I like that honestly. I thought it gave a much better, and in some ways more realistic, feeling to the game in the sense of just how outmanned, outclassed, and outnumbered by their enemy they truly were
...maybe let you feel why it was supposedly a big deal that the humans were trying to keep the Covenant from finding Earth....cause that is what would have happened
(also, to me, felt better / more down to earth than 'I'm master chief. I can take on an entire army by myself, without taking a scratch, and make it totally one-sided, why?, because I'm the damn master chief b-tch')
I don't think it was ever supposed to. you can just see him there as part of an easter egg near the end.