What you were promised: A story revelation regarding why relative newcomer Spartan Locke was hunting the Master Chief, pitting their two teams together in an epic battle. What you got: Nothing of the sort. Their showdown lasts seconds, is nothing personal, and they're united against a common foe after only a handful of levels. So this is a weird one. Not only did Halo 4 go down with longtime fans of the series like a led balloon thanks to some spotty multiplayer tweaks, but 343 scuffed the release of the Master Chief Collection and promptly wee'd all over the original trilogy too. Come time for Halo 5, they needed a big win, and so did Microsoft. They'd get it in the form of a fantastically-playing game (honestly, Guardians does more with the core gameplay formula than Bungie did across all their games), but as for all the time and money spent on establishing this 'feud' between Locke and Master Chief, it's not remotely the focus of the story. What was shown through marketing with the hashtag #HuntTheTruth and in early trailers for the game, the premise that the Chief had "hurt innocent civilians" and he wouldn't be allowed to "do what he did" and get away with it. As such, Locke is dispatched with his team Osiris to bring in the MC and his accompanying Blue Team, but... nothing happens. Locke politely asks Chief to come home, he refuses, they tussle, then later in the game a major twist in regards to Cortana allies their motivations, leaving everything else to be forgotten about. We don't find out what the trailers were referring to, there's nothing even mentioned about Locke tracking Chief and the supposed 'truth', and when alls said and done, Locke's character is about as memorable as a trashcan. Weirdly, there were many podcasts that dove into the motivations and ramifications of what happened between Halo's 4 and 5, only for none of it to carry into Guardians. DLC perhaps, but the way the campaign is framed already, makes it pretty impossible to slot anything in. Let us know which game had the biggest difference between advertised content and reality, and create an account if you'd like to write your own content!
