When the Master Chief was first introduced to gamers back in 2001, John-117 was a cutting-edge super soldier born from the intense physical and psychological training of the Spartan-II program. But in the eleven years that have passed since the first game, the Halo universe has seen the birth of the brand new Spartan IV soldiers. So is the Master Chief obsolete?
In a recent interview with Time Magazine, creative director Josh Holmes discusses whether these new Spartans are ready to replace the Chief or if there something that is intrinsically exceptional about the series' stoic protagonist.
"I think that's one of the core interesting questions that gets asked on a subtle level through the story of Halo 4," Holmes told Time. "There's a new breed of Spartans - have they managed to surpass the Master Chief, or is there something inherently special about him?"
Holmes points to the creation of the Spartans-II program and its use of a very selective gene-candidate pool as a reason for Master Chief's success.
"I think just going to canon, and without spoiling the exploration of that within the story, the Master Chief was part of a select group of individuals chosen based on their genetic makeup," Holmes said. "They were the very finest, point-zero-zero-zero-zero-one percent of the population. And there was absolutely no expense spared in preparing them, giving them the technology they needed to thrive on the battlefield."
According to Holmes, the Spartan-IV program consists of the finest current members of the UNSC's military. These soldiers are augmented to be capable of wearing high-end technology, but they were not submitted to the same type of training as the Spartan-II program.
"Spartan IVs are enlisted from the best soldiers in active duty, that are then augmented with much more advanced technology than Chief had access to, but they're not nearly as hand-selected in terms of their genetic makeup," Holmes told Time. "They haven't gone through the same genetic modifications that Chief went through. So there are things in the canon that would set Chief apart from this new breed of Spartans, but it's definitely a question."
Holmes says that the dynamic between John-117 and the new Spartans-IVs will be at the core of Halo 4's story.
"The Spartan IVs are going to have the attitude, "Hey, we're younger, we're better, we have better technology, what do you have to show us old man?" And yet at the same time, Chief is a legend. He's accomplished things that no other Spartan or soldier has accomplished. Let's just say you're hitting on something that's at the core of the story in Halo 4 and the Infinity series," Holmes told Time Magazine.
Halo 4 is now available worldwide as of Nov. 6 for the Xbox 360. You can read Holmes' full interview at Time Magazine.
The first official Halo 4 launch trailer was produced by "Fight Club" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," director David Fincher and was directed by visual effects craftsman Tim Miller. You can check out the 'Scanned' trailer below. You can also check out the five best trailers in the video game series here.
If you want to more about how 343 Industries has attempted to make Halo 4 feel familiar and brand new at the same time, check out that article here. No more Master Chief in future Halo games? Maybe read about it here. Learn how you can earn free Microsoft points by playing Halo 4's multiplayer mode here.
Have you seen Microsoft's "Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn?" The new web series consist of five web segments. Here are all the segments; Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4 and Episode 5. Don't forget to check back here later this week for our review of Halo 4.