Telling It Straight

Halo 4 neatly drops you into the firing line of another Covenant fleet. We're as confused as the still-groggy Master Chief. Didn't we finish up friends when last we met in Halo 3?

A lot can change in the four years since Spartan 117 did a Ripley; something your ever-present A.I Cortana notes a few seconds after you've snapped your first Elite's neck and tossed him down a lift shaft.

Yet it's a mystery that never gets resolved, buried instead under a planet's worth of bullet-punctured alien bodies. You're so busy surviving you only give it thought after the end credits role. It's not a plot hole as such, but its an oversight, a set of facts that could easily be explained in a couple of lines during any of the many dialogues that occur over the campaign.

For the filler of events in that near half-decade absence, you'll need to pick up the ongoing tie-in novel series by Karen Traviss.

If you're a fan of the franchise, the wider universe, then that's likely not a problem. But it means for some, there's a hole in the game's story that's never addressed, forcing them to seek out answers to questions that shouldn't need to be asked.

For big franchises, expansion through multiple mediums is commonplace. Tie-in comics, novels, even smart phone games. TV shows, movies. Bring weaned on the countless graphic novels and books that saw the Star Wars Extended Universe sprawled across my childhood, I can see the attraction of learning more about the universe I love as much as companies see the attraction in generating cash flow.

Yet the sense of being forced to piece together the full set of facts irks. There's a difference between embellishment and dilution. You can watch the original Star Wars trilogy and feel satisfied.

Imagine the Vader versus Luke fight in Jedi if Empire's father reveal had been relegated to a tie-in comic book.

When you're aware of a missing link, then you've a problem. It's as effective as not being in on a joke, an awareness of something left unsaid.

Yet gaming's got a good track record in offshoots. Mass Effect's numerous novels use the landscapes of the trilogy to tell stories featuring new characters, or expands on those with only minor roles in the games. Those novel-specific characters get a nod in the game, minor characters are more fleshed out. Non-readers would be non the wiser.

One of the most obvious examples in games, and one that worked for the most part, was Enter the Matrix. The premise, and to be honest, the execution, was fairly well done.

A tie-in to Matrix Reloaded with a plot that ran concurrently to the film, tracking two support characters in a storyline that repeatedly interwove with the movie's, the two stood fine viewed separately, but benefited from having experienced the other. Sixty minutes of movie footage was shot specifically for the game, a luxury unheard of before, further tying the two together.

Another is Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, which operated much like a origin take for the character, explaining the backstory of his night vision. Taken simply as a standalone product, it's a cool way to introduce a new gameplay mechanic. But it adds a little extra flavour to the Pitch Black film - and takes nothing away from it.

All are arguments for universe expansion that benefits or at least doesn't detract from the overall quality of any given section. The Halo 4 issue is one I've rarely come across, which I'm thankful for. I don't necessarily believe the plot point was specifically avoided to sell a few more copies of a tie-in novel. But I just never want to see such issues become a trend.

Crossovers and multi-media expansions can build these fantasy worlds. But when information is missed either due to expectation its already known, or to push a sale in another avenue, its a poor decision. A story should feel complete whatever medium you buy it in. Skipping it lets the audience down.