I vividly remember playing Halo 2 the day it came out. I had my best friend over, and we slid the disc into my XBox, anticipation crawling up our spines. When the first cut-scene, "The Heretic," came on, all we could do was sit in silent awe as we watched a story unfold involving the very aliens we spent hours and hours slaughtering while playing Halo: CE. I still remember chuckling with delight at Johnson's snarkiness, and Master Chief's overwhelming badassery with his request for a weapon. And at the end of "The Cairo Station," when he asked Lord Hood if he could "give the covenant back their bomb," I couldn't hold back the excitement bursting from my chest. Halo was really a block in the foundation of my childhood, and these memories will stick with me forever.