As one of the three main facets of Halo 4’s Campaign mode, and a huge part of how successful the multiplayer side of things were going to be, this was a potential area for disappointment. Not only did any new weapons have to be balanced and Halo-ish, deciding which old ones to keep and which to quietly brush under the carpet must’ve been tough too. I was going to cover the vehicle selection in this post as well, but it’s standard stuff really. Apart from one new one, there’s just the basic, standard, (dependable) set in Halo 4. Mongoose. Warthog. Ghost. Banshee. Wraith.
Caution: There will be spoilers!
Mantis!
The one new vehicle is unorthodox for a Halo game, but man, it’s good fun. Despite having personal rechargeable energy shields, a high calibre machine gun, rockets, and an up-close stomp attack, it is balanced by being incredibly fragile.
For the weapons I was originally going to start with the UNSC armoury, then decided to mix things up and go Forerunner first, but what I’m actually going to do is cover similar weapons together, starting with the most popular category and my personal favourite – the precision rifles. This post is relevant to War Games as I have covered the impact that the weapons had in single-player in the Campaign post.
You can go back all the way to Halo: Combat Evolved for the basic premise of these bad-boys – a powerful and accurate weapon that can not only be used up close, but also at medium and long ranges with a zoom function. While the incredibly powerful Pistol of the original game never really returned, its descendants have carried on its legacy in function rather than form.
The Battle Rifle, last seen in Halo 3, returns to Halo 4. Pull the trigger and you get a three round burst with a little spread on the bullets, it’s best suited for medium range firefights, but with a steady aim and a cool head (like all the rifles), is also deadly at close range. The DMR (Dedicated Marksman Rifle), last seen in Halo: Reach also returns, which initially seemed an odd decision. Two UNSC rifles? One of which effectively replaced the other in the series? Well, the two rifles do things a little differently. The DMR fires single shots which are roughly as powerful as the BR’s three shots, only you have to be more accurate – slightly miss with the Battle Rifle and one or two of the burst may still hit the target, slightly miss with a DMR and that’s a straight up miss. It’s also slightly easier to mop things up with a Battle Rifle – if the first or second round of the burst fire depletes an enemies shields, then that third round could potentially hit the head and end the skirmish, +1 kill. The DMR is far superior at longer ranges though. It’s swings and roundabouts, all coming down to personal preference. And that’s not even taking the other two precision rifles into consideration!
The Covenant Carbine, last seen in Halo 3: ODST, adds another option to things. It can fire a whole lot faster than the UNSC rifles, as fast as your trigger finger can pump, but it is a bit weaker, meaning you have to put a lot more bullets into your enemies before they go down. The projectiles are also slower, so you do have to place your reticule a little ahead of your target and take their motion into account. I like it for sheer intimidation – thumping five projectiles into someone before they’ve even realised what’s going on and can turn around really makes some players panic. The Promethean Lightrifle is all-new to Halo 4, and is a curious mix of BR and DMR. Firing normally, it is a three burst weapon. Zoomed in however, it fires one, more powerful projectile. I’m still getting to grips with it, but if I’m nearly out of ammo and I find one on the ground then I’m more than happy to trade up. I do feel happiest with a DMR in my hands though, it feels so solid and reliable. The BR can feel a tad sloppy at times, the Carbine stresses me out a little, and I’m still getting used to the Light Rifle. Wow, look how much I wrote about rifles! They are my favourite way to kill things in Halo…
Going back to the Pistol, it is still in the Halo series, but it’s been severely downgraded. You can kill an enemy with less than a clip of ammo, and while it’s nowhere near its three-shot heyday it is still a reliable side-arm. The Plasma Pistol, another Halo staple, is back, but sounds completely different. Over-charging it is incredibly useful but uses a lot of battery. It can strip an enemy of their shields, or temporarily stop a vehicle in it’s tracks – both ideal opportunities for a follow-up attack. While useful, I have never actually got a killing blow with one. The third pistol-type weapon in the game is new, the Boltshot. Like the Light Rifle, it has two functions. Pull at the trigger and it’ll shoot like a UNSC Pistol – hold the trigger down to charge a powerful, short range pop, much like the old Brute Maulers from Halo 3. I’ve learned the hard way not to charge around corners at people who are using Promethean Vision – they do tend to be charging up Boltshots.
I don’t tend to use Automatic weapons much as I’m not a fan of spraying bullets and praying for kills. The UNSC have the trusty old Assault Rifle, the Covvies have the new Storm Rifle, and the Concussion Rifle is the brand new Forerunner automatic. All three can kill opponents in less than a clip (or before it overheats, in the Storm Rifle’s case) if you are close enough, but I very rarely use them in competitive multiplayer.
All the other weapons are classed as “power” weapons in a way now, as they can only be found on a map, or called in as personal ordnance. A few of these are new to the UNSC in Halo 4. The Railgun is essentially a portable, less powerful version of the usually Warthog mounted Gauss Cannon. I found it tricky to use at first as in the Campaign mode you could hold the charge for a few seconds before releasing it, but it fires as soon as it is charged in War Games. And I wrongly expected it to be good at long range and against vehicles. But I’m getting the hang of it now. The SAW is amazing, which for me to say that, is amazing, as I don’t tend to like automatic weapons. Massive clip, stupid fast rate of fire, great damage, this gun is a monster, love it. I’m slowly coming around to the Sticky Detonator, it works well with the Hologram armour ability, which is one of my favourites. I like to try and play the trickster sometimes.
The three new Forerunner weapons that I have not covered yet all take things up to eleven. You could think of the Incineration Cannon as a more powerful Rocket Launcher. Slower projectile, slightly less predictable splash damage, massive reload time, but so very deadly. And it sure is satisfying too – all the Promethean weapons cause an enemies dead body to burn up and crumble – most probably to eradicate all traces of the Flood they were designed to kill. The Binary Rifle takes things to eleven by being a sniper rifle that will kill you no matter where it hits you. It is balanced by the fact it is nigh impossible to hit anyone when not zoomed in, and when you are scoped up, it betrays your location with scary red beams of light. I love it. Next up to take things to eleven? The Scattershot. A faster firing version of the Shotgun, with projectiles that can bounce off walls. When I get one of these on a smaller map, it’s a guaranteed Killing Spree. In the next game there will be a weapon that has a clip of zero and can destroy the entire map in one shot, instantly ending the match.
The old favourites, the Beam Rifle (which I have found to be a lot less prone to overheating), Fuel Rod Cannon, Concussion Rifle (one more round per magazine!), Energy Sword, Gravity Hammer, Needler, Rocket Launcher, Spartan Laser, Shotgun and Sniper Rifle all return, with beefed up sound effects and upgraded visuals. Of those, the Needler is a personal favourite. The homing ability and speed of shots has been beefed up a bit since Reach, it can kill two Spartans per clip if you’re careful, and it reloads so quickly. The Gravity Hammer is an oddity, it being a Brute weapon when there are no Brutes in the game.
Of the three grenade types, the Plasma is still my go-to. It’s pretty good that you can start with them. Frag grenades seem under-powered, nowhere near as powerful as the mini-nukes from Reach. The new Forerunner grenade (Pulse), is very situational, and I think I’ve only actually killed two or three enemy Spartans with them. I suppose they could be useful after you’ve stopped a vehicle with an EMP burst, give it time to work and explode. They are kinda like a mixture of the Power Drain equipment and the Firebomb grenade from Halo 3. Oh, I do miss the Brute Spike grenades.
Armour abilities add a certain something to Halo 4. The ones that return from Halo: Reach have been adapted and balanced, and the new ones are perfectly balanced already. Sprint is a standard ability now, it really helps get you back into the action on those larger maps, or away from trouble on the smaller ones. I’ve not used Promethean Vision much to be honest, but I can see the advantages – combined with a Shotgun type weapon and it’s deadly. The Thruster Pack replaces the Evade ability, giving you a short burst of speed in a direction. It’s actually quite useful for getting out of a grenades explosive range. The replacement for Armour Lock, the Hardlight Shield is basically a Jackal shield that you can bring up for a few seconds. It won’t stop rockets, and will disintegrate faster if you’re being fired upon, but it can let you manoeuvre yourself to cover. Letting off an Autosentry, then moving opposite it and waiting for enemies is a favourite trickster tactic of mine. People tend to expect the person who set the sentry be behind it. While it’s rare for it to kill an enemy on it’s own, it can provide a nice distraction in a one on one, as well as a little extra damage. The Regeneration Field is essentially the Regenerator from Halo 3. Active Camouflage, Jet Pack and Hologram are pretty similar to their older incarnations. I still love tricking people with the Hologram.
Apart from the Forerunner grenades, I like all the new weapons. As for missing weapons, well, the most obviously missing one for me was the Grenade Launcher. I loved bouncing grenades off of surfaces into enemies faces – but truth be told, the Sticky Detonator does make up for the absent Grenade Launcher. The Needle Rifle from Halo: Reach is a surprising omission – it would’ve fit in so well with this, the longest range Halo game of all. I kinda miss the Plasma Launcher (the huge Covenant cannon that launched homing sticky projectiles), it would’ve been great to have kept it in, even if it lost the ability to home in on players, and just vehicles instead.
Man, that was a long post.
