Wired points out that Halo 3's minute flaws-- if such they are-- do not detract from its essential values.

Halo hype has been with us for so long that the backlash is already upon us, even before the new game's launch. If you're a gamer, you've heard the carping: What's the big deal about Halo? The graphics are middling, it's just another first-person shooter, the story arc is huge and trilogy-tastic, but hey -- lots of games have all that these days.

Those critiques are all partly true. But having spent a weekend finishing the single-player campaign of Halo 3, I've found that it still has the elusive quality that the original Halo possessed, the one many games since have strived mightily to achieve: an effortless, acrobatic sense of balance.

The author does warn against letting marines drive Warthogs, though.