Certain franchises are inextricably linked to particular consoles, and nothing says Xbox quite as strongly as the Halo series. First launched in 2001, Halo soon became a fan-favorite with Xbox players and has continued to evolve over the decades into a cultural juggernaut. One of the core elements of Halo's success is the character at the center of most of its stories – Master Chief. The armored Spartan soldier is one of the most recognizable and iconic protagonists in modern gaming, but that didn't stop the Halo series from exploring other options when it introduced Jameson Locke.
It was a controversial decision in the opinion of some fans to move the Halo franchise away from its central hero, and despite praise for its combat and multiplayer, Halo 5: Guardian's campaign and story received mixed reviews. The fifth mainline installment reinvented lots of the familiar aspects of a Halo title, in addition to shifting the spotlight significantly away from Master Chief for the first time. While plenty of players compared Master Chief with Spartan Locke to the latter's detriment, the two are more similar than some might think.
Master Chief And Spartan Locke
In the opinion of many, Master Chief is Halo, and it's hard to imagine one without the other. While there were some spinoffs with other formats that didn't necessarily revolve around Master Chief, having a title without him seems inconceivable to some corners of the fanbase. Halo 5 tested the waters when it came to exploring single-player campaigns outside the iconic Spartan, but many felt like this was a failed experiment. Featuring the adventures of Spartan fireteams Blue (made up of Spartan 2s) and Osiris (consisting of the newer Spartan 4s), Halo 5's story ended up relegating Master Chief to the sidelines as Jameson Locke took on a more prominent role.
Although Locke featured front and center in a lot of Halo 5's promotional material ahead of release, it was a bit of a shock to launch players into his story in the place of Master Chief. While gamers could play as Master Chief in a few missions, the majority of the game was from Locke's perspective. Halo 5 was ambitious, but some felt like it took the franchise in the wrong direction and that prioritizing Locke's story over Master Chief's was a mistake. However, the argument could definitely be made that both Locke and Master Chief have more parallels than players might think and that overall the two protagonists are just different sides of the same coin.
A Trend For Halo Protagonists
Both Master Chief and Locke had difficult childhoods that turned them into survivors from a young age. Their backstories might greatly diverge from there, but the building blocks of their personalities affected their outlooks and actions throughout the games. Locke became an assassin for hire before ONI trained him as one of their top operatives, and he was selected for the intensive Spartan 4 program. In contrast, Master Chief was conscripted as a child into the controversial UNSC Spartan 2 program and was shaped into a supersoldier after years of grueling training. Master Chief may have a cohort of allies, but for the most part, he operates as a lone wolf.
The Halo titles exist in an expansive, science fiction universe that pits humanity against a number of threats, like the memorable Covenant. With all of these conflicting factions and the continuous navigation of combat situations as groups come up against each other, framing the narratives through the perspective of a soldier just makes the most sense. Both Master Chief and Locke fit this bill, and while there are nuances within their characters that separate them, they're both natural leaders that carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Some may accuse either of being too taciturn or lacking a definitive personality, but this allows Halo players to experience the world through an unobtrusive filter while still conveying an emotional impact.