I can see where you're going with the level design but you exaggerate it. While the interior levels are indeed copy-and-pasted at several moments of the game, there are still a various locations for the game. Such as the fact that you play inside a Space Vessel on the beginning, then you play on Halo in the second mission, you play during nighttime outdoor environments in the third mission, then fight inside a Covenant vessel during the the second half of the third mission, and then you fight in a explorable sandbox environment in the fourth mission. While the indoor levels are copy-and-pasted, there are still a tons amount of variety of different environments. The outdoor areas were large and expansive, allowing bigger battles and more options to tackle enemy encounters in the game. Something that were missing in the sequels.
As for the backtracking, it didn't matter as much because you get to encounter different battles, pilot banshees and complete mission objectives. From there, you get to engage against Sentinels. You also engage in three way battles between the Covenant and the Flood, or sometimes, Flood and the Sentinels. There was even one moment where you see a Covenant platoon fight against a fleet of Sentinels. It also manages to let explore the environments more, a component that I felt missing from it's sequels. Plus, the Flood weren't as annoying to fight as you make them out to be, because they can be easily handled by the Shotgun, which is their weakness.
I believe that the reason people prefer Halo: CE's campaign to that of 2 & 3's, because there were far more mission variety and far more complex set-pieces. Halo: Combat Evolved had more memorable moments than Halo 2 & 3 combined. Halo 2 and 3 felt like I was just going to fight through endless waves of different enemy encounters to another. I don't particularly remember any exciting moment from 2, and the only real stand out moment from Halo 3 were it's Scarab battles. Halo: Combat Evolved was more immerssive than 2 & 3 as well. While I was on the ring shaped planet known as Halo, I actually felt that I was in this mysterious, beautiful, and yet ominous planet I felt none of that in Halo 2 or 3. I didn't even feel that in Reach, Reach didn't have that same sense of immersion that was present in the first Halo.
Halo: Combat Evolved manage to get the storytelling right. It was straightforward, yet compelling and unpredictable. The mystery of uncovering the purpose of the Halo ring gave me a sense of urgency and mystery that pulled me into the narrative more than the other game's in the series. I appreciate Halo 2 for expanding the scope of the story, but it became messy and convoluted. Halo 3 was bland, predictable, and downright bombastic. Reach tried to pull off a character driven story about sacrifice, fellowship, and ephemeral existence. But it had no emotional weight to it, and none the characters were well developed. ODST on the other hand, told a rather uniquely structured story. I like it's noir detective story, and the rather two-dimensional characters were well developed, more so than Reach's pathetic attempts at characterization and development.
While the sandbox combat were excellent in every game in the series. I felt that Combat Evolved and Reach manage to pull it off the best, due to their larger environments and bigger battles. I would still have to choose Combat Evolved over Reach by a margin, because the game storytelling was far better, and it was far more immerssive than Reach.
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