Mark Asher of GameCenter posted a What I Did at E3 article up that gives a respectably objective appraisal of Halo from E3.

A prime example of this is Halo from Bungie. Is this game going to rock? I guess so, as it was the most impressive looking game I saw at E3, but I have no idea what the game is like. We were treated to a high-quality movie that was made by splicing together actual gameplay footage and dubbing in a Dolby Surround Sound soundtrack. It was fantastic. Bungie should go ahead and make an entire movie. What is the game like? I really don't know. It's humans vs. aliens with realistic physics and lots of shooting, and it probably won't use a first-person perspective, which I find a bit troubling, because it's an action game. I hate swinging a targeting reticle around or using an auto-aim scheme.

It may have been his first time seeing it, so go easy on him. He actually makes some pretty good points in other portions of the article.

After doing my news-hunting over the Internet, it looks like Metal Gear Solid 2 was Halo's prime competition for incredible visuals. It pretty much owns GameSpot in their newest post-E3 article. However, both games were unplayable at the expo, so Halo probably won't get quite the opportunity to shine against it until Bungie shows its stuff later on. I expect for Halo to have more depth while MGS2 appears to be pretty much MGS with some refinements, like many sequels.

Also, David Hoagy Hodgson of Gamers.Com gave halo a mention when listing what he paid special attention to at E3. While poking around Gamers.Com some more I was also surprised to notice someone named Ferricide. Better run, Rex!