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The core of ''Halo'' gameplay revolves around the wrinkles it presents in the [[First-Person Shooter]] formula.
* There is no [[Hyperspace Arsenal]] to speak of (although in the first two games, the weapon you didn't have equipped was invisible to other players); you can only carry two different guns at a time. The ammo for each gun is incompatible with any other weapon type (subverting [[Universal Ammo]]), which means finding ammo for your assault rifle requires you to find another assault rifle (there are very few ammo stockpiles and for the most part armories are still limited on certain weapons), and you ''can't'' reload most of the [[Frickin' Laser Beams|plasma weapons]] used by the Covenant. [[Blatant Item Placement]] is also averted; you can grab any weapons dropped by anyone. The guns all have different purposes and performance, so adapting your loadout to fit the situation is a smart idea.
* You have access to three different forms of attack: guns, [[Pistol -Whipping]], and grenades. All three have their own dedicated controller buttons and all three can be used ''at the same time'', with no delays for [[Real Time Weapon Change]]. Melee attacks are a [[One-Hit Kill]] if delivered from behind (and decent damage from any other angle), while grenades come in "[[Stuff Blowing Up|standard frag]]" and "[[Sticky Bomb|stick to the target before exploding]]" varieties, later entries to the series added "[[Kill It With Fire|sets things on fire]]," and "[[Spikes of Doom|shoots spikes]]" flavors. Each attack is a viable and useful option, and the available tactics are a lot broader when you've got three different triggers to pull.
* Vehicles are prevalent and are integrated seamlessly into gameplay: if you run across a jeep, or a hoverbike, or a tank, or even a [[Space Plane]], you can jump right in and the game shifts instantly to a third-person perspective, with no [[Loading Screen]] or separate map or anything. Relatedly, many of the franchise's campaign levels are absoutely enormous, with some levels largely about driving from Point A to Point B while avoiding enemy fire. While it is possible to finish the level on foot (assuming there aren't any ramps to jump, high spots to get to or timed sections), it is in your best interest to use a vehicle whenever possible.
* The [[Player Character]] has [[Deflector Shields]] built into his armor (which is [[All There in the Manual|justified perfectly in-universe]]). If they go down, damage is applied directly to your lifebar, but if you avoid enemy fire for a few seconds, your shields will be restored to full strength. It effectively becomes [[Regenerating Health]], especially in the later games when the underlying lifebar was removed entirely. Because you technically have infinite [[Hit Points]], you can focus on the current engagement without [[Resources Management Gameplay|worrying about surviving the entire level on your current lifebar]]. Of course, Bungie took advantage of that to stage intense and frantic battles, increasing the emphasis on knowing when to retreat and recharge your shields.
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* [[Abnormal Ammo]]: The Needler, Needle rifle, and related weapons shoot pink to purple crystals that detonate a few seconds after impact.
* [[Adaptational Attractiveness]]: Captain Keyes looks ''much'' younger in ''[[Halo Reach]]'' and ''Anniversary'' than he did in the original ''Combat Evolved''.
* [[Aerith and Bob]]: Not so much for any characters (the Covenant notwithstanding), but for UNSC ship names. The ones from the games are poetic and [[Cloudcuckoolander|a little bit weird]]: ''Pillar of Autumn'', ''Spirit of Fire'', ''Aegis Fate'', ''In Amber Clad'', ''Forward Unto Dawn'', and ''Say My Name''. But ships from the novels tend to have (more) normal names like ''Leviathan'', ''Fairweather'', ''Gettysburg'', ''Texas'', and (eventually) ''[[Dirty Harry|Do You Feel Lucky?]]''. The odd ship names are very likely a nod to [[Iain M Banks|Iain M. Banks']] ''[[The Culture|Culture]]'' universe [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_%28The_Culture%29:List of ships chr(28)The Culturechr(29)|and the shipnames of the Culture]], a setting which also has giant ringworlds. This trope's prevalence in ''Halo'' really [[Depending On the Writer|depends on the writer]]. For example, in ''[[Halo Evolutions]]'' had a story called "Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian" written by former Bungie staff Frankie O'Connor takes place in ship called "The Heart of Midlothian.
* [[Aggressive Negotiations]]: A Grunt nervously pulls this and starts the entire war.
* [[AI Is a Crapshoot]]
* [[All There in the Manual]]: Think Halo is just some generic thoughtless [[A Space Marine Is You]] ''[[Doom]]''-clone? [http://www.halopedian.com/Main_Page Think again.] There's ''tons'' of supplemental material for the multimedia universe, often including ''the actual manuals''.
* [[AKA -47]]: Sniper Rifle System 99D-S2 Anti-Matériel bears a heavy resemblance to the South African made NTW-20, manufactured by the Mechem division of the DENEL group, sharing many of the same features; chambering for the 14.5 x 114mm round, the stock, carrying handle/scope guard and the muzzle brake.
** According to Robert McLees, the MA5B/C Assault rifle is [[Averted Trope|NOT]] based off of the Belgian FN 2000, though he grudgingly admits that people would think that after comparing the two
{{quote|"I don't know when the images of the FN F2000 appeared, but I didn't see them until three or four months after the game shipped, and I thought 'Oh great. Now everyone's going to think I swiped the design from Fabrique National.' It was surreal to see how close the Halo assault rifle was to its real-life counterpart... and it was all totally by accident."|'''Robert McLees,Writer and Keeper of the Halo Story Bible'''}}
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* [[Badass Baritone]]: The Arbiter
* [[Badass Creed]]: The unit motto of the 105th Orbital Drop Shock Troopers is "Feet first into hell," hence their moniker "Helljumpers". ''[[Halo Reach]]'' gives us an additional tidbit:
{{quote| "[[ItsIt's Raining Men|Jumping into hell isn't the job]], [[Kill'Em All|making sure its crowded when you get there is]]." }}
* [[Badass Crew]]: The Spartans.
** The ODST Squad in ''ODST'' also count.
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** Kat "Noble 2:" [[The Engineer]]/[[Playful Hacker]]/[[The Cracker]]
** Jun "Noble 3:" [[Cold Sniper]]
** Emil "Noble 4:" The Marine (Appears to be [[Hot -Blooded]])
** Jorge "Noble 5:" The Security Officer (The residential "tank" who also seems to carry the excess supplies)
** "[[The Nameless|Noble 6]]:" [[Sixth Ranger]], new to the team and player character
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* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]: The Covenant are a theocratic, imperialistic hegemony with a sword wielding warrior class. They name there weapons and vehicles with a Type-(Number) system. They fight a naval battle against Eaglelandish marines. Imperial Japan anyone?
* [[Fast Roping]]: The ODST's do this in ''Uprising''.
* [[Fixed Forward -Facing Weapon]]: UNSC ships have a forward facing [[Magnetic Weapons|MAC cannon]] that acts as a primary weapon.
* [[Franchise Zombie]]
* [[Gas Mask Mooks]] - Grunts, since they are methane breathers.
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{{quote| '''Carter:''' I'm not gonna lie to you, Lieutenant. You're stepping into some shoes the rest of the squad would rather leave unfilled.}}
** {{spoiler|In ''Halo: Reach'', Jorge has a sacrifice when he manually detonates a "Slipspace bomb" to destroy a Covenant supercarrier. Carter has a sacrifice when he flies a Pelican into a Scarab to save Emile and Six. The ''[[Player Character|player]]'' has a sacrifice when he stays behind on Reach to cover the Pillar of Autumn's escape, which he only has to do in the first place because Emile is killed just before attempting to do the same thing. Reach is basically ''made of'' [[Heroic Sacrifice]].}}
* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]: [[Star Fox|Falco]] dislikes flip music.
* [[Hit and Run Tactics]]: You'll need these for dealing with ''Halo 2'''s final boss, even on easy. Just take a look at what happens to your allies and decide if you want to repeat their performance.
** In ''Halo'' in general it was best to use your rechargeable shields to pick off enemies one by one, retreating when under too much fire. This allows you to wittle down their numbers slowly rather than taking the whole squad on at once. Particularly important in the first ''Halo'', where your health didn't recharge when your shields did.
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* [[Humongous Mecha]] - The Scarab.
* [[Insectoid Aliens]]: The Drones.
* [[ItsIt's Raining Men]]: The ODSTs , aka the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, aka the Helljumpers.
** And in ''Halo 3'', MC falls two kilometers, lands on his back, and is pretty much only stunned. Apparently, he survived it, because he surfed through the sky on a door from the Forerunners ship.
** Noble Six performs a similar act in [[Halo Reach|Reach]] and survives a fall from orbit. However, a cutscene in the level preceding this occurrence shows that s/he is wearing a Reentry Pack and in the following level s/he is favouring his/her arm and starts on low health, making this a justified instance of the trope.
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** {{spoiler|Even worse: In Halo: Reach, the Pillar of Autumn is in drydock and Cortana hasn't even been installed on it yet, which invalidates pretty much the entire last part of 'The Fall of Reach.' No space battle for the Pillar of Autumn. It just launches and bails out of there.}}
*** {{spoiler|: The LE copy of Halo: Reach has Dr Halsey's journal, clears a bit of this up and even takes most of Fall of Reach into game level canon (John's field test with Cortana and Ackerson's subsequent missile attack, etc.) The diary also implies that Halsey had split Cortana prior to the battle (similar to what happened to her in ''First Strike''), with the main fragment going with John and a smaller piece staying with Halsey to translate the artifact, which would later be re-integrated into the main Cortana AI. Still, the mere existence of said Forerunner artifact essentially retcons away the significance of the Sigma Octanus symbols from the book. Unless the "Latchkey" discovery and the information on the Reach ruins were what allowed Cortana to ''translate'' the Sigma Octanus symbols.}}
* [[Remember the Alamo!]]: Remember [[Contact Harvest|Harvest]]. [[Halo Reach|Remember]] [[The Fall of Reach|Reach]].
* [[Retraux]] - the Atari 2600 port.
* [[Rule of Symbolism]] - ''Halos'', ''the Covenant'', ''the Ark'', ''John 117'', ''the Flood'', etc. It helps that these are their names translated into the closest English equivalent.
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* [[Sergeant Rock]] - Forge and Johnson.
** Don't forget Sergeant Stacker. He's that white Sergeant who fought through the Battle of Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3. In Halo: CE, he gets rescued by Master Chief in the second level, attacks the Silent Cartographer alongside MC, helps MC destroy the power cores, then manages to somehow escape. He then fights in the Battle of Mombasa, leads the Marines to attack the Prophet of Regret, and gets captured alongside Johnson and Sergeant Banks. Their response is to break free and capture a Scarab, before returning to Earth. After all that, he then enters Voi and leads Marines to destroy an entire Covenant anti-air battalion. Finally, he gets deployed onto the Ark alongside the rest of the Marines and MC. When his unit is killed, his response is to organize an impromptu armored division, destroy a Covenant division and a Scarab, assault the Citadel, then escape off the Ark safely to return to Earth.
* [[Shout -Out]] - The Master Chief is John, Spartan #117 and is awakened from cryostasis at the start of the first game. The protagonist of [[Demolition Man]] is John Spartan, who was prisoner #117 of the cryogenic prison facility where he was kept for 40 years.
** Although unlikely, it is possible the fact that the number 343 (which could have been any of the other first powers of 7, including the next one up, 2401) is an obscure shout out to [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]], as in the episode Killed By Death, {{spoiler|Buffy's hospital room number is 343.}} This is most likely a [[Arc Number|coincidence]], though.
** There are also several shout-outs to ''[[Marathon (Video Game)|Marathon]]'', the series' spiritual predecessor, and the Greek historical angle is carried over as well.
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* [[The Starscream]] - Some hints in ''Halo 2'', as well as most of the [[Expanded Universe]] stories since then have implied that Regret was this with regards to Truth.
** This is confirmed in ''The Cole Protocol'', when Regret realizes he'll be offed by the Prophet of Truth as soon as he finds no use for him, so he tries to get his own agenda fulfilled before Truth does. {{spoiler|Then the Chief punched him to death, and Truth didn't bother helping his fellow Prophet.}}
* [[Standard Sci -Fi Army]]: Naturally. Infantry dominate (from Light to Elite, and of course the Super Soldiers), although both sides use field aircraft and at least one Armored vehicle. Halo Wars expands on this, giving the UNSC Heavy and Elite infantry (the Hellbringers and Helljumpers respectively), APC's, and Anti-aircraft units. Several of the Covenant vehicles are effectively Technicals, being repurposed mining equipment.
* [[Standard Sci Fi Setting]]
* [[Suicide Mission]]: Occurs throughout the series, such as the Arbiter's first mission in ''Halo 2.''
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* [[Survival Mantra]]: [[Tear Jerker|"Keyes, Jacob. Captain. Service number 01928-19912-JK."]]
* [[Theme Naming]]: Not the characters, however. Until ''Halo Wars'' broke the pattern, all UNSC vehicles in the games smaller than a full-size spaceship were named after animals, while Covenant vehicles were named after spooks. Most of the small craft are still named/nicknamed after animals, while space fighters tend to be named after swords.
** And even then ''Halo Wars'' only broke the pattern with the [[Shout -Out]] Cyclops and appropriately named Gremlin.
** Covenant spacecraft names are generally religious allusions, such as the ''Truth and Reconciliation'' or the ''Long Night of Solace''. UNSC ships are named based on importance to the plot - unimportant ships, if given a name at all, have perfunctory one-word names such as the ''Iroquois'' or the ''Savannah'', while more important ones have poetic names like ''Pillar of Autumn'' or ''Forward Unto Dawn''.
* [[Tyke Bomb]] (Master Chief and the other Spartans began training when they were six.)
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** Actually, she {{spoiler|only cloned her brain and had to make [[Arc Number|seven]] copies of it. Six of them didn't survive and the seventh one created Cortana. There's also a pretty good reference and allusion to Zeus and Athena too.}}
* [[Colonel Badass]]: Colonel Ackerson somewhat as withstood interrogations by Brutes and still managed to protect Earth before being decapitated. It seems that Colonel Deen was he managed to break a Covenant Siege behind enemy lines.
* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: Brutally averted in the case of Covenant [[Kill Sat|stategic glassing]]. Carefully placed Covenant warships in orbit rain beams of plasma down onto a planet's surface in a choreographed grid pattern. What does not die instantly from getting hit with the plasma will die somewhat less quickly from the convection as the atmosphere boils around them...
* [[Creative Sterility]]: The Covenant, though technologically superior, are only so because they depend on weapons and ships salvaged from the ruins of the ancient Forerunner race, which they slavishly copy with religious reverence. Humans are the only species capable of innovation, and often incorporate and improve upon captured Covenant tech. The Master Chief's energy shields are based on the similar Elite model, for instance.
** Though it's not so much that the Covenant are incapable of innovation as much as that they generally see even simply changing the settings on Forerunner technology as heretical. The Elites and the Prophets, for example, were already about as technologically advanced as 26th century humanity ''before'' they began messing around with Forerunner tech.
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* [[Does Not Know His Own Strength]]: The Spartans have trouble adjusting to their new strength right after the augmentation, to the point where John-117 thinks that the [[Artificial Gravity]] in the ship's gym is broken since he can lift the heaviest weights without effort.
* [[Dying Like Animals]] - The inhabitants of the Rubble and the Insurrectionists in ''The Cole Protocol.'' Also Major Silva in ''The Flood''.
* [[Faster -Than -Light Travel]] - [[Subspace or Hyperspace|Slipstream space]], which is more-or-less shortcutting through another dimension. One of the reasons for Covenant space superiority was their greater ability to emerge from Slipspace at pinpoint locations, whereas UNSC exit points might be inaccurate by as many as 100,000 kilometers.
** Not only was the location more accurate, so was the timeframe. Travel time between stars didn't remain constant, and UNSC ships that departed at roughly the same time could arrive at their destination hours or even days apart, reason of which was not clear to the scientists but attributed to "eddies" in slipstream currents.
* [[The Federation]] - The UNSC, obviously.
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* [[Jerkass]]: Antonio Silva hates the Spartans, especially the Master Chief due to John accidentally killing an ODST member a long time ago. Silva seems to have forgotten how this was a result of half a dozen of the best soldiers attacking a supposedly average fourteen year old.
** Somewhat justified that Silva would hold a grudge against the Spartans, as {{spoiler|1=Silva was the CO of the ODSTs that were killed. Who wouldn't be pissed at someone for killing their squadmates?}}
* {{spoiler|[[The Last Dance]]}}: {{spoiler|Admiral Preston Cole. After being depended upon for so long in the Human-Covenant War by the UNSC (compared in ''The Impossible Life and Possible Death of Preston Cole'' as being in command of the battles of the Alamo, Termopylae, Stalingrad, and Cold Harbor, and repeating them over, and over), it was believed that he began to fall under the psychological strain, to the point it was speculated that he fell into another [[Heroic BSOD]]... but one that led him to face three hundred Covenant ships around a gas giant, killing plenty of them with slingshot maneuvers, using gravity as both a lure and a shield against the Covenant Plasma shots, mocking them with a [[Badass Boast]] that angers them and drives them towards him, and ending with [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?|an implosion using said goddamn gas giant into a sun]], killing all three hundred Covenant ships.}}
{{quote| "Listen to me, Covenant. I am Vice Admiral Preston J. Cole commanding the human flagship, ''Everest''. You claim to be the holy and glorious inheritors of the universe? I spit on your so-called holiness. You dare judge us unfit? After I have personally sent more than three hundred of your vainglorious ships to hell? After kicking your collective butts off Harvest - not once - but twice? From where I sit, we are the worthy inheritors. You think otherwise, you can come and try to prove me wrong."}}
** {{spoiler|Oh, right, and the best part? If the ONI officer reviewing Cole's life is correct, Cole [[Beyond the Impossible|SURVIVED by executing an in-atmosphere slip-space jump]], and is most likely finally living a life of peace far outside UNSC or Covenant space. [[Earn Your Happy Ending|He deserves it.]]}}
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*** And also averted for the [[Super Soldier|Spartans]] -- they repeatedly come back from injuries that would cripple or kill an ordinary human. Linda, in particular, came back to full fighting readiness after being ''clinically dead''.
* [[Meaningful Name]] / [[Ironic Nickname]]: The Prophet of Truch is a habitual liar, The Prophet of Regret is impetuious and doesn't seem to regret his actions. The Prophet of Mercy is completely merciless. According to ''Contact Harvest'', Regret used to be the Vice Minister of Tranquility and was known for his confrontational attitude, and got his later position after blackmailing the Prophet of Restraint over his illegitimate children. This sort of thing seems to have been a [[Running Gag]] throughout the Halo EU.
** The name "John-117" also may have meaning; from biblical references (various passages in the Book of John or in Revelations with the numbers "1" and "7" could be read as relating to ''Halo'''s plot) to a [[Shout -Out]] to Demolition Man.
*** It's also often pronounced one-seventeen, 1:17 is 77 seconds and 7 is Bungie's [[Arc Number]].
* [[The Metric System Is Here to Stay]]
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* [[Psychic Static]]: A way of fighting back the Flood if you ever get infested and [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped.]]
* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: Haverson, despite outranking the Master Chief, willingly concedes command of the mission to the Spartan. Later when the mission changes and he retakes command, Haverson is still agrees to take them back to Reach even though he knows that Master Chief really only wants to go to check for surviving Spartans.
* [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?]]: Or in the case of Admiral Cole, {{spoiler|remember when you turned a gas giant into a sun and then it wiped out a hundreds-stong Covenant armada in a giant supernova?}}
** As a real-life Out-of-Universe inversion of the trope, there is a painting inside an ONI base in Australia called ''Admiral Cole's Last Stand'', described in ''Halo: First Strike''. The book was published nearly five years prior to ''Halo Evolutions'', but in-universe, it was ten years before the end of the war.
* [[Right Hand Versus Left Hand]]: The political machinations within the Covenant in ''Halo 2''. The [[Expanded Universe]] shows that the UNSC is not wholly united either.
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* [[The Spartan Way]] (The training regimen of the SPARTANs as seen in the novels)
* [[Space Romans]] - The Elite culture is basically Imperial Japan [[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE]].
* [[Super -Persistent Predator]] - Why humans call the Mgalekgolo "Hunters".
* [[Super Soldier]] (The Spartans. You've been kidnapped by the army, kid, will never see your family again, and have been replaced by a clone that will die soon. You will have to go through grueling training and risky augmentation, then get stuffed into a suit of armour that makes people wonder if you're actually a robot, and have difficulty bonding with anyone not a SPARTAN II. Oh, and no one will ever know your real name, if you die you're listed as "MIA" or "WIA", [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and you no longer have any sex drive whatsoever]]. Who wants to volunteer?)
** (Further deconstructed in ''Ghosts of Onyx''. {{spoiler|The SPARTAN III's are prepubescent [[Laser Guided Tykebomb|Laser Guided Tykebombs]] assembled from thousands of orphans of Earth's lost colonies, and trained to assault and hopefully destroy Covenant installations ''en masse'' as mostly cannon fodder to slow the Covenant's advance. The first chapter of said novel details the carnage of one such mission, one that leaves only two survivors out of ''hundreds'', and renders one of them forever mute from Post Traumatic Stress. The worst part? [[Shoot the Dog|If it hadn't been done, humanity wouldn't have lasted long enough to become nearly extinct in ''Halo 3''.]]}})
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{{quote| '''Cortana''': "Also, be advised, Chief, that there are ceremonial guards in this temple - a race we have not encountered before. Roughly translated from Covenant dialects, they are called 'Brutes.' They shouldn't be a significant threat or they would have been used in previous military situations."}}
* [[Three Laws Compliant]]: Mentioned by name. The default setting of the AI constructs. Disabled for normal military use, since the laws would force the AI's to prevent soldiers from sacrificing or even risking their lives in war.
* [[Time -Delayed Death]]: In ''Ghosts of Onyx'', Dante, after a particularly hectic firefight, offhandedly mentions "I think they got me." {{spoiler|''He then drops dead.''}} Upon closer inspection, it turns out that nearly ''half of his torso'' had been blown off, and he didn't even notice.
* [[Tsundere]]: Sif in ''Contact Harvest'' is a textbook version.
* [[Tyke Bomb]]: The Spartans were drafted/kidnapped when they were six years old, and due to their training were better fighters than most adults. Then they [[Up to Eleven|got augmented]].
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* [[The War of Earthly Aggression]]: In the expanded universe, pre-contact with the Covenant, and continuing through the war, there was a huge ongoing rebellion movement in the Outer Colonies.
* [[Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions|We Will All Be Atheists in the Future]]: Subverted. Dr. Halsey is specifically stated to be an atheist, suggesting this distinguishes her in some way from other human characters. This is later confirmed in [[Halo 3 ODST|ODST]] with the character of Dutch, who is noted to be a deeply spiritual man and a student of religion and philosophy.
* [[Wham! Episode]]: ''[[The Forerunner Saga|Cryptum]]'', SO MUCH. You were wondering how humans and Forerunners first met 100,000 years ago? How about... {{spoiler|humans had an interstellar empire so large that it rivaled the Forerunners', until it was destroyed by the Forerunners for infringing on their territory while running away from the Flood, which humanity eventually ''defeated'' before falling themselves. That's right, ancient humanity were the first to find and fight the Flood (with the help of the Prophets). We even invented a cure for the Flood that DIDN'T involve the total annihilation of life in the galaxy, but it was destroyed (either out of human bitterness or Forerunner ignorance) when the Forerunners invaded, DEVOLVED OUR SPECIES and erased all traces of the earlier civilization, restricting us to our homeworld. The Librarian mentioned in [[Halo 3]] was actually intended to keep us in check.}}
* [[Wham! Line]]: Again, the ''Forerunner Saga'' is full of these. Often mentioned offhandedly, as, at the time, they are commonly known facts that seem to have no relevance. A big one is {{spoiler|offhandedly mentioning that humanity and the Forerunners were ''at war'' at one point, after which the Forerunner victors de-evolved us and confined us to earth}}.
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: One of the female Spartans is mentioned to have dyed her hair blue in ''The Fall of Reach'', though by the end of the book it's gone back to its natural color.
** Cortana and Serina both have blue hair (and blue everything else).
* [[You Keep Using That Word]]: ''The Cole Protocol'' calls MACs [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun |railguns]]. They're actually [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coilgun |coilguns]].
 
== Halo Games by Bungie ==
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* [[Ascended Meme]]: In ODST, the location that played the [[Once an Episode|Siege Of Madrigal]] also had a short, looping animation of Marty O'Donnel dancing and little winged hearts flying everywhere. The heart effect is available as a purchasable "dying armor effect" (like Grunt Birthday Party confetti) in Reach.
* [[A Space Marine Is You]] (Seriously. Look at the checklist.)
* [[Attack! Attack! Retreat! Retreat!]]: Occationally, caused by the Marines' combat dialogue acting up.
{{quote| '''Female Marine''': [[Badass Boast|Not a tango in sight.]]<br />
'''Male Marine''', less than a second later: [[Oh Crap|I see tangos...]] [[Zerg Rush|lots of tangos!]] }}
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*** The Mongoose as well.
* [[Crunchtastic]] ("Killtacular", etc. from [[Kill Streak|Kill Streaks]])
* [[Cutscene Incompetence]]: This affects the titular members of ''ODST'', mostly because the game's [[The Rashomon|Rashomon]]-style narrative leaves them in the interesting position of being both [[Player Character|Player Characters]] ''and'' [[Non -Player Character|Non Player Characters]], depending on whose [[Flash Back]] you're watching. If you, The Player, establish a habit of [[Crazy Awesome]] while playing as any given squad member, that squad member will ''not'' continue in similar style when the AI takes over again.
** {{spoiler|Kat's death. I mean, really now?}}
* [[Decoy Protagonist]]: The Rookie. If anything, ''Halo 3: ODST'' is the story of Buck, Dare, and {{spoiler|the Superintendent/Virgil.}}
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* [[Doomed By Canon]]: Reach. Energy projectors turn the surface of Reach to glass. The survival rate of you and your teammates in Halo: Reach is understandably slim.
* [[Doomed Hometown]] - The colony of Reach.
* [[Do Not Drop Your Weapon]] - Played straight with most enemies, [[Damn You, Muscle Memory!|making it all the more frustrating when you forgot that it was averted with the flood combat forms.]]
* [[Doppelganger Attack]] - The Heretic leader's holo-drones.
* [[Dual-Wielding]] - Added in ''Halo 2'', kept in ''Halo 3'', removed in ''ODST''.
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*** Jorge also the [[Team Dad]] (SPARTAN-II
*** Emile is the [[Token Evil Teammate]] ([[Axe Crazy]]) Noble Six may also be considered this, it is suggested he's Ackersons "private grim reaper". A character known for being a [[Colonel Badass]] [[Knight Templar]].
* [[Five -Token Band]]: Reach's Noble Team is a relatively mild form: Jun is apparently of Indian or Middle Eastern descent, Kat appears to be of Latin-American ancestry, and Emile [[The Faceless|at least sounds like he's black.]]
** Kat is Russian or Eastern European... And Jorge is Hungarian.
* [[Flunky Boss]] - Regret and Tartarus. Tartarus isn't so bad as the Brute reinforcements only show up at two or three pre-scripted points in the fight, and every time they do you usually get a fresh squad of Elite reinforcements to help you. Regret, on the other hand, can reach [[That One Boss]] status due to the endless waves of respawning Honor Guard Elites and Grunts coupled with the lack of good cover and necessity to charge right out into the open to melee damage the boss.
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* [[Not Distracted By the Sexy]]: Cortana
* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: The first half of the level "343 Guilty Spark" consists of a small battle against the Covenant, running away from the facility you're going into - running ''toward'' the [[One-Man Army]] they call "The Demon". Then, the rest of the level plays out with next to no battles and almost complete silence. Just about the only other living thing you meet is a Marine who's so paranoid about something that all he does is huddle in a corner, shoot at anything that moves, and scream random things. The facility is obviously in disrepair, as well as blood all over the place, but it's not clear ''what'' caused it. Upon finding the remains of the squad you were looking for, you're treated to a [[Apocalyptic Log|video log]] of them being attacked by... something. Something starts banging on all the doors in the room, and your motion tracker goes berserk.
* [[Not So Harmless]] - Believe it or not but {{spoiler|343 Guilty Spark}} is technically the most powerful boss of the games. When [[One-Man Army|John-117]], The [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Arbiter]] and [[Badass Normal|Sgt. Johnson]] planed to activate the unfinish Halo Ring near the ending of ''Halo 3'', knowning it'll be destroyed in progress, {{spoiler|343 Guilty Spark}} felt that he had enough of their crap and refused to let them destroy "his" ring so he got all [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red]] and mean and attacks them with a huge ass laser weapon. It took {{spoiler|Sgt. Johnson's death}}, disappearing of the Arbiter, the wasting of John's power armor and four shots of the [[BFG|Spartan Laser]], each shot powerful enough to bust a Wrath tank's sorry ass into atoms, to destroy him.
** Ends up being completely justified when you remember {{spoiler|343 Guilty Spark}} was created by the Forerunners.
* [[Not the Fall That Kills You]]: The first game has falling damage. In the latter two games, which lack falling damage, you still die instantly after falling a certain height (determined by a "fall timer") or through one of the anti-shortcut [[Invisible Wall|invsible death barriers]]. This [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|contradicts]] the cutscenes in ''Halo 2'' and ''3'' where MC falls from orbit, or at least the stratosphere.
* [[Oddly Named Sequel]]: ''Halo 3: ODST'' technically takes place concurrent with ''Halo 2'', but was built on ''Halo 3'''s engine.
* [[Once forFor Yes, Twice For No]]: The Superintendent Municipal AI in ''Halo 3: ODST''.
* [[Orchestral Bombing]]: Even if you didn't have you own music playing, aerial sequences in ''3'' tended to be this.
* [[Pillar of Light]]: When the Forerunner artifact underneath the former New Mombasa activates, it produces a huge pillar of light that rises and ends in a blinding flash. Also, this happens basically every time when a Forerunner artifact is activated. In Halo's control room, in the Apex site in Halo Wars, etc.
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* [[Psycho Strings]]: Musics associated with the Flood.
* [[Recurring Riff]] - Countless examples, eg "A Walk In The Woods", "Rock Anthem For Saving The World", "On A Pale Horse", "Enough Dead Heroes", "Under Cover of Night", "High Charity", "The Last Spartan", and "Finish The Fight".
* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]. 343 Guilty Spark turns red [[Berserk Button|when he's really upset]], and about to go [[Axe Crazy]].
* [[Redshirt Army]] - The human Marines, though they [[Took a Level In Badass]] in the sequels (but even in the last game they still can't drive worth a crap).
** Indeed, Marines go from easily killed cannon fodder in ''Halo 1'' to serviceable NPC companions who can fight an Elite one-on-one and ''win'' in the sequels.
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* [[Transformation Trauma]] - The real-time assimilation of allies and enemies by the Flood in ''Halo 3''. At least you have a second to shoot the infection form off of them.
* [[Trope Codifier]] / [[Trope Maker]]: The original ''[[Halo]]'' didn't actually ''pioneer'' any of the unique gameplay features it's famous for (all of them, from vehicle sections, to radar, to limited inventory, to regenerating health, to melee attacks, to seperate buttons for firearms and grenades, had all been done before in previous PC FPS games), but it is unquestionably the game which combined them all into one package and popularized them to the point that most modern First Person Shooters now use most of them by default.
* [[Two -Part Trilogy]] (Halo 2 and 3, though it was in part because they ran out of time after finishing the engine.)
* [[Unexpected Gameplay Change]] (Combat Evolved ends with a timed driving mission through an obstacle course)
** ''Halo 3'' repeats that, but is has become undeniably more perilous in nature since its ''Halo 1'' days.
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