Thanks to Showmax, which is bringing Halo to audiences in sub-Saharan Africa, we got a pre-release peek at the first two episodes of Paramount+’s highly anticipated, highly expensive sci-fi series.

Halo is, of course, based on the iconic Xbox first person shooter, which centres on a 26th Century battle between humanity and a brutal alien race known as the Covenant. The human race’s hopes rest on the Spartans, a group of cybernetically enhanced super soldiers kitted out with the most advanced technology – including access to pioneering AI Cortana – and led by their greatest warrior, the always-helmeted Master Chief. That’s all you really need to know, plot-wise, to jump into the small-screen video game adaptation.

What we’re most concerned with is offering the perspectives of both Halo fans and people who know only the basics about the franchise. Whether you belong to the first or second camp, are you likely to enjoy the series? Read on for our initial spoiler-free responses.

For South African audiences, Halo is screening first on Showmax, with Season 1’s nine episodes dropping every Friday from 25 March.

A fan’s perspective – Kervyn

Watching the first two episodes of Halo, I kept thinking about Adele. No, there wasn’t any romantic heartbreak – the British songstress’ musical bread and butter – to be found in this blockbuster sci-fi production, but rather, I reckoned that this was… Halo from the other side!

I’ve been into Halo since the days of the original monolithic Xbox – I’ve played just about every entry in the franchise, and I can boast a big collection of additional novels and comics. Composer Martin O’Donnel’s Halo theme song was my ringtone for half the early 2000s. I am very much an invested fan.

But I’m also somebody that has never believed adaptations need to be verbatim copies. Creative liberties can be taken as long as it serves retelling this story in a new format. As such, the Halo TV series has left me a smidge conflicted.

Impartially, I can say that I mostly enjoyed what showrunners Kyle Killen and Steven Kane have come up with. Barring a few odd CGI discrepancies, Halo looks every bit an expensive flagship series with big set-pieces and concise and instructive world-building. There are a few pacing dips, but for the most part the first two episodes move at a steady clip. Its action – directed by Otto Bathurst – is slick, clear, and very exciting, with no squeamishness about what high-tech firepower can do to a human body.

Playing the lead of Master Chief, perennial scene stealer Pablo Schreiber does a great job of exhibiting both the elite physicality and mental fortitude that has turned the armour-wearing super-soldier into one of the most beloved gaming protagonists in history. The rest of the cast is strong as well, given the limited time we get to spend with them.

But this is very much not the Halo you know and love. As the showrunners and video game developers 343 Studios revealed a short while back, the TV series takes place in its own separate continuity – the Silver Timeline – and this is VERY apparent right from the get-go. Outside of the human/Covenant conflict, there’s very little that correlates to the well-known story of the games. Some characters are drastically altered (even changing species); a few are missing; others are brand new. In what is sure to be labelled an act of vile heresy, Schreiber even removes his helmet. It’s an unveiling that has never happened in any format since the very beginning of the franchise. SHOCK! HORROR!

That being said, this very different Halo is done very well. Newcomers should be able to slide right into this sci-fi world of warring factions and alien prophets without any friction. As such, I can see this show achieving lots of mainstream success. I just don’t think the hardcore fanbase will have the same response. If you’re somebody who gets seriously hung up on source material deviations, some of the decisions here will leave you apoplectic. However, look past those changes and there’s a good series here. Or at least the promise of a good series. After just two episodes, I’m not quite ready to give that endorsement emphatically yet, but I definitely want to see how this new Halo plays out.

A newcomer’s response – Noelle and Tracy

Having never played the games, we loaded up the Halo screener with only the most basic of franchise knowledge. Refreshingly, after so many novel, comic and other media adaptations that require viewers to slog through multiple episodes to detangle the complexity of that universe (cough looking at you, Shadow & Bone), we found Halo instantly accessible and easy to follow.

The first episode offers a seamless introduction to the universe, equipping viewers to grasp all the major plot points and players within pretty much the first half hour – and it’s done without an info dump. The first episode feels cohesive and natural. Sadly the second episode isn’t as tight and compelling, with genre clichés creeping in, and the gritty space planet action giving way to one very long escort mission.

Even with our limited exposure to the Halo franchise, we can see how the TV series may aggravate hardcore fans. Pablo Schreiber’s Master Chief is out of his helmet and armour about as much as Sylvester Stallone’s Judge Dredd. And, to use a Star Wars metaphor, if you’re expecting Rogue One, brace yourself for The Mandalorian, or even a quip-less Firefly.

That said, when Halo embraces its futuristic military combat roots, the series excels. The warfare is surprisingly gritty and satisfyingly visceral. Halo is definitely not trash TV sci-fi; it never looks like a bunch of cosplayers running around in 3D printed armour. We’re talking Band of Brothers level production values, so hopefully the series returns to its strengths in later episodes instead of heading down a tiresome “Chosen One seeking the truth about their origins” plot path.

One other point to make, and another pleasant surprise, is the large cast of female characters. If you dismissed the games at first glance as a bland pubescent boy power fantasy, with nothing to offer girls and women, that’s definitely not the case with the TV adaptation. The showrunners have provided a diverse mix of women on screen, representing multiple ethnicities, ages, body types and moralities.

These range from the expected appearance of ambitious Spartan project head Dr Halsey (Natascha McElhone) and Cortana, to Yerin Ha’s feisty teenage rebel, Shabana Azmi’s high-ranking naval commander, Charlie Murphy’s treacherous human member of Covenant, and even badass women Spartans in Silver Team. That’s a representational shift that is great to see.

So now the big question: would we have kept watching if we had access to more episodes? Absolutely. We’re looking forward to catching the episodes as they drop because Halo definitely has our attention.