Do you remember the writer,Richard Morgan, from the recent Crysis 2 interview Brad did ? Well, he's been saying some not-so-nice things about the Halo franchise. According to him, Halo is full of "bullshit archetypal characters" [Link]. Quite an inflammatory comment and I won't be surprised if he did it as part of a deliberate marketing strategy of some sort to attract interest towards his own product. Anyway, he does raise a valid point that Halo's storyline is very played out.
Halo:CE had a great world design While there is no excuse for not having a better story, I think authors have to look at games from a different perspective than books or movies. For me, the biggest strength of a video game is making the player believe they are the author of their story. This is the reason why I appreciate choices in my RPGs, even if the end result is cliched. And when you're delivering a linear story like Halo, you have to trick the player into believing that they are in total control of what is happening on screen. The most memorable sequences in games are the ones where the player is directly in charge.
In first person shooters, this is usually accomplished by giving the players a rich environment to explore and filling it with clues or interesting objects with narrative value. Combat Evolved does this well. I haven't touched the game since 2003 or so and I still distinctly remember the first time I crash landed on Installation 04and stumbled into this vast ecosystem. It's a very cliched scene with the mountain cliff and the waterfall. But since it was a game and I had the chance to explore this surrounding myself, I remember it more than any movie's watefall/cliff scene. In cases like this, there is no need for clever words or witty writing when the environment itself can make such an impact.
More than just a chatterbox Morgan criticized the characters and I'll definitely give him that. But if you analyze the narrative structure of shooter games, there is a very specific need for such archetypal characters as well. In most good FPS, you're also usually given a sidekick to help you understand what is happening around you (Alyx in HL2, Cortana in Halo, Atlas in BioShock, Price/Others in Modern Warfare). These characters are essential in getting us invested in a fictional world and they all become archetypes by necessity. These companion characters need humor, intellect or a sunny personality to make the experience enjoyable. And I think Cortana is very good example (though not the best) of how to do it right. The Arbiter is another good character and someone I liked immediately. He fills the archetype of the old enemy turned friend but the fact that players actually control him in co-op makes it more than his movie/book counterparts. A lot of this is down to execution and Bungie did a good job of making me like these two. Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson on the other hand are just lazy and they could have done better.
Anyway, my closing thought is that labeling Halo's entire cast as "bullshit" is just extreme and unwarranted. They are archetypes but they are well executed archetypes. If Morgan truly believes what he said, then Crysis 2 better set a new standard for shooter storytelling. Nothing against CryTek (I love their games) but he is just setting himself up for a hard knock back to reality here.
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Do you remember the writer,Richard Morgan, from the recent Crysis 2 interview Brad did ? Well, he's been saying some not-so-nice things about the Halo franchise. According to him, Halo is full of "bullshit archetypal characters" [Link]. Quite an inflammatory comment and I won't be surprised if he did it as part of a deliberate marketing strategy of some sort to attract interest towards his own product. Anyway, he does raise a valid point that Halo's storyline is very played out.
Halo:CE had a great world design While there is no excuse for not having a better story, I think authors have to look at games from a different perspective than books or movies. For me, the biggest strength of a video game is making the player believe they are the author of their story. This is the reason why I appreciate choices in my RPGs, even if the end result is cliched. And when you're delivering a linear story like Halo, you have to trick the player into believing that they are in total control of what is happening on screen. The most memorable sequences in games are the ones where the player is directly in charge.
In first person shooters, this is usually accomplished by giving the players a rich environment to explore and filling it with clues or interesting objects with narrative value. Combat Evolved does this well. I haven't touched the game since 2003 or so and I still distinctly remember the first time I crash landed on Installation 04and stumbled into this vast ecosystem. It's a very cliched scene with the mountain cliff and the waterfall. But since it was a game and I had the chance to explore this surrounding myself, I remember it more than any movie's watefall/cliff scene. In cases like this, there is no need for clever words or witty writing when the environment itself can make such an impact.
More than just a chatterbox Morgan criticized the characters and I'll definitely give him that. But if you analyze the narrative structure of shooter games, there is a very specific need for such archetypal characters as well. In most good FPS, you're also usually given a sidekick to help you understand what is happening around you (Alyx in HL2, Cortana in Halo, Atlas in BioShock, Price/Others in Modern Warfare). These characters are essential in getting us invested in a fictional world and they all become archetypes by necessity. These companion characters need humor, intellect or a sunny personality to make the experience enjoyable. And I think Cortana is very good example (though not the best) of how to do it right. The Arbiter is another good character and someone I liked immediately. He fills the archetype of the old enemy turned friend but the fact that players actually control him in co-op makes it more than his movie/book counterparts. A lot of this is down to execution and Bungie did a good job of making me like these two. Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson on the other hand are just lazy and they could have done better.
Anyway, my closing thought is that labeling Halo's entire cast as "bullshit" is just extreme and unwarranted. They are archetypes but they are well executed archetypes. If Morgan truly believes what he said, then Crysis 2 better set a new standard for shooter storytelling. Nothing against CryTek (I love their games) but he is just setting himself up for a hard knock back to reality here.
But Crysis and Crysis: Warhead had some weak narrative and story to them. So he hasn't got much ground to stand on making wild accusations against a franchise that has sold more copies of games than he's had hot dinners!
Considering the quality of video game storytelling in general, Halo was fine. Nothing special and a bit misguided but the fact I can even remember a lot of it all these years on is enough for me when near enough every game I play seems forgettable.
Most people will probably play shooters for game play. While its not impossible for a shooter to have a good story, the focus of most shooters is in the game play and multi player rather than the campaign (unless that's all the game has, but single player only shooters are a dieing breed).
Yeah, all video game stories are viewed in the context of them being video games. In other words, it's good (for a video game). When it comes to shooters, I think too much depth bogs down the action. Brevity is the brother of genius, as they say. Get the plot points in quick and allow me to get back to blowin' shit up.
The guy said some cool things and all, but man... I'm gonna make some crazy predictions here: Crysis 2 is not going to blow anyone away with its storytelling. Also, I'm gonna come out and say I think he was pretty off-base about the whole "it's bad cuz it shoots for the lowest common denominator" spiel. That's a dumb statement. Nobody's "shooting for the lowest common denominator", most games simply have different priorities. That priority being: be a game. Obviously if a game sets out to be some "interactive story" then, yeah, they'll probably try and make it have a good story! And then it'll have more depth.
And finally, not to overly criticize him, I haven't read his books so I can't say anything really definitive. However, science fiction, his specialty, is rarely home to compelling storytelling. It relies on the setting constructed. This isn't bad at all but, again, it isn't where "phenomenal storytelling" usually takes place, so it's perfectly excusable that Halo has some cliche characters.
I don't know. While the comments Morgan made were pretty ballsy, I couldn't disagree with him either because I wasn't especially taken with the storyline of the Halo franchise either.
While you may find it completely epic with Master Chief on some cliff/mountain side, I don't see it as having the right kind of impact I'm looking for in storytelling to the sense of the overall plot. While visuals are obviously important to storytelling to paint the picture for an audience, it needs to complement the introversive nature of the story.
To put it bluntly, it's like saying just because Michael Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer or James Cameron paint these vividly amazing visuals, that the storytelling or plot in their movies share the same level of artistic balance. To that I say,I'm sorry, but Halo is "full of bullshit". Which is perfectly fine, I think.
Not that it matters, I don't think it's why the majority of people play the game anyways. The Halo franchise was just a simple scapegoat Morgan could use because it's wildly popular and commonplace in people's minds as a bestseller.
It's typical CryTek bullshit. Cevat Yerli already criticised other developers for doing "dumb plots" and he spent some time masturbating over Crysis' "incredible plot", which is actually weak as shit. The only difference I noticed is that I punch Koreans in the face instead of Russians, Germans and South American communists. Not worth a Pulitzer price, to be honest.
Not to mention the fact that despite my hatred, Halo isn't dumber than summer shit like the live-action Transformers or Avatar.
I've heard lots of praise about Crysis, but story wasn't one of them. Also while the story in the Halo games may not seem to all that great to some people, if you do explore the universe through the novels and look deeper into the story you will find a deep and meaningful story, similar with Star Wars. Yeah on the surface it looks like your typical fantasy story in space, but if you dig deeper, there is a more powerful and complex meaning to everything. Also I hate how people criticize Master Chief as being a bland and generic character, but never seem to criticize Gorden Freeman for the same thing.
Why is everyone comparing Halo's storyline to Crysis? Richard K. Morgan didn't write Crysis, so what has that got to do with his comments? He's written some fantastic books, Altered Carbon especially, if you're into sci-fi with a dash of detective noir. It takes a different skill set to write for games however. We'll see how he does, but come on people. He didn't write crysis, and he's writing the second one. So saying Crysis had a weak storyline means nothing in the context of what he said. As for the storyline of Halo..it does the job, and it carries the action along. Basically it's just an excuse to shoot alien A, the Alien B in scene A or scene B. Its not like Silent Hill where the story is everything. and of course its a marketing ploy...dissing the competition is marketing 101. Personally I agree with him, though i enjoyed some of the novels.
Not to defend or excuse Halo or anything, but having what that guy said come from a person at Crytek? That's rich. They can't do narrative or story to save their life. At least Halo had about the same amount of depth as an average hollywood sci-fi blockbuster. Crytek's games are still very clearly games, plot wise.
"Also I hate how people criticize Master Chief as being a bland and generic character, but never seem to criticize Gorden Freeman for the same thing. "
Definitely agree with you there. As much as I love both franchises, I definitely see Freeman being more generic than MC.
" He has big brass balls, I'll give him that. But Crysis and Crysis: Warhead had some weak narrative and story to them. So he hasn't got much ground to stand on making wild accusations against a franchise that has sold more copies of games than he's had hot dinners! "
Morgan didn't have anything to do with the previous Crysis games. Since he's actually a good writer, he was most likely hired for the purpose of making sure that Crysis 2's story isn't a shit sandwich.
@Hamz: This guy was brought on to do Crysis 2 story to make it better. He had no involvement with Crysis 1 and Warhead as far as i know. So only time will tell if this guy has the story telling skills to backup his words.
I don't remember anything that happened in the games so i read the books, that replaced the halo story for me (apart from that flood one gah wost book i ever read)
"Also I hate how people criticize Master Chief as being a bland and generic character, but never seem to criticize Gorden Freeman for the same thing. "
Definitely agree with you there. As much as I love both franchises, I definitely see Freeman being more generic than MC. "
An enhanced space-marine-esque super soldier is less generic than a skinny thick rim glasses wearing goateed crowbar wielding MIT physicist. Right.
"Also I hate how people criticize Master Chief as being a bland and generic character, but never seem to criticize Gorden Freeman for the same thing. "
Definitely agree with you there. As much as I love both franchises, I definitely see Freeman being more generic than MC. "
An enhanced space-marine-esque super soldier is less generic than a skinny thick rim glasses wearing goateed crowbar wielding MIT physicist. Right. "
Bah! Nathan Hale is more generic than both of them, so HA!....
"Also I hate how people criticize Master Chief as being a bland and generic character, but never seem to criticize Gorden Freeman for the same thing. "
Definitely agree with you there. As much as I love both franchises, I definitely see Freeman being more generic than MC. "
An enhanced space-marine-esque super soldier is less generic than a skinny thick rim glasses wearing goateed crowbar wielding MIT physicist. Right. "
Who wears power armor and for some reason can't speak a word over the whole franchise so far? Absolutely! HL2 is definitely a better story, but it too falls under the generics of "I'm the only person who can somehow save the world through my lack of combat training and somehow get by through impossible means." Halo does it too, but at least MC has had years of combat training and body enhancement (who also doesn't become mute through the process).
"Also I hate how people criticize Master Chief as being a bland and generic character, but never seem to criticize Gorden Freeman for the same thing. "
Definitely agree with you there. As much as I love both franchises, I definitely see Freeman being more generic than MC. "
An enhanced space-marine-esque super soldier is less generic than a skinny thick rim glasses wearing goateed crowbar wielding MIT physicist. Right. "
Who wears power armor and for some reason can't speak a word over the whole franchise so far? Absolutely! HL2 is definitely a better story, but it too falls under the generics of "I'm the only person who can somehow save the world through my lack of combat training and somehow get by through impossible means." Halo does it too, but at least MC has had years of combat training and body enhancement (who also doesn't become mute through the process). "
Haha, the mute hero is definitely not a generic trait. MC has that whole man of few words thing only saying things once in a while that are usually pretty GAR but a man of no words? Unheard of!
Yeah the whole 'without me you're all dead' deal is there in both, but in terms of just straight up character resume MC is definitely more same old than Freeman.
The single player sadly drops you not knowing what the fuck is even going on. You meet up with a bunch of useless and generic computer controlled characters, and finally you fight some zombie aliens.
Also, the last level is an escape with a vehicle. Again.
Great post, I see what the guys point is. But writing a novel and writing for a game are very different things and ill wait to see how Crysis 2 plays out.
It's funny, but what I liked about Halo wasn't necessarily any of the main characters, so much as the individual soldiers you run into as you're fighting your way through the levels. They seem to have individual personalities and attitudes, which is really cool.
And yes about the Arbiter. Not sure if Morgan had this guy in mind when he was talking about the archetypes, but this fallen zealot makes a perfect foil for Covenant excesses. Probably the one character I remember being impressed with.
" I've heard lots of praise about Crysis, but story wasn't one of them. Also while the story in the Halo games may not seem to all that great to some people, if you do explore the universe through the novels and look deeper into the story you will find a deep and meaningful story, similar with Star Wars. Yeah on the surface it looks like your typical fantasy story in space, but if you dig deeper, there is a more powerful and complex meaning to everything. Also I hate how people criticize Master Chief as being a bland and generic character, but never seem to criticize Gorden Freeman for the same thing. "
Oh joy lets single out Halo, even though except for Bioshock and Half-life, every FPS released nowadays tends to have a pretty generic story. Someones just mad that Halo Reach is gonna be a better game them Crysis 2.
That dude better bring his a-game for the story of Crysis 2. Honestly, if it follows the story of part 1 it could be kinda assy. And that trailer had WAY too many blatant "this is 9/11" moments for my taste. Not that I can´t stomach it or anything, but I´ve got a feeling that the game is going to stumble and fall when it comes to recreating that kinda atmosphere in the actual game. It might be nice to have this kind of atmosphere for a trailer, but a 5-7 hour game? Just that bullshit melancholy? All the time? Directed by Cervat Yerli?
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