The history of video games being adapted into TV shows and movies is fraught with disappointment and many times…mixed results. Because for every Tomb Raider (the original one with Jolie) and Sonic The Hedgehog (with the sequel looking like it’ll be even better), you get something like Prince of Persia, Bloodrayne, Assassin’s Creed, and so on. The Halo universe has dabbled with live-action before, but mainly in side stories. The new TV series that is hitting Paramount+ though is meant to “change the game”, but is that actually the case?
According to Rotten Tomatoes in terms of both the critical and fan response…not so much. Granted, they’ve only gotten access to the first two episodes of the franchise (which just launched on Paramount+ today) but the consensus overall between the two is that it’s either decent…or just bad.
For example, the critical acclaim is definitely not there, as it’s got a 59% from 32 critical reviews. Giving it the dreaded “rotten” rating. Whereas the fan response (at present) has it at 73% and thus giving it a rating of popcorn (which means it’s watchable).
This very much lines up with the very open reviews that have been put out there by both sides, stating that the budget does let the Halo show go for broke with the Spartans, the Covenant, and so on, but that doesn’t make up for the diverges from the games (of which, this is a new timeline, and the team behind the series didn’t even LOOK at the Halo games when making this show) and some less than spectacular performances from the cast.
Now, given the grand scope of this universe, and the fact that this is the first time trying to put Master Chief into something like this, it could get better over time. Many fans are no doubt hoping for that.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes