I think that the reason why Halo 2, and 3 are voted higher than reach, is because Master Chief was in it.... I Guarantee you that if you put Master Chief in Noble Six's position (He Didn't die, and got on the Pelican), then there would be no contemplation as to how good Halo Reach was.. I'm going to be one of the few people to explain my choice for why Halo Reach is the best over the amazing Halo 3. 1: The story telling. It truly was the best story ever told in any Halo, and possibly the best in any game, or even a movie.. It had a direction, against all odds the 6 spartans fought against the covenant and died in honour. It was emotional, bright, didn't get boring, and you learnt so so much about pre Halo CE. 2: It set up the legendary Master Chief Halo Story. The way this story ended was the best set up for any game ever made. The instant i finished reach, i was onto Halo CE and played it. They connected so well throughout the next 4 instalments (Halo 4 doesn't count because it was like watching my dog have chronic Diarrhoea) and even gave Cortana a background you never knew. 3: The Soundtrack was just...... amazing on every level! they evolved it just so it can be Halo Music, New Music, and Awesome music. The scale of the soundtrack was phenomenal. It was half of the game, thats how good it was. It made the campaign that much more epic, and that much more emotional, and in depth, it is music i can stick on my iPod, and beg myself to get home and play halo reach. 4: Multiplayer was new, eventful and classic. They brought back the Health system... The system everyone wanted back. It brought out game class options, which were only very minor in difference (unlike custom Loadouts in Halo 4), but effected your game play in every way, like armour ability's. Except for armour lock, they were the new evolution of Halo. The games were fast paced, much faster than Halo 3, which were dragged out a bit. Weapon choices were a little bit larger than Halo 3. 5: Weapons, and Vehicles. Besides them taking out the Hornet, chopper and Prowler, the vehicles in the game were legendary. They made the game a much more competitive edge, and a much more fair based game which required skill and tactics to play either Solo, Co-Operatively on a team, or Free For All. None of them were over powered, they all had their weaknesses and strengths. The weapons were beautiful!!! THEY BROUGHT BACK THE 2x ZOOM PISTOL! They all sounded awesome, got rid of the BR, but replaced it with something even better, which was the lovely Semi-Auto DMR! it made it for best skills on swat, No spray and pray bullshit, and it was a gun that you can have decent duels with and test real skill when you had to make every one of those 15 bullets in the gun count. Needle rifle was an appropriate replacement for the Carbine, the carbine just wasn't good enough against the BR. 6: Maps. The maps were the best competitive edged maps ever! They were accessible, fast paced, even and fair, on symmetrical and unsymmetrical levels. It made the game addictive, the weapons were evenly spread, and there was never an area worth camping for. It was a proper, proper multiplayer map selection, allowing vehicles to be useful at times, and useless in other times. and FORGEWORLD! it gave the Custom games area, the best choices and customisations you could ever dream for. It made you download maps to have fun with, it was easy to use forge and it was amazing. 7: Firefight. Some didn't like it, some did. Whether you did or didn't, the option was there. Halo 3, will allways be awesome because of Master Chief. Take Master Chief out of the perspective... and Halo Reach is better. Admit it. Halo Reach is still the best game of today.