*Played as part of the Master Chief Collection

Holy shit, this game is just fucking awesome. From the word go it's a non-stop thrill ride that takes everything from the original and enhances it.
There are actual, movie-level cutscenes that explain a lot of the lore and world-building that was missing from the first entry. You can dual-wield small arms to feel like an absolute badass, and the arsenal of weapons you get to use has just been expanded in general as well. The vehicles control much better and are more fun to utilize (except for the slow-ass tank, but that kinda makes up for it by just obliterating every single obstacle in your path with little to no effort). There are two protagonists even, as we get to see things from the Covenant's perspective as well. The map design is also better and eliminates all the tedious back-tracking that padded out the first game, and the enemy variety has also been increased, each with their own tactics and nuances.
This is one of those perfect sequels I was talking about when I played Ragnarok, and the only thing holding it back from a perfect score is the abrupt, cliffhanger ending.

Another positive side-effect this game had on me was sending me down the Halo Wiki rabbit hole, where I spent a few hours pouring over lore articles and learning about things I probably shouldn't know at this point in time. As someone who once thought of Halo as just another dudebro shooter and scoffed at the thought of buying a console for one franchise while I gobbled my fill of PS3 exclusives greedily, I must apologize to my Xbox homies as the lore is actually pretty sweet. Kind of makes me wish Gears of War had a similar collection on PC so I could go through that franchise as well to see what all the fuss was about.