If the story hadn't been so wholly awful, I could have forgiven Halo 2 its shortcomings, much as I forgave the original Halo.
I wrote a better story in one month, start to finish, 50k words. Bungie had years and they came up with what I'd regard as a low-brow hollywood blockbuster. Like the Phantom Menace.
And yes. Waypoints. or maybe even better use of the map? heck, if they're 'upgrading' Master Chief's top-of-the-line armour, the least they could do would be to throw in a three-dimensional terrain scanner with it. Little wireframe map in the corner, little dots for enemies and allies, little arrow for the waypoint...
Damn bungie. Now I can't work up any enthusiasm for the inevitable Halo 3.