Storytelling in Videogames: Thoughts on Halo 3
I recently finished my second play-through of Halo 3. The first time was a semi-epic experience – just before Christmas, I sat down with a friend, and we didn’t get up until the game was done. Now, playing through the main campaign by myself, I took a more leisurely approach, and spent a little more time thinking about the story the game makers at Bungie were telling. My main impressions fall into two categories – plot and character.
The characters in the Halo series are an odd mix. Some, such as Sergeant Johnson, exist solely to give a face and name to the hundreds of background characters – similar to Kilrain in the movie Gettysburg. The two characters whose arcs I found most interesting – Cortana, the AI, and The Arbiter – have stories that serve mainly as a background against which the player character, Master Chief, can act. I find it curious that so many fans adore the Master Chief when we know almost nothing about him. From the games, we know that his first name is John and that he is the last surviving Spartan – a future super-soldier clad in mechanized armor. I’m sure the various books and other media tie-ins offer a few more details about his background, but by and large the Master Chief is a blank slate. If you were to describe his character arc, or try to describe him, you would find that he fits in with most action heroes – fun to watch, but lacking in depth. In most genres, I would say this is a storytelling weakness. In this case, though, I think it is a smart decision.
Because the Master Chief doesn’t have a significant character arc, the player is invited to project him/herself into the role. This increases the sense of immersion, of ownership in the game’s story. When a player describes the events in the game, they will often use the first person (”I emptied my clip, and then I grabbed the grenade launcher.”) rather than the the third (”Master Chief dodged the rocket, and then tossed a grenade through the doorway.”). This immersion is one of the goals of video games, and I think it’s one of the reasons for Halo’s incredible success.
Two of the supporting characters, on the other hand, have arcs that would be praised in other media. The Arbiter is an Elite (an alien race that is variously humanity’s enemy and ally). In Halo 2 he is chosen by the Prophets to be their enforcer. He is essentially the sword-hand of his gods. Through the course of Halo 2 and 3, he rejects his religious beliefs, switches sides in a war, and kills the prophets who appointed him. Take Gladiator, swap politics out for religion, and imagine Maximus as a 7-foot tall alien, and you’ll understand why I think this character could have been given more prominence.
The other slighted character is Cortana – the AI that joins Master Chief at the beginning of the first Halo game. Much of Halo 3 is spent trying to find Cortana and rescue her from the alien vessel she is a captive on. When the player frees her, she is distraught and broken emotionally. At this point, I was simultaneously happy that she was reunited with Master Chief, and pained at the state I found her in. Just one level later, though, the game ends. Master Chief and Cortana are left floating in space, light years from anything. Master Chief puts himself into cryo-sleep to wait until he is found – and leaves Cortana alone again, waiting countless years for rescue. After everything she had been through, seeing this happen to her caused me actual emotional pain. On the one hand, I was upset with the game’s creators for doing that to her. On the other, I was able to step back from the situation and say, “Wow. I’m having this sympathetic reaction for a supporting character in a game. These guys are great.”
Great, but not perfect. One significant flaw of the Halo series is its convoluted plot. Oftentimes in Halo 3 I felt like I was doing something incredibly epic and significant, and wasn’t exactly sure what it was. While this obviously isn’t stopping many people from buying and playing the game, it wouldn’t be hard to fix. It would just take someone pointing out that complexity doesn’t equal depth.
On the whole, though, Halo 3 was a blast. It’s games like this that make me think that video games will soon be recognized as one of the main story telling media, alongside books, movies, and the like.