I am rather fond of the Halo Franchise, and I greatly appreciate the extended universe that surrounds it. (Well, most of it. That Forerunner book series can rot in hell) The thing that really works for me, though, is that Bungie and Ensemble Studios took the time to make dedicated spinoffs to the main story.
I don't know about you, but I am really worn out on the whole SAVE THE GALAXY FROM THE NEXT IMMINENT THREAT plot device. It was part of the reason that Halo 4 didn't strike a chord with me the same way that the Bungie games did. It felt like a rehash, with a weak justification for having Covvies be bad guys again. But anyways, that's not what I want to talk about.
I want to talk about Spinoffs. The Halo games have had three: ODST, Halo Wars, and Reach. I enjoy these three games more than the rest of the series ('cept for maybe Halo 2 ARBITER FUCK YEAH). I like them because they aren't really SAVE THE GALAXY FROM EVIL plots, but interesting side stories that complement the original narrative, and give the setting more depth. They are smaller stories, focused on individual campaigns or even just one bad day, and the personal level in them resonates much more with me.
We don't see too many spinoffs like this anymore, and I think that's a damn shame. Nowadays, franchises are all focused on SEQUELS, and BIGGER AND BETTERER games, trying to top their predecessors by upping the stakes and making everything bigger. You rarely see a spinoff, because they don't have a 2 or 3 slapped on the end of their title.
It's this linear perspective that bugs me, because I feel that it robs game settings of their potential. You set up these interesting locales and characters, and then never capitalize on them because you need to follow your SAVE THE WORLD plot.
I know this is a bit rambling, but whatever. TLDR: Spinoff games. Do you like the idea? What are some that you enjoyed and how did they expand on their respective series?
I don't know about you, but I am really worn out on the whole SAVE THE GALAXY FROM THE NEXT IMMINENT THREAT plot device. It was part of the reason that Halo 4 didn't strike a chord with me the same way that the Bungie games did. It felt like a rehash, with a weak justification for having Covvies be bad guys again. But anyways, that's not what I want to talk about.
I want to talk about Spinoffs. The Halo games have had three: ODST, Halo Wars, and Reach. I enjoy these three games more than the rest of the series ('cept for maybe Halo 2 ARBITER FUCK YEAH). I like them because they aren't really SAVE THE GALAXY FROM EVIL plots, but interesting side stories that complement the original narrative, and give the setting more depth. They are smaller stories, focused on individual campaigns or even just one bad day, and the personal level in them resonates much more with me.
We don't see too many spinoffs like this anymore, and I think that's a damn shame. Nowadays, franchises are all focused on SEQUELS, and BIGGER AND BETTERER games, trying to top their predecessors by upping the stakes and making everything bigger. You rarely see a spinoff, because they don't have a 2 or 3 slapped on the end of their title.
It's this linear perspective that bugs me, because I feel that it robs game settings of their potential. You set up these interesting locales and characters, and then never capitalize on them because you need to follow your SAVE THE WORLD plot.
I know this is a bit rambling, but whatever. TLDR: Spinoff games. Do you like the idea? What are some that you enjoyed and how did they expand on their respective series?
