8 Hugely Controversial Video Game Endings That Divided The Fans
5. Halo 2
It's a little-known fact that Bungie had to kowtow to Microsoft's deadlines, releasing Halo 2 in what was essentially an unfinished state; but it resulted in an ending that's one of the biggest cliffhangers in gaming history - something that considering the first Halo was a gaming revolution in every aspect of its being, split all those who played right down the middle. In a nutshell: Playing once again as Master Chief, much was made about controlling The Arbiter; a rogue alien Covenant soldier who also sympathised with humanity's cause thanks to being tortured by his own kin at the start of the game. However, his story took up a huge portion of your game time, and just as we were starting to enjoy playing as the Chief again, he mounts a bomb about to be dropped on a Covenant ship and the game cuts to credits, ensuring you'll buy the sequel to get what you wanted all along. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azcrz_59pmI The case for: If you've read the books or comics surrounding the Halo universe, you'll know Master Chief is only a tiny portion of what makes up the franchise's appeal. As such, taking the focus away from him and onto the Arbiter was a genius move, framing MC's exploits through the lens of someone else, much like Raiden to Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 2. When control finally returns to the Chief, you get a handful of incredibly fun, tight missions that demonstrate his abilities, before setting up the final part in what was always described as a trilogy, to be the big finish. The case against: As simple as the "You had ONE job" meme; all Bungie had to do was give us more of that exquisite Halo gameplay, although we didn't realise just how much it mattered who was delivering those Grunt-smashing punches or lobbing those plasma grenades. There was a fantastic feeling of empowerment being humanity's one-man frontline deployment-tank, and as soon as you took that away - only to try for some badass one-liner finale - it went to hell.
