With the announcement of the new Halo trilogy of games that will feature the Master Chief and Cortana there are bound to be people who will either love the idea or hate it. Some will say that the franchise has grown stale, others will say Microsoft is trying to milk more money out of the franchise, and still others will enjoy the ability to go back into the universe of the Master Chief. So, are video game sequels like this a good thing or should the industry shy away from them? Will Halos 4, 5, and 6 be as good as the previous entries in the series? We will have to wait and see but I’m here to give my 2 cents on if these games are a good idea or not.
While I can’t say for sure if the game will be any good until I play it, I can say what I think about the idea. I personally love the story of the Master Chief and Cortana and would like to see a continuation, here is my reasoning. In any medium, we encounter characters that we know, love, and would like to see more of. Most of the time in movies, for example, we see a character that is engaging, funny, interesting, and we want to see more of him and his adventures. This is why sequels are popular in the first place in the movie business and why spin-offs are popular in television (because sometimes the main character isn’t the most popular or interesting) but something a little different happens in video games. Because games are interactive the gameplay element adds to the overall value of the game on top of the story telling, which is the most important aspect of film and TV.
So when a game series, like Halo, gets the gameplay right, we want more even if the story isn’t always the greatest. What usually determines a good game from a bad game is the gameplay. The story (and other, smaller factors) usually separates a good game from a great game. So the story takes a backseat to the gameplay and isn’t necessarily needed to create a good game. That’s one reason why game sequels can be tricky. Gameplay needs to be expanded for the game to be regarded as good because a rehash of gameplay is like a rehash of a movie plot. Plots can be rehashed in a game and be accepted more readily than gameplay. What we, as gamers, want is for the developers to keep what worked from previous titles and add in better elements in place of what didn’t work. This can cause the games to be much better and is why sequels have better luck in the video game world than in the film world, the gameplay and graphics are easier to enhance for a sequel but are non-existent in a movie.
So, in many cases, a game series will continue to get honed and better as time goes by whereas a film series will wither away without some kind of new spin. This is why I like to see game franchises last longer because the content might be getting better and better, at least from a gameplay standpoint. I don’t think films get better (with rare exceptions) but games do a whole lot more often.
So, why all the comparisons to movies and what is my point? Well movie sequels are the closest kind of sequels that I can think of to compare to for games. But the real reason I went through all that is because I wanted to show that if the gameplay is up to snuff then the games will be worth making. People have complained that the story will be dried up for Halo 4 but that really isn’t the central-most aspect of what will make the game. Granted, story is becoming much more important and it needs to be there, but I really want to see more action from the Halo franchise because of the gameplay. The Halo series has offered some of the most accessible and fun gameplay and that is what I am really looking forward to.
Continuing the story arc of Master Chief and Cortana will be exciting and I hope the writers are up to the task but I am really looking at 343 Studios to churn out the same level of gameplay that Bungie gave us and that we loved. Playing Halo online or offline with friends is awesome and I want to be able to continue that experience with even further expanded elements. 343 can take what Bungie did right and expand on it.
But, with all that said, this still seems like a cash-in and I am questionable about the quality considering Bungie isn’t at the helm. It is clear that a lot of love was put into Halo: Reach and it turned out fantastic. Can 343 give us that kind of game? No one can really know right now but suffice it to say I will be surprised if Halo 4 is as good as Reach. Sure the game is a cash-in but can you really blame Microsoft? Do you honestly think you wouldn’t want to milk that cash cow as long as you could if you were at the helm? Let’s just hope that Microsoft and 343 don’t see this as a cash-in while making it and the quality doesn’t suffer.
But, in general, I am more open to seeing more entries in the franchises that I love because it is a chance for the gameplay experience to get even better. It is more realistic to assume that the experience will get better on a AAA title than it is to assume that the gameplay will get worse because developers have the chance to get feedback and make the games better. The fact that 343 is behind the game is the real hiccup. Will they learn from what Bungie did right or will they go their own way and toss the dice? Time will tell but what do you all think? Are these new Halo games, or video game sequels in general, a good idea or something you will pass on?
