Sidney Shuman's article Five Ways to Save Video Games at Games.net holds up Halo and Halo 2 as examples of some of the worst trends in gaming; namely, unoriginal plotlines, epic ambitions, spectacle over substance, and cinema envy. Oh, and then there's "treating women like whores" which is apparently the only industry sin the Halo franchise isn't guilty of... yet.

(Like previously mentioned articles, this one is over the top at moments, but that doesn't negate some of the central points: namely, that emphasis on emulating movies and recycling storylines is going on at the expense of fun and interactivity, even if there are a lot worse examples of this than Halo. I think the point of the article is that if all the hit games follow these trends, and escape being crappy because of excellent execution, who can afford to take risks on interesting new stories and gameplay ideas?--Ed.)

Thanks Louis Wu at HBO for the link.