Halo’s Perfect Pistol
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse– And his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him…”
Reunion Tour
The most surprising thing to come out of the Magnum’s development is how none of its engineers lost an arm wielding one. Adorned in chrome finish, the UNSC’s M6D Pistol is a sledgehammer with night sights. Demanding as it is destructive, the Magnum gives what it gets. Master it, and nothing will stand in your way.
Despite firing an Elephant stopping cartridge, Halo’s pistol is laser accurate– And can instantly kill any unshielded opponent.
Shot placement is paramount. An integrated smart scope gives the Magnum gargantuan range, and it’s even capable of fully automatic fire. “Standard Issue” doesn’t even begin to describe this six-pound death machine. Nonetheless, you’ll find plenty of Magnums in-theater. Of Halo’s ten missions, only one ditches the pistol.
The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe
I’m not a game designer, but the Magnum is a bit of an albatross among FPS weapons. It’s as infamous as it is iconic, and remains required equipment if you plan to take on Halo’s Legendary difficulty. Few Covenant forces can contest accurate Magnum shots. Most just die a little slower. Pair this beast with a shield-stripping secondary for more potent results. It almost feels like cheating.
Barring its setting and themes, Halo as we know it came together in a frenzy: A ten month panic at Bungie to ship a shooter on Microsoft’s unproven Xbox. A “no bad ideas” approach clashing with that high pressure environment creates telltale art. With how contemporary games are made, the Halo pistol will never happen again.
Breaking Stuff to Look Tough
Halo’s crunch wasn’t nearly as brutal as its sequel’s, but it was crunch all the same. Jason Jones, project lead on Halo 1 and 2, describes making games as “Building a cathedral out of a hurricane.” Conveniently, he’s exactly who we can blame for the Magnum.
With launch imminent, Jones added new, high-level code to all of Halo’s maps. At that point, the pistol’s balance wasn’t great. Bungie had already scrapped their entire multiplayer mode once, and was scrambling to make something out of their single-player campaign. If any changes would be made, they’d need to be infinitesimally small– Lest they recompile the game and introduce a slew of new bugs.
To buff the pistol, Jones changed a single number on the Magnum whenever a map was loaded; then Halo went gold.
The Magnum is impossible. No FPS should’ve shipped it, yet I can’t imagine Combat Evolved without it… I adore this stupid, broken weapon– And you should too.