What Are Critics Saying About The Halo TV Series?
It looks like a lot of video game properties are veering onto TV, and this is a great thing.
Typically adaptations of video games don't go down so well with audiences, with the words "video game movie" having something of a repellant effect - so a shift to the small screen has served the medium well.
The Witcher and Castlevania have proved that video games can translate to streaming nicely, and know that The Last of Us, God of War and It Takes Two are set to join them, the wealth of video games coming to living rooms everywhere is growing by the minute.
Joining them soon will be Halo, with a brand new series coming to Paramount+ - and critics have already got their hands on it.
Halo's Critical Reception Is Muddled
Click to enlargeHalo finally has some words from critics, and it looks like reception is… all over the place.
Some outlets are enjoying it, but others are suggesting that it doesn't really pin down what makes the Halo series of games so special.
"Seeing the world through a vacant perspective might work for a game in which the audience has its own agency," says Variety's Caroline Framke, "but not for a show that requires its own point of view. In its first two episodes, Halo doesn't quite have that yet."
"Halo is like an adaptation of a video game series as handled by someone who played a few levels of it once in college," says Austen Goslin from Polygon. "In other words, if your conception of Halo is a guy in green armor doing space shit; congratulations, you finally have your Halo show." Yikes.
But, thankfully, it's not all doom and gloom.
Halo's Critical Reception Isn't All Bad
Though this is probably enough to encourage despair, there are a few positive reviews out there that reassure fans that the Halo series might not be… terrible.
Mamas Geeky critic Tessa Smith says "If the first two episodes are any indication of what is to come, fans are going to LOVE the Halo series. Packed with adventure, action, and soooo many video game references, season 1 kicks off with a BANG!"
Editor-In-Chief of Cinema Reviewed, Brandon Matthews, has suggested it's fun, too - "#HaloTheSeries is a crap load of fun. Pablo Schreiber is crazy good as Master Chief, and the other members of the cast only add to it. There are stunning visuals in the series, and the whole UNSC is great with technology."
There may be hope for Halo yet, but it's not looking great - fingers crossed the dedicated fans of the franchise love it. Otherwise, Twitter is going to be hell.
