Bungie had an unspoken rule for Halo cinematics: "Never make the player in the cinematic feel more 'badass' than the actual game"

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A pair of ex-Halo designers are reminiscing on the series' golden years

Halo
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Halo 5 just crossed its 10th anniversary, and to celebrate, a pair of former Halo designers are talking about why the series' earlier cinematics are so much better.

Released in 2015, history hasn't been especially kind to Halo 5, and its flashy, cinematic, ultimately controversial opening scene is either seen as a standout in an otherwise lackluster single-player campaign, or a glitzy prophecy of what would follow. Either way, original Halo: Combat Evolved designer Jaime Griesemer and Halo 3 campaign designer Niles Sankey have thoughts on how it compares to older Halo cinematics.

Echoing this sentiment in a different framing, Sankey argued that video cinematics shouldn't outdo the actual gameplay, sharing this insight from his time at Bungie.

"A few of us at Bungie had an unspoken rule about Halo cinematics: Never make the player in the cinematic feel more 'badass' than the actual game," said Sankey. "We don't want players thinking 'I wish that's how the game actually felt'. Cinematics should serve the gameplay, not compete w it."

Indeed, one of the most enduring and persistent paint points about Halo 5 is that the opening cinematic writes a check that the ensuing campaign can't cash. And that appears to be precisely Sankey's point.

"Can you point me to the gameplay clip where players: Airdrop in, slide half way down a mountain, run through rocks, parkour a Wraith, jump into a Phantom while parkouring a Jackal, and then karate roundhouse eject an Elite out the side? I'd love to see that," he wrote in a follow-up tweet.

I'd love to see that too.

Halo co-creator says Campaign Evolved "looks and feels genuine": "It's gorgeous in a way I wish we could have built it originally back in 2001"

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Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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