Do any of the Halo games deserve the popularity and critical acclaim?

[--OkeyDokey--]

Halo 3 seemed like it could have used some more time in the oven. It's supposed the 360's flagship game but it's not even close in terms of presentation to Microsoft's number 2 franchise (Gears) and it feels a bit last-gen compared to CoD4 and Killzone 2.