I agree too that the only way to make Halo fun is with online gaming. The levels in the story mode are pretty terrible, for the most part.

My level of annoyance with the need for online gaming was summed up when one of my housemates was discussing the release of a new game. I can't remember what it was, but he stated that the game 'Has a story mode to play through, then there is the multiplayer so the game isn't a complete waste of money.'

Just goes to show the standard of games these days when people refer to a game as a waste of money if there is no multiplayer to tide them over after playing through the story mode once..