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.
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!
