Oh, so that's what has kept me so engrossed with Halo all these years. It's really interesting seeing this being put into words because it's all so true. What was the most poignant bit for me was this, something that has evolved, but has also been absent in Halo games lately:

With the original Halo, Bungie understood the importance of clear communication. Enemies look unique and behave differently. Their weapons have distinct colors and behaviors to help mix things up. When you take down an Elite's shields, there's a bright flash and electrical static that shows they can be easily dispatched. As a Grunt dies, it may fire a few more rounds. Grenades cast off a light that makes them easy to spot. A Jackal's shield will change color as it takes damage, eventually exploding in a flash of light. Anniversary enhances this in some respects, and mutes it in others—Hunter weapons don't glow quite as much as they did previously. Nevertheless, Halo always telegraphs what's coming next or what's possible next, making combat as clear and as fun as possible.

What I can glean from this is that while Halo has advanced considerably with advancing technologies in game development, it has also found itself abandoning a lot of core features which made it so unique and recognizable. In essence, with new tech, the game can mature to what it has always dreamed of becoming, but with that, it has lost much of what made it truly Halo.

Anyhoo, that was a fantastic article. The Silent Cartographer remains one of my all-time favorite missions and I can't help but compare any daring assault to it.