: This would be just like me reviewing Game of Thrones or Dr.Who or Harry
: Potter. I've never read the books. I only know that they are things that
: exist, and people like them for some reason (much like how these people
: talk about Halo, in their own reviews, so, to each his own).

I think you can easily review Harry Potter films and the Game of thrones TV show easily without having read the books; you can review them as visual media.

The Harry potter films are FILMS. They need to function as good pieces of cinema, and if they don't it's a failing of the creators, not of the reviewers.

I don't see any reason why someone from Variety or the Hollywood reporter cannot review these despite not having played the game.

Not having seen it yet, my initial gut reaction is that it's tied to closely to the game type storytelling and plots to really let it be its own thing. Halo has always been about a series of macro events, where characters are less important. That's okay when you are shooting most of the time, but when you are shooting NONE of the time, it becomes quite important.