American game developer and publisher Bungie have developed eighteen games since their first title Gnop! in 1990. Undoubtedly their most notable creation is the Halo series. The series, in particular, Halo: Combat Evolved helped Microsoft’s Xbox become a worthy competitor to Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo, despite its late arrival to the gaming industry.
To only associate Bungie with Halo would be a great disservice to the company though. Bungie has also been responsible for multiple classic Mac OS games, as well as Destiny. The first and second Destiny games have been great successes for Bungie.
Destiny 2 still has an active online player base today and is set to release on Xbox One Series X|S and PS5, despite releasing back in 2017.
18 Oni (73)
The bottom game scoring a respectable 73 is a testament to Bungie’s ability to consistently release enjoyable games. Oni was released in January 2001 on the PlayStation 2 and PC, before coming to Mac OS later in the year.
Oni is a third-person Beat-Em’-Up that takes place in a futuristic dystopian landscape. The game was praised for its enjoyable combat mechanics but criticized for lackluster graphics and weak plot.
17 Destiny (76)
Destiny was Bungie’s first console game to release after the companies iconic Halo series. Because of this, Destiny had a heap of expectations on its shoulders before its 2014 release.
Unfortunately, the game didn’t reach the lofty heights of the Halo series. It was praised for featuring the feel of Halo‘s well designed and fun online gameplay but was criticized for its underwhelming story.
16 Halo 3: ODST (83)
Halo 3: ODST may not have been the Halo 4 that fans had been eagerly waiting for, but it still had the pressure of living up to the legendary trilogy that came before it.
The 2009 game had many skeptics due to its full $60 price, especially considering its reduced campaign length. Despite this, Halo 3: ODST had excellent sales figures and was one of the year’s best selling games.
15 Destiny 2 (87)
Destiny 2 released three years after its predecessor, receiving considerably more favorable reviews. The game was praised for its offering of open-world exploration, improved combat, and implementation of RPG mechanics. Furthermore, Destiny 2 won multiple awards, including Best PC Game by Game Critics Awards 2017.
Despite this praise, the game has proven to be very divisive. Its 87 Metacritic score is in stark contrast to its current 4.4 user score.
14 Myth II: Soulblighter (88)
Myth II: Soulblighter is a unique real-time tactics game as it excludes one of the genres most key mechanics. Base building and army recruitment don’t feature in the game. Instead, players begin with pre-determined bases and units, allowing them to put all of their focus on combat.
The game was released in late 1998 on Mac OS, Linux, and Windows PC.
13 Crimson: Steam Pirates (88)
After releasing their final Halo game, Halo: Reach, the gaming industry was curious to see how Bungie would follow their iconic series. Anyone who claims that they predicted an iPad strategy game would be the companies next title, is almost certainly fibbing.
Crimson: Steam Pirates is a real-time strategy game that gave players a Steampunk crew and ship to control as they battle other ships and complete campaign objectives.
12 Myth: The Fallen Lords (91)
The first entry into the Myth series released on Windows and Mac in 1997.
Like many of the games, Myth: The Fallen Lords won numerous awards shortly after its release. The most notable being PC Gamer’s Strategy Game of the Year award.
Similarly to its successor, base building is not a feature of The Fallen Lords. The game was notable for being extremely difficult, with many players reportedly give up after only the first couple of levels.
11 Halo: Reach (91)
Halo: Reach was Bungie’s final Halo game before the torch was passed to 343 Industries. The fifth game in the Halo series was a prequel to the first game, Halo: Combat Evolved.
The prequel was a fitting way for Bungie to bow out of their legendary series. The game itself was praised for having one of the series’ best campaigns and stories, as well as its excellent range of customization options and tools available to players.
10 Halo 3 (94)
Halo 3 was released at an important time for Microsoft. PlayStation’s disastrous PS3 roll-out had handed Microsoft’s Xbox 360 an audience of gamers on a silver platter. However, a year had passed since the console’s release, and the PS3 was finding its feet.
Microsoft responded in style with the modern classic Halo 3. The game contributed to a spike in console sales, as the game’s online multiplayer in particular offered hours of fun with friends that consumers didn’t want to miss out on.
9 Halo 2 (95)
Bungie didn’t disappoint when they followed up on one of the greatest FPS games ever made, with Halo 2 almost surpassing the original game in Metacritic score.
Halo 2 didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken and kept its core gameplay and single-player experience similar to its predecessor. The game is notable for one addition though, the online multiplayer mode that Halo games are synonymous with first appeared in Halo 2. It was the most popular Xbox Live game for just under two years after its release.
8 Halo: Combat Evolved (97)
Microsoft has tried and failed on many occasions to replicate other products. Such as Zune and Bing being nowhere near as successful as the iPod and Google. The Xbox may well have been another of these failures if Bungie didn’t introduce the world to Master Chief.
Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the best launch titles ever released. Not just because it’s an incredible game, but because it immediately put Xbox on the gaming industry map, with one of the best single-player campaigns in FPS history.
7 Gnop! (N/A)
The first of many Bungie games that aren’t scored on Metacritic, but are certainly worth mentioning anyway. The following games are ranked in order of release.
Gnop! was Bungie’s first-ever game, and it’s probably for the best that it wasn’t scored on Metacritic. The game was released in 1990, the same year as Super Mario World and Mega Man 3, but is essentially just a clone of Pong (Gnop! backward).
6 Operation: Desert Storm (N/A)
1991s Operation: Desert Storm was a Mac OS exclusive, and the first game that Bungie commercially released.
Operation: Desert Strom is a top-down shooter set in the Middle East. Similarly to Gnop!, the game was significantly outdated upon its 1991 release compared to other games from the same year.
5 Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete (N/A)
Another Mac OS exclusive, Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete is an RPG adventure, far more ambitious than Bungie’s previous titles.
Interestingly, the game featured a multiplayer mode. A rarity in 1992, especially for a company as small as Bungie was at the time.
4 Pathways Into Darkness (N/A)
Bungie’s first FPS title certainly isn’t as iconic as many of its successors but is notable for being the game that put Bungie on the gaming industry map.
The game combined action FPS gameplay with puzzle-solving and gave Bungie the resources to elevate their status far further with Marathon.
3 Marathon (N/A)
For most gamers, Marathon will be the earliest Bungie title that they recognize.
The first-person shooter’s gameplay was reminiscent of Doom, as was the case with many FPS titles at the time. Like Doom, Marathon was praised for its action gameplay and deathmatch multiplayer. It differentiated itself from Doom though with its fleshed-out story.
2 Marathon 2: Durandal (N/A)
Bungie followed the original Marathon with a sequel just under a year later in 1995. The game was set almost two decades after its predecessor and added innovative new modes to its multiplayer. Including the unique and bluntly titled Kill The Man With The Ball.
The game re-released on the Xbox 360 Arcade in 2007. This re-release was reviewed on Metacritic and received a score of 62.
1 Marathon Infinity (N/A)
Bungie’s final Marathon game played it safe and change little from its predecessor, with much of the single-player and multiplayer mechanics remaining the same.
However, Marathon Infinity did have one notable addition. The game allowed players to create their own levels using Forge and Anvil technology. Forge mode would make a return in Halo 3.
Bungie followed Marathon Infinity by publishing, but not developing, Mac OS titles Weekend Warrior and Abuse, before releasing Myth: The Fallen Lords.
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