According to Telefragged, it looks like V-E is one of the first major mainstream gaming sites to review a completed copy of Halo, and to say they like what they see is a massive understatement.

Of particular interest is the statement that to this day the real storyline of Halo has not yet been revealed in print or online. There have been many intimations over the past year or so that the portions of the Halo backstory that are known constitute a really small portion of the whole-- that perhaps as much as two-thirds of Halo's story is something nobody has heard a word about outside of Bungie.

As for the graphics? They loved 'em:

Visually, Halo is hands-down the most impressive game I have ever seen in my entire life. Nothing even comes close to it. At the time, I thought Unreal 1 had great graphics and art style for its era, but after witnessing the true beauty of Halo, a new standard to which other first-person shooters must now aspire has been decreed. From the huge levels, highly detailed player models, monsters, particle effects, lighting and everything in-between, Halo will be the new benchmark that first person shooters will be judged by.

The V-E reviewer also admitted that although he had misgivings about the idea of using a gamepad with a shooter, that these were pretty well resolved by Halo's control schemes and configuration settings, as well as a little configuration mini-game.

There basically wasn't anything about the game they didn't like. There are no spoilers in this mini-review, or new screenshots, as they decided not to reveal any new content until after the 15th.