All of Bungie's Armors had clipping in each title, especially in Reach. (None of that ever bothered me or took away from immersion, because it was pretty minimal) Sitting in a hog, certain poses in the vanity menu, I can see those hulking security shoulders clipping into the chest of the model right now.

One thing 343 clearly worked hard to do was to create armor that had (and trust me, I use this word loosely) 'realistic' range of motion and coverage.

Purely ignoring aesthetics of the two styles, most of 343's designs are admittedly more grounded,and this is coming from myself and my 405th friends that WEAR it. Bungie is Form, 343 is Function in this sense.

The classic MK V looks way better than 99% of what 343 made, but in real life you have no range of motion in the thing. You can't sit in a chair, much less a warthog seat. Conversely, the pieces I've made for 343 era Chief allow for better movement and flexibility. Not having a space diaper for example, allows one to actually sit, or kneel.

The obvious retort to all of this is "Who cares, it's a game it's not supposed to be realistic" and if you were thinking of saying that, I would agree. I'm simply saying that I see WHY they went with things the way they did.