Are Halo and Star Wars cut from the same cloth?

A reader explores the similarities between Halo and Star Wars, and how they both handled their most recent sequels.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before; a powerful galactic empire attacks a sole starship, its crew sends a pair of heroes off ship with vital information the enemy cannot get their hands on. They land on what is essentially a neutral world, albeit with local species hostile to both factions.

This set up leads to a finale featuring a super weapon that is primed and ready to fire, only to be spectacularly destroyed when a reactor core is detonated.



A lot has been said of the story beats between A New Hope and The Force Awakens being similar, but it’s amusing how closely Halo follows the template. Yes, there are differences. Halo certainly has greater leanings towards science fiction than science fantasy, and borrows more from James Cameron’s Aliens in terms of style (at least in the original) than it does Star Wars, but the narrative approach is achingly familiar.


This even translates to the sequels. The enemy empire attacks the heroes’ last bastion in the first act of the immediate sequel, with one of their prominent ruling figures leading the assault. A few star jumps later the adventure continues with a few skirmishes, some reveals, some betrayals and all ends with a cliffhanger.

And really, did no one look at the reconstructed Installation 04 (aka the rebuilt original Halo) in all its unfinished glory and not think it harkened back to the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi? Even the Halo 3 finale, the warthog run which is a re-enactment of the same scene in the original Halo, is done in the same vein as the attack on the second Death Star. Here’s the bombastic end you loved in the original and missed in the sequel, but remixed – enjoy!

I’m sure there are many similarities that I’ve missed, but the fact is the DNA of the original Star Wars trilogy is very prominent in the original Halo trilogy.

What was interesting is that 2015 saw new mainline entries to both series, and both were in the hands of new custodians (admittedly not so new for 343) who had the unenviable task of handling such beloved franchises with passionate fan bases. And they were released within months of each other. Having had time to fully gorge on and digest both, what I found interesting was not their similarities, but the difference in their approach.

Disney’s safety first approach to Star Wars has been the target of a certain amount of ire from a cross section of fans. With some exceptions, most will agree that the plot in The Force Awakens is a fairly unambitious re-tread of the original trilogy. What stuck in some fans throats even more was Disney’s decision to expunge the Star Wars expanded universe from canon, wiping the slate clean so as to be unshackled from the planetoid-sized weight of post-Return of the Jedi lore.



It’s fair to say that the approach worked. Despite any misgivings most had regarding the over familiar plot, it’s fair to say that the film was a success among the masses and was unquestionably a runaway critical and commercial box office success.

Compare that to Halo 5, a game with a narrative that doesn’t eschew its expanded universe but in fact embraces it fully.

Being a rabid Halo fanboy I’ve read nearly all of the books, own the special editions of the mainstream games and enjoyed much of the tie-in material. So it’s fair to say I’m familiar with the Halo lore. When the small orange worms crept down to form the Hunters in the second stage, it felt satisfying to finally see that element that I’d previously only read about. When I got to play alongside Fred, Kelly, and Linda it was the sort of feeling I’d always hoped was possible since reading The Fall of Reach. When I finally got to walk on Sanghelios, its blood red rock and roaring oceans were just as I imagined. And finally, I got to see the Covenant civil war in full swing.

For me, Halo 5 delivered. It built upon everything from the novels to Spartan Ops to Nightfall, and did so without contradicting the prior fiction. That in itself is an achievement, but the game managed to tie up a number of narrative strands whilst beginning a new arc with a new threat. All the while providing the set pieces and gunplay that is expected from a Halo title, with what I feel is undoubtedly the most satisfying first person gunplay on a console.


However, I’m well aware that my opinion is in the minority. One review I read proclaimed that the story is ‘impenetrable to anyone without a degree in Halo lore’ and that I’d have to agree with. Playing through the game and ignoring the expanded universe leaves huge gaping holes in the narrative. Who is Jul M’dama? Why are the Covenant fighting each other? What the heck is a Sangheli? Why don’t the colonists like Spartans and the UNSC after they saved humanity? What is the domain and why is it important? Did that thing just say humans were a warring, spacefaring race hundreds of thousands of years ago? In short, with no prior knowledge, the narrative is a bit of a mess.

Looking at Halo 5 its little wonder that Disney took the approach they did. If they tried to start a new series of films set within the expanded universe it would have had a significant amount of narrative baggage and would have been too confusing for the mass audiences that they wanted to draw to the box office. Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been a runaway success, Halo 5 on the other hand hasn’t delivered commercially in the way previous mainline entries have and its single-player campaign was almost unanimously derided no matter how I felt about it personally.

Comparing the two entries has been interesting. The old adage that ‘you can’t please all the people all the time’ certainly rings true for these entertainment giants. Whatever you feel is the right approach, pleasing the majority would appear to be preferable than placating a subsection of super nerds like myself; because you’ll be criticised from one corner regardless.


It’s somewhat poetic then that the final scenes in each are so similar; our heroes finally reuniting with someone important, urging us to continue on this journey with them. I for one can’t wait to see where either of them lead.

By reader Swooper D

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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