Frequently Asked Forum Questions | ||||
Search Older Posts on This Forum: Posts on Current Forum | Archived Posts | ||||
Click to zoom, folks.
The color is... interesting. It's a complete departure from traditional UNSC black-and-slate gray coloration, and it's got me curious.
UNSC and Covenant weapons have traditionally been strictly differentiated. The Covenant weapons have always been more curvy and glowy, but they've also been more colorful than the UNSC weapons. I can't help but wonder if we're going to see a reduced presence of Covenant weapons in Halo 5.
From a fictional standpoint, I have no problem with the color of the furniture. Hell, if it were me, the plastic parts of the MA5 would have E-ink embeded in it, and soldiers could adjust the color in the field. There would be a palette of colors they could chose, from Coyote Tan to Grassy Knoll Green.
I'm a big proponent of the idea that the MA5's bullet counter functions as an electronic scope for soldiers who don't have HUDs. And I think either some modeler at 343i read my idea (Unlikely) or they have are of the same mind (Rather more likely). The switch above and ahead of the trigger has three positions, marked "IR", "VIS", and "SL". These could be settings for the display: Electronic scope with an infrared filter, electronic scope in the visual spectrum, and the last setting could be... I have no clue what it stands for.
I guess it's also possible that the switch controls the flashlight. "IR" could mean that the flashlight has an infrared-only mode for nightvision gear, or each AR is capable of painting a target with a infrared laser.
So, moving backward we have the selector switch. Pretty standard, we've got Safe, Semi, and Full Auto. Pretty standard, but I think that last option is a little ambiguous. Could mean Full Auto, but some might interpret it to mean Three Round Burst. So instead of three bullets, why not a smiley face?
Below the trigger selector, there appears to be a grip safety, which is incredibly unusual for a long arm.
Last thing to note is that it's got a short Picatinny-style rail on the front, just barely big enough to mount a flashlight. I've already said my piece about what I think of rails on UNSC guns, so let's move on.
Yeah, it's the BR-85, now with a little rail up front. And the furniture and ejection port of the rear half has been redesigned entirely.
Meh. Looks better now.
Still convinced that it's a different gun from the M7.
And yes, it's got an itty bitty rail. Holy crap.
Yet another gun with that stupid rai... oh, wait, looks like they spared the DMR. Hell, the DMR looks like it was designed in complete isolation from the other weapons. That said, it's an incredibly accurate rendition of the Halo 4 DMR.
Really, though, I'm sad to see it return. Halo 4 suffered terribly from weapon redundancy, and I'm afraid that the current UNSC lineup will result in a similar problem. The overlap between the Battle Rifle and DMR seems to have been cured by nerfing the Battle Rifle's accuracy. With the reflex sight, I wouldn't be surprised if the Battle Rifle filled a small niche between the Assault Rifle and DMR. But how do the SMG and Assault Rifle coexist? Is there something unique that one does, or are the UNSC weapons just being tuned on a sliding scale of accuracy and rate of fire?
Looks like a cross between a LAAW and a Carl Gustav. Is it meant to replace the traditional Rocket Launcher? At a guess, I'd say it does something different from past rocket launchers. Maybe we're finally getting laser-guided missiles.
From a fiction standpoint, I can see this being issued to supplement the overly large M41 MAV-AW. Seriously, that thing had to be heavy; it had two barrels when one would do.
[b]MAACO Spartans[/b]
Meh. These look like an actual improvement over some of the Halo 4 armor. The undersuit doesn't have that disgusting crocodile-skin texture, and it's flat black instead of having team colors.
And do my eyes deceive me, or is more of the body covered by armor plating?