The look you get from across the bar at an Appalachian honky-tonk before the malformed creature imitating a woman drags you from the bar and tears your skin off in the woods
The standards for who? The fans had the exact same expectations of artistry and intention and were disappointed for well over a decade. The powers that be were and are more interested in products with a brand attached than making actual games
People will say the games got worse over time but really standards just got higher. If someone who never played Halo CE reviewed it today would they score it a 97/100? probably not.
Halo 3 was the franchise at its peak and it was the "lowest" scoring of the original trilogy.
