I’ve played several games where I work in a squad of important characters in games, and I don’t feel like Halo did a very good job at implementing the same idea, at least with Locke’s squad. To be clear, I am talking from the perspective of a player who has not accessed the novels that delve into Blue Team’s, Tanaka’s and Vale’s backstory; I am giving my thoughts based on how much value the characters provide when it comes to enjoying the game.
To start off, the squadmates in the campaign feel very bland with the exception of Buck. Even Master Chief and Locke felt bland as characters with their in-game dialogue. In comparison to other games where the player is in a team, like Left 4 Dead and Mass Effect, the characters in the Halo campaign do not say very unique things. When fighting enemies, walking around, or interacting with the player, they do not have lines that make me think “Oh, that’s a typical Tanaka line,” or “Ha, that’s something Kelly would say.” Rather, I don’t feel anything. In fact, a lot of players consider Tanaka to be a very forgettable due to her generic soldier lines. Even her speech, before dropping on Sunaion, was a cliché “we’ve come so far, let’s hope we survive this” speech.
Now, if we compare this with other games like Left 4 Dead and Mass Effect, many of the characters in those games have their distinct personalities and their distinct feeling when the player goes through the story. For example, Francis has his signature “I hate X” lines, like “I hate zombies,” “I hate helicopters,” “I hate elevators.” When players hear “I hate…” they immediately thing “Yup, that’s Francis.” In Mass Effect, when a player hears “I WILL DESTROY YOU,” they think of either the annoying AI encountered throughout the planets or the psychotic biotic Jack. These things gave the campaign some replayability because the characters added their unique charm to the game. Players grow to like these characters, and they want to play alongside those characters again (anecdotally, I still have a crush on Tali in ME). To make things even funnier, characters interacted with each other very frequently. Nick from L4D2 enjoys making fun of Ellis and Coach often while Rochelle often acts like a “big sister” to Ellis. Shepard and Tali flirted when they infiltrated a Geth ship in Mass Effect 3. Even Marines in Halo 2 interacted with each other by laughing at each others’ jokes.
We can even use previous Halo games as a comparison. In Halo: ODST, each ODST had a unique personality. The Rookie acted like the silent protagonist who would follow orders and know what to do without saying a single word. Buck filled the leader role who casually smack-talked but had the right attitude when needed. Mickey was the charming comic relief (like Olaf from Frozen), who would make optimistic comments about getting a tank, blowing up a building, and hijacking a Phantom. Romeo was the maverick who was always a pain in the -Yoink- for Buck, especially with his snarky complaints about stairs and fighting stuff. Dutch was the cynical dude who gave the feeling of “-Yoink- this -Yoink-, can we just get it over with?”
Little trivia: The voice actor for Mickey also voiced Olaf
With Halo 5, there was potential to give Locke’s squat at the very least, some charm. Considering Vale’s the one who usually has intel, I would’ve like to hear some subtly nerdy comments from her, especially if Locke is interacting with tech. With this attitude, it would be pretty funny to hear Vale get frustrated when Tanaka or Buck get confused by tech jargon or Shangheli terms that Vale uses. With Tanaka, we could have her be a tough on the outside, soft on the inside character, considering her tragic background. I did notice her reaction when looking into the distance on the mission Glassed, and I would suggest to 343: You should have taken it further. I think players would remember Tanaka much more if her sympathy towards people losing everything was more prevalent. Even Blue Team would benefit from very subtle emotions in their lines so that they don’t all seem like the same killing machines. Chief should still have his signature lines where he just says a word or two, giving him the badass impression. I think it’d be pretty funny to have Fred be very chill with his voice, like a Morgan Freeman-like voice. I just want some color to the characters.
Having said all this, do I like the idea of fighting with a squad? I actually love it. However, I want to be able to remember each person in my squad. I want to be able to hear a line and think “That totally sounds like Vale”
