: I realise that it is literally impossible to please everybody, but I think a
: lot of people are still comparing Halo 4/5 to 1/2/3 and disliking it
: simply because it's different. Of course 343-Halo is different to
: Bungie-Halo, but that on it's own doesn't make it bad.

Correct but people who dislike Halo 4 don't dislike it merely because it's different.

: I've seen a lot of
: genuine, well presented opinions from people who disliked Halo 4, but
: mostly it's just people saying they disliked it without giving a reason.

My impression is exactly the opposite - in my mind the majority (if not all) the people who have said they disliked the game have taken the time to say why they disliked it.

It's been out for ~20 months so people can be forgiven if they don't cut and paste their reasons for disliking Halo 4 in every post that mentions their disappointment. We can always look at their back catalogue of posts to see their reasons.

It is impossible to review or discuss the game without mentioning that there were changes and that they were generally ill conceived. That given: the fact that someone comments negatively on the changes does not mean that we should dismiss their dislike as merely a dislike of change.

Trying to frame the issue as a simple fear of change strikes me as a form of denial, as a way to tell yourself that things are OK, that nothing is really wrong. It minimizes the impact of what people are saying. See no evil, hear no evil.