Donald Duck never wore pants, but when he got out of the shower, he always had a towel around his waist...
No game in this series, or any series, will be able to compare to Halo: Combat Evolved.
Halo: CE. This game is the closest to perfection any game will ever come. I saw this game for the first time at a friends house when it was released, but never actually got to play it for myself until I got it all those years ago. Before I had it, I never really saw the game or knew anything about it, except that it was called Halo (a rather strange name for a bloody alien shooter i thought) and was about a war between humanity and the Covenant. The feeling I had when I turned on my Xbox for the first time, put Halo: Combat Evolved in the drive, and played this legendary game for the first time is a feeling I don't think I will ever experience again. Lol, this is kind of a cheesy post, sorry, but playing this game really is emotional for me. Nothing will bring back the feeling I had when I experienced Halo: CE. Hard to explain, but amazing.
1391. The first shot from Keyes' pistol.
1392. The first gun battle with the Covenant in the Cafeteria of the Pillar of Autumn.
1393. Truth and Rec on legendary.
1393. AotCR (as mentioned before) The best level in any game, ever.
1394. Cortana.
1395. The credibility of the story.
1396. The music.
1397. The original Covenant (grunts lol)
1398. The beastly-ness of the original guns. No guns in the new Halo games compare to the awesome look, feel, and realism of the original guns.
1399. The gun model movement when you aim and move around. You aim right, the gun moves right. Strafe to the right, the gun gets pulled to the left (especially the AR)
1400. Running toward the docked Longsword in the last 10 seconds of "The Maw" on legendary.
Some of these things have been said already, and for that I apologize.
There are so many more that I have in my head and want to write, but it would really take forever for me to get them all down and I am super tired. Everything that has been said so far is about right ;)
Halo: Combat Evolved
And The Horse You Rode In On...