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| The worst cutscene | |
| Posted By: Dagoonite <dagoonite@gmail.com> | Date: 6/30/11 1:41 a.m. |
In Response To: which cutscene? *NM* (kidtsunami) I can't remember the name (and I'm at work so I can't doublecheck) but it's the one where Forge and the Spartans are killing the Arbiter and his Elite Moral Support Team. First off, I'd just like to say that I don't like the mouths of the Elites in Halo Wars, but whatever. It's one of those things that I was willing to overlook. As the scene opens and progresses, I don't actually have a problem with it. This may come as a shock, but I don't have a problem with Forge holding his own against the Arbiter. Given his backstory and what we see in game, I can buy that. The Arbiter is a cudgel, cocky and without foresight. Forge fights with his head and massive chutzpa. No issues. So let's break it down. The scene opens with Forge trying to hit the Arbiter with the biggest weapon he has on hand. Kinda stupid, but hey, if it would have worked, there's no such thing as overkill against the Covenant. Take out the most dangerous foe as quickly as possible while the Spartans take on... a bunch of honor guard. The Spartans... Oh, from the very first moment, I always feel a pulse of excitement. This is what I'd always wanted to see in the games. How Spartan IIs would fight together. They move in unison, not needing to communicate. They instinctively know what the others are doing and move accordingly. The enemy has pole-arms, so they move in to the point that the polearms are useless, presumably using their own bodies to take out the shields thanks to heavy armor and momentum, then give them a diet of lead. One blocks a weapon, the other disables it, then the useless weapon is given to an advancing Elite. No problems with this. The music is only helping. Back to Forge. No Arbiter. He's seen this trick before. Maybe it's combat instinct or whatever, but I can completely buy him avoiding a stabbing. Move himself out of stabby radius and open fire -- smart. Useless, but smart. I could have issues with the tackle, but I can chalk that up to the Arbiter being off balance just as easily. What I do approve of is that he has to unload an entire magazine into the hand of the Arbiter to get him to drop his sword. For some reason, this just strikes me as right. The arbiter wounds him, then chucks him, instead of just snapping his neck or crushing his skull. This I can attribute to personality, which I addressed earlier. Back to the Spartans, and where it all falls apart immediately. That flip. I just... I try to turn my suspension of disbelief on, but for the life of me, I can't help but sit there and say "That's just stupid and un-Spartan of him." Her. I can't tell, so I claim it's him. But it's that flip that destroys every ounce of credibility to the scene. I don't have a problem with him using another Elite to kill the poor schmuck the way he does, but how he goes about it is the issue. Slam into him with a glancing blow, then spin the Elite around so his buddy can look him in the eye when he accidentally betrays him. Even a baseball slide between the legs makes more sense than that flip. It just leaves you so horribly open the entire time you're in the air, is a waste of energy both for the jump and the landing, and it's far too flashy for how I envision a Spartan. Yes, psychological warfare is still warfare, but there are still more efficient ways to go about it. I can't even appreciate the rest of the scene after that. I can't even bring myself to complain about Mei Ling's shoddy voice acting (which is as much the vocal director and editor as hers) or how much I hate how predictably snarky Serina is after witnessing that scene. Thank goodness there's only one level left. Maybe it's because the first bit of Spartan-on-Elite fighting is so awesome and spot on that it devastates me so, but... I dunno. I just feel... Saddened by it, I guess.
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