DVD Reviews

Halo Legends - Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Feb 18, 2010, 16:14 GMT

This 8 episode anthology of 10-15 minute length each, explores the origin and historical events of the HALO universe, and various characters inhabiting the world. Like Animatrix and Batman Gotham Knight, each of the 8 episodes will be created by a separate prominent Japanese anime producer. ...more

The popular videogame gets an anime tribute.  Do you have to be a player to enjoy?  Well, I’m not and I was swept up in the sci-fi.  There are some bits that maybe players might get more out of, but I found Legends an enjoyable journey.  

Halo Legends is a collection of seven anime shorts that are set within the Halo universe.  Halo is a first person shooter game from Microsoft that follows a character called Master Chief and his holographic companion Cortana.  Some background might be necessary, but I came to the show with not much working knowledge of the Halo game franchise. 

I did see that the first anime takes place after Halo 3 and I did look at the Wiki to find out what Master Chief and Cortana were, but beyond those excursions I’ve never picked up a game controller to play Halo. 

Some of the plot descriptions might contain spoilers in that I think some of the stuff I’m going to talk about might be revealed as the game is played, so I’ll try not to do that but as I’m not familiar with the game play might give something away.  I’ll try not to though.

Origins I and II: Master Chief is in hibernation (following the events of Halo 3) and Cortana is musing on her seven year lifespan and ruminates on the origins of the Founders, the Halos, the Flood, and mankind’s war against the Covenant.  

Duel: An Arbiter named Fal disobeys the Prophets and doesn’t want to fight.  He is thrown into battle when his enemies infiltrate his life and destroy what he loves.

Homecoming: A group of soldiers is under fire on a desolate planet and a Spartan comes to their aid.  Interspersed with the action are some flashbacks to that Spartan’s past to reveal the origins of the genetically enhanced soldiers.  

Odd One Out: A Spartan II warrior crash lands on a planet and faces off with a Covenant genetically engineered warrior.  The planet is already inhabited by a group of kids and one mean Mama.  

Prototype: A badass soldier dubbed the Ghost is sent onto a planet that’s being invaded to destroy a prototype before the enemy can get its hand on it.  On the mission he has to come to grips with his own humanity.  

The Babysitter: A group of troopers are to accompany a Spartan on a mission to assassinate a Covenant official.  Along the way the Spartan has to pull one trooper’s feet out of the fire on numerous occasions.  

The Package: Master Chief and a group of Spartans are dispatched into a Covenant fleet to retrieve a stolen “package” before the contents can be used against them.  

It took me a while, and a quick online search, to get what Halo was all about or at least figure out who is who.  Each tale is handled by a different anime studio and done in different styles. 

The one that feels out of place, and maybe might mean more to gamers, is Odd One Out which is more of a parody.  Funnier if you’re a fan, but this one left me a bit cold and felt out of place. 

The remaining episodes will no doubt mean more to fans but each of them offers something that will appeal to sci-fi fans as well as dedicated gamers.  Origins sets the stage to a degree, but those after also have some stand-alone value. 

My favorite is Duel which is done in the style of a Monet painting (no there’s nothing wrong with your disc or TV set).  But each of them, save for Odd Man Out, has something to offer and makes the most of their short running times.  

Halo: Legends is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (1.78:1).  Special features are in high definition and include a commentary with directors Frank O’Conner and Joseph Chou. 

The 55 minutes “The Making of Halo Legends” takes a look at the making of each segment (you can watch the 55 minute chunk or view each episode separately).  The 22 minute “Gaming Evolved” looks at the evolution of the game and the 24 minute “The Story so Far” digests the game storyline.  There are also trailers for other WB product, including one for the next game in the franchise.

I was really expecting to be a poor little lamb lost as I wasn’t familiar with the game.  What I got left with was more of a desire to familiarize myself with the Halo universe (though not by playing the game, still not a gamer – too many DVD/Blu-rays to review).  This collection of stories will be both exciting to Halo fans as well as sci-fi fans.  Well, except for that parody.  

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