|
Spartan Armor Permutations & Weapons - Page 2 Posted 10/20/2007
Now to continue the weapons. Here's the Battle Rifle (duh), though apparently the string of letters and numbers for this one is slightly different from the one in Halo 2, I hear. Now it's the BR55HB SR... although it still seems to have pretty much the same performance in the game as last time. The Carbine, however, kind of beats it, since it has a higher rate of fire if you have a really fast trigger finger, and doesn't overheat like most Covenant weapons.
Of course, I made a few more Spartans for good measure, to show off the rest of my guns. This dark green guy with the Scout helmet, Recon shoulders, and CQB chest armor is showing off the Brute Mauler (in his right hand). It's sort of like a mini-shotgun brought to you by those masters of violent destruction, the Brutes. And IMO, it's actually more useful than the human Shotgun, especially since you can dual-wield them. My LEGO version is astoundingly simple: a gangsta' gun from the Batman series of sets with the barrel cut short. Ta-da!
Of course, the game still includes the standard grenades, both human (frag) and plasma, but...
There's also the mace-like Brute Spike Grenade! It's a bladed grenade on a stick that blows up and shoots out spikes in all directions. It's not all that useful if you just toss it on the ground like the other grenade types...
...but it's great fun to stick someone in the face with it! Or elsewhere, if you please. Either way, it's pretty much guaranteed to kill them.
This here dark grey and orange guy (I told you I liked making weird color combinations, especially since I couldn't make a solid-orange guy...) is showing off the fourth and most awesome kind of grenade in the game: the Firebomb! Apparently introduced by the Brutes, it's kind of like a molotov cocktail: toss it, and it makes a blob of flame that burns up anyone who walks through it. Which for a video-game-pyromaniac like me (don't worry, only in video games... mostly!), is totally awesome. But not as awesome as...
The Flamethrower! Also known as the M7057 Defoliant Projector, apparently. Thank goodness they finally saw fit to bring back the awesome weapon first introduced as a multiplayer-only device in Halo PC. Only now it's twice as big and twice as lethal! Much like the other heavy weapons in the game, it slows you down and pulls you out to a 3rd-person view, but using it is a blast.
My only complaint about the flamethrower is that you can only put one of them per level in Forge. What the heck, Bungie?! How am I supposed to make my custom map called "Pyromaniac Paradise" with only one Flamethrower and eight Firebombs?! Still, I'm trying anyway. Currently using the level "Guardian" as a base. If anyone knows a magical way (or just one I totally missed) to get more than one Flamethrower on any of the levels, let me know.
This black Spartan with the EVA helmet, Mark VI chest, and Security shoulders is holding one of the cooler new weapons in the game, the Brute Spiker. As its name implies, it shoots out metal spikes. It's like a more interesting version of the SMG, and seems to be more useful as well. You can use it, for example, to draw pictures. Not sure whether or not the blades on it actually make it better for melee fighting.
The Spiker can be dual-wielded with the Mauler to great and Brutal effect!
Of course, the more classic Brute weapon, the Brute Shot grenade launcher, is still in as well. And now it carries more ammo (6 grenades per belt) and shoots straighter! So it's practically like a mini-bazooka, only not as good. Especially since you can't bounce it around corners anymore. Okay, so it's still stinky if you ask me, but hey, it's got a big blade on the back, which is kinda cool.
On the classic field of "which is better, human or covenant?" my preferences run almost entirely Covenant. Call me a traitor if you like, but I've just always found Covenant guns more interesting. That's why I like sci-fi games better than your typical modern shooters - because of neat sci-fi guns and technology (and vehicles, and spaceships, and a more epic scale...). So pardon me if I think laser guns are cooler. What would you rather use, a primitive barrel thingy that fires bits of pointy metal using little packets of explosives (doesn't that sound like something the Brutes would make?) with a pretentious name like SRS 99D AM... or a sleek, highly advanced particle acceleration cannon?
Although I admit the scope on the sniper rifle is really cool looking. Of course, there are advantages to both (the sniper rifle has a higher rate of fire, but the beam rifle has more ammo with no need to reload), but anyway... here's a dark green shotty sniper for ya.
And of course, the good ol' rocket launcher is still in the game. Once again, however, I'm not sure if it stands up to the competition. With the Fuel Rod Gun's now faster and more direct projectiles, and since it has more ammo and a faster rate of fire than the SPNKr, and because the SPNKr no longer has tracking ability in Halo 3... the Covenant bazooka more than gives the human equivalent a run for its money. Oh, did I say SPNKr? Excuse me - I mean the M41 SSR MAV/AW ABCDEFG-10268 IWHBYD WWJD42. Or something like that. That reminds me of another reason I prefer Covenant guns: no crazy strings of numbers and letters in the names.
You know, it's a shame how with all these Covenant and Human and Brute counterparts to various weapons, there is no Human melee weapon to counter the Covenant Energy Sword and Brute Gravity Hammer... like the Machete, for instance, which was a human sword-like weapon in early, pre-Xbox Halo 1 builds (back when it was going to be for the PC and Mac only), as seen in the screenshot above, wielded by early Master Chief. You may recognize the general shape of it from the difficulty emblems for all three Halo games. Well, it may not be playable in any of them, but guess what? This is LEGO!
So I give you my LEGO version of the machete! Ahh, I know it's not much, just a chopped-up KK2 sword, and the big triangular piece below the blade kind of messes it up, but hey, it's got the right general shape. Just imagine if you could use this, the combat knife, and the katana along with the Energy Sword and Gravity Hammer...
Okay, so I admit that might be a bit too much. Especially with that silly katana in there. Still, I wouldn't have minded either the combat knife or the machete being playable... that would have been sweet.
The three melee weapons that should have been in the game. After all, they brought back the minigun, so why not the machete?
"Because I said so," says the Bungie employee, head fiendishly aflame...
Another thing making the SPNKr all but obsolete is this monster: the Missile Pod. You'll sometimes find them in single player set up as mortar cannons, like this one. Rip them off their stand, however, and they become a portable death machine, able to shoot several powerful missiles that can track enemies.
When I first found this weapon, I wasn't quite sure what it was, so I dubbed it the "vehicle *bleep*er". Because basically that's what it is. If you're in a vehicle of any kind and you see an enemy carrying this, you're pretty much screwed. Even the shape of it implies... err, nevermind. Oh, I almost forgot the crazy letter-number-string! In this case it's LAU-65D/SGM-151. Ooookaaaaay...
I've been getting several requests for Missile Pod instructions, so since it's fairly easy to do, here you go: this picture should hopefully explain things.
Of course, there are other turrets that can be removed from their stands as well, like this plasma cannon. It's funny how the introduced the whole rip-the-gun-off-its-stand thing right after I encountered it in FarCry: Instincts: Predator (in which you can remove gun turrets when you get your feral super-strength) and wondered "if animal-man Jack Carver can remove gun turrets, why can't a freakin' Spartan?" I guess Bungie thought the same thing.
I built this gun last of all the creations here, because it took me so long to get a decent design that was a decent size and included the essential energy shield things... useless in the game though they are. I'm not sure if I succeeded in capturing it extremely well, but at least my gun collection is complete. Now I know what you're all thinking: "What about the HUMAN Machine Gun, Scorp? It's so much cooler!" Bah, if you say so. I guess it IS about time they let you use it, since it's an idea they've had on hold since the early days of the original Halo:
Yes, I like dredging up all of these old screenshots to show you guys, especially those of you who find them and then post threads in my forums showing pictures of the old Elite model and saying "ZOMG NEW ALIEN?!" Heheheh... no. Not hardly.
It's bigger, it's got Warthog-style guard plates, and its got a weird triangular thingy on the front. For my LEGO version, I got the barrel design from Killernoob. But due to my urge to always make things as playable as possible, I had to make it able to rotate. As for the triangle thing on the end, I'm sure you've figured out already that it's just a decal wrapped around and around the three barrels. It also helps keep them in place better.
The AIE-486H HMG (*pants*) is not quite the same as the Warthog LAAG turret either. It's smaller, for one thing, and it's also not quite as good. Where the LAAG starts firing immediately, you have to wait a while for this one to spin up before it will start shooting at full speed... much like a modern minigun.
This shot shows what might happen if my brother and sister and I ever get the ability to play online. Of course, this doesn't make much sense since all our colors are different so we're not on the same team, but... do things have to make sense? Naah.
In conclusion, here are shots of all the Spartans standing in front of all the weapons. First, three Spartans overlooking the Brute weapons, or "Brute Sandbox" as some still call it, strangely enough. From left to right, row by row: Firebomb, Mauler, Brute Shot, Spiker, Spike Grenade, and Gravity Hammer.
Next, the human weapons: Machete (not really in the game), Machine Gun, Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Flamethrower, Missile Pod, Magnum Pistols, SMGs (Sub-Machine Guns), Shotgun, Rocket Launcher, and Spartan Laser.
Finally, the Covenant weapons: Plasma Pistols, Carbine, Fuel Rod Gun, Plasma Cannon, Plasma Rifles, Energy Sword, Needler, and Beam Rifle. Note that the black paint on the CQB guy's helmet has rubbed off in this picture. That's because I built the Plasma Cannon a little late, and had to re-shoot this pic... after I'd already restored my precious blue helmet to its original state.
And here's the whole army! They're all getting ready to kill me for not building a nice multiplayer map for them to play on. Of course, I had to make this as a wallpaper:
And that's it! All the Spartans and weapons in Halo 3! And now, after all this work, I think I'm going to let Halo sit for a while. To all of you who keep e-mailing me and firing off vehicle suggestions: I've already decided I want to make the Hornet next. But no telling when. First I'm going to finish that Space Dragon I've been working on for Nova Refuge... |
