

The character has received a mostly positive reception. The Master Chief is a video game icon, a relative newcomer among more established franchise characters, such as Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog and Lara Croft.

Downes based his personification of the Chief on an initial character sketch which called for a Clint Eastwood–type character of few words. The character is voiced by Steve Downes, a Chicago disc jockey, in the video games in which he appears. He is commonly referred to by his naval rank, rather than his given birth-name or serial-designation. The Master Chief is a towering and faceless biochemically and cybernetically-enhanced supersoldier, raised and trained from an early age to be a weapon he is almost never seen without his green-colored armor and helmet.
