The Blu-ray edition of Halo Legends arrived at the Major Spoilers doorstep this past weekend, and since resident gamer Rodrigo was hanging around looking for something to do, we had him pop the movie in and file an early, spoiler-free, report.
I’m really bad at first-person shooters, I mean REALLY bad. When Golden Eye came out for the N64 my little brother would consistently defeat me by sneaking up behind me and slapping me. In college I wasn’t allowed near the controls for the original Xbox since my dorm mates were concerned that I’d imprint my bad-at-winning-ness onto the console itself.
So it’s nice of Warner Brothers to release Halo Legends, so that even those of us who can’t hit the broad side of a troop transport will have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the Halo universe. “Legends†is an anthology comprised of seven separate stories (eight really, since there’s a two-parter) taking place somewhere and somewhen in the Halo universe. Now, by this point your mind is probably saying “Hey, that sounds like the Animatrix, or maybe Batman: Gotham Knight.†Your mind is correct, you should listen to it more often instead of slowly killing it by playing Xbox. Halo Legends is very similar to the Animatrix, right down to the serialized origin story animations narrated by an AI. Each story is animated differently, some are rendered in 3D computer graphics, others in bright cell-style animation and one notable one in soft, impressionistic, migraine-inducing brushstrokes.
The tone of each piece varies greatly, one is almost entirely about whether one girl is going to kill another girl, while another is all about Spartan 1337 fighting a giant cyborg ape while a bunch of caveman kids make fun of him. Halo Legends still manages to have a through line though and although there’s plenty of shooting, exploding, glassing, needling and fragging each piece is interesting on its own and contributes to a very enjoyable all-around experience.
I’m giving Halo Legends 3 and ½ stars out of five, but seriously it could’ve been four if I hadn’t had to pop four Excedrin for my migraine during that Feudal Elite society vignette.
[review: 3.5/5]
2 Comments
first, try first person shooter on the PC, you’ll be way better.
second, i felt that this show was badass for the sake of badass. i felt that they were trying too much to please the fans.
Yeah, but that’s why the anthology format works, this way they can just give you 15 minutes of badassery and not worry about anything else.