown timer, the game becomes a thriller at that point. Driving along the ship, avoiding all the factions fighting each other, or shooting at you, what an epic way to finish the game. Of course, you die, you got to restart where the timer begins, and a s a kid, it took many do overs. None as bad as when I almost got to my escape ship, and died.
When I finally accomplished the mission, the ending was a bittersweet, exhausting, but rewarding feel. A simple mission, elevated by the final escape.
5. Two Betrayals
Originally, I despised this level like The Library. Now it’s one of my favorite. It’s just Assault on the Control Room backwards, but, now it takes place at night. Just the Chief and Cortana. And the encounters are different.
I love this level now because it throws everything the offers at you. All the weapons, vehicles – minus the Scorpion tank – and enemy factions. Seeing the Covenant, Flood, and Sentinels all killing each other really hammer home how ugly and heated this battle for Halo has gotten. It’s a battle you must win.
And I love just sitting back and watching the AI factions attack each other, really gives a large scope and scale of the conflict, making you, a super soldier, feel like a small, but still important part. Seeing the aftermath of the battles, the explosions, chaos, dead bodies littered, and blood spattered, really leaves an image in your head.
And the best part of this level is like the series, you can approach the encounters in many different ways, thus not being repetitive, and very replayable. Sure, there are some rocket launched flood, but this level, challenges, and encounters feel fair and balanced. All-out war is most present in this level, where everything comes to a head.
Especially the second twist, of what Halo’s true purpose as a weapon is, the mystery finally solved.
4. Halo
I’ll never forget how taken back I was when I first stepped out of the crashed lifeboat onto Halo. This game the forerunner to open-world type gameplay, structure, and design. Seeing the cliffs, rivers in the far off distance let you know this is a big, diverse ringworld. After defeating the banshees, I never knew where to go, because games were usually linear. This level gave a sense of exploration and adventure not found in many others. And I loved it once I discovered how the level operated, seeing the blue beacons in the air, the discovery a Forerunner gave, a bridge long dormant, awakens to your touch of a button.
You simply need to rescue groups of scattered marines, and you can do it in any order! I loved rescuing the final group at each location, and the cutscenes plays out a little different. And actually, if you don’t protect any marines, Cortana notifies evac to not bother coming, putting the failure on your shoulders. You start forming attachments to marines, and I’d commentate as the battles went on, giving them names, pretend orders, it added more fun. !
While other levels in Halo have tried this approach, they just don’t capture the spirit of this level. And it’s why it still holds up for me.
3. Truth and Reconciliation
I love the first half of the level. Being a stealthy sniper going through a dessert a night, making your way to the Covenant ship’s gravity life, holding out against waves of them.
Then the second half in the ship is just as good. Gives you a sense you are unwelcomed, uninvited guests in a dangerous place. But you need to rescue your captain. And fortunately, the hallways, hangars, floors, the bridge, and holding cells are different enough from each other so the level doesn’t blend in. It’s the first time we get a sense of the Covenant, and their technology.
It’s paced exceptionally well, and once you rescue the captain, the plot thickens, with the understanding of Halo, what the covenant want, and your objective to find its control room.
After, you gotta protect Keyes from dying, which can be frustrating, but once you complete the level, you’ve gained a sense of accomplishment, and set your sights on a new objective, creating a wider world for you to shoot through.
2. Assault on the Control Room
A bombastic level, and a very long one, you simply need to fight through waves upon waves of Covenant to get to Halo’s control room.
The biggest drawback is the repetitive indoor sections, otherwise, it’s a flawless level. Especially the outdoor sequences. Fighting with marines in a snowy valley, using a tank, it was so much fun blasting hordes of covenant.
And in some areas, you can alter the outcomes by how you proceed. Like when you get to the outer part of the control room, you can grab a banshee and just fly there, instead of fighting across the bridge, and spawning for enemies. If you’re brave enough, with a quick trigger.
Again, a simple mission, that throws everything at you up to that point in the game. Makes sense since it’s the halfway point. But it’s Halo at its finest, and the discovery of the control room only increased the lore of the game’s setting.
1. The Silent Cartographer
Arguably the best level in the series, it starts off with a D-Day like landing on an island beachhead, securing it, getting a Warthog, and exploring the island.
Truly, this is open-world Halo. You can explore the island however you like. You can avoid the D-Day scenario, go the opposite direction, and shutdown the security system to enter the cartographer. Each way you approach your objective, Cortana says different lines. This was revolutionary and ahead of its time! It took me years to discover the different ways of exploration, like I was opening a gift on Christmas. Plus, driving a warthog to the level’s edge, underwater, shows the lack of invisible barriers, the sense of fun, and not being restricted.
And I just love every second of this level, I can go back and never get tired of it. The descent into the island’s structure is really fun, not repetitive, it’s still amazing. I wish more FPS games had this type of level.
Well, that’s my ranking of Halo CE’s levels. How would you rank them? Comment below!
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