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Microsoft Head: Halo Lost Its Way Without Master Chief
While many Halo fans would point to last year's Reach as arguably the best entry in the beloved sci-fi shooter series, apparently Microsoft Game Studios head Phil Spencer is not as impressed with Bungie's decision to take recognizable protagonist Master Chief out of the spotlight for its last two Halo releases.
Speaking to OXM UK (via VG247), Spencer suggested that stepping into the shoes of Master Chief is a core part of the appeal of the Halo games:
"The key question for me in managing the studio and the creatives is 'what is Halo?,' making sure Halo lives up to what I think gamers fell in love with [playing Combat Evolved]... What does that mean? Playing Master Chief. We kind of lost our way a little bit, I’ll say. And that’s why I wanted to make sure that at the unveiling of Halo 4, you knew you were playing Master Chief, that John was back. Because Master Chief is the John Wayne character of that universe, and that’s who you want to play."
Elsewhere in the interview, Spencer said that while Reach and ODST, the final two Halo games developed by series creator Bungie, may have made sense to players who have been following the franchise since it started on the original Xbox, new fans who had just got into the series with Halo 3 "maybe...weren't as centered."
This is apparently the justification for refocusing the franchise on Master Chief, both with the upcoming HD remake of Halo 1 and the new trilogy beginning with Halo 4. What do you think, Halo fans? Is playing as Master Chief necessary for the franchise to thrive?
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