I'm happy to report that HBO found a somewhat more positive assessment of Halo in MSXbox's own post-Gamestock article.

Without a doubt, Halo was the star of the show and, even with the numerous machines and TVs allotted to it, there was always a healthy wait to play it. Halo is not only technically impressive but all that power has been put to excellent use. Even without the atmospheric extras added in (trees that blow in the wind, water spraying as your jeep cuts through it, etc...) it was still obvious that Halo is going to feature a very believable and immersive world.

The author goes on to talk about the controller-interface and the exceptional AI that he was able to sample during play. It's interesting to note the differences in opinion between primarily PC gamers (Daily Radar is the website which services articles from PC Gamer magazine) and console gamers. This is probably worth some discussion in the community forum.