: The sound design is still atrocious. The weapons sound like cheap laser guns
: and The Covenant weapons sound like... I don't even know what... Cheap
: SYFY movie... The Warthog is still that generic Jeep that sounds like a
: moped that's been in the last two games... The Covenant Ships/Cannons
: looked... Human Made... What was with the Janky Jerking of the
: "Phantom"... Such a GREAT effect for the shield... SO much
: better than the older options /sarcasm... Hey look, the Elites have
: shields that don't look like generic glowing blue... for real /sarcasm...
: More open world... That could be good... some of the best fun from Halo
: was the missions where you chose the order... A Map? I dunno whether to
: rejoice for hand holding or be upset that the game is so poorly designed
: that it doesn't play naturally with waypoints... Throwing fusion coils...
: That's... new... Wonder what other innovative new ideas we could see...
: Remember Bionic Commando 1988? No No.. NEW innovation... What about that
: hook from Just Cause... NO NO INNOVATIVE... Like Halo used to be... What
: about that hook think in Doom from last year? PERFECT!

: Also... The pilot seems to whine quite a bit here... -_-
: Abandoned Plotline of the Created?
: Cortana is still good as seen in second trailer?

: *le sigh*

Graphics and pop-in and muddy textures and animation aside (Damn that's a lot to gripe about), one problem I have always had with 343's writing is that it lacks the subtlety of the original games. The quotes "We are outnumbered, outgunned" is so cliche and just screams of "You need to know the stakes, LET ME TELL YOU THE STAKES!" and the main villain's line "I wish I could tell you it was difficult, but it wasn't". I don't know, it's just off. Show me the stakes, don't have the stakes explained to us.

I'm no writer, but I feel like a bit more subtlety could go a long way, something like "We're taking on the Banished? There's two of us you know!" and then right before the Chief steps out, "Canons first. When I get back, we can look..... the two of us." This shows that brohammer initially doubts the ability of the Chief to succeed, but when the Chief inevitably makes it back, he will know that they are in good hands. I feel that it's a better way of linking those two moments together instead of saying "We can look....... together." There's just something off about that line to me, it doesn't sound like something the chief would say.