>>544691532
CE gave you more durability even if not as much as Ruby makes it out to be, but with 4 grenades per frag/plasma, no dual wields and no hijacking, the ebb and flow are pretty different. Plus CE was a lot more focused on arena to arena affairs but with big scales and some faffing about between them, largely very few setpieces; 2 and onwards will have you clear out an enemy squad, and they either get a Phantom dropship or multiple even, or you're immediately gunning it for the next setpiece, and they became much more focused, moment-to-moment games compared to CE.
People blame a lot of things on Halo for "fucking up" the shooter genre, but I'd say alongside Half-Life 2, Halo 2 refining the idea of the linear war shooter beyond the likes of Medal of Honor defined what Call of Duty would pick up afterwards. CE was always like a bunch of little sandbox areas in the first half and lots of halls and rooms made in excess for no particular reason but they had the assets to repeat.