Crysis 2 Writer: Halo is "Full of Bullsh*t"

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
45,698
1
0
Crysis 2 Writer: Halo is "Full of Bullsh*t"


Sci-fi author and Crysis 2 [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=75103] writer Richard Morgan says he doesn't like Halo because it's filled with "bullshit archetypal characters" and fails to deliver any sort of meaningful, memorable story to go along with all the shooting.

"There is absolutely no good reason why you can't weld a really good narrative to a really cool shooting game," Morgan, the award-winning author of novels like BioShock [http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novels/dp/0345457684] was, too.

"[BioShock] got mainstream press coverage and it didn't get that coverage because you were shooting shit," he said. "It got that coverage because people thought 'Oh wow, there's actually social text in this game'."

At the opposite end of Morgan's scale is Halo [http://halo.xbox.com/en-us], the mega-hit franchise that obviously failed to tickle his literary fancy. "I don't like the Halo series at all. Okay, Halo is not actually bad, it's just, you know, average," he explained. "The reason that its fiction doesn't work has nothing to do with the fact that you don't get to see Master Chief's face, it's because of lines like 'Okay... I'm gonna get up there and kill those guys'. Halo is full of these bullshit archetypal characters and there's no real emotional effect."

There are, of course, those who will argue that story is irrelevant to shooters and that gamers who just want to pump assorted kinds of lead into assorted kinds of bad guys generally couldn't care less about why they're doing it. But Morgan doesn't buy that angle. "I can't believe that there are players out there who rush through BioShock [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=67935], without taking any time to just look around or to take in any of the story strands. Why would you pay 50 bucks for a game, then ignore 50 percent of its content? It's like, 'Hey, I'm reading this book, but it's a bit long, so I'm going to rip the last half out'."

Not that he doesn't recognize that such run-and-gun gamers exist, of course; he just thinks that the best new shooters have evolved beyond that. "I understand that there are player who are like that," he said, "but if that's really all you want, crank up the PS1 and play Doom [http://www.idsoftware.com/games/doom/doom-final/] or whatever."

I think I like this guy. I may have to check out some of his books and most definitely Crysis 2, which is scheduled to be out in time for the holidays on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.


Permalink
 

ddq5

I wonder what the character limi
Jun 18, 2009
415
0
0
Tomorrow: "Crysis 2 Writer says Gears of War is 'majorly fucking retarded.' "

He does seem to enjoy dissing mainstream games, especially their stories. I supposes Crysis 2 will have to prove that he isn't just talking out of his ass.
 

sephiroth1991

New member
Dec 3, 2009
2,319
0
0
What's he going to call Bullshit next.

Also i will agree if he says they got poor narritive but i wouldn't say they Bullshit.
 

JEBWrench

New member
Apr 23, 2009
2,572
0
0
ddq5 said:
Tomorrow: "Crysis 2 Writer says Gears of War is 'majorly fucking retarded.' "
Wednesday: "LOL! And Modern Warfare 2 has those dumb-ass knives!"
 

Vigilantis

New member
Jan 14, 2010
613
0
0
I agree with him on his bashing I know of so far (Modern Warfare 2 and now Halo) however, though I do agree, I see this as being a little bit too cocky for his new product. Hopefully Crysis 2 lives up to all this talk.

Tommorow..."Crysis 2 Writer: Starcraft isn't story driven enough and Gears of War is just a bloody eyesore"
 

Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
7,190
0
0
I agree with him 100%, but that kind of comment is best left to when your new game is out already and has raving reviews about fantastic characters and story lines.

If Crysis 2 doesn't deliver on both fronts then he will become a laughing stock.

The most frustrating thing about Halo and Gears of War is that they actually do have some depth to them, it's just this depth is not shown in the games themselves, instead it is in the books and other forms of media based upon them. Anyone who thinks Gears of war is just full of macho, steroid inducing hard-asses should read 'Aspho Fields' and 'Jacinto's Remnant'.
 

D_987

New member
Jun 15, 2008
4,839
0
0
I agreed with his comments about Modern Warfare 2, and I agree with his comments about the Halo characters. If, however, he criticised the overall narrative and back-story I would ***** - because Bungie have created a very interesting and deep universe - the games story-lines, however, never really explore this. I would say Halo Wars did a better job of making you care about the characters than the FPS games...and thats really sad when you feel more attached to a picture and a cut-scene than someone you're actively controlling - except perhaps Halo ODST - that game made you care for some of the characters; especially on a second playthrough when you understood exactly what occurred.

Crysis 2 better be good though - after all this slagging off if I play it and find a poor storyline I'll personally blame Richard Morgan.
 

AceDiamond

New member
Jul 7, 2008
2,293
0
0
"I can't believe that there are players out there who rush through Dead Space, or BioShock, without taking any time to just look around or to take in any of the story strands. Why would you pay 50 bucks for a game, then ignore 50 percent of its content? It's like, 'Hey, I'm reading this book, but it's a bit long, so I'm going to rip the last half out'."
And yet Halo had a massive amount of backstory and expanded universe stuff yet apparently that doesn't count to him. Not that I'm saying Halo has the greatest story, but it's certainly a bit much for him to call it bullshit especially when the game he wrote for isn't out yet.
 

rockingnic

New member
May 6, 2009
1,470
0
0
This guy is saying all this stit to sell his game so he gets paid more. That or he's aiming to be claimed the gaming industries most bullshit big mouth and that's hard to do with Kojima claiming consoles would die off soon. I have my life savings, betting he'll claim Bad Company doesn't have enough destructibility or MAG doesn't have enough people or both for not being big enough.
 

Booze Zombie

New member
Dec 8, 2007
7,416
0
0
This guy must see modern gaming as a shooting gallery for insults, but I like him.

AceDiamond said:
And yet Halo had a massive amount of backstory and expanded universe stuff yet apparently that doesn't count to him. Not that I'm saying Halo has the greatest story, but it's certainly a bit much for him to call it bullshit especially when the game he wrote for isn't out yet.
Is this information immediently avalible in game?
If not, it's really largley irrelevent to the games and really exists on it's own, for all intents and purposes.
 

MatsVS

Tea & Grief
Nov 9, 2009
423
0
0
For an introduction to Morgan's books, I'd recommend starting with Black Man, or Thirteen as you sensitive americans call it. Altered Carbon is of the same quality, but Black Man is a stand alone. If you prefer fantasy to science fiction, he's only written one novel so far, with a sequel on its way. It's called The Steel Remains and is fairly well written with some interesting characters. It's been given the 'gritty' label, which is fair enough, I suppose; it's hardly about flowers and sunshine. Shame so many get hung up on the explicit gay sex, which, while integral to the main character, is hardly the bloody point. Morgan's never been one to shy away from a nice fuck-scene in his books.

It's really the thematics that make Morgan so bloody good, though. His take on racism, politics, economics, culture, solitude, alienation, sexism and just plain fucking bigotry, is excellently depicted, and never one-dimensional and boring, as is so often the case with authors with a political agenda.

Well worth further investigation for anyone into genre literature!
 

JeanLuc761

New member
Sep 22, 2009
1,479
0
0
Machines said:
I agree with him 100%, but that kind of comment is best left to when your new game is out already and has raving reviews about fantastic characters and story lines.

If Crysis 2 doesn't deliver on both fronts then he will become a laughing stock.
I personally don't understand this. Why does the public view of his opinion on writing depend on how good his own writing is?

OT: I completely agree with this man. Halo has a very average storyline with non-relatable and rather unlikable characters *cough*Miranda*cough*.
 

DividedUnity

New member
Oct 19, 2009
1,849
0
0
JEBWrench said:
ddq5 said:
Tomorrow: "Crysis 2 Writer says Gears of War is 'majorly fucking retarded.' "
Wednesday: "LOL! And Modern Warfare 2 has those dumb-ass knives!"
He already ripped on mew two.

OT: This guy will never be able to rear his head in public if crysis 2 turns out bad.
 
Apr 28, 2008
14,634
0
0
Crysis 2's story better be fucking fantastic.

Otherwise he will be the biggest laughing stock in gaming. Next to Ubisoft.
 

JEBWrench

New member
Apr 23, 2009
2,572
0
0
ddq5 said:
Tomorrow: "Crysis 2 Writer says Gears of War is 'majorly fucking retarded.' "

He does seem to enjoy dissing mainstream games, especially their stories. I supposes Crysis 2 will have to prove that he isn't just talking out of his ass.
Vigilantis said:
I agree with him on his bashing I know of so far (Modern Warfare 2 and now Halo) however, though I do agree, I see this as being a little bit too cocky for his new product. Hopefully Crysis 2 lives up to all this talk.

Tommorow..."Crysis 2 Writer: Starcraft isn't story driven enough and Gears of War is just a bloody eyesore"
I feel a meme coming on.
 

JEBWrench

New member
Apr 23, 2009
2,572
0
0
DividedUnity said:
JEBWrench said:
ddq5 said:
Tomorrow: "Crysis 2 Writer says Gears of War is 'majorly fucking retarded.' "
Wednesday: "LOL! And Modern Warfare 2 has those dumb-ass knives!"
He already ripped on mew two.

OT: This guy will never be able to rear his head in public if crysis 2 turns out bad.
Whoops. Call me a little late for the train ride.

Ummmm... "Crysis 2 writer says Prey took too long to develop"?
 

JeanLuc761

New member
Sep 22, 2009
1,479
0
0
Irridium said:
Crysis 2's story better be fucking fantastic.

Otherwise he will be the biggest laughing stock in gaming. Next to Ubisoft.
I'll reiterate what I said above. Why should his opinion be valid only if his own writing is good?
 

Andraste

New member
Nov 21, 2004
570
0
0
Well, isn't he just Mr. Chatty McChat lately?

I love someone who's willing to disagree with the inertia of groupthink as much as the next chica, but now he's talked a big mountain for himself to climb. Writing a great game is waaaay different from writing a great book.

Machines said:
I agree with him 100%, but that kind of comment is best left to when your new game is out already and has raving reviews about fantastic characters and story lines.

If Crysis 2 doesn't deliver on both fronts then he will become a laughing stock.
This.
 

Torque669

New member
Apr 21, 2009
1,204
0
0
All thats been said about Crysis 2 so far is that it will have the best graphics ever, not the best story. Granted you cant really say something like that because there will be a lot of different opinions but I personally havent heard anything about the storyline and if its being kept back because its bad I would be so embarrased if I was Richard Morgan. However with two award winning books to his name I dont think it will. Would be funny to see him fail though.