GKclassof2005, your points about Halo being nothing specail were stupid and here's why. First of all It is Halo and every one wants to "Finish the the fight so of course they rushed out and got it and said it was amazing because they finished the fight. Secondly the Forge, name one shooter( preferably first person shooter) that has a map editor other than Halo 2 for Vista, my gues you probably can't, and besides it's crazy fun just going into Forge and blowing stuff up. Third, Multi-Player i can't believe you said that, yea it's master cheifs killing each other, yea there is not much customization( although there is a good amount of options) but I've played a lot of games online, and i have never seen such finely tuned weapons, maps, and vehicles. The gameplay is by far one of the best if not THE BEST ever to grace online play. Now graphics, they are far better than XBox graphics you just don't pay attention, but still they arn'y great but you said it yourself graphics don't make the game. Bungie.net is awesome and you were right. This game integrates so much into the truely amazing gameplay Forge, saved films(never done before in a shooter) Nicely polished graphics bada** guns and sweet vehicles, a good amount of customization, the ability to finish the fight in FOUR player online co-op with campaign scoring(never done before) and some other sweat features. This game has probably the highest replay value ever, and really fleshed out easy to use and acces lobbies help the game live up to it's hipe, potentail and amazingly fun online gameplay. One more thing, have you ever played Halo 3? do you own a XBox 360 or XBox? if not than shut your trap, about everything and go play your 8.0 rated warhawk with the other 50 people that are'nt enjoying ONE of the greatest games ever created and by far the best game this year. All this is way more than most games have in them in fact most good games either pick great multi-player depth or gameplay, but rarely ever do they have both or for that matter a really good campaign with some next-gen awesome features like Halo 3 does so that is why it is ONE of the greatest games ever.