Geek Binge: I’m going to get this out of the way early, and despite my best efforts, I still feel this will fall on deaf ears due to my greater point, but I’ll try anyways: I am a Halo fanatic. Not a fan, a fanatic. I’ve been in love with this franchise since the beginning, and devoted every single day of my life through middle school on Halo 2. I was there, in line, for the midnight releases. I got the legendary edition (and helmet) for Halo 3, I was blown away by Firefight in ODST, and I also loved Reach. The lore, the gameplay, the music, the simplicity and the mystery, almost everything about the Halo universe has intrigued me and hooked me, and I really didn’t know for sure how to feel about another studios taking over a part of my life (much like a recent film franchise purchased by a corporation). And after completing the campaign, and Spartan Ops, and everything multiplayer has to offer, I have finally found some peace and can openly express my inner thoughts and hesitant fears.
I no longer care about the fate of the Halo franchise.
In Halo 4, 5, and Infinite, Master Chief became a more nuanced, human character.
In spite of the Halo series’ struggles, 343 deserves praise for adding nuance and characterisation to the ever-beating heart of Halo - The Master Chief. Playing through Infinite, it's abundantly clear that the events of the current and previous trilogies have irrevocably changed the iconic hero. He’s no longer the ‘blank slate’ that was previously presented by Bungie. He’s a fatigued, damaged and fallible protagonist, and one who is meandering through currents of grief, while reveling in his newfound agency. Giving the Chief a compelling and meaningful voice was no small feat, and 343 should be proud of that victory.
This article completely misses part of the appeal of the original iteration of character in the original game trilogy. It was the Chief and Cortana vs an entire alien collective. The blank slate Bungie displayed in their games was genius, he was an mysterious hero a wide audience could identify with because he wasn't as clearly defined as most characters.
The books added a lot of lore and backstory but most Halo players just want a fun game with exposition that doesn't get in the way of gameplay, it's why the Cortana level in Halo 3 was derided.
Not every character has to be a damaged soyboy, a soldier has to suck it up and do his duty.
The 343i Master Chief has is based on the books. However, in Halo 4-Infinite, the Master Chief overtime become. gradually becomes more willing to show some emotion.
It’s a law of nature that eventually, every long-running game franchise will have a particular entry that gets dinged for straying too far from what made it so fun in the first place. Your Super Mario Sunshine, your Dragon Age II, Assassin’s Creed III, and so on. Whether or not that opinion changes more favorably over time, the initial specter of negativity will forever hover it. Microsoft’s Halo is no exception, except that negative specter hasn’t hovered over one particular game, but one whole studio.
Halo 4 released 10 years ago today, and its disappointing reception was just an omen of things to come with 343 Industries at the helm.
Halo 4 and infinite have a 87 on metacritic and five a 84🤣. 343i need contents and everything else will play it self out.
Halo 4-6 are like the Star Wars sequel trilogy
They all just seem like a brand new games with small connections to the last one but no solid arc connecting them, you’re just told stuff that happened off screen in between the games and nothing makes sense
It’s like they didn’t plan a new trilogy out
I'm getting a good gaming laptop soon and i'm finally going to play through the Halo franchise again plus Infinite but i never played Halo 4 before .. can anyone tell me how's the campaign in comparison to the games before it and compared to Halo 5 ?
Don't worry millions of Halo fans still do
Evil
How can you be a self-proclaimed "fanatic" and then just all of a sudden not care about the fate of the franchise? Surely such a big fan would have a harder time letting go.
Its all good he's opinion doesn't matter
Completely agree with this article. I just can't get into this damn game like i did with previous Halo titles.
Its incredibly funny how a self-proclaimed Halo fanatic cant be fanatical enough to actually complete the game "properly" to find out the answers to his questions.
If you find all the terminals the Didacts backstory is explained, the covenent get fleshed out more but still have a degree of mystery behind them.
Also there's this:
"And after completing the campaign, and Spartan Ops, and everything multiplayer has to offer"
Small question. How have you completed Spartan Ops before anyone else? I mean considering the whole thing isnt out yet I would very much like to know how you got to play it ALL before the rest of us...