This IS your father's Halo.
My dad likes Halo. In fact he bought an Xbox 360 when he found out Halo 3 wasn't coming out on PC. His gaming interests aren't diverse, but he does like shooters, and of those, the Halo franchise is one of his favorites.
I like Halo a lot too, but I must confess I'm a bit burned out by them. I don't think the surpassed the original Halo in terms of impact. And Halo 3 put into place all the elements that make a Halo game great. The forge map editor, the video replay system, the excellent matchmaking, etc.
In anticipation of Halo 4's release I caught back up by finishing ODST, playing through Reach, and playing a bit of Halo Anniversary Edition. I was struck by how similar those games are to each other.
However I was looking forward to getting Halo 4 so I could play co-op with my Dad. Everything is better with co-op and Halo is no exception.
Halo's campaign felt short and the story was, as they say, "hot garbage". I really had no clue what was happening as they threw around words like "Diadact", "Reclaimer" and "Composer" as if I was supposed to what they were talking about. My dad found the terminal and the video unlocked(in Waypoint mind you, not the actual game) and it was helpful but that's the only terminal we found in our playthrough.
Spartan Ops has been quite good so far. The episode introductions are pretty amazing, with the story being at least comprehensible. I like being able to take my own Spartan into the mission instead of duplicate master chiefs.
My dad is fine with Halo 4 being the same as the previous games. And I'm fine with having a great co-op experience with him. I'll get my innovation elsewhere I guess.