I may have fallen in love with Halo 1, 2 and ODST, but I’ve never been obsessed or even interested in the additional materials. I read Fall of Reach and was utterly disgusted. There were inconsistencies in how events played out in the book and how they carry out in the game world (if a genetically modified teenager can merely jump kick a power suit, which makes no appearance whatsoever in the games, to the ground then why can’t the Master Chief grab a Hunter, throw it to the ground and rip out the worms that make up its physical being?). The effort to give the Chief some added personality is met with failure. I don’t care if you were designed for war and the objective, it is not confusing when the loss of hundreds of men makes a “victory” questionable.

Yet the content within these books has been described as important to the overall universe, helping you understand the story and events better. I’ve often heard that you can only understand the beginning of Halo 3 if you read the novels. This is not only stupid, but incorrect. It is easy to assume that whatever device the Master Chief hijacked in Halo 2 is precisely what he leapt from at the start of Halo 3. See? No terribly written books required. Besides, if important story content is available in the books while remaining absent in the games, then that is simply bad planning on Bungie’s part. That’s like starting Empire Strikes Back at Cloud City and explaining all the crap on Hoth and Degobah happened in a book or comic supplement.

Yet the biggest problem with the extraneous Halo materials is the presence of Spartans. It would seem that one of the books, or possibly multiple books, contain Spartans aside from the Master Chief. In Halo Wars there are a number of Spartans present. As can be expected, there are also a number of Spartans in Halo: Legends. The most uninteresting and boring part of Halo seems to be the only thing people are interested in, and the sheer population of them ruins what Bungie was going for at the start of the original Halo.

Humans are referred to as heretics, but Master Chief specifically is referred to as a demon. All the Covenant know him. He is a legendary figure, the Red Baron of the human armada, if you will. His special trait is that he always survives, which is also his curse. He is the sole Spartan to have survived Reach. He is the only human to have survived the destruction of the original Halo ring (I’ll call the survival of Sgt. Johnson comedic magic (and yes, I know it has been explained in a book or a comic or some shit)). Even at the end of Halo 2 he was a lone survivor, where High Charity and even Cortana were lost to the Flood.

This is why the Covenant refer to him as a demon. He can do what no other human, Spartan or no, has proven capable of. Surviving.

Yet all of a sudden we have plenty of surviving Spartans in Halo Wars, a few apparent survivors in the books and even a few in Halo Legends. It is true that the instruction booklet of the original Halo game mentions the Spartans had been deployed on test missions, but every mission created is a vital one in the additional material. It doesn’t make sense that a test run involves the salvation of an entire planet or just five soldiers infiltrating an entire Covenant fleet to obtain one package. Those aren’t test runs, those are major missions.

Yet the entire purpose is “yo, dude, Spartans are so bad ass man”. That mentality, so prevalent in the mind of the modern gamer, is boring. Watching someone that is capable of performing extremely nimble and powerful attack maneuvers is briefly awesome, but it becomes boring without any additional meaning behind it. There is nothing fun about playing a demigod. The name alone basically tells the result. The demigod always wins. Where is the suspense? The conflict?

I certainly love the Halo universe, but it is so often placed into the wrong hands. I’ve discussed in the past that the only people that seem to “get it” are the ones making the commercials. It’s not a happy universe. Humanity is fighting a continually losing war. Morale is low but there is no other option. You fight or you die, which fighting often leads to dying anyway, and most people are going to choose to fight. The Covenant, meanwhile, is a structure of multiple races that have their own inner conflicts. The rebellion of the Elites was actually a really interesting twist, especially since it divided the Covenant altogether.

At least, seemingly so, until whoever was in charge of Halo 3 decided they needed to get rid of anything that could possibly make the game awesome and different. Sure there were a few fights where you had Elites on your side, but there were no battlefields littered with Covenant fighting amongst other Covenant. What could have moved the story into an interesting direction was instead handled by the pen of an amateur.

Yet who cares? Master Chief is bad ass and so is the multiplayer! lol amirite?

So what does all of this have to do with Halo Legends? Well, firstly, every time I wind up needing to write about something Halo related I cannot resist the urge to point out its wasted potential. It may not be the most original setting out there, but it offers the possibility for some great stories to be told. One of the reasons Halo 2 actually had a good story (yes, it was a good story believe it or not!) was because there was no evil side. There were the humans and the Covenant. There was now a personality to the both of them and you could empathize with both plights.

Halo Legends, much like Halo 3, tends to remove that personality in favor of prettying up the Spartans. I actually find this most curious since the original Macross anime also had a space war where humans were fighting a losing battle, the alien race faced a rebellion and in the end both sides were given personality. There was never really an evil race, just different backgrounds. As a result you’d think the Japanese would be all over the Covenant since this setting has so much in common with one of their greatest shows created. Unfortunately this is not the case.

As a result, The Duel is by far the best short in Halo Legends. It has nothing to do with humans at all, but is actually a look into the past of the Elites and the origin of the Arbiter. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous and also gives an interesting Eastern flavor to the universe. Most importantly, however, is the story itself. While there are some elements of it that are trite and even lame (it’s hard to care about a man’s wife when she giggles so much), it goes into the cost of joining the Covenant. The choice to fight against impossible odds instead of serving a cause you do not believe in is at the heart of what would later lead to the Covenant divide. How the role of Arbiter, once that of honor and pride, was transformed into a shameful suicidal role for the fallen seeking redemption.

It is by far the only short, and only piece of extraneous material, worth its weight in supporting the franchise. It “gets it”. It understands the potential of the setting and just how deep it can be. It isn’t just the excellent artwork or great combat scenes. That’s the simple fun flavoring. It’s the meaning within it, and the great part is that it totally fits the Japanese culture. It is not only a worthy addition to the franchise but actually fits the project. To take a Western game and give it an Eastern twist. As a result it is the best this DVD has to offer.

There were a few other decent shorts as well. The Prototype is fun and carries what could be a message throughout the franchise of being human, especially considering how empty of a shell the Master Chief is. I’m not sure what the time frame is, but it seems the idea of The Prototype was a sort of precursor to the Spartan project. Interesting, certainly, but mostly fun for the animation and Mech action. Homecoming delves into the earlier stages of the Spartan project and examines some of the individuals that chose to leave, displeased with their training. It’s a bit interesting psychologically and also tried to see a more human angle on the trainees, but is similar to The Prototype. It’s interesting and fun, but doesn’t pull off the same excellence as The Duel.

The one thing I can certainly say about both of these shorts is they also “get” some aspect of the Halo universe. There weren’t many victories before the Master Chief destroyed the first Halo ring. It was merely a fight to survive, and many sacrificed themselves so that others may live. This should be the typical backdrop to any vision of the Halo world. After all, humanity was losing. This should be reflected in the material. Therefore I give credit to The Prototype and Homecoming for keeping this idea, allowing each story to be enjoyed as a part of the greater whole.

The Babysitter is tough to enjoy because it is littered with anime cliché like no other project on the disc. There’s definitely some value there, but on the whole it’s the same thing. Throw in some pretty animation and action with shallow characters and you have a pretty bland experience on the whole. It also has a bittersweet ending, but overall feels too optimistic. “What do you know, the mission was mostly a success after all”. What could have perhaps made it better would be the mission being an absolute failure and what few survivors could getting out of there by the skin of their teeth. Again, the sort of failure the humans were facing before Master Chief came and blew up the first ring. Humans should be left with a “what is it all for?” mentality, and even mourning the loss of their comrades further.

Odd One Out is by far the most controversial, at least to most fans I imagine. It is purely for comedic purposes, and part of me wonders if it is actually a jab at the Western games industry. The main hero is Spartan 1337 (lol see wut i did thar?), a rather clumsy soldier that is convinced of his own bad assery. There are dinosaurs present and in the end 1337 does nothing to save the day at all. In fact he even seems oblivious to his surroundings and the acrobatic capabilities of two separate characters throughout. One giant jab at Western games being so focused on blank slate heroes whose only talent is tearing the hearts from their foes through the eye socket? Possibly.

If it’s an impression and even mockery of Western game heroes, I can’t say I blame them. Still, it’s humorous and amusing, but one watch is all you really need. If that. Odd One Out is appropriately named not only because of the lead character but also the ridiculous nature. It’s certainly one of the more entertaining and probably second only to The Duel in that value, but it is also relatively forgettable.

Origins is a two part short that covers the entire history of Halo, from the Forerunner to the events in the first game. It is, for the most part, boring and only exists for those that didn’t realize there was a plot to begin with (or perhaps those not familiar with the game franchise, but if that’s the case why would you buy the DVD?). It is by far the most uninteresting short and it is a shame that it is in two parts (it’s also a shame that they chose to go with the Flood being a random alien race that reigned down from the sky. I’ve always preferred the concept that the Flood were a synthetic creation developed by the Forerunner themselves, and thus were hoist by their own pitard). That isn’t necessarily to say it’s bad, it just isn’t fun to watch. That is, unless you really like small clips of random battles and Cortana droning on about how war is bad but humans love it.

Yet the most absolute worst short of them all is The Package. Which, interestingly enough, is the only one that tries to give some personality to the Covenant outside of The Duel. The 3-D animation is beautiful enough, but the writing is God awful. I really get tired of describing something as being written by a middle schooler, but it is so prevalent in this industry that I can’t avoid it. The banter sounds like a kid trying to sound bad ass based off of all the movies he has seen. It doesn’t at all sound as if the writer has had real conversations with actual people, or has ready any book without pictures in it. I almost had an anyeurism when they finally rescued the package and a female characters starts to repeat all Cortana’s major lines. I kid you not, from “no thanks to their driving, yes” to “don’t make a girl a promise if you can’t keep it”, they stuffed them all in there. If this doesn’t make your nose bleed from the sheer idiocy of it all then I can’t help you. You are a lost cause, just as whoever wrote this short must be.

If I didn’t know any better I’d swear The Package were the real criticism of the Western games industry. It’s beautiful and full of action (incredibly cheesy action), but the writing is so God awful it may make you hemorrhage. In essence The Package isn’t just bad, it’s outright stupid. Do yourself a favor and watch this short first, because it will make all of the shorts after it that much better.

So on the whole, what did I think of Halo Legends? Well, I’m glad it was a Netflix rental, that’s for sure. Yet it was also better than the Gotham Knight collection of shorts, which were either boring or absolutely terrible, save for one short.

Really, the only short that I’d recommend everyone see is The Duel. After that I’d say Homecoming and The Prototype are pretty decent as well, but not necessary. After that, though, there’s nothing really worth the time on the disc. Maybe Odd One Out if you want to have a laugh, but even that one wears thin pretty fast.

On the whole it’s simply not that great of a DVD, and I just know that any real value will be missed by most of the masses in favor of “Spartans are teh sweet!”. That is, after all, what Bungie has allowed of their franchise. Either way, whether you’re a fan of anime or of Halo, this isn’t worth your money.

Discuss how many times I can start a paragraph with “Yet” on the forums