My honest opinion about the Halo, it should have ended at 3.
Sure Reach, 4, even ODST and Halo Wars were fun, and they expanded the story, but I've always felt that halo was meant to be a trilogy, not an expanded universe. I felt halo 3 was the ultimate finisher to the franchise, and then they added spin offs and you thought "alright, I guess this is ok cause it's just exploring different timelines in history" and now they're adding a whole new franchise for halo 4,5 and probably 6.
It's not 343 that's the problem IMO, it's the fact that they're continuing to make Halos. You can make too much of a good things.