Halo Combat Evolved. It's the first game released and while Halo Reach chronologically takes place before it, that game is intended to be a swansong that ends the series and ties everything together so release order is best.
Additionally you would be better off playing with the original classic visuals enabled, rather than the anniversary visuals, at least on your first playthrough as the anniversary mode has many issues, such as inaccurate hitboxes that don't match their visuals and inconsistent re-use of assets from other Halo games that clash awkwardly.

Oh yeah, the anniversary mode also have Terminals, which are secrets on each level that play a lore video that severely spoils important story points long before they show up in the game itself, they were made for old players who already know what's going on as a bonus.
These terminals do not appear when playing with classic visuals enabled.

Thanks for the replies!

Originally posted by kcoleman5:

I'm new to the game so which one should I start with?

It really depends on the experience you want. If you want to go chronologically by the game's timeline, Halo Reach. If you want to go by order of release, Halo: Combat Evolved. If you want to play by ease of getting into it, I'd recommend Halo 2 first.

I think starting with reach creates a better build up for halo one and does nit spoil any of the experience for the other ones but dtarting with halo 1 is also a good rout for a general gameplay progression starting with any other ine will result in major spoilers

wanna coop ?

start with release date of games:


halo ce,
halo 2,
halo 3,
halo 3 odst,
halo reach,
halo 4

because if you play a newer game like reach which has more modern mechanics, movement and gameplay and then play halo ce from 2001; it will really hurt your experience playing them.