Halo Killers

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What Master Chief needs to learn from his competition if he hopes to survive

Lesson: More Gore

Teacher: Gears of War
Substitutes: None

Before we started researching this article, we decided to avoid changes that would betray the basic nature of Halo. And since Halo has always been about fast, frantic and harmless fun, wouldn't adding a butcher shop's worth of blood and guts be highly inappropriate?

Yeah, probably. We wouldn't expect the jaw-dropping, stomach-churning gorefest that Gears of War has trademarked. We don't want to see chunks of flesh stick to the screen and we certainly don't need to see Master Chief's intestines flying through the crisp Valhalla air. But Halo already wears an "M for Mature" rating - always has - so why is the violence restricted mostly to extreme rag doll physics?

Have some more fun with it... without going overboard. A decapitated head won't be that scary if it's still in its Spartan helmet, especially if it's rolling comically down the hillside into the river. Occasionally lose an arm or two - Jedi Knight was innocently lopping them off Stormtroopers ten years ago.

Or, if you want, just copy Gears. Because you have to admit, that screenshot above is pretty damn cool.

Charlie Barratt
Charlie Barratt
I enjoy sunshine, the company of kittens and turning frowns upside down. I am also a fan of sarcasm. Let's be friends!