To me Master Chief certainly does have a personality, but then I have read all of the books and dug deep into the extended universe of Halo so perhaps my view has been shaped by that. That being said I would much prefer they build his character more in the games from this point on rather than trying to make you feel as if you were actually him, I feel however that I may be in the increasing minority that truely cares about characterisation and narrative.
EDIT:
I don't see how people can't/don't like ODST and Reach, both games were great and told good stories had good characters and were well paced games with good gunplay. The only problem should be that ODST was full price (I got myself the limited edition, with the ODST controller, so it was a good value for me) and the fact the Halo: Recon was such an excellent name that the disappointement from when they renamed it still weighs on your mind.
