The problems with Halo Infinite weapons design

Games Halo Infinite
1

Every time I watch Infinite footage, I’m struck by how the design of some of the weapons isn’t that great, and I’m really worried because not that many people talk about this issue.

I do this because I love Halo and I want Infinite to be the best Halo game ever, and for that we need to be critical. I also want to precise that I haven’t played the first Infinite flight, so it’s only from a viewer perspective. Finally I do not hate everything that 343 does and I don’t think that Bungie’s games were perfect.

First the Pulse Carbine (Imgur: The magic of the Internet). This weapon is a successor of the Storm Rifle, and while looking better, it’s still looks too much like an alien Assault Rifle, and also too much like the Covenant Carbine. The original Plasma Rifle had much more unique and alien look. If the concern is that it looked too much like a pistol, then reusing the Plasma Repeater from Reach would have been good compromise.

Second is the VK Commando (Imgur: The magic of the Internet). This weapon doesn’t feel like an UNSC rifle because of the absence of the bullpup design. I feel like it’s just a “futurish” Call of Duty weapon.

Then I want to talk about the new Bulldog Shotgun (Imgur: The magic of the Internet). The classic shotgun loading from the top looked very unique, and the shell by shell loading helped the “zombie film/game” feel when fighting the flood. It also made the weapon stand out because of this unique trait. Now it looks a bit too fat, and its silhouette too close to a rifle.

I also a huge problem with Infinite using Reach’s Assault Rifle design (Imgur: The magic of the Internet). I personally dislike it a lot, because Reach’s aesthetic was too much “modern military” and not enough “sci-fi”. I think the classic smoother CE-3-4-5 AR design fits better in Halo than the “utilitarian” look of Reach AR. The ammo counter being too fat and the yellow stripe in the middle of the grey draw too much attention.

The Sidekick pistol has a good design (Imgur: The magic of the Internet), but adding the grip guard would help make it feel more like a Halo weapon and less like a modern Glock. Actually, it would make it look exactly like the Halo 2 Magnum, and that’s great.

Finally the new Infinite Plasma pistol (Imgur: The magic of the Internet), which is just the Halo 5 Plasma Pistol, looks too fat and heavy, compared to the lighter weapon it used to be, and is suppose to be.

This was only about the visual aspect, but I’d like to say one thing about gameplay. I hope that Halo Infinite will have a different weapon balance between Campaign and PvP, because Halo’s arsenal was created first for Campaign. Some weapons like the Assault Rifle are totally inefficient against Spartans, but they were very great against Flood Infection Forms. The campaign offer a variety of enemies while PvP only has Spartans, so the tuning of certain weapons must be different.

2

I don’t have a problem with the designs so much…

However, I despise the Pulse Rifle as a replacement for the Carbine. Also not too keen on the Commando as a replacement for the DMR… but I’m less irked about that one. Though to me, it just feels like a more powerful/slower firing/more accurate AR. Again, it bothers me less than the Pulse Rifle. The PR just isn’t fun to use, imo. The floating/tracking projectiles lack any “punch” and I feel like its a weird cousin to the Needler which already has tracking projectiles. We currently have no precision mid range weapon for the Covenant/Banished right now.

The rest of the weapons feel great to me, especially the sidekick. I had the most fun with it in the flight and often used it as my primary over the AR (even though the AR’s range was OP). So far, I’ve been happy with the gunplay with mostly minor gripes (stated above).

I do agree about the shotgun, I didn’t feel like that needed to be swapped out. OG shotgun is just classic. Bulldog is fun to use, but I do miss the OG.

3

> 2533274820573226;2:
> I don’t have a problem with the designs so much…
>
> However, I despise the Pulse Rifle as a replacement for the Carbine.

imo the pulse carbine is a great stand-in for the carbine. covenant weapons have always been characterized as functionally distinct from human weapons, which makes the covenant more interesting as enemies and the sandbox more diverse. then you have the carbine, which fires magazine loaded hitscan lasers.

the pulse carbine is pretty much a plasma rifle crossed with a charged plasma pistol, which is actually interesting. it just needs to be tuned better.

> We currently have no precision mid range weapon for the Covenant/Banished right now.

mangler probably fills that role. it doesn’t have a scope but it seems pinpoint accurate.

4

A side point, but I don’t see the need for all weapon archetypes to be covered by all factions. If we have a mid range precision weapon, do we really need another one? The BR, Commando and PC all roughly mid range options, but that all function and feel very different, and personally I love that.
As for the designs, it’s purely subjective. I personally don’t have a problem with any of them, others do, not much to be gained discussing it I don’t think. I’d at least wait to play the game in the flight to fully formulate your opinion, the way a gun feels in your hands may well change your mind somewhat. I didn’t care for the Commando when it was first revealed, it looked like just another UNSC rifle but after playing with it now it’s probably my favourite addition to the sandbox and that’s definitely changed my perception of the gun as a whole.

5

well i was not in the first flight (my account was made after) but i do look forward to the next one

6

> 2533274855648543;4:
> A side point, but I don’t see the need for all weapon archetypes to be covered by all factions. If we have a mid range precision weapon, do we really need another one? The BR, Commando and PC all roughly mid range options, but that all function and feel very different, and personally I love that.
> As for the designs, it’s purely subjective. I personally don’t have a problem with any of them, others do, not much to be gained discussing it I don’t think. I’d at least wait to play the game in the flight to fully formulate your opinion, the way a gun feels in your hands may well change your mind somewhat. I didn’t care for the Commando when it was first revealed, it looked like just another UNSC rifle but after playing with it now it’s probably my favourite addition to the sandbox and that’s definitely changed my perception of the gun as a whole.

Yes Design is purely subjecitve (Gameplay and balancing is more important, design can not please every single player). For me the Weapon design is really cool. Personally i understand the OP about the Pulse Carbine, but all the other Weapons are really cool. Especially the BR75, Bulldog and the Sidekick.

And if i remember correctly, the devs mentioned that they possibly add Weapons from previous Halo Titles? At least it would be very cool if they do that. Maybe we see old weapons like the old Shotgun, Magnum, DMR, Needle Rifle and so on.

7

Did anyone else have trouble being accurate/getting kills with the Commando? Can’t tell if I was doing something wrong with it or not, played on console.

8

Just bc the pulse carbine visually resembles the plasma carbine or storm rifle doesn’t mean its intended to fill the same role in the sandbox as either, which is evidenced by the fact that they’re nothing alike mechanically.

IMO, the pulse carbine is meant to fill the role of a long range plasma pistol overcharge - something we’ve never had before. Considering one direct hit strips shields and it tracks, this seems to be the most likely scenario. The people who dislike how it plays might like it more if they allow it to fill into the role it was designed for and not the one assumed of it.

9

> 2535448748856986;8:
> Just bc the pulse carbine visually resembles the plasma carbine or storm rifle doesn’t mean its intended to fill the same role in the sandbox as either, which is evidenced by the fact that they’re nothing alike mechanically.
>
> IMO, the pulse carbine is meant to fill the role of a long reach plasma pistol overcharge - something we’ve never had before. Considering one direct hit strips shields, this seems to be the most likely scenario. You might like it more if you allow it to fill into the role it was designed for and not the one assumed of it.

Yeah pulse carbine is cool, I watched this after the flight and realized I was using it wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UQi81v_uEU

10

> 2533274953195665;3:
> > 2533274820573226;2:
> > I don’t have a problem with the designs so much…
> >
> > However, I despise the Pulse Rifle as a replacement for the Carbine.
>
> imo the pulse carbine is a great stand-in for the carbine. covenant weapons have always been characterized as functionally distinct from human weapons, which makes the covenant more interesting as enemies and the sandbox more diverse. then you have the carbine, which fires magazine loaded hitscan lasers.
>
> the pulse carbine is pretty much a plasma rifle crossed with a charged plasma pistol, which is actually interesting. it just needs to be tuned better.

I just wish the pulse carbine looked more like the plasma rifle or the repeater, to give it the CE plasma rifle vibe, which was already somewhere between an automatic and precision if used correctly (and is also how the elites used it, as opposed to a bullet hose).

11

> 2533274833380004;7:
> Did anyone else have trouble being accurate/getting kills with the Commando? Can’t tell if I was doing something wrong with it or not, played on console.

To make a proper final conclusion, i have to play with it against real players for a few hours, against bots the result was kind of adulterated.

From my experiences so far, i can give you this tip: Close range it’s better if you hold down the trigger and use the advantage of Full-Auto. For mid-range / long-range, depending on the situation, it’s better to shoot in 2-3 round bursts. For really long distances fast single tapping is almost the best way if i remember correctly. (The last flight is already a few weeks ago, soon we can hopefully play it again).

12

> 2535419445147641;1:
> Every time I watch Infinite footage, I’m struck by how the design of some of the weapons isn’t that great, and I’m really worried because not that many people talk about this issue.
>
> I do this because I love Halo and I want Infinite to be the best Halo game ever, and for that we need to be critical. I also want to precise that I haven’t played the first Infinite flight, so it’s only from a viewer perspective. Finally I do not hate everything that 343 does and I don’t think that Bungie’s games were perfect.
>
> First the Pulse Carbine (Imgur: The magic of the Internet). This weapon is a successor of the Storm Rifle, and while looking better, it’s still looks too much like an alien Assault Rifle, and also too much like the Covenant Carbine. The original Plasma Rifle had much more unique and alien look. If the concern is that it looked too much like a pistol, then reusing the Plasma Repeater from Reach would have been good compromise.
>
> Second is the VK Commando (Imgur: The magic of the Internet). This weapon doesn’t feel like an UNSC rifle because of the absence of the bullpup design. I feel like it’s just a “futurish” Call of Duty weapon.
>
> Then I want to talk about the new Bulldog Shotgun (Imgur: The magic of the Internet). The classic shotgun loading from the top looked very unique, and the shell by shell loading helped the “zombie film/game” feel when fighting the flood. It also made the weapon stand out because of this unique trait. Now it looks a bit too fat, and its silhouette too close to a rifle.
>
> I also a huge problem with Infinite using Reach’s Assault Rifle design (Imgur: The magic of the Internet). I personally dislike it a lot, because Reach’s aesthetic was too much “modern military” and not enough “sci-fi”. I think the classic smoother CE-3-4-5 AR design fits better in Halo than the “utilitarian” look of Reach AR. The ammo counter being too fat and the yellow stripe in the middle of the grey draw too much attention.
>
> The Sidekick pistol has a good design (Imgur: The magic of the Internet), but adding the grip guard would help make it feel more like a Halo weapon and less like a modern Glock. Actually, it would make it look exactly like the Halo 2 Magnum, and that’s great.
>
> Finally the new Infinite Plasma pistol (Imgur: The magic of the Internet), which is just the Halo 5 Plasma Pistol, looks too fat and heavy, compared to the lighter weapon it used to be, and is suppose to be.
>
> This was only about the visual aspect, but I’d like to say one thing about gameplay. I hope that Halo Infinite will have a different weapon balance between Campaign and PvP, because Halo’s arsenal was created first for Campaign. Some weapons like the Assault Rifle are totally inefficient against Spartans, but they were very great against Flood Infection Forms. The campaign offer a variety of enemies while PvP only has Spartans, so the tuning of certain weapons must be different.

Personally I feel very strongly about the last part here… constantly nerfing and shifting the guns that are the most fun in the campaign, just to make them fit in the Multiplayer Sandbox ™ is one of the biggest problems I see for this game.

aside from that, yeah… the sidekick still doesn’t feel quite right, the plasma pistol feels way off, the AR is oddly based on Reach instead of the other, cooler designs in CE, 3, 4, and 5, and the bulldog… just isn’t it.