while it still retains a solid chunk of the core halo gameplay (the only reason this game isn't just straight up BAD), it still has some hard miss points in the gameplay, with the prometheans just being MUCH less fun to fight compared to the covenant. the story is just, silly, honestly. a bunch of characters not present in any bungie halo game come in and act important with no personality whatsoever, cortana's arc is just silly and made me laugh at multiple points, but the level design wasn't bad (i thought the piloting part at the beginning of the last mission was kinda ass and the pelican section was just SUPER underwhelming though) and fighting the covenant was quite a joy, much to my surprise. i recommend big bungie halo fans to play this game cause it was fun ENOUGH for me personally.
don't touch the multiplayer though lol

update 10/14/21 im replaying through it solo legendary after finding out theres an achievement for it and i was too nice to this game lol