Halo 3

Most of the weapons available in previous installments of the series return with minor cosmetic and power alterations; including the Battle Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Covenant Plasma Rifle, Brute Shot and the Covenant Needler.

Halo 3 introduces a new-to-the-series class called “support weapons”. These are a group of exceptionally large, powerful and cumbersome two-handed weapons that, when carried, change the view to a third-person perspective and cause the player to move more slowly. The two weapons available in this class during the Public Beta were the Machine Gun Turret and Missile Pod, although a Flamethrower also features in this class.

The now-iconic Assault Rifle which appeared in the original Halo as the MA5B, but was absent from Halo 2 is returning for Halo 3 retooled into the MA5C. Developer Bungie hopes it will fill the role as the “ultimate spawn weapon”, allowing players to hold their own in a fight straight away (unlike the SMG in Halo 2) but not be so powerful as to overshadow all of the other weapons (like the M6D in Halo). In hopes of fulfilling this, it has a smaller magazine and slower rate of fire than its previous iteration but a longer range and greater accuracy.

There are more new weapons and grenades, most in order to expand the “Brute Sandbox:”

• Brute Spiker, a sub machine-gun like weapon with a vicious double blade on the front,
• Brute Mauler, a dual-wieldable shotgun,
• Gravity Hammer, a large augmented hammer similar to the one used by Tartarus in Halo 2,
• Spike Grenade, able to stick to any surface and release a controlled explosion of deadly spikes
• Fire Bomb, an incendiary grenade with burning agent that adheres to anything it touches, including the bubble shield.

There is also the “Spartan Laser” that can kill players and destroy vehicles in one hit, but has a low battery and requires a three second charge.

As a visual change to the weapons, when a player is carrying a second weapon in Halo 3, the secondary weapon will be stored on the character’s back (for larger, two-handed weapons) or on a leg holster (for smaller, one-handed weapons). This makes it impossible to “hide” a powerful secondary weapon and surprise unsuspecting foes.