My name is Legion, for we are many.
Since Halo is a game where you control a soldier and shoot guns at enemies, should it fully live up to its reputation as a Mature-rated video game? Here are some things I'd like to see in the next few Halo titles. Feel free to offer your opinion if you agree or disagree with anything I say.
1. More realistic weapon damage: Halo has the widest variety of weapons I've ever seen in a game, so it would be insane if they actually produced realistic damage on bodies. Some examples:
Marksman weapons: Sniper Rifle/Beam Rifle/Battle Rifle/DMR/Needle Rifle/Carbine/Pistol - These weapons all share one thing in common, their high damage and accuracy. So instead of simply killing enemies, these guns could logically burst heads, create ragged puncture holes, or even dismember limbs in the hands of a skilled marksman.
Shotguns: Shotgun/Mauler - Shotguns have a reputation for being the most brutal firearms in video games. My idea was that instead of making an enemy drop dead, a shotgun could remove a large part of the body where the buckshot impacted and splatter the gory remains all over the screen. Kind of like what happens to Flood combat forms.
Automatic projectile weapons: Assault Rifle/SMG/Spiker/Needler - I know most FPS veterans term these weapons "peashooters" with the exception of the Needler, but they are automatic weapons and fire lethal projectiles. A long burst of sharp and fast bullets would be sufficient to puncture and shred flesh.
Explosives: Rocket Launcher/Fuel Rod Gun/Grenade Launcher/Brute Shot/Concussion Rifle/Spartan Laser/Plasma Launcher/Frag Grenade/Plasma Grenade - In Halo games, explosive ordnance simply goes blam and sends the enemy flying away, dead but intact. Instead of that, it could go the Gears way: literally blowing apart a living creature, sending its scorched and bloody pieces all over the vicinity.
Supercombine: Needler/Needle Rifle - Since their needles do explode when enough of them are buried in the same target, the projectiles could retain their distinctive flash but also take out a large chunk of the victim when they explode.
Fire: Flamethrower/Firebomb Grenade - They do have significant killing ability but they should leave a charred, twitching corpse when the fires finally wear off. Realistic reactions to pain from fire could be a welcome addition to the game too.
Plasma: Plasma Pistol/Plasma Rifle/Plasma Repeater/Focus Rifle/Sentinel Beam - These weapons are realistic enough but instead of fizzing on targets, the developers could let a stream of plasma/laser shots leave burned, cracked skin on targets. The Plasma Pistol's damage is too laughable to really consider but a charged shot melting an unshielded enemy's head would look awesome.
Melee weapons: Energy Sword/Gravity Hammer/combat knife (assassinations only) - These weapons would look totally beast if you could use them to remove heads, limbs, or even cut bodies in half, especially the energy sword. The combat knife could decapitate a victim. And the gravity hammer could either shatter bones and send the mangled target flying, or just pulp its head and torso on the floor.
2. Vehicle ramming: A lot of players use vehicles in Halo as brute force weapons, so why not?
Warthog: Being the most notorious ramming vehicle in the series, instead of rolling over a victim, the vehicle could suck him/her under and send his/her broken carcass flying out the other side, with several limbs twisted to awkward angles for graphical effect.
Chopper: Look at those bladed wheels. Something rammed by that thing would meet a gruesome end: the blades would simply suck it in and spit shredded body parts out.
3. Violent Covenant: After all, they ARE vicious alien conquerors, and actually making them scary for once would not only emphasize their alien nature, it would also give the player the feeling of being in a real war.
Jackals/Skirmishers: I'm not sure how to implement their viciousness directly into the gameplay, but there could be scenes where a pack of ravenous Jackals come across some wounded Marines, and instead of shooting them, put aside their weapons and tear them to shreds with their sharp teeth and claws before the player character is able to save them.
Elites: Higher ranking Elites could demonstrate some prowess in the Elite equivalent of kung fu or martial arts. Just imagine stuck in a battlefield with guns blazing around you, and then a two-meter-tall saurian creature charges into the fray with his energy sword, slicing and stabbing Marines, and sending body parts and dismembered corpses all over the place.
Brutes: Good old BRUTALITY. We've already seen Brutes beating up helpless Marines and even civilians in Halo 3 and Halo Reach. Now amplify the blood and gore by a significant amount of detail and you'll probably get what I mean. Think Mortal Kombat's Fatalities or Gears of War 2's brutal executions.
Hunters: Kind of like the Brutes, but better. The sharp spines on their backs could cut messy gashes into unshielded humans. And I do remember one scene in Halo: The Flood where an enraged Hunter smashes a Marine with its shield, breaking his bones, and finishes him off with a vicious curb stomp. If you could see that up close...