Microsoft: We Lost Our Way With Recent Halo Games

[John Funk]

Microsoft: We Lost Our Way With Recent Halo Games

Microsoft Game Studios' boss thinks that Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach were missteps - because the player wasn't the Master Chief.

Bungie may have departed its rich Halo fields for greener (?) pastures with Activision, but the franchise OXM UK [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110684-E3-Microsoft-Announces-Halo-4-and-5-and-6] at E3, MGS boss Phil Spencer made a frank admission: ODST and Reach weren't what gamers wanted.

"The key question for me in managing the studio and the creatives is 'what is Halo?', making sure Halo lives up to what I think gamers fell in love with [playing Combat Evolved]," he said. To him, that's putting the player in the role of SPARTAN-II John-117 - better known as Master Chief.

"We kind of lost our way [with ODST and Reach] a little bit, I'll say," he admitted. "And that's why I wanted to make sure that at the unveiling of Halo 4, you knew you were playing Master Chief, that John was back. Because Master Chief is the John Wayne character of that universe, and that's who you want to play."

For long-time Halo fans, he said, Reach made perfect sense since it dealt with the franchise's story and lore - but for someone coming into the series it wouldn't make as much sense.

I do get the appeal Master Chief as a character has for some, but if Spencer is trying to say that Reach didn't have the series' best campaign since the original Combat Evolved, then I have a few words for him. Or a few hundred words [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8101-Review-Halo-Reach], really.

(VG247 [http://www.oxm.co.uk/29943/halo-4-will-get-back-to-what-halo-is-about-microsoft/])

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[BlindChance]

But you are playing Master Chief, aren't you? Granted, I'm not a Halo buff, I played the first one (hated it), the second one (actually quite liked it) and most of the third one (bored me, gave up) but as far as I could tell, nobody in those games controls differently to anyone else. It's all the same basic thrust: Move and shoot with these guns. You may not be called Master Chief, but you are the same dude for all gameplay purposes. That just leaves story.

Now, I may not be the best guy to take this on; I found the Arbiter leaps and bounds ahead of Master Chief in terms of interest, but are people really that interested in the story of Master Chief? Really?

 

[Dr Ampersand]

Congratulations John! You're now the proud father of a triple posted topic.

Anyway can't agree with Spencer as I don't think Master Chief is that big of the focus in the halo universe that shifting away from him would ruin or hurt the games.

 

[Shycte]

Kinda like when Shigeru Miyamoto shat all over Mario Sunshine when promoting Mario Galaxy.

Anyway, I really liked Reach, it was nice to se a diffrent perspective. But I see what he is saying. Thing is, it still didn't confuse anyone, because that would like being confused about George W Bush having left the White House. If you aren't knowing what's going on, you should just lie down and wait for someone else to do your thinking for you, because you clearly aren't any good at it.

 

[FinalDream]

Aww but I liked Nathan Fillion and co. in ODST. All the banter and chatter brought a little life into the protagonists for a change.

The Master Chief is dull. I didn't want to see his return.

 

[maturin]

Get real. Master Chief is a useless non-person. Any floating camera with a shield will suffice.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

I actually really liked ODST, it's nice to have a main character with, you know, weaknesses

sure stamina was essentially still a shield but it was cool to play as a marine for once

 

[Little Duck]

How I rank every Halo game ever (based on single player):

Halo Combat evolved
Halo ODST (it felt like metroid to me, which I loved)
Halo Reach = Halo 3
Halo 2

Does master chief make the game? No. He is a character. A good game is a good game. You do not need him for a good game.

 

[Korten12]

But you are playing Master Chief, aren't you? Granted, I'm not a Halo buff, I played the first one (hated it), the second one (actually quite liked it) and most of the third one (bored me, gave up) but as far as I could tell, nobody in those games controls differently to anyone else. It's all the same basic thrust: Move and shoot with these guns. You may not be called Master Chief, but you are the same dude for all gameplay purposes. That just leaves story.

Now, I may not be the best guy to take this on; I found the Arbiter leaps and bounds ahead of Master Chief in terms of interest, but are people really that interested in the story of Master Chief? Really?

See you only saw the story from the game, if you read Halo: Fall of Reach (which came out before Halo: CE by a couple of days I believe) you would see Master Chief in a whole new light and want to know what happened to him.

 

[cainx10a]

Bah, Reach will always be my favorite Halo. No flood = Great Experience

 

[similar.squirrel]

Eh? Master Chief was barely even a character.

 

[Irridium]

And I disagree. I'd say Reach is the best of the series, and while ODST was pretty "eh", it wasn't because you were not Master Chief.

They weren't mistakes. Bungie was trying something different(well, more or less anyway...) with post-Halo 3 games. That is a good thing.

 

[Korten12]

Aww but I liked Nathan Fillion and co. in ODST. All the banter and chatter brought a little life into the protagonists for a change.

The Master Chief is dull. I didn't want to see his return.

Like I said to BlindChance, Master Chief isn't dull, if you read the Halo: Fall of Reach book, most likely you wouldn't say that.

I actually really liked ODST, it's nice to have a main character with, you know, weaknesses

sure stamina was essentially still a shield but it was cool to play as a marine for once

Spartans aren't supposed to really have weaknesses, that's sort of the point. They were raised to be killing machines.

 

[Da Orky Man]

I actually preferred playing reach than any other Halo game, and not for the multiplayer. Noble team seemed more... real than just having the Chief and a few mooks was.

 

[lordlillen]

i actually dont want to play as a master cheff, he's boring bland and unintresting, i would rather play a non-charackter like noble 6 or gordon freeman then a boring bland space marine.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

What?! Most of the criticism I've seen levelled at the Halo games has to do with Master Chief's practical non-existence as a character (in-game, at least). Don't think I saw a single complaint that you didn't get to play as him in Reach (a couple for ODST, but that was more in the general 'I wanna be a spartan!' vein than about the chief himself)

 

[RA92]

I'm tired of the industrial standard of saying on release "This is the best game EVAH!" and then saying "It wasn't good enough..." while releasing a sequel, but promising "It'll get better... and will be the best game EVAH!" all over again...

Have a longer space fighter section, then we can talk.

 

[BlastedTheWorm]

What?! How dare he say that! Reach was easily the best of all the Halo games. Basically dismissing Bungie's last work in the series.

Aww but I liked Nathan Fillion and co. in ODST. All the banter and chatter brought a little life into the protagonists for a change.

The Master Chief is dull. I didn't want to see his return.

Like I said to BlindChance, Master Chief isn't dull, if you read the Halo: Fall of Reach book, most likely you wouldn't say that.

I've read Fall of Reach, and I thought he was incredibly dull.

Even if he was the best written character in the book, it doesn't change the fact that in-game he's incredibly boring to play as, compared to say, the ODSTs. He was basically the exact same as Noble Six, except without customizable armour. Besides, people shouldn't have to read a fucking book to gain an appreciation for the character they play as.

 

[Jamie Hawkins]

This is the man in charge of Halo games from now on? Shit.....

Halo CE was a brilliant game, not because of the Master Chief, but because Bungie created a vibrant game world with a brilliant story.
Halo 2 was ok, I guess. Again, the Master Chief himself wasn't that integral to the story.
Halo 3 just got boring. And this was down to the Chief being so god-damned dull!
Halo 3 ODST brought Halo back! A great story with a very good premise to tell it. A hub world and when you find artifacts you jump into the boots of another character? I love the idea. Sure it isn't original but it made for a very entertaining game.
Halo Reach was another step in the direction of bringing the franchise back to it's CE greatness. Playing through the game with a squad of personified Spartans was much more interesting than playing as a dull, green superman whose purpose by the third game is rescuing a fucking AI construct.

TL;DR If anything, I want more new characters like Noble 6 & The Rookie, not Chief. I'm bored of Chief and want new experiences, not more of the same! (I'm looking at you here CoD!!)

Aww but I liked Nathan Fillion and co. in ODST. All the banter and chatter brought a little life into the protagonists for a change.

The Master Chief is dull. I didn't want to see his return.

Like I said to BlindChance, Master Chief isn't dull, if you read the Halo: Fall of Reach book, most likely you wouldn't say that.

I actually really liked ODST, it's nice to have a main character with, you know, weaknesses

sure stamina was essentially still a shield but it was cool to play as a marine for once

Spartans aren't supposed to really have weaknesses, that's sort of the point. They were raised to be killing machines.

Master Chief IS dull in the games. Admittedly, the books featuring him as the main character are rather good but Chief is still boring. Limitations & weaknesses make characters more interesting too. And Spartans were NOT "raised" to be killing machines, they were genetically modified and augmented.

 

[RA92]

See you only saw the story from the game, if you read Halo: Fall of Reach (which came out before Halo: CE by a couple of days I believe) you would see Master Chief in a whole new light and want to know what happened to him.

See, it's the game narrative's fault, not the audience's, that Master Chief's 'depth' was not conveyed through the gameplay.