Halo is fine. The singleplayer is pretty bad, but the 3rd one has co-op, which is a lot of fun.

The multiplayer is often simplistic (assualt rifle + beatdown), but depending on the weapons you have, you can get some pretty intense gunplay (you've got bubble shields, energy drains, vehicles, turrets, mines, etc.). It's definitely not generic... I don't think there's another game that plays the same way as Halo.

The only thing exceptionally bad about the game is its community and the network coding. The game is certainly over... hyped by the community, but that doesn't make it bad by any means.

You mention a bunch of singleplayer FPSs. Yes they are better than Halo's SINGLEPLAYER for the most part. Honestly, CS:S is more generic than Halo. I'd rather be playing CS:S, sure, but that's for its community, mods, and somewhat realistic gameplay. TF2 is about the only game on that list that far exceeds Halo in every aspect of multiplayer. It's fun, definitely not generic, good community, constant updates, and requires a lot of teamwork.

Swiftstrike5

[QUOTE="valvefan84"] IHalo is the Final Fantasy VII of shooters, a baby's first game and extremely overrated. There are even better console FPS like Red Faction and TimeSplitters. Halo also ruined the genre with that stupid regenerating health mechanic. Ignore the hype and the hate, and all you get is an average game. Also Halo fans, stop watching crappy Michael Bay action movies and watch good movies like The Visitor or Gomorrah.Amigro

Final Fantasy VII was a frickin awesome game... I think everyone has their opinions, but I really think just haters hate Halo. It's not an amazing game and after Halo 1 the single player became pretty mediocre, but the MP has always been pretty challenging. Halo is one of the shooters that has a very wide variety of tactics that can be used and makes a lot of use of teamwork with the high HP and shields of the opposing players. I don't think it's a great game, but I think there is a lot of bias involved when someone says the game blows....

[QUOTE="Myrkan"]

When it comes down to it, I'd rather be playing a simple, clean and fun game, rather than some complicated yet innovative game. Most of us play games for fun, and that's exactly what Halo is, fun. Every now and then it's nice to play a game that puts a new spin on the genre, but... Eh, I'll just leave it at that, I'm starting to sound like a broken record.

flipin_jackass