Most people agree that Bungie's Halo titles are masterpieces, but when 343 Industries (now called Halo Studios) took over, they first made Halo 4, which received some criticism for its boring new enemies and for borrowing too much from Call of Duty. When it was time for Halo 5: Guardians, they once again attempted to revitalize the concept by, among other things, replacing Master Chief.
Instead they brought in a new Spartan warrior from nowhere, called Locke, whom we were suddenly expected to cheer on as he hunted down Master Chief, who had instead gone off on his own adventures. But the marketing was ambiguous, and far from everyone liked the new direction. One critic was Steve Downes, Master Chief's iconic voice actor.
Over the weekend, he held a Q&A where he answered several questions, and among other things, he touched on Master Chief's fifth adventure when asked about occasions when it had been particularly challenging to play the character:
"The thing that comes to mind when we were doing Halo 5: Guardians."
Downes explained that he felt 343 Industries wasn't quite on the right track with its marketing angle and also felt that they were taking the character in a direction that didn't suit him:
"We also did separate sessions that ended up being promos and trailers to promote Halo 5. And as many of you know, those stories, those trailers sort of led you to believe one thing, when in fact it was another thing in the actual game.
And I sort of uh kind of knew that when we were doing it and felt that perhaps the chief was being pushed in a direction that that I didn't feel was particularly right. So trying to find that, trying to keep the director happy and also be true to the character became a little more of a challenge than what I was used to."
Do you agree with Downes, and did you react to the fact that Master Chief was perhaps not quite as convincing as he usually is in this somewhat controversial adventure?
<social>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUBssTPwnyo</social>