Compared to Halo 3, I did actually feel the gunplay worked a little bit better, but ammo management was a huge hassle and the level design in the main missions felt really undercooked. Having open world interludes was definitely a cool idea, but I never really felt compelled to scrounge for the Audio logs. The overly dark visuals demanding use of the weird visor overlay also just felt more annoying than anything. On the positive side again, the soundtrack is amazing and the concept of playing a trooper instead of a Spartan is at least novel. If you liked Halo 3, then you'll definitely enjoy at least one playthrough of this, but I doubt I'll revisit it again like I would Halo 3. It's a much easier recommend these days since you can get it cheaply or in the Master Chief Collection, I imagine I'd be harsher to it when it was new.