One of the reasons that Halo II and III had a, quote, "screwed story arc," is that the developer decided that, since the Halo novellas and graphic novels filled in the plot gaps between games, they did not need to include a synopsis of what happened in-between the releases. Also, I would hardly call Halo I, II, or III a, quote, "acceptable classic sci-fi FPS." While it might have been slightly revolutionary on its original platform, the X-box, Halo itself was not anything special - nor should it be considered among the "classics" when it is compared to other notable games (id est Half Life One and DOOM).