Halo 3

The Halo series has always been a mixed bag, in my opinion.  Been a Halo fan from day one, OG halo on launch xbox.  Love the story, loved the first game, had lots of uber-nerd "halo parties" with my buds playing some LAN multiplayer.  Was super excited for the second game, and then super let down in a lot of ways.  Still though, played a lot of multiplayer. 
 
My feelings about Halo 3 are similar to Halo 2.  The multiplayer is so frustrating because in so many ways it's awesome.  In other ways, it's beyond infuriating.  Parts of the blame fall on specific design decisions Bungie has made, but like most things, some people love certain elements while other despise it.  For example, the Battle Rifle.  I personally think the BR is one of the worst weapons of any FPS gaming to date, if not the worst (and I've played me my fair share of FPSs).  I find it to be incredibly overpowered and overblown.  It is, essentially, the only weapon in the game.  If your opponent has that weapon and you don't (or, like me, you just aren't good with it) then 9 times out of 10, your'e dead. I always enjoyed the variety of weapons in the Halo series, a principle the Halo games are built on.    
 
More than Bungie, I mostly blame the people who play NOTHING but Halo multiplayer.  As many people have mentioned, FIrefight in Halo: ODST has some people excited about Halo multiplayer again.  I'm one of those people.  It will hopefully bring back my uper-nerd "halo party" nostalgia of fighting with a group of your friends against an enemy that is not impossible to beat. 
 
Halo is a great game, or I should say, it CAN be a great game under certain circumstances.   But more often than not, if you're like me and end up playing online with only one or two other people, it will be beyond frustrating and you'll end up playing Call of Duty.  I do find myself wising that Bungie could have taken some notes on gameplay balance from Infinity Ward but I suppose future entries into the Halo series will possibly even things out a bit.