An amazing game that started a fantastic and much needed series.
The graphics are top notch for the time, but were quickly topped by other games, including its big brother, halo 2. There was a large amount of textures and shine. This game has a sort of realistic yet unfamiliar look to it. The guns and character models are pretty well detailed. What's really impressive to me is how far you can see. Essentially, the game was fantastic from a technical perspective, but it didn't stay on top for long.
The sound is great. The soundtrack is one of my favorite in-game soundtracks. As for the sound effects, they're pretty solid, with some standouts like covenant vehicles and explosions.
The game-play is where this game really shines. This game revolutionized how shooters control on consoles. If you play a shooter on the new consoles, you'll notice the controls are very similar if not the same. They also figured out the perfect amount of auto-assist aiming to implement to make up for the inaccuracy of analog sticks. All of the guns and grenades are really balanced, well except for the human pistol, that thing is a little rigged. The story is surprisingly good and surprisingly long for a shooter. I've enjoyed playing through it a couple times. There's one really cool surprise that I won't ruin. Local multi-player is awesome. Split screen is cool, but LAN parties are really a load of fun, you can go into the wee hours of the night.
Just an amazing game. Although it seems to be a love it or hate it kind of game. If you own an Xbox or Xbox 360 and you haven't played a Halo game, I don't know what I can do for you.