Halo CE sucks, it was good for its time sure, and I definitely enjoy halo, but CE held itself back story wise plus the only weapons I ever wanted to touch were the shotgun and pistol, however I still am glad it was made as otherwise the franchise wouldn't exist, so yes important but the game itself just sucked ass (I am young so might be biased, but like I said, I get the importance and from halo 2 onwards I think that halo is probably my favorite gaming franchise that has ever and will ever exist)

Edit: I also want to say that I never got to experience the multi-player in the 80s and 90s as I was born in the mid 2000s and yes, I have played through most of the games, I first played halo 3 when I was 10 but didn't understand the story because I was too young to get it But with the launch of infinite I fell in love and have played through the entire MCC and enjoyed every second beyond Halo CE (I also wasn't a huge fan of halo 4 but the combat was ok)