: Halo 4 starts very strongly . . . but it's all downhill from there. CE's
: second level sets clear objectives for the player: (1) Investigate the
: ring world, (2) keep it out of Covenant hands. Both of which serve to
: encourage exploration and combat. H4's second level motivates you to
: escape and fix Cortana. They constantly reinforce the idea that you need
: to hurry up, get out, warn Infinity, Requiem is not a place you want to
: be .

Well said.

At the end of Halo 1, blowing it up was necessary but sad. By the end of Spartan Ops, I was already long convinced that destroying Requiem was the best choice anyway - and the player didn't even get any agency in that.

In campaign, you start in this position of extreme weakness: on your own, with a dying AI. It takes you three levels to get backup and then they leave after 1 full level together. You're left to face an even bigger threat than what you were facing on level 1/2 in the same position of weakness.