The MA5 Series

Games Other Halo
1

Gears of War 3 did something cool: not only did they bring back the classic, viscious(sp?) Lancer, they (re)introduced the pre-Locust/Pendulum War-era Lancer, and gave each its own “personality”: The Chainsaw Lancer Wars good for close-to-medium range combat, and featured a 60-round clip. The Retro Lancer, while lacking a chainsaw to bite through grubs like a fat kid through cake, featured a blade bayonet that was just as brutal in its own. This Lancer was best-used for close-range action, as the targeting reticle seemed to result in what Halo players refer to as severe “bloom”.

Now, if Epic Games can create a variation of an iconic weapon such as the Lancer, I think 343 Industries can do the same thing with one of the most well-known weapons in the videogame industry: the MA5 series. If you’re still here after I mentioned a game other than Halo, it’s possible you might be wondering how this could be implemented. Well, this is my idea: a different version of the Assault Rifle for each known military branch of the UNSC (all with the same kill times, varying by maybe 0.25 seconds), for players with specific preferences. If not in Halo 4, then maybe Halo 5.

-Army-issue Assault Rifle
That’s right: the MA37 Assault Rifle, one of the more useless weapons in Halo: Reach, now has the chance to regain/earn its honor. Bloom remains, though not quite so severe, as well as a 32-round magazine. It fires somewhat slower than the MA5D, but uses higher-velocity bullets to compensate.

-Marine-issue Assault Rifle
The Assault Rifle we’ve seen so far in Campaign and Multiplayer. Perfect for short-to-medium range.

-Navy-issue Assault Rifle
A stubbier variation of the AR that many Halo vets well recognize. Essentially a familiar, aesthetically-pleasing SMG, the Navy’s Assault Rifle is best for short-range combat, complete with 60 shots per clip and a fast rate of fire. Bigger isn’t always better, however; while it may have an extended clip, the bullets are much weaker. As a result, it takes nearly the same amount of time to kill an enemy as the other AR variants.

…or, alternatively, we could just get MA5B and MA37 AR skins and hope for a clip extension Tactical Package or something. But that would be no fun.

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3

> -Army-issue Assault Rifle
> That’s right: the MA37 Assault Rifle, one of the more useless weapons in Halo: Reach

I take offense to that. I found it really usefull.

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That would be good for cannon, because the games are mere years and usually less apart it doesn’t make sense that the UNSC keeps pulling out new variants to replace the 1 year old variants. It would be cool if 343i in halo 4 brought back the old models and said that the UNSC used different models for each of it’s branches and even though the master chief is with NAVSPECWAR or whatever the hell he’s with, he just used the weapons that were available to him in his environment. Just like the army use DMRs while the marines use BRs and how noble team used DMRs because there were constantly army troopers in their environment. Even if the different models were simply weapon skins it would be cool to have them in halo 4.

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They should do the Halo 3 BR and the ODST pistol - at least in forge.

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> > -Army-issue Assault Rifle
> > That’s right: the MA37 Assault Rifle, one of the more useless weapons in Halo: Reach
>
> I take offense to that. I found it really usefull.

I’m sorry for offending you. Personally, however, I found it to be disappointing. But that’s just my opinion, of course.