These Deleted Halo Weapons Could Have Changed The Game
The weapon selection from the original "Halo: Combat Evolved" has become an iconic armory, raising the bar for a well-balanced mix of conventional and futuristic firearms that work well in solo missions and multiplayer settings. It appears that the game nearly arrived with a much more diverse set of weaponry, however, as "Halo" co-creator Marcus Lehto recently shared some scrapped guns that would have significantly altered the game as fans know it.
Lehto revealed four weapons that got cut from "Halo: Combat Evolved" in a recent tweet, each of which had progressed along the design stage far enough to have their own firing effects. These items in question were a Concussion Gun, an Excavator, a Particle Beam Rifle, and a Microwave Gun. The clip shows an early version of Master Chief picking up and firing each of the weapons, although even the in-game description of the guns in the upper left-hand corner notes that there are some significant placeholder effects in play.
The four weapons weren't the only secrets hidden in the minute and a half clip that Lehto shared on Twitter. As you'll soon learn, Lehto showed off plenty of exciting ideas that never made it to the final build of "Halo: Combat Evolved."
Master Chief shows off his unreleased arsenal
The tweet includes a brief description of the scrapped weapons, which Lehto labels as "Covenant weapon prototypes." This may indicate that these weapons would have only been used by AI-controlled characters. Dedicated "Halo" fans will remember that this was the case for the Plasma Sword and the Fuel Rod Cannon in the original, as the Plasma Sword only became usable in "Halo 2" where it quickly became accused of being overpowered.
Fans also noted that the very beginning of the video might also feature an early version of the Scorpion tank, which Lehto refers to here as a cut Stealth Tank. Also seen is an Engineer, a living computer that never appeared in the first game but was used in "Halo Wars," as well as a prototype of the Shadow (or Covenant Bus), which would make its first appearance in "Halo 2." Also visible is what fans identified as an early version of the Seraph, and, in a surprising crossover, what appears to be a 3D rendered version of a Hulk, an enemy from Bungie's 1994 FPS, "Marathon."
All in all, Lehto's brief clip is a fascinating look into not only what "Halo: Combat Evolved" could have been, but how the team's ideas developed over the course of multiple games. The massive success of the original allowed the developers to see what worked and what didn't, eventually leading to some of these deleted concepts being revived for "Halo 2."