So when talking about playable characters in Halo infinite we know Spartans is going to be one of them, there is also a good chance the Elites would be another character as they been playable since the 2nd game and were playable in 3 out of the 7 FPS games. Still there could be other possible characters that we can play as that would make since in both game-play and narrative. In other posts I have talked about playing as a Flood Combat form which we sort of can with infection. We have already played as ODST marines which I will talk about more in another post. Promethean Knights is another possibility as it to is a rather humanoid character. For now as in the title I want to talk about playing as a Jiralhanae Brute, and how it could be placed in infinite as part of the story or DC that explores more of the Halo Universe.
So first what is playing as a brute like? Well for one you are big. Not as big as H2 hunters but clearly as bigger than an Elite which is bigger than a Spartan IIIs, so most likely the same size or bigger than Spartan IIs. Now the Brutes in Halo 3 had a power armor system which was different from shields used by Spartans and Elites. Like shields Power armor was vulnerable to plasma and EMP damage, but unlike shields which always come back once power armor is broken it is gone, which often cause the brute to rage. So there playing as a brute has 2 states, one where you have power armor making oyu sort of a tank, and an unarmored version that has some sort of rage mechanic. Halo 3 brutes also employed equipment that was made to stifle ranged weapons of Master Chief forcing for close in engagements. For this post I am going to assume that the Armor Abilities of Reach/H4 is the mechanic that is used for the Brutes. But one thing for sure is armor abilities only works while the brute still has armor. If the Armor is broken then it is replace with a Rage Ability.
So Power Armor works and recharges like shields, when the power armor shields are drain there is a little bit armor hp left (that does not regenerate) until enough damage is done to break the armor reverting the brute to an unarmored stage. When unarmored there is no regeneration to health unless in rage state. Rage acts sort of like an armor ability except for once it is activated it cannot be deactivated until it is completely exhausted. When in rage you drop your weapon (or put it away if you don’t have a 2nd one) and break into a charge attack mode (kind of like Spartan Charge but one that doesn’t seem like a cheap kill). You cannot use weapons other than melee weapons but have your melee attack and faster movement as well as regeneration but not in a way that will save you form 2 shotgun blast to the face. Once it is exhausted you exit rage and can pick up and use weapons, but you will have to wait for some time until you can rage again and you no longer have health regen leaving you vulnerable. So rage is difficult to control adding on top of that is when your armor breaks rage would be automatically activated. Of course it would be better to replace your power armor and for that you need to find a Huragok Engineer. These NPCs will replace your armor (or repair any armor damage you received if not broken), regen your shields and may even give you an over shield depending on what the setup is for these NPCs.
What would brutes look like? Well in THIS THREAD I talked about customization options so I’ll leave it at there for you to go see for yourself. But generally they will have an unarmored avatar that has power armored placed over them. Again they will be rather large models so Spartan II size or larger but not as big as a H2 Hunter.
So now that we nailed down the mechanics for Brute what about gametypes and where would playing as a brute be acceptable? Well lets get the obviously bad choices out of the way, so competitive matchmaking is gone unless everyone is playing as a Brute and even then it might be better as a casual game type. Also lets throw out invasion mode as Brutes are exactly as balanced as Spartans vs Elites, even though I like the asymmetry between the Spartans with limited health regen and elites having full health regen I don’t think a Spartan vs Brute or even a Spartan/ODST vs Elite/Brute would match up evenly. Well lets take a look at where the obvious place to put a playable brute with these new HP and rage mechanics, a spinoff campaign. Sort of a side story like the Arbiter missions in Halo 2. Now in H3 the Arbiter was a Co-op character as Elites where the same as Spartans, this would not be a good case as Brutes have mechanics that differ far more than to be playing with other Spartan and Elite players. So a side story with a Brute as the player and in Co-op the other players are also brutes. Now where the story would be, it could be a side story starting on the arc, or a completely separate DLC story involving the actions of a Brute warrior in the UNSC covenant war. Now of course if the player is fighting the UNSC the bestiary for the humans would have to be improved as it is rather sparce and uninteresting to fight against unlike the myriad of other characters as the other 3 factions have fully fleshed out spectrum of enemy types.
So single player (and co-op) has been discussed now about multiplayer. Well I already established that symmetrical match ups would be out of the question unless everyone was a Brute, so lets talk about Asymmetrical match ups. Brutes would be the perfect Juggernauts much like how that flood/combat form is in infection. The Juggernaut is a brute in power armor (or just a brute model) and who ever becomes the new juggernaut is now a brute. HEck you could even take is a step further and make everyone else an ODST as a callback to the ODST game and to add further challenge to taking out the Juggernaut. Also I mentioned Infection we could do some Brute vs Flood infection game types. The uninfected are Brutes and they have power armor which makes them immune from infections, until that breaks then they could be infected turning into flood combat forms. Speaking about fighting against the flood and also ties into co-op a little, Brute Firefight. Brutes could be playable characters in firefight fighting against the Elite controlled covenant, or fighting against Flood, Sentinels/Promethean, or even UNSC (although we will need new UNSC NPCs for reasons I have already stated). Also for the machinima types they could be placed in forge as a preferred character. There should be some mode where players can pick any character they want in the game mode as some sort of social free-play gametype. (Heck can you imagine Red vs Blue with a Brute character?)
So those are my ideas of what playing as a brute would be like and what gametypes would be suitable for brutes. Maybe next post I’ll talk about playable ODSTs or Flood Combat forms. Elites are sort of a given, although I wish they have that asymmetry to the Spartans that was given to them in Reach. But what do you think about playable Brutes in Halo? Any ideas you have for using them or what story would you write for the brute player?