as an expansion to halo 3 this is still basically fun to play, and going back to single-wielding makes the weapon set feel more balanced. generally i think the encounter design is good, but what this game really struggles with is scenario.

mombasa streets is a neat idea but ultimately the weakest part of the game. the districts are so indistinguishable that they had to put big numbers on the wall to identify them, and the city is so heavily gated that there's little sense of exploration. i feel like i have less of a sense of the character of this city than i got from the two levels in halo 2. sure, the music is very good, but seeing the same streets and corridors again and again gets old fast. it's a real pacing killer between the main levels.

the main levels are also a mixed bag aesthetically, though the second half is stronger. there's a lot of the same old streets and a dull yellow haze over everything. the frame story sets up these missions as clues to some kind of mystery, but half of them are just fighting towards an objective that isn't especially clear or important. characters will even joke that they're not sure why they're doing this!

and the biggest problem of all is indeed the characters. they are deeply obnoxious to me, constantly making unfunny quips or engaged in a baffling exes arguing subplot. the central mystery goes nowhere until the plot suddenly all happens at once in the last two levels, and after all the build-up it just amounts to rescuing an information source that tells them the premise of halo 3. but the superintendent is cute.