Game trailers are a big deal these days, even if there's no longer a Don LaFontaine to describe what that one human is doing in their solo mission to find the love, peace, or hope buried a world of destruction.
We could use some of that narrator's gold right about now, as the dual live-action trailers for Halo 5: Guardians have raised a genre-shaking question.
Trailer one: A Spartan supersoldier, Locke, walks through a bombed-out ruin and talks trash at a statue of the Halo universe's legendary hero, the Master Chief. The camera tilts downward to reveal the actual Chief lying broken, but alive, at the base of his own statue. Our hero, we are told, is humanity's betrayer. Locke points his pistol at the Chief's weary head.
Trailer two: The Master Chief walks through the same rubble and ruins, and delivers a lecture on survival and longevity at a statue of himself. The camera tilts downward to reveal Spartan Locke, barely alive. Our hero, we are told, is just getting started. Master Chief points his pistol at Locke's weary head.
Have you been devouring all the Halo fiction since 2001? Let's summarise:
Earth's interstellar military is basically a dictatorship, rules are broken all the time and the fragments end up enshrined in laws or protocols. Humankind's dealing with civil war, alien aggression, and has lately been targeted by its own Forerunners - all of which has been worsened in some way by the involvement of the Master Chief. Little wonder he's now getting the sideways glare from his own people.
Everything is screwed in this universe. What's gonna hold it all together?
Halo: Combat Evolved had innovation. 2001's maiden voyage refined first-person shooters and fired a booming shot across the gaming battlefield. It taught players raised on Doom and Quake - or Mario and Sonic - to think tactically and play smart in ways that had hitherto been experienced way outside the mainstream, and it blended the action and enemies with a science fiction story that would fully reveal itself over a matter of years, not hours.
Halo 2 had purpose. In alternating viewpoints between earth's hero Master Chief and the disgraced Arbiter of the alien Covenant, this landmark game of 2004 took the original's one-sided story and turned it into a dialogue, asking players to think about both sides of a war getting sorrier by the hour. More importantly though, Halo 2 ushered in the era of Xbox Live and turned console gamers into armchair champions through competitive play.
Halo 3 had swagger. The first of the series to appear on Xbox 360, the Master Chief's 2007 outing was infused with self-assuredness from start to stop. Every turning point oozed with importance, every cut-scene looked like a live feed from the mind of George Lucas, and every bar of music was flawless in its elegance and its gravitas. Here was a game served by people who knew exactly what they were doing, why they were doing it, and to whom it should appeal.
Halo 4 had soul. 11 years' worth of games, books, and films had fed the narrative: This is war and nobody, not even Master Chief, is immune to its dehumanising effects. He was made to cope with unfamiliar circumstances: He suffered through doubt, depression, and loss. As his puppeteers and his companions, we suffered with him.
• Read more: First look: Watch Halo 5's awesome new trailer
My hope for Halo 5 is quite simple: Let it be innovative, let it have purpose, let it exude swagger, and let it reveal soul. There is no reason why the first Halo of this console generation can't be the best in solo play, the best in online multiplayer, the best in storyine and integrated media, and the best piece of human art to launch on consoles this year.
If Guardians can lock down what all other Halos accomplished individually - and correct the online errors that the Master Chief Collection left in a flaming bag on our front doorsteps - then it could be an all-time great. It could be our Star Wars.
It could also be the end of Master Chief. The question is: Will we be the ones to pull the trigger, or to avoid the fatal bullet? I can't wait to find out.
* Are your hopes high for Halo 5? Post your comments below!
- nzherald.co.nz