Not looking at it from a Halo Verse canon aspect, but when Halo CE was introduced, it was supposed to be futuristic and push the boundaries of the sci-fi fps. As Halo 2, 3, and Reach came out, all of the aspects that made Halo Halo began to look the same and not stray far from one another. Now with 343i taking controll, they are trying to return Halo to its roots of pushing the boundaries of a sci-fi fps. I agree that some of the armor looks stupid, but some of it looks cool too, I just wont use the stupid armor.