Halo: Weapon, Enemy, and Vehicle Basics

Enemies

Though you'll encounter a great many foes throughout the legnth of Halo, your first wave of encounters will involve the Covenant. Their weapons are deadly and sophisticated, and their tactics are ruthless. Here, we'll look at some of the basic unit types--we wouldn't want to spoil the surprise of seeing some of the nastier creatures, for the first time.

A Grunt.

Grunts
The grunts are noteworthy for two reasons. The first reason is that they're the only species among the Covenant that speaks English. You'll hear them squeal, "There he is!" when one spots you, or "They're everywhere!" if you approach with a group of marines in tow. We've noticed about six different phrases so far, but there could be more. The second noteworthy fact about them is that they often toss plasma grenades, which you need to avoid at all costs. It is particularly humiliating when one of the grunts attaches one to your visor, because the only method of removal...hurts. If you can shoot these creatures before they throw any plasma grenades, you'll be able to stock up on this extremely valuable weapon by snagging their supply. Grunts tend to carry either the plasma pistol or the needler.

A Covenant elite.

Covenant Elite
The Covenant elite possess an energy shield that appears to be very effective against conventional human firearms, but it's more vulnerable to energy weapons such as the plasma pistol and plasma rifle. The Covenant elite are the enemies that you'll save plasma grenades for throughout the first few stages of the game. If you can survive getting close enough to attach one to these guys, it's worth doing. They're pretty adept at dodging your fire, so proximity or luck is necessary. You'll meet the blue- and red-colored Covenant elite early in the game, but the more fearsome yellow sect doesn't appear until you're farther in. The blue and red creatures carry the excellent plasma rifle, while the yellow use a weapon that you'll come to fear.

A Jackal.

Jackals
Jackals are more of an annoyance than anything else and are gratefully fairly rare. They carry portable energy shields that they hide behind while they shoot at you through the slits. The shields make jackals a pain to dispatch, and they're very good at temporarily knocking out your suit's shields by issuing you a powered up shot from the plasma pistol.

That covers the standard units in Halo. We haven't even mentioned the hunters, but remember that name. You'll come to fear it like you do the DarkSim in Perfect Dark's multiplayer mode.