I think what a lot of folks who don't know the franchise are missing isn't that we want the show to be a mirror of the game.
Bungie built a MASSIVE universe that Halo can live within, and told a far reaching story of a galactic war that was told amongst the original trilogy following the Master Chief, a prequel with a previously unknown "Noble Team", a spin off based on ODST troopers, not spartans, and several other tactical games. And we had other live action shows-- some better than others-- and animated movies. And books.
The lore as absurdly huge and it's been proven for nearly 2 decades now that there's MORE than enough room to tell your own story in the (grand) confines of the sandbox that was created.
Throwing all of that away and assuming you can make a better derivative story than countless legions of other creators, archivists, authors, directors? That's the upsetting part. Hell, we didn't even need the story to revolve around John-117 and have him pop up as a 2 minute late season cameo and we would've freaked out.
This story is lazy, and has discarded years of lore which could've been expanded upon (never before told! never seen on screen!) and they chose not to.
Imagine a Star Wars spinoff live action where the creator decided "Yup, I can tell a better story" and adapts the entire universe from the perspective of a lone Jedi who roams the countryside with his trusty blaster in search of the mystical lightsaber, but is thwarted at multiple turns by his father, who feels guilty over abandoning his son at birth. It doesn't. Work.
Same reason the DC movies were trash. Same reason the MCU has been on a decline. Fans demand continuity when a universe has been established. This universe has been in place for 2 decades and actively developed.
This show does not honor that in the least, and is a terrible representation of it. If this had any other name than Halo, it would still be a middling Scifi as well.
It's refreshing to have a show that doesn't try to constrain itself to 20 minutes, and gives the story time to breathe. I'm hopeful to see how the successive episodes play out!
