I recently burned out on Destiny 2 (again) and wasn't sure why, so I decided to go back and play an actual Halo game. I think the reason that Halo was so popular is that it's an incredibly simple game? You don't use all of the buttons on the controller, the auto aim is very generous, the guns are very straightforward, and checkpoints are pretty frequent, so it's a great first console game for someone. However, you also have to frequently swap weapons because of the limited ammo and depending on what you're fighting, which means that you're constantly making small decisions, keeping you engaged in what's going on. It rules, I love it, everyone was right to be obsessed with this game.

Destiny 2 doesn't do any of that. It's complex, obtuse, doesn't require any moment-to-moment decisions, and requires you to spend a lot of time in menus and guides in order to figure out what mission will give you the most meta-progress. Gross, bad, I hate it, I want to jump around and shoot guys, please just let me play the game.

About Reach specifically, my main thought is that I agree that all of the things people complain about in later Halo/Destiny games are at least somewhat present here. The lines aren't as memorable as previous games, the story is not very good or clear, and this game added live service elements. However, it still rips because it's still Halo.