After I finished Halo 2 I was going to jump right into Halo 3 but I had an urge to go back and replay Marathon again and now I plan on jumping into Marathon 2 after I finish writing this. I love this game to death despite it's many flaws and frustrations that also bog down the experience often if you aren't used to treating inconveniences in games as "it is what it is". I have been used to vague mazes as levels in FPS games for awhile so it didn't really phase me that much how much of a maze Marathon can seriously be and also sometimes objectives can be just a slog to go through.

Marathon is also genuinely one of my favorite science fiction stories ever, I have never been more attached to a story in my whole life. I could talk about every detail the series has for hours! The story just rules!

Go play it, I do understand if you drop it midway thru though.

I get the hype now.

I think every problem I had with Halo: CE was fixed with 2. In fact I would say everything about this game besides the ending is perfect. Particularly I want to praise the level design (which is a SERIOUS upgrade from CE) and the two perspectives between Chief and Arbiter through out the campaign. I haven't had this much excitement to get into the next entry in a series since Marathon... I should probably replay all the Marathon games after I get through the Bungie Halo games.

Anyway yeah, this game kicks ass. Go play it.