Microsoft: We Lost Our Way With Recent Halo Games

[SFR]

So, instead of being my kick ass looking Spartan with white and blue armor, asymmetrical shoulder pads, blue visor, and camouflage "hoodie", I could be iconic? I think I prefer having my own choice. Frankly, I wish more games would let players essentially customize the in game appearance of who they are playing. It's really cool seeing my guy talk to main characters or walk in front of a beautiful vista. Hell, if you get far enough along, you can make a guy that looks just like Master Chief.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Oh, forget you, Reach was the best Halo game of the series by far. And really, I couldn't care less if I was playing as Master Chief, or some other Spartan, or a bunnyhopping bottle of shampoo with a shotgun, because the entire series is about being good at killing shit, not about "gosh, I wonder what perils our beloved hero will encounter next!". If Halo:CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3 were all about three different Spartans, nobody would really gripe, because they're all so goddamn interchangeable (when you think about it, the protagonist(s) of the main arc were three similar-looking suits of power armor that all talked the same way) that even when they take off their helmets to deliver lines (a la Reach), you still really don't care about them. I love the Halo series to death, but characterization isn't your strong suit, guys. Besides, being able to pimp out my armor and have that show up in the occasional cutscene did way more for me than anything Master Chief has ever done.

 

[Althocke]

Personally, this is another blow to my hopes for the future Halo games. Not because I think Halo 4 will be bad, but because I had hoped for more games like ODST and Reach; games set in the Halo universe, but not centred around Master Chief. I honestly expected 343 industries to release a game or two set in the Halo universe that would gave hints to Master Chief returning, so they can build up to it whilst adding to the lore, then release Halo 4.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Uh, what? I must be in bizarre land because ODST was the first and only halo game it feels like they actually tried on since the first. I didn't see any effort in Reach, single or multilayer; particularly not in single player. ODST's single player was amazing, if only that game had multilayer, that's what we and my friend's would have been playing.

 

[uguito-93]

Uhhhh no, the missteps were not the lack of Master Chief, as his story arc had (for the time being) come to an end, plus a character does not make a game. The problems were the lack of evolution in the gameplay. If microsoft plans to surpass bungie they need to make the new games feel new, not just having what is essentially the same gameplay as the first game dipped in an HD coat.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Playing as Master Chief isn't that important, having a good story, campaign, and multiplayer are. Reach did all of those very well. Better than Halo 3 or 2 in fact.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

I think ODST and Reach had better stories because they weren't focusing on how badass Master Chief was. They found a bunch of random schmucks and used them to convey how disastrous war can be. How a person could be there one minute and gone the next. I think that is a bit more fulfilling than Master Chief kicking ass for another seven hours.

 

[Knight Templar]

Yeah I like Master Chief and I was a little bummed that we were not him in ODST, but that's because I expected to be him, I didn't have such expectations for Reach and was happy to play Six (his name makes me think of Charge of the Light Brigade, which might be the point but whatever). I like Master Chief but I only know who he is from the books, and he isn't exactly a cult leader in the charisma area.

Reach was better than Halo 3 to me, and that seems to be the popular thought beyond myself.
Whatever makes a Halo game Halo, it isn't the MC.

 

[koroem]

I wasn't aware Master Chief had any depth the audience could connect with? Are people really that shallow?

 

[fulano]

Pffftt...

Who cares about Master Chief, anyways? I liked the Arbiter better--he had something that passed for characterization, and I'm a sucker for redemption stories. If they're gonna give me a story they should at the very least somewhat flesh it out, if not then let me customize the bastard avatar I'm gonna be playing with at the very least. mr. John-117 is as bland as bland come in the games and I could care less about using the tool.

 

[ReaperzXIII]

I would rather play as a Spartan that actually spoke and interacted with his team, I don't care how much you say it is for the sake of immersion, having 10000 explosions going off around you and not saying a word is not realistic or good for immersion. The whole point of immersion is assuming a character, if you make a character with an actual personality the player should get immersed within that personality and act accordingly as if they were actors on a stage.

For me this whole silent protaganist thing wont work until you can actually speak to the NPCs IRL and AI respond to you accordingly

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

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.

Shouldn't a good game stand on the strengths of its own narrative and not rely on any sort of supplementary material?

OT: I'll admit I liked Halo: CE and Halo 2 to some extent, at least in terms of campaign, but the characters around Master Chief always felt more interesting than the MC himself.

 

[GasMasksAreForChumps]

Microsoft is trying to use something to attract fans I guess.....Master Chief has never been the reason I got the Halo Games, its the universe of Halo that engaged me. From the terrifying flood to the complex covenant relationships, I can most defnitely say that some cliche hero with one-liners is not what I bought the game for. I love the chief potrayed in the books, but not so much in the game. I think it will be intresting if they allow you to "customize" the Chief as in upgrades/asthetics, so the player can retain the feeling of individuality from Reach.

 

[WanderingFool]

Honestly, I think the series was somewhat better when you were not playing as MC.

What I liked most about Reach was that I could select the armor and colors for my Spartan character in MP, and it would be used in SP. It made the game much more personal to me.

 

[mjc0961]

Sorry Phil, not really. Nothing in any of the games makes me want to play Master Chief any more than any other character. There's just about no difference between Chief and Nobel Six to me, both of them are just "I get a few lines here or there but mostly just shoot stuff because I am awesome". Hell you can probably dress up Nobel Six up in the right armor and color set-up and pretend you're playing as Chief in Reach: what would the difference be once you fix the appearance?

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.

In the games, he is absolutely dull. A book doesn't change the fact that you could replace Master Chief with a rock in any of his games and nobody would likely notice the difference because he's that dull and uninteresting. If there's more to Chief than "I AM A SPARTAN I SHOOT ALIENS BANG BANG" then they need to convey that in the games too, otherwise it's perfectly fair to say that he's an uninteresting game character.

 

[Poptart Invasion]

Ugh. This guy's an idiot. Yes, the Cheif is awesome. Yes, I got more giddy than worried when I saw the Halo 4 teaser. But he is NOT the only thing in the Halo universe. And being about as close to a fanboy without being unsufferable (hopefully) as I am, I probably would have been much more ape-shit if I was shown a teaser of a game focused on post-war Humans and Elites. In fact, I think post-war Elite society is one of the most interesting stories available to tell! (If you have Halo Waypoint, watch "The Return" to see what I mean.)

Other things I would have been more excited to see in a game than MC: Forerunner-Flood War, the Covenant prior to first contact with humanity, a child-adult protagonist undergoing Spartan training. The list goes on.

Hell, you could even cast the Cheif as the main character in that last one. That might even add depth to the other games. When I play Halo 1-3, I'm thinking of him as that archetypical stoic cowboy, whereas a real man-of-few-words, having been through what he's been through since age six, is more likely repressed and unhealthily detached emotionally from reality. Actually, I hope the "personality change" announced for the Cheif deals with him snapping under, or at least coming to terms with, all the bullshit that had been laid on his shoulders since childhood. Actually give some depth to his in-game character (haven't read any of the books, but I hear he's more interesting in them).

For now, I'll trust 343 Studios not to rape the IP, since all the guys and gals running it were hand-picked by Bungie, but Microsoft should neither be so heavy-handed in directing the studio nor force the series to stagnate. There are too many facinating places for 343 to go with this universe to focus exclusively on one character.

 

[ZeroMachine]

So... is he... like... stupid or something?

Isn't Reach the best selling Halo game? Wasn't it the third or so best selling new game last year?

Also, screw what anyone says, ODST was the fuckin' best. Fantastic music.

EDIT: To be fair, I love John 117. He's an amazing character if you know his back story, even if he is a bit "meh" in the games. But really, I see Reach and ODST as signs that you don't NEED to play as the Chief.

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

Okay, someone needs to take Halo away from Microsoft. ODST and Reach were two of the top 3 entries in the series. You don't need to know much about the story to get into them. ODST and Reach were both prequels, and did a decent job of bringing you into the series. Besides, Halo 3 has a larger barrier to entry because it relies entirely on players having played through the first two and now Halo 4 is going to build on the events of the previous 3. The less time we spend playing as Master Chief, the better. Characters like him aren't necessary as player characters anymore. Nathan Fillion as Buck, The Arbiter, every one of the ODSTs, these are characters I cared about. As much as one can care about the other humans in Halo, anyways. Master Chief would be much better suited to be a magical get-out-of-jail-free card. You're stuck in a covenant prison? Master Chief will kill everyone and break you out. You're falling a hundred stories to your doom? Guess who saves you with expert pelican piloting skills? MASTER CHIEF. Or perhaps you kill a new kind of covenant species, and you don't know how to use the weapon they carry? Well another one ambushes you and Master Chief saves you by using the weapon you found. Then he shows you how to use it and flies away. How is he so good at everything? He's Master Chief, instant plot hole filler and expert problem resolver.

When I saw Master Chief was going to be the player character again, I decided I wasn't going to buy it. Perhaps I'll miss out on something good, maybe I'll dodge a bullet. All I know is that I don't care about Master Chief that much. If Bungie is done with Halo, then so am I. Bungie is the Valve of console gaming, and I'm almost 100% sure we won't see any studio step up and pour the same love into Halo 4 that Bungie has with all their other titles.

EDIT: And yes, I know that 343 studios is planned to develop Halo 4. No, I don't care that Bungie supposedly hand-picked them. I stand by what I said: They will never pour the same love into Halo that Bungie did. Oh, and food for thought: their only previous title is Halo Wars. Yeah. Enough said.