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My history with Halo is rocky. I bought an Xbox to play this amazing game that everyone was talking about only to play it for an hour and then turn it off to do other things. It wasn't until last year's spin-off, Halo ODST that I finally understood the reverence behind the series. In my personal opinion, none of the games that made up the original trilogy capitalized on the obvious potential of the universe that Bungie had masterminded. ODST came out of left field for me and surprised me by how unique and exciting this series can be. While I am probably in the minority in regards to my feelings about ODST, It is because of that game that I am actually very much excited for the release of Halo Reach. Of course, I have some expectations and thoughts regarding the direction that I hope the game takes, especially in regards to it's approach pacing and presentation.
First, allow me to explain why ODST was such a success for me. Since the release of Halo, nobody would shut up about Master Chief and how amazing of a character he was. While he is certainly iconic, I would say he is no more developed than a character like Mario. He is the face of Xbox and nothing more. Sure, he has his moments but as a character, he was incredibly overrated. Unfortunately, I think that Halo has yet to find it's true hero. It has yet to find a character that is developed and has a personality and obvious character traits and flaws to speak of. Don't misunderstand me, I don't think the rookie from ODST is that character either, but I think ODST succeeded because it portrayed the universe and the setting and the events that transpired as the true star of the show and didn't waste too much time developing or over-hyping a particular character. I was sucked in by the events that were taking their toll on the human populace as they rushed to escape New Mombasa. That is why, I feel the stories told through the audio logs were way more powerful and exciting than anything I saw in any previous Halo game. They made sense, they were cohesive, and they had characters that I latched onto... I felt an emotion. This is where I think Halo Reach has the potential to leave it's mark on the series.
The universe that Bungie crafted for their "genre-evolving" FPS is actually deep and full of personality despite what you might think at first glance. This is why I have always been in shock at just how underused and underdeveloped the single player campaigns have been. Why would Bungie put so much time and effort into creating a rich universe and then populate it with shallow characters and convoluted plots? If Halo ODST is praised for anything, I feel it should be praised for breaking the mold and experimenting. For the first time in a Halo game, it felt like the world existed outside of the constant war being waged by the player. I found that to be rather ironic considering the environment of ODST was largely deserted. With Halo Reach, Bungie is finally telling the story of the fall of Reach at the hands of the Covenant. This is potentially a powerful moment in "human history" and should be handled with finesse. What I mean to say is that Bungie has a chance to create characters that have depth and they have an opportunity to tell a story that means something. With games like Mass Effect and Modern Warfare, it is certain that story and presentation can go hand in hand with shooting mechanics and head-shots. In order to pull it off though, Bungie will most definitely have to step outside of their comfort zone.
From a game-play perspective, ODST was magical for me for the same reasons it finally succeeded in terms of its presentation. Bungie took a risk. They broke up the action with exploration and investigation, making the actual firefights more intense. By allowing the player to investigate and then jump to different characters via a flashback, the environment was varied and the game seemed to roll forward at a good pace. If Halo is to be a success or a true evolution of the series for me, they will have to find a similar way to break up the pacing a bit. It seems that they might be doing this though stealth segments and space combat but both of these additions can fall victim to design flaws. Luckily, I think Bungie is one of best game designers out there which brings me to my last thought.
Halo is a science fiction universe. There are aliens, space marines, and power struggles that bring the fate of the universe into question. So why has it taken so long to incorporate space combat? It fits does it not? Based on the brief glimpse at this new gameplay segment, it seems like a great way to make Halo more than a simple shooter. It has the potential to create some truly epic set piece moments and give players a real taste to take a stand against the Covenant. My only concerns are that this will be tremendously under-used and that sufficient effort might not be taken to ensure that Bungie's space combat is as satisfying and well designed as it's FPS elements. We already know that this gameplay scenario won't be included in any multiplayer modes which leads me to believe that it might largely be ignored seeing that Multiplayer is Bungie's bread and butter.
Bungie is taking some steps in the right direction and I think that they are taking the steps necessary to lay a good foundation for whoever takes over the Halo development rights when they leave to party with Activision. They have always delivered fantastic multiplayer modes and complete packages when it comes to their retail releases but in order for Halo to truly be respected in the same way as Mass Effect and Call of Duty for both it's single player and multiplayer components, Bungie is going to have to pull out all the stops and set the bar higher than ever before with the release of Halo Reach. They almost got me with ODST but I won't truly be a Halo fan unless Bungie fires on all pistons with Reach when it ships this September.
Comments
13 years, 10 months ago
Well Nick,
I must say I'm also greatly looking forward to Reach, but more for the technical aspects and changes from the original games than reasons you are.
I agree that a character that isn't foolproof/has some character flaws/is more human can be an easier character to develop an affinity for and enjoy to play as, but at the same time, in support of the Master Chief, being the most badass and unstoppable character is becoming increasingly more unique and rare in the world of gaming.
In the sense that the Master Chief is 100% awesome and 0% flaws is what makes him such a likeable character to so many people, because he doesn't have all that baggage that other game protagonists do.
13 years, 10 months ago
I agree I played all the Halos, and I felt, personally, the characters weren't really that deep. If Bungie takes advantage of this story and creates a well-developed and interesting set of characters than this could be one of the best Halos, in my opinion.
13 years, 10 months ago
I don't understand what makes Master Chief the most "Badass" person in the galaxy? Neo is a bad ass, Aragorn is bad ass, Jason Bourne is a bad ass, Master Chief is a mute bullet sponge.
13 years, 10 months ago
i think most of bungies attention is on gameplay mechanics hoping for a good story with a non-mute main character but halo is still fun to play
13 years, 10 months ago
I always thought the entire series was overrarted.
Don't get me wrong, Halo is a great game, but I've never loved it like I have with Mass Effect or Bioshock. Its always seemed kinda stale to me.
But after reading this, I think I can look forward to the Reach with a tad more excitement.
13 years, 10 months ago
I like games that are basically like movies. The characters evolve and in the end, you feel like you know them. Their depth seems to grow as the movie/game progresses. But with Maste Cheif it was like he was a faceless terminator. But his mysteriousness made players draw their own conclusions about them. Regardless I look forward to the new Halo and pray to god that it will not suck. But knowing that it won't.
13 years, 10 months ago
ODST was better because it focused more on plot and setting than characters? I don't think the first 3 tried very hard to make a character driven game either...
13 years, 10 months ago
To those interested, here is a pretty interesting article about why a lot of people might like the master chief.
http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/214033/why-master-chief-is-so-interesting/
13 years, 10 months ago
with the ranking system for multiplayer, this thing could blow up into some real life 80's movie like The Wizard or something....except instead of kids we'll have racist whiny kids and the addition of racist whiny adults. :D I'm not negative, it's just good business...
13 years, 10 months ago
I've never personally played Halo: ODST, though I really am excited for Halo: Reach. Either way, I'll take it that the characters in Halo: ODST were more interesting than Master Chief because there was more dialogue/interaction between the characters.
With the topic on Master Chief, I never found him to be much of an interesting character, but as others have stated, he's that mysterious space marine with the super-powered armor who always keeps his cool in battle. Maybe the fact that he does not show much emotion during the campaign shows that Bungie may have wanted to take the safe way out and ensure that people don't dislike the main character. A dull character, yes, yet you'll always want him fighting on your side.
Halo: Reach seems to be taking it's story quite seriously, and the characters seem to be like the ODST characters in the way that they are all fighting together in a squad. This means that there is more room for interaction between the characters (with the exception of the player character, who I hear you get to create yourself?). In the end, I still haven't seen many details on the actual characters, so I'm not convinced that these characters will be the true focus of the game, yet Bungie seems to be putting enough effort in the single-player campaign to get me excited.
13 years, 10 months ago
I always like the series. It got me into gaming when halo first came out. Halo reach is going to be excellent in term IMO.
-Alex
13 years, 10 months ago
I agree, Halo has a rich, in depth universe which isnt fully touched on because bungie would rather make a game people less in to games can enjoy by focusing on the multiplayer. Which is fine because it pays off but I feel its a shame they dont explore all of the universe. For instance, the book Shadows of Onyx could be a great game and have a awesome campaign but instead they focused on this storyline of Master Cheif and his useless freinds save the world.
13 years, 10 months ago
I think Bungie is just very good at knowing their audience and is catering to them at this point. Master Chief, as a character, is a very conscious decision by Bungie. He is like that because that's what they wanted to make, and they succeeded, tremendously. The fact that there actually is a good story there, "hidden" on the surface through ODST audiologs and various Halo novels, proves that they are not unable to create a good story. They just choose not to, or more like, they choose not to make it the main draw or force it on the players who are playing the single player campaigns. Which is unfortunate, but at the same time, it makes perfect sense.
I mean, look at the majority of the people who play the Halo games. Bungie knows better than to not keep it simple with the games characters and make the focus of the character a power fantasy.
Hoping that Halo will ever be any more than what it is, is quite futile. The things we want out of a Halo game is not what the majority wants out of a halo game. Hell, they even showed us that they have the capability of creating an amazing spacecombat flight game a la Star Fox, but then it turned out it is just for one level of the campaign. Bungie knows better than to mess with their formula. A formula that is tremendously successful and beloved by a crazy amount of people.
I'd rather put my hopes on that Bungie will put some of these "hidden" qualities in their new IP that they'll be doing through Activision. Halo will probably remain what it is.
13 years, 10 months ago
Nick I really do agree with you. The novels by Eric Nylund paint such a cool, broad universe that it is annoying when things like this aren't put in it.
But honestly all I currently want from Reach is to see a Mac Blast. No seriously, they have these gigantic super mac cannons all around reach so we why no show us just how amazing they are.
13 years, 10 months ago
I like the article and everything, but why exactly do you refer to Call Of Duty as a game that does storytelling well? I understand Mass Effect, but a Call Of Duty game has never had its own consistent plot (unless it was one of the WWII ones, but I don't think that counts).
P.S I know that it seems SUPER nerdy, but if you have time, you should take a look at one of the novels, preferably "The Fall of Reach". Its a pretty good read.
13 years, 10 months ago
I like how i would try to be sneaky in odst when playing on legendary these groups of 4 brutes would tare me apart if i didn't sneak around and use my visor to find a sniper to take them out from far away.
I also liked how they brought back health packs, it gave the constant intenseness into the game that made the characters less of a "badass" then master chief was (considering how you can take 50 bullets then hide behind a rock for 5 seconds and then go back into the fight)
13 years, 10 months ago
Something that i find ironic is, that according to canon, SPARTANS actually were always in an intense battle, and because they were effin super soldiers that were forced to go through puberty at age 8, it was like a routine kind of thing, like what we saw in the single player of Halo 2 and 3, Combat Evolved had a more... richer, campaign, you could say, it sort of puts you in a head spinning situation when you first play, like "what the fuck is going on? who am i? what are we running from?" and eventually, you learn about the Covenant, and about how Humanity has been with war with them for some time.
ODST, on the other hand, was from the view of an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, an elite unit, but cannon fodder compared to a SPARTAN, because of this, the Story feels more of a 1 against 100 kind of struggle, you are weeker, enemies are taller than you, and you are alone in the middle of the Covenant Invasion of Earth. this made the Rookie more of an average joe in a very un-average situation, which as you said, made things very interesting.
Reach. Oh Lord.
The home of the UNSC, where the SPARTAN Program took place, where Humanity took a bitch slap from the most powerful force in the galaxy.
You, and you're squad of SPARTAN IIIs, not the heroic and superhuman SPARTAN IIs, have to survive, and take as many Covenant muthas with them as possible.
that is all that needs to be said, Reach will shove a 20 ft pole and shove it up all of our asses sideways, and scream in our face "THIS ENOUGH FOR YOU? BITCH!" and finally pop a cap in our insignificant forehead.
and as we fall to the ground, we will be thinking "wait, what about multiplayer?"
13 years, 9 months ago
[...] of it’s hype in this post but you are welcome to read my article from earlier this year: Halo Reach: Concept Evolved.Share this post: Tweet It | Facebook It | Stumble It | Digg It [...]
13 years, 9 months ago
I became a fan of Halo because it was my first sci-fi game. Its become a part of my upbringing, playing it while young and still playing while an adult. It created interesting new concepts for science fiction, at least it used concepts that hadn't gotten the attention of half the world yet.
But in regards to Master Chief, although in the games he is a very blank character, he is fleshed out in the novel series where he is the protagonist. Fall of Reach, The Flood, and First Strike depict his exploits from before, during, and after Halo: CE. In those books he talked quite a bit, but his mind was always on combat, he was always thinking of what his next move would be to complete his objective. I felt like those books excelled because of their depiction of "Halo Combat" within an actual book rather then video game. Master Chief was tearing heads the whole time like in the game, but he took hits, made mistakes, it was different from the game, it showed that although he is the toughest he is still human.
Perhaps its not the best of character development but its nonetheless still there, albeit absent from the actual games. I always did feel like Master Chief should reply to the constant stuff people would say to him during gameplay, cause in the books he would reply to them.