I wouldn't say Halo is average by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think that after the first game it was overhyped to death.
I didn't really like the direction they took it after Halo 1. Halo 1 had such a great atmosphere to it that they never recaptured; it felt almost like a Horror game at times, very eerie and unsettling. You're out in the middle of nowhere with these weird creatures hunting you down and not knowing what the hell is going on.
It also had by far the best levels. Assault On the Control Room single-handidly blows away any level in Halo 2 or 3. I also liked how the Aliens spoke their OWN language, and you couldn't understand the hate-filled speech they were spouting off to each other as they hunt you down.
Then all the sudden, Halo 2 comes around and they throw away the whole vibe from the original in favor of a more mass market, Star Wars Episode 2-ish vibe with the Aliens suddenly speaking English and spouting off silly one-liners; I mean they turned it into a comedy show. Goodbye eerie horror vibe.
Halo 2 and 3 just didn't match up to Halo 1 in any way, IMO. Still fun, but they didn't blow me away as Halo 1 did. They didn't seem to put as much effort as they could have into the single-player campaigns, and I really feel like they could have done so much more. Gameplay-wise, even though they're all obviously cut from the same cloth, Halo 1 also felt more free-form and less scripted than Halo 2 or 3, and the AI felt better balanced between the different difficulty levels. But of course Halo 2 and 3 had the online play, so naturally they're going to be hyped up.
So that's it. Halo 1 was a classic, then they made some poor choices with Halo 2 and 3 that made them less than Halo 1. IMO.
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