In the trailer last year it showed Chief with an MA37 rather than an MA5D, which is just all sorts of confusing for both canon and aesthetic reasons.
The MA37 is the original MA5 in canon. It’s old and outdated. Only the UNSC Army uses it (as opposed to Marines/Navy), which is why it shows up in Halo Reach.
Aesthetically, it doesn’t belong in any game except Halo Reach. It’s extremely skeletal, intentionally ugly, and tactical looking. If Halo Infinite is trying to bring back a classic aesthetic, why on God’s green earth are they using the least classic assault rifle that doesn’t make canonical sense either?
MA5D: https://i.imgur.com/9YjhW3X.png
Look at that -Yoink!- olive drab furniture and the perfect combination of iconic old designs and modernization, and chronologically makes sense. It’s exactly the aesthetic they’re going for with Infinite, so it just completely comes out of left field why they’d get rid of what they already have that works perfectly and instead opt for the exact opposite philosophy of this. It’s just a completely backwards decision that doesn’t make sense from any angle other than “it was the lead designer’s favorite”.
I’m hoping that this game’s sandbox will allow multiple variations of classic weapons. I’m also hoping that BeardGuy has just been adrift since before the events of CE, thus having the war-era UNSC logo and outdated tech. But really, it’s 343’s game and they make the call of what designs make the final cut. It could just be their preference.
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> I’m hoping that this game’s sandbox will allow multiple variations of classic weapons. I’m also hoping that BeardGuy has just been adrift since before the events of CE, thus having the war-era UNSC logo and outdated tech. But really, it’s 343’s game and they make the call of what designs make the final cut. It could just be their preference.
I mean, there are always ways they can finagle the canon with mental gymnastics to make stuff fit, but it still needs to make narrative and aesthetic sense.
One theory I had read about was related to how older tech would function better in a world where AIs are taking over. Idk how valid that is considering the MA37 is not ancient by any means, so I guess it’s a case of waiting to see what 343i comes up with.
It’s not the MA37, it’s the MA40 which is a new upgraded version. It’s also not ugly and neither was the MA37, where in the world did you hear that it was intentionally ugly?
According to the Nerf lisenced toy (Thanks Chimera30 for sharing this news in the Infinite section) it appears that it’s a new model altogether, the MA40. This would imply the logical conclusion that it’s more closely related to the MA37 from Reach than the MA5 series from the other games.
As far as why? In Reach, the justification for the different AR basically boiled down to the MA37 being a preferred model for the UNSC Army, while the MA5 series was more favored by the UNSC Navy. If I recall correctly, that is (please correct me if not).
It could be that Infinite sees Chief liason with more Army forces than Navy on Zeta Halo. It would make sense for that branch to continue to favor the lineage of the MA37.
Ultimately, it’s an aesthetic decision. I think the reason Bungie even changed the look of the AR in Reach in the first place was to make it look like a less polished, “seamless” and futuristic weapon than the MA5B and MA5C had looked (super smooth and clean designs). The MA37 looked like it was a utility item without any undue attention being afforded to cleaner-than-necessary aesthetics. Infinite’s armory has been confirmed by 343i to be aiming to please Reach fans; the MA40 looking a lot like the MA37 might indicate that this philosophy extends beyond just the armor designs. We might see an emphasis on some more function-over-form appearances in the human weapons sandbox.
Assuming that Cortana and her Created are hindering human manufacturing processes, it would also make sense to have weapons that look a bit more skeletal and basic than the clean and pretty AR’s from the mainline series.
In any event, I like both varieties of the Assault Rifle, so I’m completely fine with it looking something like either one of its forbearers in Infinite.
MA37 is within the MA5 series, Superman Kenobi. You can think of it like the MA5A. The army just calls it the ‘37 because they started using it in 2437. The MA40 that potentially will be seen in Infinite may be a similarly altered nomenclature or something different altogether.
Thanks for the clarification! That goes to diminish some of my prior speculation, then. I’m super glad to know the lore behind it now, though!
If the Army had been using the MA37 since 2437, that would mean that it had been a standard issue service weapon for over a century prior to Halo: Reach! That completely blows my mind.
I think the fact that the MA40 is shaping up to look more like the MA37 than any of the intervening models is probably evidence that the manufacturing resources of Humanity have been greatly impacted by The Created, then. Totally crazy to think that they may have had to scale their design sensibilities back over a hundred years to create a mass-production model with limited manufacturing and distribution means.
Of course, that’s just more baseless speculation. Really gets my head spinning though.
I for one loved the look of the AR in Reach. Maybe let’s wait until the game comes out to see if there’s a reason, instead of just jumping to the conclusion that they’re doing it to make the classic art style fans happy.
I like the more streamline, skeletal look of the MA37. It’s like a cut down version of the MA5 series. Fitting due to its deployment with the diffent branches of the UNSC- MA37 being the Army variant, and MA5D being the Marine variant. Much like our own…to an extent, where the M4A1 isnthe shorter, cutdown version used by US Army, and the larger, M16 being issued to Marines.
Probably not intentional, but a coincidence.
Canonically, its would fit, due to the MA37’s widespread use within the UNSC Army, and given the fact that the UNSC is kinda on the backpeddle, theyd be scrounging for weapons where ever they can find them. So the MA37 is a welcome sight.
You have too consider how the weapon will look during gameplay and from the first person perspective. It may be more in line with classic AR designs than you realize.
Now, there are canonical reasons for it being back, with scavenging for what ever we can find, but I think it’s mostly to keep the Reach hype going into Infinite. And to do that, they make the gun that gets top billing look like it did in Reach.
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> Now, there are canonical reasons for it being back, with scavenging for what ever we can find, but I think it’s mostly to keep the Reach hype going into Infinite. And to do that, they make the gun that gets top billing look like it did in Reach.
That, or we maybe revisiting Reach, at some point in the game? Itd be cool to see
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> In the trailer last year it showed Chief with an MA37 rather than an MA5D, which is just all sorts of confusing for both canon and aesthetic reasons.
>
> The MA37 is the original MA5 in canon. It’s old and outdated. Only the UNSC Army uses it (as opposed to Marines/Navy), which is why it shows up in Halo Reach.
>
> Aesthetically, it doesn’t belong in any game except Halo Reach. It’s extremely skeletal, intentionally ugly, and tactical looking. **If Halo Infinite is trying to bring back a classic aesthetic, why on God’s green earth are they using the least classic assault rifle that doesn’t make canonical sense either?MA37:**https://i.imgur.com/EMGTPoG.png
>
> MA5D:
> https://i.imgur.com/9YjhW3X.png
> Look at that -Yoink!- olive drab furniture and the perfect combination of iconic old designs and modernization, and chronologically makes sense. It’s exactly the aesthetic they’re going for with Infinite, so it just completely comes out of left field why they’d get rid of what they already have that works perfectly and instead opt for the exact opposite philosophy of this. It’s just a completely backwards decision that doesn’t make sense from any angle other than “it was the lead designer’s favorite”.
The new assault rifle is called the MA40 as per the toy line report. So it’s basically a new model.
The AR that has been shown is actually a more actual version of the MA37, the MA40. Is like the change from AR that happened between Halo CE (MA5B) to Halo 3 (MA5C), and maybe another reason is that we wont have marines on our side, but maybe the UNSC army, like we did in Reach
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> MA37 is within the MA5 series, Superman Kenobi. You can think of it like the MA5A. The army just calls it the ‘37 because they started using it in 2437. The MA40 that potentially will be seen in Infinite may be a similarly altered nomenclature or something different altogether.
The Ma37 has the words MA5C Mk 4 on the side of it not MA5A.
Personally, I didn’t really like the AR design from Reach. I like the more cleaner looking model from halo 3. Also, I swear when you fired the Reach version, it sounded like a typewriter being pushed at the speed of light.
But that’s really just a preference, I’m not gonna let something trivial like that take away my enjoyment of the game, assuming the execution is good.
I definitely preferred the MA5D from 3… I like smooth designs and for me it gave a futuristic look to the weapon.
That said, seeing as this is an entirely new version likely based on the Reach one I’m curious to see if I change my mind on things if I get my hands on it in-game. Cause I didn’t like the Reach version whatsoever but maybe there is a chance to appreciate this one even if it doesn’t top the classic slick design.
For starters there is no actual evidence that the Infinite AR is the MA37 beyond a general profile. The design is obviously Reach inspired, but that doesn’t automatically make it the MA37.
Given how we have still seen basically nothing from Infinite it is way too early to tell whether a Reach style AR fits the overall aesthetic.
That all being said I did quite like the Halo 5 AR as well, I hope they might compromise and give it a Halo 5 style paint job like this.
