The Great Assault Rifle Debate

Okay, so my recent halo post was less than stellar in the writing department, and I knew that.  So let’s start on a new foot.  So I am going to write another Halo based post!  This one a bit more specific.

This is a topic only serious fans may have considered.  Which Halo’s Assault Rifle is the best?

Now, let’s take a quick look at the contenders.  We have Halo 1, the 60-round inaccurate death spewer, Halo 2, oh wait, there was no assault rifle in Halo 2, Halo 3, with its drastically improved 32-round accurate rifle, Halo Reach, with its gritty powerful rifle, and Halo 4, with the jack-all-trades rifle.  Each of these weapons are different, with Halo 1 being the most unique, and the other 3 being the bread and butter of the halo games.  The links I provided are to Halopedia, and each article compares the rifle to the previous rifle that came before it.  I will use these to help out my description, but also, how the weapon plays in a game and how it “feels” in my opinion, will also be looked at.

First, a few comments on the rifle itself.  It is notable that the gun is completely unrealistic for the sake of gameplay.  They do try and give it realistic stats to compare it to modern weapons, but compared to modern weapons, I would take the 50 year old AK-47 over a Halo assault rifle any day of the week.  The weapon (all of them ) fire M118 7.62x51mm Full Metal Jacket Armor-Piercing ammunition.  For reference, that link I gave you is for the Wikipedia article on the real ammunition.  Why would we be using the same ammunition 500 years from now?  It makes no sense really…   In my opinion, the Halo universe should be taking place in 2150, not 2550.  But anyways, continuing.  Now, AK-47s do use a smaller, less powerful round than the M118, but they do have an effective range of over 400m.  Most Halo maps are only about 200m across, and those assault rifles aren’t worth a darn at a range of more than 50m.  You’d think with 500 years to advance technology, they’d have some way to shoot a little further.  Of course, also, if the game was played by firing rounds at each other from a range of 500m, it wouldn’t be very fun, would it?

Now, let’s look at the guns.  First up, Halo 1.

The original Halo Assault Rifle, the MA5B, was more like a sub-machine gun instead of a rifle.  It had 60 rounds per clip, and emptied said clip in about 4 seconds (at 15 rounds a second).  It was an effective tool at close range, but was usually left behind for a more effective gun, such as the famed Halo 1 pistol (the M6D, if you were wondering).  It was excellent in Campaign mode against the Flood, second only to the shotgun, and was a great weapon against unshielded enemies.  Problem is, the hard guys have shields, and on harder difficulties, their shields just get better, which makes the gun useless against covenant on heroic or legendary difficulty.  Always effective against Flood infection forms, the weapon left a lot to be desired. 

For multiplayer, the gun was used as a default weapon for many maps, but it just didn’t cut it, and was commonly dropped for a better gun as soon as one came around, such as the pistol or shotgun.    But, it did have an advantage.  At close range, it only took 16 bullets to kill an opponent, which only is a quarter clip and that is quite fast.  I confirmed this by starting a multiplayer match on the map Rat Race, which has covenant deployable shields, which reflect assault rifle rounds at close range.  It does appear that it is only 16 shots.  I will confirm on my xbox later.  Problem comes as the accuracy is bad at any range over a few dozen meters.  Good luck landing 16 shots in a row at any difficulty.

The Halo 1 rifle does have the pluses of being the original and a lot of fun as a “spray and pray” weapon.  My wife and I have been playing campaign, and she has been loving just running into a crowd of enemies and mowing them all down.  This tactic, though fun, usually gets her killed.

Halo 2 was a bit of a conundrum.  The developers felt that in halo 1 the pistol felt more like a rifle and the rifle acted more like an SMG.  So, they created a pistol that acted like a pistol (a low powered, high rate of fire pistol), an SMG that acted like an SMG (carrying over the reticle and 60 magazine of the assault rifle, but with significantly lower damage) and a rifle that acted like a rifle (the favorite Battle Rifle seen in Halo 2, 3, and 4).  Problem is, they didn’t have a good weapon as a default weapon and they left a hole in their arsenal.  Which is where the Halo 3 rifle comes in, and it is the rifle that all the others try and copy.

Now, Halo 3...

The Halo 3 Assault Rifle, the MA5C, is a complete revamp of the assault rifle.  It fills in the Gap left between the SMG and the Battle Rifle.  This new rifle looks nearly identical to the Halo 1 assault rifle but plays very differently.  They have drastically reduced the number of bullets per magazine, from 60 down to 32.  But they drastically increased accuracy at the medium range.  Again, to fill the gap between the SMG and the Battle Rifle.  The rate of fire is lower, but *supposedly* damage per shot was increased.  Here is why I say *supposedly*.  It still takes exactly 16 rounds to make a kill with the Assault Rifle.  The rate of fire has been decreased compared to the halo 1 rifle (from the original 15 rounds per second to only 10).  But the accuracy increase makes the weapon much more usable and a great jack of all trades gun.

On a more personal note, the gun feels like it isn’t powerful, but then it kills your enemy, and you go “wow, this gun is good”.  It feels like it shouldn’t be as good as it is, so it is a nice surprise when you find this gun is awesome.  In multiplayer, this gun is usually your default, and that is not a bad thing, but it is commonly dropped for other “power” weapons.  But really, it is just as good as any other gun, and works great in combination with melee, grenades, or just other players.  It is also a master of none.  It is okay at long range support, but the carbine or BR are better.  It is great at close range, but the shotgun is better.  Dual spikers are better at medium range (of course, you lose melee and grenades).  It is just a great overall weapon, but many other weapons in different brackets can outperform it.

Next up, Halo Reach:

Halo Reach’s Assault Rifle builds off of Halo 3s.  Its looks are new, and is designed to be a more primitive design (though the game is only supposed to happen 4 months before Halo 3, but who is counting…).  The gun still has a 32 round clip, but it feels much more powerful.  They call the gun the MA37, but that is the Army designation.  The navy would call it the MA5 (where the Halo 1 rifle would be the MA5B, the second in the series).  Now, in the game, the rifle works much differently.  It works on a property known as “hitscan”.  This means that if your shot is lined up, and the random variation of the bullet firing crosses the path of your enemy, the bullet instantly travels and hits your enemy.  So, when a bullet fires, it instantly hits.  This is the same for the sniper rifle in all of the games, and the Battle Rifle in Halo 2 onward.  Before this, you would have to lead the assault rifle ever so slightly, because the bullets had travel time.  Also, bullets to kill has been increased, from 16 to 18-19 (varying sources, will try and confirm soon)(edit, just played a round with myself, it is 19 rounds to kill).  The gun feels more powerful than its halo 3 counterpart, but is in actuality less lethal.

Like I said, the gun feels more powerful.  I don’t personally use it much when playing, but I really should use it more.  It is still a great gun, and it feels much better than the Halo 3 rifle.  It feels deadlier, even though it isn’t.  It is very effective still when combined with melee or grenades, though it has been relegated back to its SMG like role, with the removal of the SMG.  In most multiplayer matches, there is no Spiker or Plasma rifle, so the shortest-ranged weapon besides the pistols or the shotgun really becomes the assault rifle.  And this is noticeable.  The removal of the SMG is really a disappointment, as it is sad to see the assault rifle moved back into the short range category.

And finally, Halo 4:

And this short range category is where it stays for Halo 4.  The halo 4 rifle feels a lot like the Halo 3 rifle, but it doesn’t have any lighter weapons to compare it to.  There is no plasma rifle, SMG, Spiker, or Mauler to compare the firepower too, and thus, it feels like one of the weaker weapons of the game, and also, one of the shorter range weapons, compared to its medium-range classification in Halo 3.  That being said, it is still a jack of all trades weapon.  It is a great compliment to one of the games many precision weapons (Battle Rifle, DMR, Light Rifle, or Carbine) and can fend for itself in closer range matches.  Now, I just ran a test in Halo 4, and the gun requires 16 shots to make a kill.  From what I can find on the internet, this has been the same since the release of the game, but a recent balance update states that: “The Assault Rifle damage has been slightly increased. The Assault Rifle now kills in three less rounds.”  Which would imply that it now only requires 13 rounds to make a kill.  This may only be so for matchmaking, but only more testing can prove this right or wrong.

Either  way the damage of the Halo 4 assault rifle is definitely higher than the Reach rifle, possibly even higher than the old Halo 3 rifle.  It doesn’t feel as powerful as the Reach rifle, which makes it slightly less fun. 

Now, for the winner.  We have the Halo 1 rifle, inaccurate death hose, the Halo 3 rifle, the new weapon that is surprisingly powerful, the Reach Rifle, which feels more powerful than it is, but is still fun to use, and the Halo 4 rifle, which gets its power back, but feels very short range.  From my descriptions, you have probably guessed the winner. 

The Halo 3 rifle takes the cake.  Every time I use it, it still surprises me.  It is an elegant weapon from a more civilized age.  It just gets the job done right. 

Now, some of you may disagree with me, but I love that Halo 3 rifle.  All the others have their strengths and weaknesses, but Halo 3 was the first that used the more accurate, lower ammo system that the other 2 were based off of. 

So, what do you think?

As a note, I would like to do more of these in the future, comparing pistols, plasma rifles, grenades, or anything else really in the Halo series.  Comment if you have a preference!