Is The Library Halo's Worst Level?

Is there any level in Halo: Combat Evolved, or in the Halo series as a whole, despised quite so much by fans as The Library?

Grey, repetitive and often fairly boring, at first glance there doesn't seem to be much going for The Library, especially when comparing it to other standout levels in the series such as The Silent Cartographer or 343 Guilty Spark.

But there are some positives. And in this video, I examine the good, the bad and everything in between, taking a closer look at the design behind what is without doubt Halo's most notorious level.

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#Halo #HaloCombatEvolved #TheFlood

[BenPlaysGames]

If you enjoyed this, I've got a much larger analysis of Halo: Combat Evolved in the works, so do consider subscribing. Much love!

[middleCased]

At least The Library is somewhat self-aware, one of the sections is called “but I don’t want to go on the elevator”

[whitley]

real men who passed this level in legendary, great soldiers were left with PTSD

[aryaman]

I remember playing this level and being so exhausted that I didn't play Halo for 2 days after this. This level was just so tedious and repetitive that it became frustating instead of fun.

[maxburrill]

The worst part about this level is actually making progress only to then get instantly killed by some rocket flood from the other end of the hall.

[TheAppleFreak]

Fun fact: The Library was initially supposed to have been a lot more open visually, where the core was visible at all times to give you a sense of progression through the level. Ultimately they had to box in the level because they couldn't keep the frame rate above 30 on the original Xbox.

[neckzilla]

holy shit you nailed on point about it being the most alien structure. in fact you nailed it mentioning the marines too. It felt like a "at home" feeling being with the marines or even battling covenant. But being locked alone in a structure with ONLY flood was truly felt other worldly. Just foreign.

[Jarekthegamingdragon]

I get the library's intent but the execution is really, really bad. Even bungie devs while watching a speed run of the library said watching someone play this level was painful. To put it in their own words "We didn't know how to self moderate. The level felt over 30 minutes ago"

[staticshadic]

Plus if you’re trying to reach the index which is supposed to kill the flood . I wouldn’t expect nothing more from overwhelming army of trying guard it.

[MatthewLee-fome]

I remember the first time I played Halo CE back in 03. I remember how cool and intelligent the Covenant were. How funny and awesome the Marines were. The sense of Awe as I walked out of the escape pod and saw Halo. The excitement of getting to drive a Warthog around. The terror of seeing all my Marines get turned into Flood. The sense of pride and accomplishment I felt as I raced the Warthog through the exploding Autumn and escaped Halo.

But what's funny is, I have absolutely no memories of playing The Library, which leads me to believe that it was such a terrible experience for me that my brain has outright blocked those memories.

[rebekahbreun]

When I was younger, I never noticed any of its flaws, but even now I really don't mind it. Whenever I feel the need to blast through hundreds of enemies with a shotgun, with hardly any interruption, then I play this mission. Honestly, it's cathartic.

[nstorm]

I dont dislike this level. For me is really interesting because its like a test of endurance and aim. You need to be able to kill the enemies really fast or they will overwhelm you. I got the achievement for not dying on this level on legendary by accident. I didnt knew that achievement existed.

[navmoon]

The level seems the same for me, from start to finish, nothing really changes in my opinion

[cghern]

Excellent commentary, Sir. I agree with all your points. The Library isn't a fun level, but it has it's place in the story. 👍

[enterusername]

One things for sure though. When I opened the control room door at the start of Two Betrayals, I've never felt so relieved when I saw the Covenant again. XD

[ΒασίληςΒλάχος-τκ]

I still can't forget 343 casually humming like it's a boring Tuesday while space zombies overwhelm you in endless corridors

[bigboi]

I honestly liked the library. I played it with friends and it was funny when we got lost or got killed by rocket flood.

[LateNightHalo]

The Library is a rouuugh one but I’d say it’s hard to beat “The Breaking” from H5 in terms of “bad level concepts and design”

[eatenjaguarjaguareaten]

Ah yes, Halo Ce's mental stability test.

[shreksnow]

This video perfectly encapsulates my thoughts on the Library. Thematically it’s beautiful, and shows just how terrible the Flood are how they keep swarming you. But gameplay wise it’s absolutely atrocious, and the worst part of the game. Definitely one of the high points in terms of story.

This is a list of things that I think could have improved the experience: You know how sometimes at the end of 343 Guilty Spark you can save the marines, well it would be cool if they joined you at the beginning of the Library and fought alongside you. They would then be mowed down by the Flood and are mostly there to give you a false sense of accomplishment for saving them in the previous level. They would also act as a destruction for the Flood, and help you past the first floor of your lucky. For the carrier forms halfway through the level you would start to occasionally see ones with Jackal shields like the ones that were cut from Halo 2. This would add some challenge, and show that the Flood aren’t just using the humans and elites. They could have had a few sections where there’s Covenant barricades with Shade turrets, and troops who are also after the index like in spv3. This would be a good way to break up gameplay, and act as a distraction for the Flood that you can slip past. These would have to be sparse, and wouldn’t make much sense in certain areas that are currently locked down. Other stuff from spv3 like throwing in Wraiths, and Sentinel Enforcers to the Library simply doesn’t work because the level wasn’t designed for that, and it doesn’t fit with the overall theme of the level. There’s this mod for CE called Combat Revolved that changes the lights color to red to show it’s on high alert.

What would you have done to improve this level?