HBO's own Louis Wu posted a note that Adrenaline Vault has finally put up their own Halo review; and shock of shocks, they thought it was great, giving it 5/5 overall.

If you'll excuse the pun, playing Halo is akin to a religious experience. To start, the story rivals the quality of anything you've ever seen in science fiction, including a strong protagonist, complex character interactions, and enemies who manage to avoid the cookie-cutter syndrome of being just plain evil. The first time you hear a Covenant foot soldier run away screaming He's EVERYWHERE! you'll realize that the enemy might have their own reasons for fighting to control this ring world. The story weaves in and out, often leaving you mystified but always wanting to unravel the next plot twist, and this careful sense of timing drives the game at a near-frantic pace. In part, the level design aids this facet of the pacing as well, since there's a constant sense of progression and absolutely no backtracking to look for the mysterious key or switch.

Nice to see a positive comment about even the indoor gameplay, rather than just an indictment of levels as repetetive .