I realize that title’s begging to get torn apart but bear with me. Halo as a franchise has long been synonymous with outstanding multiplayer and a solid (if sometimes contrived) sci-fi story that garnered consistent praise from reviewers. First, Some History However, later entries in the series were beginning to teeter on the edge of shark-jumping territory with the critically ‘meh’ Halo Wars and the appreciated though in ways underwhelming Halo 3: ODST. Halo Reach was a welcome course correction with stellar Live play that satisfied, but the absence of Master Chief and graphics that were tolerable only in the silent light of a stable frame rate were like blood in the water for harsher critics. Then the bomb dropped- longtime developer and fan favorite developer, Bungie, would no longer be attached to the Halo franchise and the latest entry, nay trilogy would be helmed by Microsoft newcomer, 343 Industries. So were they able to fill the very large shoes of Bungie? Yes, and not only did they do the Halo series justice, but they managed to take an established, nigh-religiously revered, franchise and made it their own. Let’s start with graphics. There’s an old adage in video that says to make sure you’ve got the best possible audio recorded because audio is 50% of your video. Similarly, while almost every critic in the world has snobbishly sworn that ‘gameplay’ is the most important element of a game (the word’s right there at the beginning, you see), graphics and presentation are leaps and bounds more important than they’re often given credit for. Saying a game’s ‘feel’, for example is really a description of how well your actions on the controller translate visually on the screen. Technically speaking every game from Mario Kart to Doom...