10) Master Chief vs. Locke – Halo 5
In a series stacked with highlights, Halo 5 was a letdown, but a showdown between Fireteam Osiris head-honcho Spartan Locke and the inimitable Master Chief is a serious highlight. Tasked with tracking down Chief and his team – who’ve gone rogue in search of Cortana – Locke finally catches up to Blue Team and orders them to stand down. “Sir, you are absent without leave. This is your once chance to come home peacefully,” he tells Chief.
Chief ignores the warning, sending his squad on their way and telling Locke he “has a job to do.”
“Cortana’s our concern now, sir.”
“Like hell she is,” Chief spits, before engaging Locke in a hand-to-hand slugfest, captured in glorious HD, that sees the two combatants switching stances and trading blows. When a well-placed elbow cracks Chief’s visor, our hero redoubles his efforts and disables Locke.
Halo 5 is an exercise in character switching, as you play as both Chief and Locke during the campaign, but affections ultimately always lie with the former, and Chief is able to escape his pursuers and seek out Cortana. The game failed to make the sort of seismic impact of its peers, but this encounter between the its cover stars ranks among the best moments in the entire series.