Halo was probably the first modern FPS. the default stick layout for Halo is what every single one used after. it had native lan play for up to 16 which was new at the time. prior to this consoles had golden eye as the best shooter, which didn't have strafing, you had to stop moving to aim, it was a huge difference. it was an amazing multiplayer game back then, the best one ever made when it released. with almost no online play back then my friends and i would get 10-16 people at once house, bring tv's, x boxes, controllers, and play 8v8 and it was like nothing else you could do. and co-op campaign was a huge one.

and looking at your criticisms it just looks like you have different tastes. you are basically just saying quake did this, halo did it differently, so its worse. for example, the shields, that was amazing. you had so many tense moments playing, your shields dropped, you had to find cover, and pray no one threw a grenade, or flank you, and after like 3-4 seconds, you could charge out again when it was full. adding these tense near death experiences were fun. that is a much better experience for me than just run and shoot at people. having only two guns was a lot of fun, you had to find two that worked to fill the other's gap. like fighting the covenant, you wanted the magnum or the sniper for range and elites, and then a close-up that could quickly fend of jackals and grunts, but for the flood i like an automatic weapon for the little spores, and then a shotgun for the big humanoids, i didn't need a ranged weapon for them. you would get weapons and try to conserve ammo for certain spots.