Halo Legends: The Duel Review
Ugh……where to begin with the second outing of the Halo Legends set of shorts. Like I did with ‘The Babysitter’ I’ll give you my view on it and go through it bit by bit. Again, MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD SO BEWARE.
We begin by watching an armoured elite being transported on a small rowing boat by an elderly elite. Around him is a massive forest which he disembarks and enters, the boat driver asking if he knew that it was a trap. Ignoring him he continues into a small clearing where several elites wait for him, armoured with swords (Normal metal swords, not energy) The Elite we have been following draws an energy sword, and fights them, defeating every single elite with ease. Inter-cut with this fight scene are flashbacks to him arguing with a Prophet Hierarch, saying that the Great Journey is a lie and he will not bow down to their Covenant. To the Prophet’s right is Elite in what can only be described samurai armour. He obviously appears to be the Prophets main henchman.
Our scene then moves to the Elite talking to his wife. Yes they show Sangheili females. For some stupid reason they have hair (Even though their reptilian????) And when they talk only two of their mandibles move, so they look exactly like we do when we talk, lower jaw opening and closing, with a rigid upper jaw. Hey Jackasses, an Elite has FOUR INDEPENDENT MANDIBLES. Whenever they have spoken in any other Halo media, all four have moved. That’s lazy animation and completely stupid as later they show all four moving, but more on that later.
They talk for a while and then we see him train other Sangheili, preparing them for battle, apparently against their own brethren. It is then we learn that this Elite is the Arbiter, the First Arbiter, back when the title was of a great respect and honour, as he was similar to a feudal lord of his clan (and looking at the Cole Protocol it doesn’t surprise me). We then learn this planet is Sangheilos, and his friend asks him to reconsider what he is doing, that what is not only heresy, but treason. The Arbiter replies that they are strong, they were strong before this alliance, and they could be so again, he says that he will meet any message they send him.
It then cuts to a blood red battlefield, where the Arbiter standing alone (Those soldiers you were just training came in handy huh?) against an army of Covenant troops. He takes them head on, and begins to beat the living *** out of them. Again, he’s only armed with an energy sword, yet he manages to hold off hundreds of attackers by himself. Meanwhile, Our Samurai Elite has used the Arbiter’s friend to get at his wife and orders him to kill her, so the Arbiter will have no choice but to face him in battle (The Prophet had ordered him to eliminate the Arbiter, so that once respected title would become a mark of shame…..very subtle reference to later events there). As they kill his wife, the Arbiter takes on two ghosts and a Wraith, and somehow with energy sword defeats them. Now comes the best bit. He then faces and defeats a massive Hunter, and I’m talking ridiculously huge, nearly double the size of a normal one, as the 8 foot Arbiter has to climb up its massive frame to stab it in the head. First question: WHY THEY F*CK DID THEY NEVER HAVE ANY OF THESE IN THE GAMES? Second question: Who green lit this stupidity?
Any who, he returns home after MASSACRING AN ENTIRE F*CKING ARMY, to find that his wife is dead, which he then roars with anger about, and all four mandibles stretch out. Gee, couldn’t you have done that earlier? He then tracks down the samurai elite, armed with a giant sword, which wouldn’t look out of place in a Final Fantasy game. He then challenges the Arbiter to the ‘Duel’ of the title, saying once he is dead, he can take over his clan and bring all the Elites into the Covenant and work towards the Great Journey, the Arbiter just wants to avenge his wife. So they slowly circle one another, barley moving for a good 30 seconds, then they do that clichéd swift slash crap, where you don’t know who’s been hit. It then becomes clear that the Arbiter was hit, as his chest becomes a geyser of purple blood. Seriously, it is one of the most retarded things I have ever seen in Halo, his chest shoots out blood like a f*cking industrial hose. Despite losing all the blood in his body in one gory display, he seems to have managed to take the Samurai Elite with him, with his energy sword buried deep in his chest. The Samurai Elite goes down first, followed shortly after by the Arbiter who’s last thought are of his wife, and then it fades to black.
To conclude, this was even worse than the last one, the art styles was really *** annoying as it looked like I was watching it from behind a filter, or somebody has thrown acid over my eyes so it was occasionally very difficult to work out what was going on. The fights were plain ridiculous as he defeats an entire army, then goes down in one strike. I also found it very odd that they managed to stop a blade made of energy with a metal sword, bet they’ll say it has something like a cortosis weave, like star wars has, and it will just as stupid as that. Again the art style and structures were Japanese in origin, again making no sense in the Halo universe. Like the last one it was a nice concept but one gain it was fundamentally flawed by the creators and writers as they obviously know nothing about the source material. Apparently the director was the same as Ghost in the Shell, but to be honest it really doesn’t make a difference, if you’re a fan of Halo, you may get some level of entertainment out of this attempt to bring some background to the title of the Arbiter, but in terms of Lore, it failed miserably.
Vigil will never be defeated.