How can you say that when you have only seen footage from the alpha version? Wait till you see the final release before you pass judgement. It's not gonna have the look of a game like GoW, but it's not meant to, it's meant to be kept in like with the same apperance of the original two halo games which were desigend for the xbox, not the 360. Expect it to look similar, but with all the HD glory added into it. Have you been reading the weekly updates on bungie.net? If not, go back and read some and you will hear how extensive detail is being applied to things.
It's in Beta, not Alpha.
I played better looking games on pc, last year. The game just looks like it was dev'd on the first xbox. No real substantial visual improvements.
And no, I don't watch the updates. I'm not interested in this game. I enjoyed the first game. The second, was mediocre at best, and for some reason, hailed by the gaming community.
About the sheilds, I don't like the sheilds in halo2. They take forever to get down, pretty much an enitre smg clip if you will. If I ever find myself playing Halo 2, I always put it on a custom game mode w/out sheilds, it just makes the game much more fun.
In other news, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is coming on soon!