Which Halo game do you guys think had the best art style? I don’t mean raw graphics, because Halo 4 would certainly win that, but the art direction. Personally I think Reach’s rugged, millitarian style was the best.
I liked Halo: CE’s. Structures were big, interiors were compact, and everything looked mysterious.
The Marines were awful though.
I like both Halo Reach and Halo 4
Reach for it’s sky boxes and especially for the city level
Halo 4 for the Forerunners sets 
Halo 3 odst , the style fitted really well with halo.
Reach, save the Assault Rifle, had the best art style IMO. Gritty, Military-realistic gear, detailed vehicles, nice world graphics, and totally Badass looking Troopers makes Reach a work of art.
Totally beats Halo 4’s Paintball gear Marines, and Power Ranger Spartans.
Yea I certainly liked the character models from Reach, especially the spartan III’s , but I think halo 4 has the most inspired vehicles.
halo 2, especially the elite and brute designs.
> I liked Halo: CE’s. Structures were big, interiors were compact, and everything looked mysterious.
>
> <mark>The Marines were awful though.</mark>
I agree! I was just playing Anniversary earlier in classic mode thinking “I used to think these guys looked like badasses back in the day!” They look like they borrowed rusty armor from the Tin Man
If you look at the Reach Elite Zealot model in the Halo Encyclopedia, and the one in the Halo 4 visual guide side by side, the one from Reach suddenly looks quite cartoonish.
The question though was art-style, not realism …
(much thought)
… Halo 4. Still.
I really like the art style in all of the games, each one for different reasons. My favorite overall has to go to Halo 3: ODST though, something about the style was just so immersive.
I vote Halo 2, it was awesome, and I really like the mini stuff like destruction, dead marines and such, detail is really important and makes things fun and less plain
Halo: Reach for the environment, Covenant technology, UNSC vehicles (I love that Scorpion turret), and cityscapes.
Halo: ODST for the UNSC weaponry. The way the UNSC weaponry in Reach borrowed so much from modern weapons was kind of a turnoff for me.
Four maybe.
Overall, I must say the Metroid-Prime-inspired Halo 4 look points the most. It still is a bit too colorful for me, yet as a whole it’s fitting.
Halo:CE (original) should get my vote since it’s so dark and exotic. But the graphics are just too old, some colors here and there would have made it easily the winner. I guess I’m calling it a tie between CE and 4, but 4 slightly above.
Special rating goes to H2. Elites were AWESOME. The human environments were too bright and packed with strange colors that didn’t belong there; the Forerunner parts were even brighter, they should have been dark and foggy, deserted like in CE. High Charity, however, was pure dope. I think H2 was the game that showed everything Covenant-related in the best light.
Reach was awful. H3 and ODST okay.
- Reach
- Reach
- Reach
- Reach
- CE Anniversary Campaign
Vehicles-Halo 4
Enemies-Halo Reach
Environments-Halo 3/ODST
Weapons-Tie between 4 and Reach
Allies-Halo Reach
Reach was beautiful, pretty much.
Halo 4. I love Warrior-Servant architecture, it’s a lot more interesting to me than the Builder architecture featured in the previous games.
Halo Reach had the best selections of just about everything. Had it taken the slightly less cartoonish and more photo-realistic direction that 4 did, I believe it would be untouchable.
> Halo Reach had the best selections of just about everything. Had it taken the slightly less cartoonish and more photo-realistic direction that 4 did, I believe it would be untouchable.
I agree. Reach had the best art style in my opinion as well. Also, just to point something out, Reach looked realistic compared to Halo 3, and Halo 4 looks even more realistic compared to Reach. That being said, games look better as they progress. I’m sure Halo 5 will make Halo 4 look funny in one way or another.
I just hope that our spartans will look like soldiers rather than action figures in the next game.
> > Halo Reach had the best selections of just about everything. Had it taken the slightly less cartoonish and more photo-realistic direction that 4 did, I believe it would be untouchable.
>
> I agree. Reach had the best art style in my opinion as well. Also, just to point something out, Reach looked realistic compared to Halo 3, and Halo 4 looks even more realistic compared to Reach. That being said, games look better as they progress. I’m sure Halo 5 will make Halo 4 look funny in one way or another.
Oh I realize it makes Halo 3 look like something from Nickelodeon in comparison, but that is what halo 4 did to Reach. I would burst with excitement if we got a Reach art design with the Halo 4 BR design, and combined it with ultra-photo-realism.