Bungie explored Halo 4 before Reach

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 28 June, 2010

Decided Reach was more interesting.

Bungie thought about creating Halo 4 before settling on prequel Halo: Reach, community directory Brian Jarrard has revealed.

Series hero Master Chief would have woken up from his cryo-sleep in the game, had it happened.

"Even before the idea to build a game based around Reach came about, a lot of other concepts were explored, up to and including a proper Halo 4, where Master Chief was going to wake up from cryo-sleep and we were going to tell that story," Jarrard told MTV Multiplayer.

Although Reach, set to be the last Bungie-developed Halo, is shaping up to be one of 2010's biggest games, some fans are disappointed that Bungie decided to create a prequel to the first Halo rather than continuing Master Chief's story.

"It just wasn't as interesting to the team to just pick up where that left off and all the baggage that came with it," Jarrard explained.

"I think it was a little bit liberating. Hearing the guys talk about working through the trilogy and the obligation of keeping the themes moving forward and tying them up systematically. And ODST was also kinda nice 'cause they could do something different, something separate, and it's totally self-contained.

"I definitely think that, for Reach, a lot of the same attitude carried over. We don't want to open up a whole bunch of doors that we're not going to close. By the end of this, it's all going to come to a nice, neat finish, and if people want to then go play the Halo trilogy, I think they'll have a better understanding of what's going on, but it's not required at all."

There's been loads of speculation that Master Chief turns up at some point in Halo: Reach, but according to MTV Multiplayer, Jarrard confirmed that the faceless space marine "is nowhere in this game".

Master Chief fans shouldn't be too worried, though. Reach is shaping up nicely. Game's out on the Xbox 360 on 14th September.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 2 years ago

    I wonder why they chose not to have you play as the Chief in Reach? It's not like he wasn't there...

  • Spanky #2 2 years ago

    Surely it's bungies own fault that they made halo4 such a boring proposition that they decided they couldn't be arsed with it. They should've taken Halo3 in a direction that excited them rather than leave us with another fucking idiotic and pointless cliffhanger.

    "Finish the fight... in the sequel... when that is? dunno?, mebe never... thanks for the cash."

  • chibber23 #3 2 years ago

    They should have wrapped it all up neatly at the end of Halo 3 - There is still room for loads of games in the Halo universe but Master Chiefs story ark could have ended neatly in the 3rd Game and Bungie would have been free to explore their creative side again without leaving everyone on a cliffhanger that Microsoft will surely use at some point (probably with the release of the next xbox) to cash in possibly wrecking the brilliant memory of one of the greatest Gaming trilogies ever made and dragging Bungiesachievement down.

  • AllenSpawn #4 2 years ago

    "Although Reach, set to be the last Bungie-developed Halo, is shaping up to be one of 2010's biggest games"

    Yet only a couple of comments after a couple of hours.

    /fights off hordes of interested people in comments page

  • CaptainQuint #5 2 years ago

    343 Industries are on Halo 4 now anyway. I for one am pleased Bungie dropped the "baggage" and moved onto Reach instead; from what I've seen it's looking like they made the right decision - Reach is looking like it's gonna be my game of the year.

  • Moonprince #6 2 years ago

    "I wonder why they chose not to have you play as the Chief in Reach? It's not like he wasn't there..."

    Wasn't he on the first Halo during the Reach fight?

  • RedSparrows #7 2 years ago

    No, Chief reached Halo whilst fleeing from the fall of Reach.

    '"Although Reach, set to be the last Bungie-developed Halo, is shaping up to be one of 2010's biggest games"

    Yet only a couple of comments after a couple of hours.

    /fights off hordes of interested people in comments page '

    = hahahaa, EG comments thread vs. global sales. Hmmm....

  • CaptainQuint #8 2 years ago

    Ha ha it's great that I got neg'd for such a trivial comment. Fuckin' sad bastard, you know who you are!

  • El-Dev #9 2 years ago

    How could you Wez.

  • ShineDog #10 2 years ago

    "They should've taken Halo3 in a direction that excited them rather than leave us with another fucking idiotic and pointless cliffhanger."

    Wait wait, Halo 3 didnt end on a cliff hanger. It closed the entire arc of the halo games quite neatly. Flood Gone. Peace with the Covenant. Possibility of more adventures but trilogy well and truly done.

    It ended on a little narrative hook for a sequel. No more than the skeletal monkey at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean was a hook.

  • sfp_noodle #11 2 years ago

    I'm sorry, but whichever way you look at it, Master Chief is one of the most boring, one dimensional characters ever created in a video game. He lacks any kind of personality and is as interesting as every other generic character created in games such as Fracture, Resistance, Haze and the like.

    The only reason he gets so much attention is because the Halo games themselves are actually quite fun and entertaining to play. It's a blast in co-op and I can still play it online ahead of drek like MW2.

    I'm sure a lot of people will misread my comments and thinki that I'm slating Halo. I'm not, its an awesome series. What I am saying is that the Master Chief is a dull character and I for one believe that the Halo series is better without him.

    I aplaude Bungie's decision to not do Halo 4 and to leave Master Chief alone. The Halo universe needs more believable characters that we can relate to. Ones that speak more than 20 words of dialogue in an entire campaign and are likeable. Master Chief is just another grunt with a gun. He just ended up in an insanely popular game. Take him out and put him into something like Fracture and you'll see where I'm coming from.

  • CaptainQuint #12 2 years ago

    @Shinedog

    Don't waste your time man. It comes to something when a few wazzocks on here don't understand what a story arc is and need it explaining to them. Save your breath.

  • altitude2k #13 2 years ago

    MC doesn't even make an appearance in this game? That's really rather disappointing.

  • CaptainQuint #14 2 years ago

    Why?

  • sfp_noodle #15 2 years ago

    ^^

    Exactly - why? I'm actually very happy that Master Cheif isn't in Halo Reach.

  • CaptainQuint #16 2 years ago

    altitude2k is likely the kind of person who got all excited when Chewbacca had a [pointless and gimmicky] cameo in Revenge of the Sith.

  • andywilkie35 #17 2 years ago

    Fuckin' can't wait for this

  • alcides #18 2 years ago

    there's a story?

  • peterfll #19 2 years ago

    I thought he died at the end of Halo 3?!?? If it wasn't him, who died?!?!

  • ongjg #20 2 years ago

    @sfp_noodle

    Masterchief may not be the most deep character, but come on, he wasn't that bad, especially in Halo 3 which was basically a love story between him and Cortana - which is what made the legendary ending.

    He could have been better, but tbh I think Bungie maybe just didn't know where to take him after Halo: CE

  • telboy007 #21 2 years ago

    The only place MC needs to go is somewhere where there are bad guys to pew, tis what Halo is about - pewing things with crazy bonkers narratives and dialog that don't really make a lot of sense. That is why we love Halo after all, isn't it?

  • captainrentboy #22 2 years ago

    Did I imagine it or at the end of Halo 3 (When finished on Legendary) weren't Master Chief and Cortana just left floating aimlessly around a ship's interior that was heading towards some unknown planet? Not really the best closure for what is supposed to be an iconic gaming character :/
    If Halo 4 isn't a launch title for Microsoft's next console I'll eat my shit.

  • Koborover #23 2 years ago

    I still think there will be some kind of Master Chief cameo in Halo: Reach somewhere. During the battle, Master Chief fights above Reach to protect the location of Earth stored on a starship overrun by Covenant. Since you can also fly in space in the game, I'm sure there will be some kind of acknowledgment of his presence.

    If not, he'll certainly be back in future non-Bungie games.

  • Spungles #24 2 years ago

    "I'm sorry, but whichever way you look at it, Master Chief is one of the most boring, one dimensional characters ever created in a video game. "

    Thats kind of the point. Genetically enhanced and trained since the age of 7 he's never known a real life or proper interactions with other people or a family. That makes a perfect vessel for the player to inhabit.

    I couldn't see a better end for him than alone with Cortana who he loves and suspended until the world needs him. He has no need for the world anymore if there's nobody to fight.

    I've not been following Reach too closely - can anyone tell me if they intend to stick to the plot of the book?