Halo 1 was awesome... yes, Halo has giant hitboxes and is really an oversimplified FPS, but Halo did something very important for FPS games. No, it didn't prove that you could play FPS games on console; GoldenEye already proved that (even though the game is overrated garbage). What Halo did was merge the settings of open stage combat with close quarter combat. On a single stage, you could be fighting over dunes, and then drop into fighting through corridors. Until Halo there were no other FPS games that did that. Even PC FPS games segregated open combat and close quarter combat by levels; no single level would have both.
Halo 2 sucked... dual weilding is the worst thing they ever did to Halo. Halo 3 was just Halo 2 in high definition.
If Halo Reach is like Halo 1, then I can't wait.