In an interview with games™ 343 Industries creative director Frank ‘O Connor discusses the evolution of Master Chief between Halo 3 and Halo 4. Now that the hero has saved the day, we question ‘O Connor on how 343 Industries intends to expand the character of the mysterious Chief.
“I think if you’ve asked me this question during Halo 2 or Halo 3, I’d have had a different answer,” ‘O Connor muses. “I’d have said that he’s a vehicle for your heroism, he’s literally an empty suit that you fill with yourself. But the funny thing is, as the years have gone on, people have started to have more of their own individual impressions of what, and who, the Master Chief is. And I think it is important to flesh him out, but I don’t think we’d do that by making him speak more or by suddenly giving him loads and loads of dialogue.”
“I think we’d do that by creating more context with the characters and the events around him. The biggest difference between Master Chief in Halo 4 and in Halo 3 is that he’s going to be a hero now, in a very real sense, within a universe where everyone’s heard of him. Everyone knows that he basically saved the galaxy and saved humanity, and before that he was a somewhat anonymous soldier, and people had surely heard of the Spartans, but they hadn’t given any specific thought – as far as the canon was concerned – to the individual nature of each Spartan. But now, the Master Chief is a legend to civilians, to other soldiers, to ODSTs, to marines and so on. So I think we can definitely focus a lens on who he is as he relates to the people around him and I think that will be important going forward.”
Read the rest of our exclusive interview with 343 Industries in Issue 115 of games™, available from October 27. For subscription information is also available at the Imagine Shop.
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