Evolution of the Halo Sniper Rifle

The evolution of the Halo sniper rifle has been a long and painful process for some. For others it's been a blessing of semi realism. No one can deny the awe and power of the head shot but over time that has become harder to attain. There are some advantages and disadvantages to this weapons changing over time and I'll list them.

Halo 1 Sniper

The Halo 1 sniper rifle was by far my weapon of choice, even on small maps at times for it had the great 2x zoom capability that made it more like a deadly version of the pistol. I'm sure many of you in those days had heard the howls from your friends of "Sniper whore", "play with something besides the sniper you f%*#!", lol, yes, indeed those were some fun times. The other great feature in Halo Combat Evolved is night vision when zoomed in. I loved this feature for the more dark lit maps.

Halo 2 and Halo 3 Sniper

This marked the end of a really good halo sniping weapon. In Halo 2, they raped the gun of its night vision and in both games, changed the 2x zoom to 5x making it far more difficult to snipe at close range. Granted some have perfected their no scoping abilities due to this but not all of us have that good of eye sight! Some could argue this is an advantage for those with close range weapons but I think the only ones who say that are those unskilled at avoiding being sniped. Ever heard of strafing?



Back to the gun, it is more realistic in that it has more of a recoil and it's a bit more jittery with movement which leads you to be more accurate with the weapon. Halo 3 also brought back night vision but in a limited capacity (You couldn't be zoomed in at all.) but I doubt that appeases most Halo gamers.

Finally, I will say I've gradually adjusted to the new sniper over time but still miss 2x zoom greatly. It would have been great if they had made 3 zoom levels; 2x, 5x and 10x! Although it's hard to say if that would be good or not since it might lead to some confusion when aiming and zooming. It would be awesome to see Halo ODST come out with an improved sniper or even some different variations of the sniper with each one perhaps having it's advantages and disadvantages. This would make perfect sense given the games "convert" and "shadowy" nature. For now, we must play on without my beloved 2x zoom! :: pouts ::