Bungie/Microsoft Studios
*Note - contains spoilers, if you have not played Halo: Combat Evolved or Mass Effect I suggest that you do. Honestly you will be doing yourself a favor.
Science fiction is favorite genre in popular culture that usually based around advanced technology and concepts of science. It is one of my personal favorites as well just because of the range of subjects it touches, from using DNA in amber to recreate an extinct species, to exploring vast galaxies teeming with alien life.
Having a strong narrative to introduce to an audience helps bring them into the universe and feel invested in the events that transpire.
There are many series from movies and video games that are themed around science fiction, but I think that there are few that do it as well as the Halo franchise and the Mass Effect franchise that started as video games before branching out into other forms of media to expand their respective universes. Such rapid expansion is good sign that there is a great story and that there is a significant interest from the audience in learning more about why things are the way they are.
In the first installment of the Halo franchise, Halo: Combat Evolved, upon starting the campaign you overhear two individuals talking with each other while a massive ship nears a gigantic floating ring in space. Its a man’s voice and he simply asks, “Cortana, all I need to know is did we lose them?” A snarky, dry, feminine voice chimes in reply saying that they both already knew the answer to that question.
Assuming your unfamiliar with Halo, a bunch of questions would be rushing into your head.(Unless you read the back of the box and the instruction manual.) Who is them? Who are you people? Who am I? Where in the space are we?
Answers to these questions begin to flow in gradual as a conversation with a friend. Them is the Covenant, the man talking turns out to be the captain of a human ship, Cortana is an AI, and the alien ships will be soon bearing down upon you. The captain then goes on to say to make sure everyone is at there station to which Cortana asks, “Everyone?” with the captain then saying “Everyone.” The ship is bustling with activity. The bridge staff is rushing around to their consoles, a grizzled sergeant giving a rousing speech to his men, and then focusing on a large cryo-chamber room. The orders are given to open the “hushed casket” and out comes the star of the game, you, the Master Chief.
All of this information is relayed to the player within the first four minutes of game and it immediately gets you invested in the action.
In the first level, the player is introduce to the human ship known as the Pillar of Autumn. Its pretty nice but don’t get too attached to it because the Covenant are trying to blast it to bits. You make your way to the bridge of the ship where you are formally introduced to Captain Keyes and he lays down sit rep. You and the marines escape the ship. He advises you to take Cortana as well saying that she is far too vital an asset to be captured by the Covenant. The captain decides to remain with the necessary bridge crew to try and land the ship. You have your orders and the captain even gives you a gun. (Which is not loaded for some reason, this is war with aliens) You head out from the bridge to make your way to the escape pods while killing any Covenant standing in your way.
Bungie/Microsoft
When you finally reach the escape pods a fantastic cutscene begins where you and a group of marines launch your escape pod and start heading towards the ring. Epic music plays as you cruise through space while plasma torpedoes sail by and hit the Autumn. That is where the first level ends but the narrative is just beginning.
So summary wise, you play as the Master Chief throughout his adventure on Installation 04, fight the Covenant, learn some nasty truths about the Halo ring, and walk away from the whole thing as one of the only survivors.
So what elements make this narrative experience feel good?
Well for one, your an amazing work of science and technology. A super soldier with all the bells and whistles. Power armor that generates a shield to protect your health. This sounds more mechanically implied but it is narratively as well. No other marine has the equipment you have. Your beating down aliens with your fists, marines won’t try that. (In this installment at least.) You move faster than the average marine as well.
Marines often make comments upon meeting up with them in various points of the game. Often saying things like “Its him!” or “Wow, there he is!” Stuff like that reinforces the idea that the player is the Master Chief and that there is not another one like him.
The species of Covenant are revealed to the player gradually through the course of play. The first species you see are the Elites, but the first species you actually get to fight are the Grunts. Elites represent the Covenant’s equivalent of you to a degree. They are strong, tall, physically imposing figures with protective shielding like your own. But your the Master Chief, you can take them. As you accomplish such a feat, Grunts and Jackals nearby might go into a panic now that their commander is dead. Grunts are the only aliens who speak in a language you can comprehend and when they panic, they scream things like calling you out as a monster or a bad cyborg. Jackals do not speak English, but generally cower from you when your bearing down on them. All these things make the player feel like a force to be reckoned with. Elites and Hunters are the ultimate tests of a player’s prowess and they bring great deals of satisfaction when they are beaten.
The environments of Halo: Combat Evolved is another great addition to the narrative. The human architecture, Covenant architecture and the architecture of the Halo ring itself all have there own style that separate one from the other. Weapons for both the humans and Covenant follow their own style that makes each unique and it is clear which side the weapons belong too.
Ultimately the strength of Halo’s narrative comes from mystery of the Halo ring and the secrets its holds while fighting off the powerful alien Covenant as an amazing super soldier.
BioWare/Microsoft Studios
Now moving on to Mass Effect.
After making your own look (or not) for Commander Shepard and selecting a pre-service history and psych profile, a pair of voices talking back and forth with each other about this decision being the right choice. The camera starts slowly moving over a planet.
The voices are talking about you, Commander Shepard, and the background that you just recently chose.
The two voices eventually come to agreement and the camera pans into the viewport of a ship where your Commander Shepard is gazing out into the vastness of space.
The screen goes black.
Scrolling text similar to a Star Wars movie shows up giving a brief introduction to where humanity stands in this future period of time and reveals the name of the force that powers all the incredible works technology available. Bam, title cuts in and then resumes focus on a space ship flying quickly through a solar system while closing in on a shiny blue light.
The view periodical cuts back into the interior of the ship where you see a figure walking through the halls making a bead line for bridge. The figure walks by various crew members working, some offer a nod of acknowledgement. As the figure nears the bridge with cinematic music build up, the camera maneuvers around to reveal the figure to be your Commander Shepard. The ship, propelled by the energy of the relay is sent into a jump to another system.
The pilot (referred to as Joker via the subtitles) begins to count off on how the systems are acting after the jump to which an alien replies that the number was good and that the captain would be pleased. The alien leaves the bridge and the pilot begins talking about how he hates that guy. The co-pilot at the time, named Kaidan starts bicker with Joker with Captain Anderson soon coming through on the COMM system asking for Commander Shepard to join them in the briefing room.
After which you gain control and are free to move about on this level of the ship as you like. There are a couple crew members who you can talk to. This is how Mass Effect effectively pulls off its narrative. Engaging in conversation with other characters builds up the player’s knowledge of the world. Its not forced upon the player by any means, but the option to learn more is generally there for pretty much every conversation.
As you make your way into the briefing room, Anderson is not there but Nihlus, the alien that was on the bridge earlier is.
Nihlus begins to start questioning you about the planet that the crew is heading towards and the capabilities of the human Alliance.
Anderson walks in shortly there after and then the meeting gets down to business where it is revealed that this is an op to retrieve an ancient alien artifact. Not only that, Nihlus is here to evaluate you personally to see if a human is ready to join the spectres. Spectres are elite operators authorized by the Galactic Council to complete missions in ways that they deem necessary.
The conversation is interrupted slightly when Joker announces over the COMMs about a transmission coming from the planet. Captain requests that it be patched through.
A video feed plays on the screen with humans in combat armor firing at an unidentified threat. Explosions and shots ring out before a loud blaring sounds off and all the troops pause before the feed dies.
The Captain calls to reverse it by about forty seconds to where the frames show what looks like a giant metal hand. Everyone is silent for a moment, before the Captain decides to adjust the mission parameters.
Shortly, Commander Shepard, a small team, and Nihlus depart from the Normandy to begin the first mission.
Mass Effect poses different questions when compared with Halo, some for example would be why are we comfortable with aliens here? What are the big relays doing out in space? Most of this information is gained through the conversation you have with the characters in the game world.
You would learn that initially, humanity was not friendly with Nihlus’ people who are the Turians. Upon discovering the mass relay in one their new systems and attempting to activate it, a Turian ship shot down the human craft. As one could imagine from an incident like that, a war began between the two races. Soon the war drew the attention of the rest of the galaxy, notably the Citadel Council which intervened to negotiate peace and bring an end to the war. They was ramifications for both sides, but Human-Turian relationships would improve slowly.
The Mass relays are revealed in your conversation with Anderson and Nihlus when talking about Prothean technology. It is believed that the Protheans were responsible for creating the relays and the drive core technology that many ships use.
BioWare/Microsoft Studios
The architecture featured in the various environments of Mass Effect do not always spark a level of individual ownership that UNSC and Covenant have. Likewise with the weapons, they all look like they were produced by a similar marketers. (Which there are quite a few of.)
Mass Effect introduces much of its narrative through dialogue with other characters which provides an interesting way into the world.
In comparison to Halo where your usually shooting your way through levels and learning things as you go, Mass Effect gives players an opportunity to find out more information. Both follow a similar theme involving unknown alien technology and the fear of it being in the wrong hands, but it is done uniquely so by each franchise that you would barely notice. Also the fact that your both incredibly capable soldiers is another similar feeling as well.
To end this post, I would just recommend playing these two games as they are both fantastic science fiction games that can really get one to love the genre. That was how I got started.