8 Heroic Video Game Characters Who Didn't Actually Affect The Plot

8. Master Chief (Halo 5)

The once-great saviour of mankind, Microsoft marketed Halo 5 as being a showdown between Master Chief (on the run for a crime he didn't commit... or something - we'd find out in the game), and Spartan Locke (the agent assigned to bring him in). Divorce Halo 5 from its advertising, and you get a tale of Cortana dealing with her growing rampancy (manifested as getting increasingly antagonistic towards the world around her, whilst prioritising an agenda that put machines above humans).

How does the Chief fit into this? Well, the story is still focused (somewhat) on Locke chasing him down, but the big "reason" that was so integral to their fractured relationship? It comes from the Chief wanting to talk to Cortana instead of following orders, because she's his friend... he thought she was dead, and he... cares?

Reprehensible.

Locke is therefore assigned to track Master Chief, but after one quick tussle that lasts around two minutes they're pretty much on the same page, as Cortana is found on the planet Genesis. The game's final scene is you - playing the Chief - trying to shut down her activation of the Genesis' "caretaker A.I.", that will spread her message to the galaxy.

Only... you fail. Cortana accomplishes everything she set out to do from moment one, leaving the planet and closing out the game on a demonstrably naff cliffhanger.

Master Chief literally accomplishes nothing.