Lady Master Chief unveiled

By Ellie Gibson Published 14 December, 2005

Read all about her past.

Bungie has revealed more details of Spartan 458 (otherwise known as Nicole) - the female Master Chief-type who's set to make an appearance in Dead or Alive 4.

Apparently Nicole was born in 2531 in New Legaspi, Mars, and was abducted at the age of six by Office of Naval Intelligence operatives. They stuck her in the Spartan II program, an initiative designed to produce really really hard soldiers.

Fast forward a couple of decades, and Nicole has found herself trapped in the 21st century after her unit got caught out by "a freak slipspace anomaly" while they were preparing for a mission on Nassau Station. Wouldn't you know it, the anomaly created "a semi-stable 'bubble' in the space/time continuum" and now Nicole is sitting around waiting for the bubble to pop.

In the meantime she's tasked with guarding Nassau Station but she can't use lethal force, because killing someone would be changing history and that would be, well, A Bad Thing.

If this all sounds a bit silly to you, get over it, says Bungie: "How can we say all that with a straight face? Shut up is how.

"How does this explain why she's fighting a schoolgirl in a prehistoric oasis? Silence fool! How does this explain a very cool secret on a Casino-inspired level? Shut your noisehole is how." Righto.

You can read more about how Bungie and Team Ninja worked together on DOA4, and find out what Nicole's favourite food is amongst other fascinating facts, over at Bungie.net.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 7 years ago

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

  • Ninjamagic #1 7 years ago

    Remember children.

    Its only a computer game.

    Pull the plug and its dead.

    (ie> its not reall)

  • Shinzou #2 7 years ago

    Papa?

  • asphaltcowboy #3 7 years ago

    "Lady Master Chief unveiled"

    Undressed might be better?

  • Beano #4 7 years ago

    Miss'ter Chief ?

  • Blerk #5 7 years ago

    Bets on it'll be Master Chief with a slightly pointier chest-plate.

  • Roamer #6 7 years ago

    Seriously, the Halo universe is quite ludicrous. I can't think of any other game with such a 'mature' profile, having such a stupid storyline. What's with the little ewok-type thingies? I hated those. Why do they talk English? 'Master Chief'?! Oh come on.

    I can't for the life of me understand why the original Halo is so highly rated, it's clearly a standard fps with a horrible story and some poorly implemented, although admittedly fun vehicles thrown in. The game, unlike so many other highly rated games, hasn't aged well at all. Granted, I haven't bought the sequel - for obvious reasons.

  • Blerk #7 7 years ago

    /sharp intake of breath

    Tea, anyone? :-)

  • smoothpete #8 7 years ago

    yes please. White with none.

    Biscuit?

    /offers plate

  • Bezzy #9 7 years ago

    Damn. Beaten to the convoluted back-story parody :(

  • tengu #10 7 years ago

    Am I alone in finding Master Chief the laziest, most generic central character ever put into a game? He's a soldier with some armour. That's it. He hasn't even got a name ffs! I bet they were seconds away from calling him 'Sarge' :o

    DOA4 looking ace though. Can't wait for it.

  • Scurrminator #11 7 years ago

    lol, i thought master chief was like a rank, like sergeant and so on.

  • reality_cheque #12 7 years ago

    If you read the books, there's quite a history... Master Chief is indeed his rank, and I'm not 100% sure but I think he was once called Adam. Back when he was a small boy before being kidnapped and replaced by a fast-grown clone, inducted into the military age 6 and having weird genetic alterations done to him that only 40% of his classmates survived intact that is.

    Those little ewoks are the grunt soldiers for an alien version of the, well I suppose Federation from Trek is the closest.

  • reality_cheque #13 7 years ago

    Oh yeah and I know I'm sad already - but then how many of the cool kids comment on Eurogamer? :p

  • Aretak #14 7 years ago

    "Shut your noisehole is how."

    :-)

  • mechamonkey #15 7 years ago

    The novels flesh out Master Chief a huge amount, especially Fall of Reach and First Strike (the Flood is just a fleshed out version of Halo1)
    Edited by mechamonkey at 14/12/05 @ 12:45

  • space_ace #16 7 years ago

    i'll still play as ryu...

  • Tweakmonkey #17 7 years ago

    What I find scary is that there are Halo inspired books...

  • Ninjamagic #18 7 years ago

    Papa
    --------------

    Son - where have you been?

    no no it cant be. can it. is it really you?

    /10 print Halo 1 was not that bad
    /20 print Halo 2 was so mundane didnt even finish 2nd level
    /30 print stop this generic crap microsoft!

    /40 goto 10

    Right any Lead Programmer vacancies paying 50K a year going? based with those credentials above.... :)
    Edited by Ninjamagic at 14/12/05 @ 12:50

  • Teeth #19 7 years ago

    I like a company that doesn't take itself too seriously.

  • Kain_Cross #20 7 years ago

    As far as I'm concerned, she's still a Halo fan cosplaying.

  • AHiFi #21 7 years ago

    Yes, Master Chief's name is John. He has quite a backstory.

  • oceanmotion #22 7 years ago

    The series has quite a backstory if you read the books. Games really don't go into much at all.

  • reality_cheque #23 7 years ago

    John, that's it. I must be thinking of one of his team mates.

  • davyuk #24 7 years ago

    I was never sold on Halo at launch, but compare it to the multitude of doom/quake clones and it fares rather well. I still play Halo 2 online everynight too.

  • jlaakso #25 7 years ago

    "What I find scary is that there are Halo inspired books..."

    Fall Of Reach is actually a pretty good military scifi romp. First Strike isn't as strong, but it does its job; a "fan product", I'd say. Haven't read the Flood, as it's by another author and not regarded too highly.

  • ali-uk #26 7 years ago

    "Hobbies Watching Anime, Competition Shooting"

    Obligatory. Gotta say though, gfx on her/it are pretty damn good.
    Edited by ali-uk at 14/12/05 @ 13:27

  • the_dudefather #27 7 years ago

    there were doom books written too that expand the story :p

  • Dizzy #28 7 years ago

    "Right any Lead Programmer vacancies paying 50K a year going? based with those credentials above.... :)"

    It doesn't even compile dude! (and yes, the interpreter also doesn't want to execute it)

    More Halo == Good!

  • rinoaMW #29 7 years ago

    hope that armour comes off... whats the point of a Dead or Alive game where you dont see the girl's..er.... jiggly bits :)

  • HarryB #30 7 years ago

    Ellie's so dry!

  • mustardkid #31 7 years ago

    " Ellie's so dry!"

    steady on, old man

  • HarryB #32 7 years ago

    humour wise :)

  • jack_klugman #33 7 years ago

    Titties!

  • Carrybagma #34 7 years ago

    Bets on it'll be Master Chief with a slightly pointier chest-plate.

    A wobbly chest-plate, more like. Here's the improved story:

    Joanna (oops! I mean Nicole) took a final Covenant plasma round in the chest, destroying her armour -plate and allowing her breasts to bounce free! "Corks! Look at them!" said an Elite, a split-second before a swipe of the light-jobbie removed his gawping head.

    Meanwhile, at Covenant high-priest command, Xavior_B_Oxford of the nonsense priest-clan was most peeved. "Those bountiful spartan norks will be the death of us. Dispatch a squad of short-skirted Japanese school-girl warriors to sector 'cliched temple-4' immediately, followed by any other scantily-clad, bouncy human females that are available!!1!"

    Probably to be continued ad-infinitum.

  • Kami #35 7 years ago

    Nnnngh...

    Nope. Sorry. Still can't bring myself to give a damn...

  • Enki #36 7 years ago

    I'd like to point out that amongst her moves is the ability to stick plasma grenades to people. I honestly can't wait to blow Kasumi up. And I don't mean the inflatable I bought in Japan ¬_¬

  • symmetry #37 7 years ago

    Corr reading this bit alone suddenly makes me want to play DOA4:-

    When you're fighting on Nassau, try knocking your opponent into the Warthog parked in the hangar bay, it has full suspension and glass that will spider if you hit it.

    And this coming from someone who gave up beat-em-ups a LOOOONG time ago.

  • speedstars13 #38 7 years ago

    That's just plain silly, Bungie. And you need to respect your loyal fans, you a**hole. Telling people to shut up.
    t(00t).
    Edited by speedstars13 at 14/12/05 @ 17:47

  • Xerx3s #39 7 years ago

    Who cares, it ll be cool! ;p Anyway, beat'm ups arnt about story, they are about good fun with yer mates and if it provides just that, then its fine by me. ^_^