Halo: Reach

[ICEE]

I could do a horrifically detailed and angry rant about the bold statement, but I'll keep it a short answer. I don't think Halo revolutionized ANYTHING other than having recharging shields.

That said, you are right about Bungie having a tried-and-true formula, and it definitely wouldn't make sense for them to change it, at least not much.

Halo was the first FPS i ever played with controls that made sense. I had also never gotten to use melee without being out of ammo before. Sticking grenades were a cool idea I hadn't seen, plus the ability to drive vehicles in third person, allies riding with you... A multitude of different and unique enemies that would not only fight you, they fought each other. All in all, halo is a very well thought out game that implements a lot of different features and weaponry while still maintaining a simple interface that made it comfortable to players new to the genre. It receives a lot of badmouthing from players who are still upset about the dramatic change of halo 1 to halo 3 (not all of these changes were really positive), and from anyone who is a die hard of another game in the genre. Its not fair to compare halo to newer games, as a lot of people do. Many games built off of halo's ideals and learned from its flaws.