Halo 5 is a missed opportunity to evolve more than just combat
Much of the hype around the new Star Wars movies (perhaps the only space epic bigger than Halo) is fueled by rumors surrounding Luke Skywalker, the galaxy’s last remaining Jedi knight. Why don’t we see more of him in the trailer for the new movie? Why are Han and Leia crying? Hey, what about that guy in the mask? Is that Luke? Doesn’t Luke also have a lightsaber? It could be Luke. It’s probably Luke. Maybe not!
Like most good trailers, the promotional videos around Star Wars have generated more questions than answers. Likewise, one of the early advertisements for Halo 5: Guardians shows an unknown Spartan (one of the human super soldiers central to the series lore) walking across a blasted wasteland. The image strongly insinuated that the face of the series, the heroic Master Chief, has betrayed humanity—that he had, effectively, turned to the dark side.
It’s an intriguing proposition. What happens when humanity’s greatest hero turns into its most implacable villain? Or has the hero himself been betrayed by those he has sworn to protect? Either way, it’s a juicy plot, one that could send Halo in a dark and exciting post-Master Chief direction. If only it were so. Guardians is not that game. At least, not in the way we were led to believe.
When last we saw Master Chief at the conclusion of Halo 4, he had just defeated a survivor of an ancient alien race known as the Forerunners. (These are the cranky moon wizards responsible for creating the Haloes.) Chief’s victory came at a cost. Cortana, Chief’s artificial-intelligence companion and possibly the only thing in this universe he’s not inclined to shoot on sight, appears to have died. It’s a tragic love story between machine and man-machine. But if Halo 4 falls somewhere near the film Her on a scale of human-AI romance, Halo 5 feels more akin to Ex Machina.