Microsoft may be thinking of taking the Halo franchise in 'unusual' directions, if a marketing survey is anything to go by.
In a questionnaire sent out by an external research company, participants were asked to rate a number of possible Halo projects on a scale from 'definitely would purchase' to 'definitely would not purchase'.
As you can see from an excerpt of the marketing survey (pictured right) some of the options border on the surreal.
Aside from the obviously amusing 'family friendly Halo game' option, our favourite has to be 'Halo LEGO game'. Whilst a miniature Master Chief would tickle us, we're not sure the puzzle solving platform action of Lego really maps to the Halo universe.
Most plausible options involve a squad based shooter Halo and a couple of new FPS games. Take a look for yourself.
If they had an option for "I never want to see another Halo game ever", that's where my tick would go! Sorry folks but the horse has been flogged to death, time to move on to pastures new! This would force them to come up with fresh IP's and to quit choking the life out of the Halo franchise!
While I think the Lego one would be cute, I don't think I like the idea of more family-oriented ones.
Squad-based could be interesting, but since the MC is supposed to be (one of) the last Spartan(s) and as such the only superhuman in the squad, it'd end up too similar to GRAW or Rainbow Six.
Maybe done like Mass Effect could be alright though, with a lot of RPG influences. That could be cool.
But definitely no to "Master Chief & The Amazing Dancing Fairies" or "Master Chief in Sparkleville".
Hells guys, its only an interest survey. I've done plenty of these in the past, and they always verge on the obscure. Though possibly the most unlikely question to get a positive response I ever read was about a possible Assassin's Creed sequel, asking whether you would like to see more of Desmond and the future sections... yeah. Right.
Can't say as I'd be particularly in favour of many of the titles listed here, but thats what this research is for. Would you rather they just put a game out that no-one had any interest in at all?
Halo, without a doubt is one of my favourite game franchises. 1,2 and 3 were all great games (especially 1) and when you consider what they did with the Forge, holy sh*t, why as gamers are we demanding every feckin Dev gives us this tool.
Playing 4 player co op and then watching what we did in the Theatre is one of the highlights ive had in gaming, so much that you miss out on when your playin it through originally.
MGS and Bungie can take the Halo franchise anywhere they want, ill gladly follow.
ps: to the people that think its stale and finished how many Final Fantasys have their been?
If they had an option for "I never want to see another Halo game ever", that's where my tick would go! Sorry folks but the horse has been flogged to death, time to move on to pastures new! This would force them to come up with fresh IP's and to quit choking the life out of the Halo franchise!
You get that annoyed by a franchise that (so far) has 3 games in it (4 soon I suppose with Halo Wars)? Man, you must get really p**sed off when Mario/Sonic/Metal Gear/Resident Evil/Street Fighter/Tekken/Call Of Duty/GTA or any of the half a billion other franchises that have more than 3 games in the series get mentioned.
I am disappointed there is no "Master Chief and Arbiter Olympics"
Being serious though, what about a prequel concerning the life of John - the boy that became Master Chief? You saw him briefly in the Halo 3 tv ads. That would be family friendly - sort of a fusion of "Bully" and "Halo"
If they had an option for "I never want to see another Halo game ever", that's where my tick would go! Sorry folks but the horse has been flogged to death, time to move on to pastures new! This would force them to come up with fresh IP's and to quit choking the life out of the Halo franchise!
You get that annoyed by a franchise that (so far) has 3 games in it (4 soon I suppose with Halo Wars)? Man, you must get really p**sed off when Mario/Sonic/Metal Gear/Resident Evil/Street Fighter/Tekken/Call Of Duty/GTA or any of the half a billion other franchises that have more than 3 games in the series get mentioned.
I would'nt say that i get annoyed about it but i would like to see what else Bungie could come up with, they are a fantastic developer, all said and done. PS: I don't think i'm alone in thinking that the ff series has become very stale also, since ff7 it has gradually got worse and worse! or emptier maybe?
Some of these look good, but some are terrible money spinners by MS which will ruin Halo. My two cents:
Lego Halo - I would definately buy the toys, but would it work as a game? Only if they remade the original games and even then I'd be sceptical. No new additions to the story should be told in this humerous fashion.
Halo MMO - One of the ones I think could work. I don't have the time to play an MMO so can't see myself shelling out Ł8 a month or whatever to play this but it might work if done well.
Halo racing game - No. I've always thought there should be a game type in the multiplayer of the previous Halo games that lets you race, and even maps made specifically for this purpose, but as a stand-alone game it's stupid idea. Where would Warthog racing fit into the story of the Halo universe?
Halo 3rd person adventure - This one could work. In fact, this is the game type I expect Peter Jackson's Halo games to be. Personally, I'm hoping for a Forerunner game, perhaps where you play as the Librarian during the Forerunner/Flood war. Once again, will work if done well.
Halo arcade game - Halo is good, not just because of the gameplay but the amazing storytelling. This doesn't lend itself well to an arcade game. You can make an arcade game about absolutely anything and it's as good as the gameplay - putting the Halo name to it is doing nothing but trying to get more people to buy it, and can only do badly for the franchise.
Halo shooter (not MC) - There's a reason you didn't play as the Arbiter in Halo 3, 'nuff said. Might work if the story is based well outside the life of MC (e.g. Forerunner) and is in a completely different setting, but anything else will just make us wish we were playing the Chief again.
Halo Wars - Well obviously this is going ahead no matter what the result of this poll is, but I am definately looking forward to this one. It's a good sidestep for the franchise into a different genre. I'm just hoping there'll be some great FMV and more story.
Squad-based Halo - This one could work too. I think a game based on a squad during the battle for New Mombasa would be a good setting. Being the Chief you never really saw first-hand the plight of the UNSC marines trying to defeat this terrible alien invasion. That same old caveat, though - will be good if done well.
Halo prequel shooter - The Fall of Reach? Only thing I can think of that might work. Problem is that the Halo games have developed the story afresh. Not sure how good it would be if you played a Halo game knowing the whole story already from the book.
Halo sequel shooter - I would definately like to see what happens to Cortana and the Chief after Halo 3 with their half of In Amber Clad falling towards (what we assume to be) the Forerunner planet. This one is probably what I want to see the most, although I think it would work better if Peter Jackson brings us an adventure based on the Forerunners so that we see more of their history before we see them with the Chief. I would love to see the Reclaimer helping out the Forerunners with a new threat that ISN'T the Flood.
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