It's kind of hard to care for a story that is hard to follow without reading the tie in novels.  It has the following it has not because of the story but because of the multiplayer.

Yeah it does have a big following for MP. But that is actually only 3.9 million I believe out of nearly 10 million that are registered as played Halo 3 online. Halo actually has the biggest following in the single player part of the game. With over 5 million people petitioned Eric Nylund ( writer of Halo books ) to make sure a fourth book about MC after Halo 3.  

I may be the odd-ball here, but I actually thought that the story in Halo 3 was the best in the three games, especially after the High Charity crashes into Earth.

But as for the number of people playing only the single-player = quality of the story, that doesn't mean a thing. NSMB has 19 M people playing the game and it's only single player, yet the story is plain, even in Mario Bros standarts.

Halo is halo, the best console FPS thus far, so that's the reason so many people play it, not the story per se.

You read the OP right?  Okay..

Sorry but I never read in a thread 'Halo is so awesome because of it is story even when I play the game on Xbox live I never hear anyone talk about it when their are games out there who's fans love it because of the story'.  

Anyway like I said before I found the story underwhelming. Halo 3 did the best job but Halo 2 storytelling especially the abrupt ending. 

Anyway I hoped to that in Halo 3 the game would end when you hear the Spartan Six tune song and see the the other spartans helping you to finsih the fight. 


Because the awesomeness of the Fall of reach book I think Halo reach will be the first Halo game with a great story. (Didn't played Halo wars yet though).

Yeah, guys, you are forgetting one little game that is coming out in 2011...Halo Reach, it will most likely tie up a lot of loose ends. Let's compare the Halo storyline to the Star Wars story line (which I actually thought was cheesy and crappy). Halo1, 2, and 3 are like the original Star Wars trilogy, which was full of holes and unanswered questions. Hey, guess what? That didn't stop people from enjoying the Star Wars series, infact, it gained a HUGE following despite it's short comings, do you really think that millions (tens of millions?) of fans were put off by the fact that there were unanswered questions? No, they learned to use their imagination to fill in the blanks. Could it be that some gamers are to unimaganative to do the same? I think the Halo story line (even without the books) is very intriguing, It's mysterious, suspense filled, and has enough twists to make it enjoyable.

Well the story is there but it is very very badly told and derived. The first one had a very lackluster start to the story but it kinda came along with its twists and ended up being a simply but unique story. Halo 2, on the other hand, completely turned it around making it a complicated set of events. Added things with no background information and through things in that seemed random.

Halo 3 kinda went back to a more simplistic way of telling it but you still felt disconnected from the first one. There was no progression whatsoever. Really all 3 could have been their own game (aside from 2's cliffhanger). They needed better progression and much better flow. Typical, though of most shooters which seem to have spur of the moment story plots that have highs and lows at random ties.

I still think it was a good story but very poorly executed.

Star Wars gets away with holes yet I have seen many stories being derided for having plot holes.  People are really inconsistant.

@Zucas

Not to mention it is incredibly hard to follow.

Yes, but the differance is, non of thopse stories has books that cover the plot lapses, nor subtle hints from the dev team on certain unknown aspects of the plot, not even starwars back in the day. 

The Halo series is awsome when it comes to nonstop FPS action. In fact it is arguably unparalleled in terms of creating the perfect blend of shooting, melee and vehicle combat. For this reason we love the game. That said the story is subpar and even worse it is a shame full rip off of Starcraft cannon. Allow me to illustrate the similarities.

In Starcraft there are the humans who are suddenly caught up in a war between a the Zerg and Protoss. There is also the Xel' Naga a race that left behind amazing artifacts, and in the end were nearly wiped out by the parasitic like Zerg.

In Halo there are the humans who are suddenly caught up in a war between the Covenant and Flood. There is also the Forerunners who left behind amazing artifacts and were wiped out by the parasitic like Flood.

Halo: Combat Evolved was released in Nov. 2001. Starcraft was released in March 1998. That gave Bungie plenty og time to steal Blizzards ideas. Moreover Halo Wars, a Halo RTS game was released and is even more similar to Starcraft.

Shame on Microsoft, Bungie or whomever for not coming up with their own original story, not that it would have been any better than what we got in the end.