James Silva of bit-tech.com posted the article “Halo 3 and the Art of Repetition” a couple days ago. James describes the “hapless, manipulated pawn” feeling we fanboys (and girls) are faced with when beginning a new game. Like a new born calf, our digital bodies wobble and jerk through a strange, new environment and the learning curve is crammed down our throats as our eyes and ears struggle to decipher it all.

This child-like feeling becomes a blunt contrast with the “cut scenes” where the Master Chief is cool, confident and collected Uber-Hero - and that’s a terminal disease in other video games:

Repetition, when used appropriately, can do wonders to help the bewildered player step into the shoes of the unstoppable hero

When I finished the campaign - the first time - I did NOT feel like a slick, somewhat arrogant James Bond kind of guy. In fact, I thought I got lucky most of the way and couldn’t believe I had made it to the end. I felt much more relieved than successful.

Maybe that’s why I don’t give a rats arse about the Halo story; I can’t relate to a story about a trained killer who’s kicking ass and taking names 24/7. If Master Chief started off as a new recruit and we followed his progress in to ultimate bad-ass, well that’s a story that I might find interesting and slightly addictive.

Jumping into a character who’s already the savior of the universe doesn’t jive when I’m still trying to figure out which direction to move. In the case of Halo 3, this hurts the game - that’s my opinion.

My hat is off to James. Well done pointing out the finer points of our beloved Halo 3 and teaching us to channel our emotional response to games.

Here’s the link again: www.bit-tech.net

photo by megadem