Your dad is right. Everyone's favorite Halo game is usually different. These days when I talk to people my age (old) about their favorite Halo, it usually boils down to good memories and who they played it with. Halo CE: Multiplayer/system link changed our living rooms from mario kart to freakin' blood gulch real quick, and was such a game changer for my family in a way gaming hadn't done for us since N64. Halo 2: The new XBL service really changed Halo. Now we could have friends lists and KSI clans, voice masking, action sack matchmaking with your buds? Best Halo ever. Halo 2's matchmaking had issues - standbyers, tryhard button comboers on Lockout, and modders galore beyond level 30. Growing pains of the XBL service that didn't end until Halo 3's launch. But man, Halo 2 was an experience. Halo 3: Forge mode, theater, and online co-op campaign? Finish the fight brother. 10x the epic monk chanting, amazing music, a more comprehensive online ranking system with spartan customization? And they remastered Zanzibar? The best Halo for sure. New console gen had all of us Halo fiends buying Xbox 360's and Crackdown for that sweet Halo 3 beta access. There is no best Halo. Just depends. For me, that 2001-2009 time period, Halo 1 through Halo 3 ODST, was the most fun gaming I've had in my life.