Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, or "Master Chief", is a fictional character and the protagonist in the Halo multimedia franchise. Master Chief is a playable character in the series of military science fiction first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 5: Guardians and Halo Infinite. The character also appears in Halo books and graphic novelsincluding Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood, Halo: First Strike, and Halo: Uprisingand has minor appearances or cameos in other Halo media. The Master Chief is a towering supersoldier known as a "Spartan", raised and trained from childhood for combat. He is almost faceless as he is rarely seen without his green-colored armor and helmet. He is commonly referred to by his naval rank rather than his given birth name. The character is voiced by Steve Downes, a former Chicago disc jockey, in the video games in which he appears, while in alternate media outside the Halo games, he is portrayed by other actors, most notably Pablo Schreiber in the live-action Halo TV series. Downes based his personification of the Chief on an initial character sketch, which called for a Clint Eastwood–type character of few words. With each new appearance, the character's visual design underwent revamping or updates. The Master Chief serves as a mascot for Halo and the Xbox brand. The character has received a generally positive reception; while some critics have described the Chief's silent and faceless nature as a character weakness, other publications have suggested these attributes better allow players to inhabit the character. Criticism of the Master Chief's lessened role in Halo 5 led to the developers at 343 Industries refocusing on him for Halo Infinite. Character design The task of developing Master Chief for the character's first video game appearance in developer Bungie's Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) fell on art director Marcus Lehto and Robert McLees. Shi Kai Wang was later hired for conceptual art. One of Wang's sketches became the basis for Master Chief, but the initial translation of the drawing into a three-dimensional model looked too slim and anime-inspired. Lehto felt the character needed to feel more like a walking tank, and the design was bulked up. The Chief's armor went through various changes, such as the addition (and later removal) of an antenna, and a green tint. The character's two-prong visor, intended to convey speed and agility, was inspired