There are plenty of people who would scoff at the idea of a video game with serious character development.
Then again, the industry has clearly come a long way since the old days of Pong. In fact, Hollywood scribes like John Milius (Apocalypse Now), and Hal Barwood (Dragonslayer) have both written for games, and the depth of storytelling in gaming has grown considerably over recent years.
So with Halo 4 coming on November 6, reports have been hitting the web that Master Chief is going to have more depth and character development this time around.
As Cinema Blend reports, “If you thought Master Chief was too vanilla of a hero, 343 Industries says they’re trying to make him more human in this upcoming game.” Blend also confirms that at the heart of the game is the relationship between Chief and Cortana, whose mind is starting to go (rampancy) because like a replicant, she’s getting past her lifespan.
Gamespot recently posted an exclusive documentary about Halo 4 (see above), and it confirms the latest iteration of the franchise will indeed have more depth. The word “comfort zone” comes up quite a bit, because Master Chief is coming out of his comfort zone in the game. As executive producer Kiki Wolfkill says, “Master Chief is human, he’s not a machine, he’s not a set of armor with a weapon, he’s a human with resilience and courage.”
Wolfkill also added, “How can we immerse the player even more in this world that we’ve built around her?” Games can go deeper into outer worlds than games ever have before, but now they can also have greater emotional and dramatic depth that makes the journey even more satisfying.
As Brian Reed, a writer for 343, added, “We’re always telling these huge, big stories. We’ve got Infinity, the biggest ship that’s ever been launched, we’ve got Requiem, which is the biggest forerunner artifact ever found. But in the middle of all that, we’ve got this very small, personal story between Master Chief and Cortana.”
Voice actor Steve Downes also says, “I was so looking forward to this moment, because for Master Chief there was this progression in terms of his emotional side, even through the first three games, but this is going to be the great leap.”
Looking at the early footage of Halo 4 on the Gamestop documentary, it really looks like it’s going to be a top notch game. It’s good to know that with the next Halo game 343 isn’t resting on the success and laurels of the previous titles and want to push things even further.
Of course it should still be a fun game to play no matter what, but the extra depth can possibly make Halo even more involved on an intellectual and emotional level than it’s ever been.
