Master Chief Should Have Kept The Helmet On

thegamer.com:

Last week, I reviewed the opening two episodes of the Halo TV series and came away sensing the potential, but largely underwhelmed. In the review, I avoided spoilers with the exception of one single plot point that the public had already been told about in advance - Master Chief takes his helmet off. It's a controversial decision, even if I understand it. I've since asked producers Steven Kane & Kiki Wolfkill, as well as Master Chief himself Pablo Schreiber, for their thoughts on the moment, but I remain unconvinced by it. I imagine it was enough to put some of you off watching, or at least give you reservations, and it's difficult to defend criticism of it when it's this imagined wrong committed against the sanctity of the game you have played for 20 years. Now that it's out in the wild, it can stand on its own two feet... and I think we can all agree it probably shouldn't have happened yet.

I understand the choice to do it. Chief is what you make of him in the games, but in the TV show, he belongs to Pablo Schreiber. A lot of acting is reacting, and that means the subtleties of your face, a glance, and the freedom to move your head are all much bigger factors on television than they are in a video game where the story is primarily told through short cutscenes and playable objectives. Then there's the voice - speaking through a helmet changes the pitch of your voice and strangles the nuance, so when you're playing a character whose whole arc is about rediscovering his humanity, these tiny details count for something. I'm not a Halo purist. I don't mind the helmet coming off. It just happened far too early.

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