The State of Halo

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Halo was birthed with the release of Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001.  It was an exclusive launch title for the original Xbox and many people hold the opinion that it was largely responsible for helping Microsoft gain a footing in the console market.  Though created by Bungie, it ended up as an Xbox exclusive due to Microsoft’s purchase of Bungie in 2000.  Sequels released in 2004 and 2007 cemented Halo as a tier 1 franchise.

The only unfortunate aspect of Halo’s success is that some people became so ravenously obsessed with anything named Halo that critics continued to heap praise on the deeply flawed Halo Wars, Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach.  Meanwhile, Bungie had decided to break off from Microsoft.  Microsft would continue to own Halo and thus created 343 Industries as its internal division to continue work in the Halo universe.

The inevitable and direct sequel everyone had been waiting for, Halo 4, was finally announced at E3 in 2011.  Anticipation leading up to the release is enormous – and for good reason.  Since Halo 3’s release in 2007, things haven’t been all that exciting for the franchise.  Halo Wars was an average, console-based RTS which didn’t always jive completely with Halo canon.  Hopefully this will serve as another reminder to everyone that RTS games require a mouse and keyboard.  No matter how much anyone talks about how well everything was redesigned for a controller, it’s not going to work.

Halo 3: ODST was originally designed as a small side project but was somehow determined to merit a $60 price tag.  Not exactly an accurate assessment.  While Halo: Reach was at least an actual attempt at making a full-fledged game, both products shared similar problems.  The most obvious problem was that Halo 1-3 taught us that Halo = Master Chief.  Halo games not focused on Master Chief just aren’t going to be as fun to play.

The less obvious but probably more important issue has to do with the fact that those games were created by Bungie after they left Microsoft.  As part of the breakaway deal Bungie was contracted to make two more Halo games.  This creates a situation where the developer has to make games for a franchise they created but no longer own the rights to.  Bungie was eager to start working on its own IP that it would own itself.  It was very obvious that Bungie used Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach more as a testing pool for new ideas.  Remember the jazzy film noir ambiance of ODST?

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Halo 4 is different.  This isn’t a cheap spin-off and it doesn’t serve as some sort of test-bed for ex-developers.  This is a full-fledged sequel.  Master Chief is back, and back for awhile.  343 Industries has already began talking about how Halo 4 will serve as the beginning of a new trilogy, the Reclaimer trilogy.  This could be very good.

When it comes to Halo, most gamers fall into three distinct camps.  Camp #1 includes the fanboys who will spend countless hours blasting review sites who fail to give anything with the Halo name a less than perfect score.  They will love Halo 4 because the word Halo is in the name.  Camp #2 includes those who loved the first three games but have realized that the franchise hasn’t been too hot the past 4-5 years.  They will love Halo 4 because it will bring the franchise back to where it belongs.  Camp #3 includes those who either hate or have no interest in Halo.  They aren’t paying attention.

So where do things stand going forward?  It is likely that future releases will be accelerated.  With that being said, Microsoft is smart enough to understand that having a yearly sequel would do more harm than good.  The likely scenario is that an alternating rotation is set up between core sequels and other ancillary games.  Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary was released last year as a remake of the original Halo.  The interesting things about the development of this game is that even though the production was overseen by 343 Industries, most of the actual development was contracted out to third party developers.  This could very likely continue to happen for future ancillary games in the Halo Universe.

The only certain think right now is that Halo 4 will be released next week.  Most people expect new consoles from Microsoft and Sony in 2013.  The timing is a bit unfortunate as Halo 4 could have been a nice release title and next year is too soon for Halo 5 to be out.  This means that Microsoft needs another ancillary product to release next year.

One very plausible option is that a Halo 2 remake will be released at the same time as the new Xbox.  This would probably help boost sales of both the new console and the game.  Another reason why this might be a good fit has to do with backwards compatibility.  Halo 2 was released on the original Xbox and a re-release would allow every Halo game to be playable on the new console without requiring backwards compatibility with original Xbox games.  Halo 5 would then be released in 2014.

Whatever the distant future holds for the franchise, the near future brings us Halo 4.  Stay tuned for our review.

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