Halo Vs Call of Duty: Which is Better?

Halo vs Call of Duty

Where does your allegiance lie? Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we'll be going head-to-head deathmatch style with two of the biggest FPS video game franchises on the market today: “Halo” and “Call of Duty.”
To determine which of these gaming goliaths will stand victorious as king of the hill, we're examining multiple aspects of each title and not just who can score the most teabags.

Round 1: Story

An alien race on a religious journey to unlock the secrets of a series of mysterious planet-sized rings leads them to the human colony Harvest in the 26th century, over the next 30 years humanity finds itself thrust into an intergalactic war against a technologically superior enemy. However, a top secret military experiment involving the creation of genetically augmented soldiers, known as Spartans, is fast-tracked in the hopes of saving the world from complete annihilation. Enter the Master Chief, John 117, one of the last surviving Spartans who is awoken from cryostasis to confront the alien Covenant, and who comes to learn the ominous significance of the titular Halo worlds.
The “Call of Duty” series spans multiple eras of warfare. As the originals focused primarily on historical events the stories were, in effect, already written. “Modern Warfare” plunges into World War 3 instigated by Vladimir Makarov, whose massacre at a Russian airport remains one of the most controversial scenes in video games. “Black Ops” dabbled in the Cold War and Vietnam, with the most recent titles transporting players into the near future. And although a modicum of consistency exists within each series, an overabundance of characters and multiple story lines turns these games into more of a spectacle complete with car chases, boat chases, chases through the Favela, and of course, WMDs.
The stories in “Call of Duty” are disconnected and more episodic, making it difficult to relate to any of the playable characters. “Halo,” on the other hand, has a much richer lore that continues to grow, and as Master Chief, players get to participate in the legend of one of the most iconic warriors in video game history.

Winner: Halo

Halo 1 / Call of Duty 0

Round 2: Single Player Campaign

The first three installments of “Halo” maintained a solid length of 9-12 hours of gameplay and could be enjoyed cooperatively in online or sometimes splitscreen. A memorable cast of characters, expansive environments, and intense battles with challenging AI combined to result in some of the most highly regarded campaigns in an FPS. Vehicles also offered at intermittent points during the campaigns, each of them handling … mostly well, and you can jump in and out of them at anytime.
Coming in somewhere between 5-7 hours, these military shooters have a shorter story and act more as a vehicle to showcase advanced graphics and action sequences that would make Michael Bay proud. Enemy opponents are not terribly challenging, most often beating players by their overwhelming numbers rather than intuitive tactics. Apart from a couple notables, many gamers have found the single-player campaigns of “Call of Duty” to be rather railroaded, offering very little deviation from the assigned path and rather restrictive vehicle sections in comparison. Black Ops 2 does offer some branching paths, but it’s the exception rather than the example.

“Halo” is first and foremost a story-driven game, and its longer campaigns allow players to become invested in the saga and feel more like a participant, whereas “Call of Duty” uses its campaign as an excuse blow things up in a variety of increasingly ridiculous ways.

Winner: Halo

Halo 2 / Call of Duty 0

Round 3: Multiplayer

The series that redefined online gaming. Multiplayer in “Halo” first began as LAN parties at friends' houses, which later blew up with the arrival of “Halo 2,” when players could battle online via Xbox Live. However, it was “Halo 3” that took the experience to a new level when Bungie Studios refined their matchmaking algorithm, making for more balanced teams and allowed gamers to build their skill level as they climbed the ladder of competition. “Halo 3” raised the bar for the multiplayer arena, which inspired and challenged other developers in the years to follow.
The multiplayer in “Call of Duty” has been one of its defining characteristics. In the glory days of World War 2 shooters, “Call of Duty 3” reigned supreme, boasting impressive 24-person teams in sprawling maps that while frantic, never felt congested. Afterwards, in the modern renditions, the series moved to focus on straight-up gun-to-gun battle with almost unparalleled class customization and rewarding performance with Kill-Streak abilities. And who can forget Nazi Zombies? A game mode that first appeared in “Call of Duty: World at War,” where players take on wave after wave of the undead, becoming an instant hit among fans.
While “Halo” paved the way for the modern multiplayer experience, developers like Infinity Ward and Treyarch went above and beyond the “Call of Duty” by creating an accessible, fast-paced online shooter that continues to draw millions of gamers today.

Winner: Call of Duty

Halo 2 / Call of Duty 1

Round 4: Weapons/Abilities

Despite the game being set in the 26th century, many of the weapons in “Halo” are quite similar to those we see today and fulfill a specific role. Covenant weaponry is slightly different, but in the end serve as alien counterparts to humanity's arsenal. Forerunners, the elusive species responsible for building the Halo installations, have interesting weapons as far as their design is concerned, but again, even a technologically superior race seems to have made weapons that are largely unimpressive. The weapons all serve their purpose, but there is no customization to further refine their capabilities.
Meanwhile, weapon customization has been a key component of the multiplayer arena in “Call of Duty.” Silencers can be added to almost any gun for those who prefer stealth play, or if you're the type who enjoys the smell of napalm in the morning, perhaps an attachable grenade launcher is right for you. Larger magazines, stronger ammunition, longer sprinting time, or being invisible to enemy radar all provide distinct advantages. As these games are based itself in reality, the weapons are incredibly authentic in look, sound, and function. The level of detail is truly staggering, giving players the ability to build a class of soldier unique to their style of gameplay.

In Fact the more recent Halo games are now playing catchup to Call of Duty, as 343’s iterations started to introduce its own take on class customization that made Call of Duty the multiplayer juggernaut that it is.

Winner: Call of Duty

Halo 2 / Call of Duty 2

Round 5: Legacy

“Halo” has broadened its reach by growing into a full-fledged franchise that extends beyond the game itself and into a series of novels, comic books, live-action adaptations and action figures. In response to Apple's “Siri,” Microsoft introduced “Cortana” to their Windows operating system, a sort of artificial intelligence whose name is based off of one of the best known characters in “Halo” that is, herself, a computer program. Furthermore, it's almost an annual tradition that one game or another will claim to be the next "Halo killer," boasting a better product in an attempt to lure players. And whether or not any of these declarations are valid, the very fact that games continue to be compared to “Halo” shows how truly influential the series has been to the FPS genre.
Conversely, there has not been much branching out when it comes to the “Call of Duty” universe, although a short comic book series was released at one time. Its legacy mostly rests within the games themselves as whenever someone brings up “Yearly Releases” one often thinks of Call of Duty. It's impossible to deny the effect “Call of Duty” has had on first-person shooters not to mention and gaming as a whole. That being said, by glossing over the importance of innovation, especially when faced with fresh, talented competition, developers run the risk of their product becoming stale, Just look at the ratings of Infinite Warfare’s trailer.
There may indeed be more Call of Duty games, but its annual release strategy in recent years has started to become the series own undoing. By oversaturating the market we’re now seeing gamers move away from military shooters, and while Halo 5 wasn’t the best entry. The series as a whole still held in far better regard that what Call of Duty has done over theyears.

Winner: Halo

Halo 3 / Call of Duty 2

So “Halo” wins this firefight with a K/D ratio of 1.5 by taking the match 3 to 2.

Did we pick the right team? Be sure to debate it in the comments but try to remain civil … Please? And of course, don’t forget to subscribe to WatchMojo.com for more entertaining video Published Everyday.