What if Halo 3's multiplayer was flooded with rats, though?
Where's the giant rat?
343 are finally getting weird with Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and that's great. But they were never going to hold a candle against the game's modders, who've lately decided what Halo 3 really needs is to turn everyone into a rat. That's exactly the premise behind Rat Slayer, an upcoming mod that - daft as it is - never dared to consider whether John Halo isn't already just two-dozen rodents wearing a man-shaped suit of power armour.
Now there's a thought to keep you up at night.
Discovered by Cian Maher at The Gamer earlier today, Rat Slayer does wot it says by turning Halo's supersoldiers into rats. They're tiny, they're nimble - and I tell you what, it looks a whole lot harder to land Battle Rifle headshots when your opponent's a foot-long rodent.
Right now, the Halo community is somewhat enraptured by the Halo 3 Rat - a completely inconsequential yet absolutely adorable rodent found early on in the game's campaign. Now, the vermin have infested Halo's multiplayer thanks to Zinkles' Rat Slayer mod, which lets you blast through the game's arenas as an unanimated rat wielding tiny, invisible weapons.
Yes, it looks absolutely ridiculous. But gosh, it's so deeply in the spirit of Halo, isn't it? I've been dropping into Halo 3 every weekend for a month or so with similarly-trapped-in-nostalgia pals, running around Sandtrap at 500% speed with hammers and useless rocket launchers, or playing completely busted forge maps that send you into orbit at whim. A version of either where we're all rats doesn't feel particularly far-fetched.
Obviously, one of the top comments asks if Zinkles has got the mod working on the Rats Nest map - to which the modmaker replied: "I've already done that as well it's pretty funny". Other posters suggest an infection mode (as you do) or swapping the Mongoose's model for a giant rat. With Rat Slayer still in development, anything is possible for the mod's full release.
In less skittery Halo news, Halo 3: ODST wrapped up its flighting (beta) period this week, which means we should be seeing the jazz-noir spin-off drop into The Master Cheif Collection any week now. After dipping my toes back into ODST during the test, I'm delighted to confirm it's still the best one.