I've played through the first 3 levels of Halo and I'd say the hype is was well deserved. If you get into the game with no bitter bias or impossible, sky-high expectations of the holy-grail of gaming you will have loads of fun.
You probably already seen this written a dozens of times: Graphically, the game is not next-gen. It's very good, but it's not
Gears of War good and definitely not
Crysis on highest-settings good, but there are some nice textures and bloom effects. It looks like a polished Halo 2, but it's also worthy of noting that the frame rate is silky smooth no matter many enemies there are and the loading in levels is seamless.
The gameplay is great though--classic Halo. But specifically, the enemy A.I. is terrific. I started on Heroic since I heard they really dumbed down the Easy and Normal modes. Heroic wastes no time kicking your ass. There are hordes of Brutes and they are merciless. Foot soldiers bear down on you with grenade launchers while snipers pick you off from hundreds of yards away. If you duck for cover, they send enemies to flank you. Start tossing frags and they set up shields. That's just in the first level. There's no tutorial and no "adjustment" period you're just thrown straight in. Realistic, since MC's not supposed be a rookie. Even if you die a couple of times in one spot it doesn't feel repetitive, there's usually multiple ways to engage a fight. Seeing what works and what doesn't is actually pretty fun.
I haven't even gotten around to multiplayer yet. It's been a while since I've played, so I'm using the campaign to brush up a bit before I throw myself into the lion's den of hardcore Halo killing machines, but I'm looking forward to it.
Madness? No. This is SPARTAN!!
End.