But if Gears of War is not your cup of tea, what then? Well, go play Halo. Halo is the biggest science-fiction franchise in gaming, having sold over 80 million copies in the years since its debut in 2001. But for reasons I can’t put into words, Halo does not appeal to me.
Mass Effect, on the other hand, grabbed me the moment I picked up the controller. So did Gears of War. Mass Effect had a tragic story spanning galaxies and littered with some of the most complex characters and storylines I’ve ever seen.
Gears of War felt like a grimdark novel in a visual format; a bleak, action-packed post-apocalyptic tale pitting man against a ferocious foe. The gameplay had a kick to it that few other titles could rival.
Halo felt tame in comparison. But that does not mean I have a bias against the series. My first genuinely engaging encounter with the franchise came from Halo Legends, a series of anime short films exploring the various facets of the Halo universe.
Years later, I came across a fan-made music video of Unknown Soldier by Breaking Benjamin that cobbled several minutes of live-action footage together to create a surprisingly compelling Halo movie.
Breaking Benjamin was also responsible for Blow Me Away, a hard-hitting track they recorded for Halo 2 and one of my favourite songs from the band. I say all this to assure you that I have every intention of giving the TV show a fair shot when it airs later this year on Paramount+
The games are set in earth’s distant future. A long time ago, a race of aliens known only as the Forerunners oversaw a galaxy-wide empire that crumbled when a parasitic enemy called The Flood emerged.
Overwhelmed by their numbers, the Forerunners created giant megastructures called ‘Halos’ that destroyed all sentient life in the known galaxy, depriving the Flood of its food source. When humanity attains faster-than-light travel a hundred thousand years later, they encounter the Covenant, a coalition of aliens that worship the Forerunners.
The Covenant perceives the Halos as a means of transcendence rather than tools of wanton destruction. To protect mankind from this new entity, the United Nations Space Command deploys the Spartans, a group of enhanced super soldiers charged with marching into the blackness of space and eliminating the alien threat.
Master Chief is one such Spartan, a towering warrior with exceptional martial prowess. Even if Halo is new to you, you’ve seen Master Chief’s iconic armor and helmet at some point in your life.
The trailer gave us a peek at the character a few days ago, and surprisingly, I liked everything I saw. We already have one faceless, taciturn badass in Din Djarin (The Mandalorian). But there’s room for more. Hopefully, the show has enough substance to entertain a skeptic like me.
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